Doctor Who: The 10 Most Pathetic Plans Put Forward By Villains

1. General Carrington's Xenophobia Campaign

His use of a suitcase bomb, which failed to kill the Doctor because it exploded under a table, was enough to earn this General a glib mention in the silly planning department. Really, what kind of explosive is that? But that turns out to be nothing compared to the depths of pathetic in his overall plan. Apparently, this ex-astronaut had a terrible experience with aliens in this past, and decides when aliens arrive that he must prove their evil intent by murdering humans involved and manipulating everything so it seems the aliens themselves are to blame. Carrington is so terrible at covering his tracks, he draws the attention of UNIT, rather than simply the TARDIS. But still, the real clincher is the discovery that Carrington himself invited the aliens in a plot to spread global xenophobia against aliens generally, so that Earth reacts with violence to all future alien visitors. Why Is This Pathetic? Well for one, General Carrington caused himself a lot of extra work. Aliens, especially hostile ones, seem to invade Earth regularly enough that he could've just waited for and publicised the danger of the next invasion, or researched and made public evidence of past invasions. Of course, all of these strategies, including Carrington's original plan, assume that humanity A) pays careful attention to news of alien invasion and B) then acts on that knowledge, which they clearly do not. Moreover, I fail to see what mobilising public opinion could really do. Humanity might choose to elect politicians with a hard-line stance against aliens, who are willing to pull a Harriet Jones on the situation? Set up mini-Torchwood-style militias? Give greater funding to UNIT? But regardless of General Carrington's nebulous goals, and setting aside the debate of our ability to act against alien forces, perhaps the single dumbest part of this plot is that arguably it was not even necessary to begin with. As human history dictates, xenophobic attitudes are a default setting. No matter how positive an initial encounter with aliens was, many would remain sceptical of our new visitors even without murders or threats. Carrington is a terribly tragic figure because his heart is bizarrely in the right place. He believes we need to be protected from the alien menace. He tops the list of truly pitiable ideas because of not only the futility of his enterpris,e but because we can truly sympathise with his perspective. Nothing is more sad to see than a misguided courageous person fighting for the wrong cause. The breadth of this list is surprising to me. While all ten of the entrants into the Doctor Who Hall of Shame are united by the sheer depths of their failure, these Ten Most Pathetic Plans are diverse in aim, flaws, and relative success. I would say better luck next time, but no one wants any of these baddies succeeding any time soon. What say you readers? Any one else who would be better off sticking to conquering Tivoli and mining on ancient Telos? Let me know below.