5 Underrated Doctor Who Monsters and Villains

Guest contributor Ari Schneider-Gans lists the ones that don’t get their dues.

When fans think of Doctor Who monsters and villains, most think of the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master. However, there have been many throughout the course of the series that people overlook; the really scary or cleverly designed enemies that are overshadowed by the more popular monsters. I have come up with five that I thought were either very creepy or were conceptualized well. These brutes I felt were good monsters or villains that were overshadowed by more popular monsters.

The Drashigs

The Drashigs appeared in the story “Carnival of Monsters.” 
They were sea serpent-like creatures who lived in the marshes 
within Vorg’s Miniscope. They were blind so they had to rely
 on scent to find the Doctor and Jo, and since they left the
 Miniscope, the Drashigs soon followed and caused chaos on 
Inter Minor that was eventually contained by Vorg. These
 monsters look and sound really scary and I believe they are very much underrated. When the first Drashig came out from deep within the marsh, I was genuinely surprised, but I think the thing that scares me the most about them are their teeth. They are so realistic; after all, The Drashigs were created using dog skulls. Their cry was also very scary, especially in the fact that you heard it throughout many of the scenes after the Doctor and Jo ran into them even though they weren’t on screen. A great monster that was forgotten as the years passed.

Styggron

Styggron was the primary villain in “The Android Invasion.”
Now, I believe that Styggron wasn’t exactly scary in 
appearance, but he was conceptualized well. Making Androids 
to take over Earth in a slow, unnoticeable way is a devious
 plot, and Styggron also wiped the memory of Guy Crayford, an
 astronaut who thought that Styggron and his race were saving
 him. He also was going to unleash a virus upon Earth, but was 
instead destroyed by said virus. He may not be the scariest monster, but he definitely had a frightening plan up his sleeve.

Hindle And Sanders

I have a feeling I am alone in this opinion, but Hindle and 
Sanders in “Kinda” really creeped me out. To start, they 
aren’t technically monsters or villains, and yet they could
 be perceived as such. When Hindle and Sanders started
 acting like little kids, it also really unnerved me. But when
 Hindle puts the self-destruct button into play, and states
 that if no one plays with him and follows his directions he will blow the place up, I find that quite chilling. It reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where there’s a boy whom, if you don’t do what he likes, he’ll turn you into something bad. Also, the way Sanders acts is very strange, changing from a real tough guy into an absent-minded child. I would be scared out of my mind if I was in this situation.

The Wire

Most fans consider The Wire from “The Idiot’s Lantern”
to be a corny monster. Well, I implore you to think again. 
Like many other monsters in Doctor Who, The Wire was 
designed to be an item we use every day, but there was just
 something about it. I personally think that casting the Wire
 as a woman was an excellent job, as well as Maureen Lipman’s delivery of 
the lines. The idea of someone talking to you
 through the TV set has bothered me ever since I was a kid. However, it’s not just the Wire herself that was scary; it was the things she did to people. She removed all the electrical activity in the brain, causing her victims to have absolutely no face. She may not be the best monster in Doctor Who, but she sure scares the willies out of me.

The Torajii Sun Monster

The final monster on my list is from the episode “42.”
 The reason this monster works so well is because there 
really isn’t any physical transformation, the burning just
 happens. Having the sun feeding into your brain and
 killing everyone on board is wonderful concept. But the
 main reason I have this over many other similar 
monsters is that it makes the Doctor SCARED. The Sun
 Monster takes control of him and prompts him to begin saying “Burn with me, Martha.” As a viewer I was scared because threatening a companion like that was so weird, but also the Doctor himself was frightened, a rare sight. I also like monsters that you can’t actually see; you can only hear or feel them. This is a great example of an invisible monster, but it’s overshadowed by the likes of the Vashta Nerada and the Midnight Entity.

Conclusion

These five monsters are just a handful of the many overlooked and underrated monsters in Doctor Who’s 50-Year history. This list is of the five I thought stood out the most. Let me know what you guys think in the comments box, and feel free to make your own lists with ones you’d like to see, as I would love to hear all your opinions.

Thanks for reading!