10 Smartest Villain Plans In Doctor Who

Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, is a textbook example of making the most of a bad situation.

When his ship exploded in prehistoric Earth, he was flung into the time vortex and split into twelve splinters of himself, scattered across Earth’s history.

Scaroth’s twelfth incarnation found himself in Paris, 1979 – a period where, obviously, time travel had not yet developed. However, there was nothing to stop him developing it prematurely by conducting his own experiments.

There was just one problem: time travel experiments aren’t cheap.

Fortunately, one of Scaroth’s splinters, Captain Tancredi, was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, who he persuaded to paint a further six copies of the Mona Lisa. These could then be sold in 1979 to make a quick buck.

In the end, Scaroth’s ultimate plan – to go back in time and prevent his ship from exploding – was sabotaged. But his plan was very smart, and he was successful in one regard.

When most copies of the Mona Lisa are destroyed in a fire (including the original), the only copy left is one of Scaroth’s ‘fakes’. So, in a sense, we’ve got him to thank for the fact that the painting still exists today!