Doctor Who Symbolism: What 10 Famous Villains Really Mean

7. The Malus Is The Military-Industrial Complex

Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor had the unenviable task of following up Tom Baker's fan-favourite turn as the Fourth regeneration of the character. As such many of his storylines tend to be lost in people fondly remembering his predecessor, despite the fact he paved the way for the younger, brasher modern Doctors of Matt Smith and David Tennant. And despite him having some pretty great serials, too. Once such storyline was The Awakening, which saw Davison's Doctor and his companions stumble into a Civil War re-enactment, which obviously goes wrong because it's Doctor Who. It turns out there's a crack in time that's connecting things up with the actual English Civil War, and an alien called the Malus is taking advantage of it. its powers to allow real people to pass through down the centuries and create energies, including fear, that it can feed on, the Malus is basically the military-industrial complex made flesh. It can only exist so long as conflict does, so it encourages people to fight. It's Lockheed Martin as Doctor Who villain.