Doctor Who: 10 Most Underrated Villains And Monsters
The Slitheen. The Rani. Even the Dregs. These Who villains are a lot better than you might remember.
One of the things that defines Doctor Who are its incredible monsters. The sheer creativity shown behind the scenes for the last fifty-seven years has given us iconic foes like the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Weeping Angels, the Autons, and far, far more. These creatures provide the deadly thrills for the Doctor's adventures and the show just wouldn't be the same without them.
But not every villain can be an outstanding one. Some, such as the scribble monster from Fear Her or the laughably poorly-made Quarks, have been rightfully confined to the dustbin of Who history, never to appear on our screens to bother the Doctor and friends again. However, some of those forgotten foes might just deserve a second chance.
Whether because they were put in a story that didn't realise their fullest potential or because of the notoriously dodgy effects of this shoestring budget show, these villains and monsters have been unfairly condemned by the fanbase in the past.
Why don't we take a look at some of these underrated creatures and see if there isn't a case to be made for them returning to terrorise our time-travelling heroes sometime soon?
10. Styggron - The Android Invasion
When fans discuss the best Doctor/companion teams of all time, it usually won't be long before the Fourth Doctor and Sarah-Jane Smith are brought up. And season thirteen, their second series together, is often regarded as one of the best of the entire classic series. Containing beloved greats like Pyramids of Mars, The Brain of Morbius and The Seeds of Doom, the duo go from strength to strength throughout this run of episodes.
But the series' fourth serial, The Android Invasion, is sometimes unfairly characterised as a bit of a misstep. Written by frequent contributor Terry Nation, the only Doctor Who script of his not to feature his iconic Dalek creations, the serial sees the Doctor and Sarah land in a mysterious English village. They soon discover that the village is actually a replica on another world, being used as a training ground for an invasion of Earth by the Kraals, an alien race led by the villainous Styggron.
Styggron and the Kraals have been criticised for being little more than another rubber-suited alien race that want to take over the Earth but this is an unfairly reductive assessment of them. The episode and their sinister plot is genuinely creepy, bringing to mind Invasion of the Bodysnatchers or The Stepford Wives.
And their tragic motivations for conquering Earth, their planet is about to become uninhabitable due to increased radiation levels, makes these monsters of the week far more memorable than your average outer space mooks.