10 Doctor Who Fates Worse Than Death
8. Living for Eternity as a Scarecrow
Whilst the Tenth Doctor may claim to be a pacifist, refusing to shoot General Cobb, he's not above more baroque punishments for alien wrong-doers. In the closing scenes of Paul Cornell's The Family of Blood, he doles out his various punishments for the titular family.
Imprisoning Daughter of Mine in a mirror world, booting Mother of Mine into a collapsing star and wrapping Father of Mine in unbreakable chains, the Doctor saves arguably the most unpleasant fate for Son of Mine, eternal life as a scarecrow in a muddy, cold English field. At least a collapsing star is warm.
On the surface, the never-ending tedium is bad enough, but it gets worse the more you think about it. What happens when someone wants to redevelop the land? Do they move Son of Mine to a different field? Throw him on the bonfire? He's been rendered immobile, unable to move. What happens when crows get wise and we no longer need scarecrows? The thresher?
It's a harsh example of the Doctor without mercy, and the moment where the Tenth Doctor places the sack over the head of Son of Mine is one of the most chilling moments in the Tenth Doctor's era.