Doctor Who Season 11: 10 Huge Questions After 'Demons Of The Punjab'

5. Have We Meet The Other Ancient Species?

The Doctor describes the Vajarians as one of the ancient species, but doesn’t go into any more detail about what such creatures are. The phrase could be a set up for introducing another ancient race in a future episode. It might also tie into the timeless child reference that has been largely ignored since episode two. Alternatively, it could be in reference to other ancient beings from Doctor Who’s back-catalogue.

The Vajarians are not the oldest of the Doctor’s foes. A group of sentient, godlike beings labelled together as the Great Old Ones existed before the creation of the universe and include the Animus, the Guardians, the Beast, Fenric and the gods of Ragnarok to name but a few.

As for the oldest creature in the known universe, there are a number of candidates all hailing from what the Doctor described as the ‘dark times’ following the big bang (The Runaway Bride). They include the spider-like Racnoss, the Carrionites (The Shakespeare Code) and the Weeping Angels (Blink). Certainly, the universe in its infancy appears to have been a particularly nasty place. We can therefore add the Vajarians to that list of mythical ancient beings who turn out to have been very much still alive and well thousands of years later.