24 Doctor Who Aliens, Ranked From Cheesy to Scary AF
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24. Adipose
Who scares you on Doctor Who? Who doesn’t? We’ve taken a good, long look at the Doctor Who galaxy of space aliens, focusing on species featured in the long-running franchise’s reboot years, from 2005 to today. We shamelessly judged looks, we judiciously assessed menace, and we sorted accordingly. Here are our findings, ranked from the mostly silly to the truly terrifying.
We'll start with the sentient fat. Sure, it’s disconcerting to see these guys pop out of dieters in Season 4’s “Partners in Crime,” but at the end of the day, they’re just cute mounds of flab who look like they wandered off the Teletubbies set.
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23. Tivolians
As first seen in Season 6’s “The God Complex,” this incredibly not-scary species from “the most invaded planet of the galaxy” is easily identified by the Doctor (Matt Smith): One of its members waves a white handkerchief.
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22. Sontarans
It’s not nice when this militaristic species’ General Staal (Christopher Ryan) is taunted as Humpty Dumpty in Season 4’s “The Sontaran Stratagem.” It’s also inaccurate.
When fully decked out in battle gear, he actually looks like Spaceballs’ Dark Helmet. So there.
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21. Alien (later known as Space Pig on Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood)
In real life, yes, if you pulled this porcine fellow out of a downed ship, as happens in Season 1's "Aliens of London," you'd be completely freaked out. But as a viewer at home, all you notice is his Howard the Duck-esque looks and mannerisms.
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20. Silurians
The Silurians might have been the “owners” of our planet once, but they lost their grip a long time ago. By Season 5’s “The Hungry Earth,” the Doctor (Matt Smith) dispatches one by locking it in a food-delivery truck.
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19. The Slitheen
In Season 1’s “Aliens of London,” these freaky-baby-doll-like creatures squander any creepy cred they've earned by revealing themselves Scooby-Doo-style, peeling off their human faces. Making matters lamer, when multiple Slitheen are stuffed into a single human body, the human body farts. A lot.
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18. Zygons
Yes, they have suckers, and suckers are never a welcoming sight. But! In the franchise's 50th anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor," the Doctor (David Tennant) himself makes fun of these classic Who aliens, calling them "big red rubbery thing[s]."
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17. The trees of the Forest of Cheem
While stately, these creatures, first seen in Season 1's "The End of the World," are lousy in an explosive crisis on account of they're made of wood.
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16. Judoon
On one hand, this race of hardened space police officers, seen in Season 3's "Smith and Jones," isn't too be messed with. On the other hand, the Judoon could easily face charges for impersonating creatures from the Star Wars cantina. And badly, at that.
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15. Autons
These E.T.-controlled "living plastic creatures," revived for Season 1's "Rose," are creepy in concept, and occasionally in execution. But when they move en masse, they look like extras from Zoolander.
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14. Dream Crabs
In the 2014 Christmas episode special "Last Christmas," these telepathic soul-suckers descend from the ceiling. They bring to mind the original Alien ... or, if you don't scare all that easily, a seafood-restaurant disaster.
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13. The Teller
This creature, from Season 8's "Time Heist," looks like an angry version of a butter mascot. Still, he will turn your brain "into soup" if he senses criminal thoughts.
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12. The Toclafane
These spherical human-based cyborgs from Utopia, we're told in Season 3's "The Sound of Drums," are named after a Gallifrey fairy tale. Come to life, these boogeymen move like a swarm of Death Stars. Still, there's another metal-clad alien species that does scary even better ...
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11. The Daleks
In Season 1's "Dalek," we're reminded that this odd-looking thing is the oldest enemy of the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). Yes, it will kill you on site, and yes, the Doctor does fear this race. But Daleks also sound ridiculous and look like salt shaker on wheels. And we just can't get too terrified of salt shakers on wheels.
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10. The Ood
The spaghetti-faced Ood, first seen in Season 2's "The Impossible Planet," are initially portrayed as harmless, peaceful servants. But they are eventually revealed to be dangerous tools of malevolent forces.
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9. The Cybermen
Losing your humanity, piece by piece? Now we're starting to really get scared. These cyborgs from the planet Mondas date back to the franchise's early years. Like other classic Who menaces, they're a bit clunky—they literally stomp around like Frankenstein monsters—but they're relentless. And they convert humans, a la the Borg in the Star Trek franchise.
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8. The Silent
First seen in Season 6's "The Impossible Astronaut," this big-headed, Roswell-style alien wipes out memories and kills for joy. Its suit reminds us of the secret-shrouded men in black, an urban legend that reportedly inspired producer Steven Moffat.
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7. Sisters of Plenitude
Oh, look, these aliens from Season 2's "New Earth" look like cats. Isn't that cute?
Oh, look, they ... grow human beings for experimental purposes. Isn't that horrifying?
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6. The Beast
There's a reason this horned fellow from Krop Tor is the main menace of the Season 2 episode titled, "The Satan Pit." The Beast is said to be the inspiration for all religions' devil figures.
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5. The Master
Like the Doctor, the Master is a Time Lord of Gallifrey. But he's a very bad guy. And he's terribly menacing when he assumes the form of charismatic U.K. Prime Minister Harold Saxon (John Simm) in Season 3's "The Sound of Drums."
It's the enemy who looks like you who's often the scariest.
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4. The Vashta Nerada
In Season 4's "Silence in the Library," you can't see the Vashta Nerada. You can only see the damage they do. These shadow-dwelling "piranhas of the air" literally consume humans (and chicken legs) right down to the bone.
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3. The Snowmen
Childhood treasures re-imagined with creepy faces are almost always effective at causing terror.
These are the snowmen of nightmares: living ice people made of "possibly alien" snow, with sharp pointy teeth and an appetite for flesh. It's enough to send a chill up your spine.
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2. The Whisper Men
In Season 7's "The Name of the Doctor," the arrival of these Invisible Man-resembling henchmen is heralded with spoken verse. Things only get creeper from there. Slender Man comparison, anyone?
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1. The Weeping Angels
You know that phrase, "Blink and you'll miss it?" How about, "Blink and you're dead?"
In the same way that sleep kills in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, blinking makes you vulnerable to these aliens who only move when you're not looking.
"Don't blink," the Doctor (David Tennant) advises a young woman (Carey Mulligan) in Season 3's "Blink." "Don't blink," he reminds, or else the otherworldly assassins of stone are going to get you. Boo!
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