Oh, come on. Don't pretend you haven't thought this, too. Doctor Who would be nothing without its menagerie of memorable monsters but since the show's revival there really haven't been that many to write home about. Like, at all. Let's face it, the show has now been back on our screens for 10 years but it's questionable how many of its original NuWho creations have actually succeeded in the show's legendary mantra to send its viewers quivering behind their sofas in fear. After all, isn't that what it's all about? Well, apparently not, because nowadays its viewers spend more time rolling around on the floor in fits of laughter than they do hiding behind their cushions. Just take Series 1, for example, which featured green monsters from a planet nobody can pronounce who divided their time between trying to take over the world and... farting. Seriously. They ended up moving over to the realms of the CBBC spin off The Sarah Jane Adventures eventually (arguably, where their defence mechanism of passing wind was much better suited...) and they still weren't funny. Russell T Davies said he wanted to produce a credible drama for adults and children alike to enjoy, and then he gave us this. Not cool, Russell. Not cool. And let's not even get started on that burping wheelie bin that guzzled up Mickey Smith and transformed him into the most unconvincing Auton of all time. Is Rose Tyler plain stupid or was she just not paying attention when he kept twitching and calling her "babe, babe, sugar, babe, sugar" in the restaurant? And then there was the formidable Chloe Webber in Series 2 whose mode of attack was drawing her victims (and terribly, at that) and the image of Peter Kay running around with a mohawk in a giant nappy is one that has been permanently etched into our memories... and for all of the wrong reasons. Yes, the Abzorbaloff was designed by a 9 year old, but that's still no excuse. Still, they haven't all been quite so pitiful. The gas mask zombies, the mysterious Midnight monster, the Weeping Angels and the Silence have all firmly established themselves as formidable forces within the Doctor Who mythos, and 4 monsters out of 100+ episodes isn't bad, is it? No. It's terrible.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
