Your Favorite One-Shot Villain in Doctor Who.

[FalloutJack]

This is not about the Master, the Daleks, the Cybermen, or any villain that keeps coming back for more. One-time-going in all of time and space for these characters. What sort of villain and plot that graced the Doctor Who screen just once did you enjoy the most? This includes the old series as well as the new series, just as long as they occurred in the show as the one-shot villain of the week. And for extra discussion value, tell me what the WORSE one-shot Doctor Who villain is, as well.

 

[Kingjackl]

The titular mummy in 'Mummy on the Orient Express' was a good one-shot villain. The episode itself was fantastic, but the mummy scored the triple whammy of being creative, slightly sympathetic and also frightening as hell.

As for the worst villain? Ugh, too many terrible one-shots to count. I was going to be obvious and say the bloke from 'Love and Monsters', but he was at least kind of funny. A worse villain would be the out-of-nowhere Darth Sidious bloke from the end of the cube episode. He literally didn't need to be there for that episode to work, that's how badly they failed with him.

 

[Parasondox]

The Sandman/men. Maybe not the monster itself but the concept around some scientist just elongating sleep just to have people work longer and not get tired for months on end. I know some businessman in the real world wants that badly.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Maybe Sutekh from the old series. Mostly because of the guy doing the voice.

 

[Hawki]

Off the top of my head:

Some of the Best (Old Who)

-Sotek
-The "Robots of Death" (from the episode of the same name)
-The antagonist with the messed-up face from The Caves of Androzani (or maybe it's that the episode is just that good? I dunno)

Some of the Best (New Who)

-The entity from the episode "Midnight" (granted, it's more that the episode itself is excellent rather than the entity by itself being memorable)
-The Flood
-The Mummy
-The Sandmen
-House
-The Empty Child (or Empty People, since there's more than one of them by the end)
-The Vashta Narada (okay, they technically appeared in a pair of episodes, and also appeared in one of the adventure games, but as far as the TV series by itself goes, I think they can count as a sole appearance)

Some of the Worst (Old Who)

-The Dominators
-The Robot (from the episode "Robot" - bear in mind that the episode itself is decent)
-Those weird aliens in the episode "The Two Doctors" - y'know, the ones who just won't stop eating

Some of the Worst (New Who)

-The Reapers (in that while the episode they appear in is good, the Reapers as a concept make little sense - why only appear then, and not any other time the timeline's been botched?)
-That alien who imprisons children in the episode "Fear Her"
-The hooded guy in the episode "The Power of Three"

I'm sure there's more, and I'm probably selling a lot of them short by forgeting their names, but DW being as long-running as it is, that's a heck of a lot of episodes to trawl through). Truth be told, I think a lot of Doctor Who's best villains are reoccurring for a reason, even though some of them have had over-exposure IMO (e.g. the Weeping Angels, probably the daleks as well)

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Whatever the fuck was under that blanket.

Creepy as fuck.

 

[Pheo1386]

Do the Weeping Angels pre-Matt-Smith-recycling count?

If so, Them. Them, a thousand times them. Otherwise probably the Vasta Narada (or however you spell it)

As for worst, there are a few bad ones to pick from. Probably the Peter Kay blob monster in my opinion.

 

[the December King]

Maybe Sutekh from the old series. Mostly because of the guy doing the voice.

For me it's either Sukekh or The Mara, the dream serpent. Either way it's Tom Baker to the rescue.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Maybe Sutekh from the old series. Mostly because of the guy doing the voice.

For me it's either Sukekh or The Mara, the dream serpent. Either way it's Tom Baker to the rescue.

The Mara was in two stories, though, so not a one-shot.

But yeah, decent villain, though the production in Davison's run had gotten a little shaky.

 

[the December King]

Maybe Sutekh from the old series. Mostly because of the guy doing the voice.

For me it's either Sukekh or The Mara, the dream serpent. Either way it's Tom Baker to the rescue.

The Mara was in two stories, though, so not a one-shot.

But yeah, decent villain, though the production in Davison's run had gotten a little shaky.

Two episodes- no shit? I guess I must have missed the second one. Do they introduce Leela in one of them? Again, I'm running from memory here, of when I was eleven or so, watching PBS... shaky ground indeed.

EDIT: Just did some googling. I'm waay off about Leela. Woops!

 

[Remus]

Those fish vampires in Venice. Their story was simultaneously terrifying and tragic. Terrifying because they fit the mold as the titular vampires, and tragic that they only arrived in Venice after the TARDIS exploded, running to escape the fire.

 

[FalloutJack]

Do the Weeping Angels pre-Matt-Smith-recycling count?

If so, Them. Them, a thousand times them. Otherwise probably the Vasta Narada (or however you spell it)

As for worst, there are a few bad ones to pick from. Probably the Peter Kay blob monster in my opinion.

I'm going to say no to the Weeping Angels. Popular and freaky, but they're still repeat creatures.

Loving these answers, by the way. Time for my own: Two Doctor Who villains not yet mentioned for better or worst.

THE GOOD: Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth. The alien whose ship was blown sky-high and gave life to the planet, and whose being was split across time...to be found in Paris as the most-sophisticated man in the world, using all his resources to try and undo everything.

THE BAD: The Crotons. Thank god for Eldrad, because this form of silicon-based life is absolutely terrible. Ridiculous boxy bodies, can't go anywhere without their lifeline, blind in the sunlight, and their spacecraft was so weak that they probably would have died off or been killed eventually without the Doctor's involvement.

THE UGLY?: Possibly Weng-Chiang (Magnus Greel). Leela always DID call him 'Bent-Face'.

 

[william1657]

I really liked "The Beast" from the two part episodes "The Impossible Planet" "The Satan Pit". It was such an interesting idea that they left vague enough to still be interesting on subsequent watches.

Also a shout out for the Vashta Narada (sp?), the "Midnight" entity, and the concept of the creature from "Listen" (the thing under the blanket).

 

[Something Amyss]

Weeping Angels. They were such a cool enemy in Blink. It's almost a shame there was no followup.

But Amy, what about Flesh and....

THERE WAS NO FOLLOWUP.

 

[the December King]

THE GOOD: Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth. The alien whose ship was blown sky-high and gave life to the planet, and whose being was split across time...to be found in Paris as the most-sophisticated man in the world, using all his resources to try and undo everything.

Great choice!

Netflix recently removed the Classic Doctor Who package of 4 - 6 of the series, including City of Death. Pretty ticked off, really.

 

[happyninja42]

I can't think of a single enemy in the new version of Who that hasn't been recycled to the point of absurdity. Even after the Doctor wipes them from the face of time and reality, never ever ever to be seen again ever...they fucking show back up.

Maybe the old version had some enemies that only showed up once, but I never saw that era so I can't comment. And I haven't watched anything with...Capaldi is his name I think? The Doctor after Smith, so can't comment there.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The Absorber due to how scary he is (would you really want the rest of your life well his life being a part of his flesh especially if you become his ass) and he was played by Peter Kay (I loved Phoenix Night!).

 

[Queen Michael]

A worse villain would be the out-of-nowhere Darth Sidious bloke from the end of the cube episode. He literally didn't need to be there for that episode to work, that's how badly they failed with him.

Are you talking about the Shakri member from "The Power of Three"?

 

[Queen Michael]

The Absorber due to how scary he is (would you really want the rest of your life well his life being a part of his flesh especially if you become his ass) and he was played by Peter Kay (I loved Phoenix Night!).

Agreed. He was terrifying, and also interesting.

Worst villain? Hm... I can't name one that I genuinely disliked, so I'll have to skip that one.

 

[Sonicron]

Gotta go with the Empty Child from the 9th Doctor's run. God, so majestically creepy.