Written by Doctor Squee (host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

On the Gallifrey Stands Podcast page, we took a poll of the best monsters in time for Halloween, here are your top 10 favourites…

10) The Green Death Maggots
What’s not to love in this adventure? We have the 3rd Doctor, unit, Jo Grant, a quarry and huge maggots! Classic Doctor Who at it’s best.

This is the only appearance for these fanged grubs but they are still a fan favourite on the bad guy list.

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9) The Gas Mask People
From the Empty Child / The Doctor Dances 2-parter that introduced us to one Captain Jack Harkness these are humans who have had gas masks fused to their faces due to some pesky nano genes.

Their iconic catchphrase ‘Are you my Mummy’ could be heard on playgrounds & even offices for weeks after these episodes were shown and they are still remembered as one of the best baddies 10 years after being in 2 episodes.

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8) Dimensional Beings
Another one hit wonder (so far) from last year’s series in the episode Flatline. A 2 dimensional being that can get you when you make contact with the floor, walls or ceiling, so a wee bit tricky to get away from! These guys are a good example of how a lot of Capaldi’s enemies have been darker in nature.

The episode itself is a big highlight of this series with some classic moments of the Tardis shrinking and Capaldi’s hand poking out like a flipper and the battle siege mode for the Tardis. I think a foe ripe for another appearance.

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7) The Zygons
First appeared alongside the 4th Doctor in Terror of the Zygons, these suckers (get it?) were a perfect idea. They take your appearance to infiltrate your life and take over the world one person at a time but they need to keep you alive to refresh the copy; giving the Doctor a way to save people.

It’s no wonder they were the choice of enemy to revive for the Day of the Doctor. As with any monster that was bought back they had an update, but if you look at the original story they featured in, it’s shows they didn’t need much changing to keep them looking good & scary.

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6) Absorbalof
Now, at some point I think the voters weren’t taking this survey completely seriously! But you voted for it, you get it. This write in on the poll of the scariest monsters is from the episode Love and Monsters. Not often featured in peoples favourite episodes to say the least.

This was the first attempt at a Doctor light episode in the new series and unlike Blink it didn’t really work. The monster in question, the Absorbalof was designed by a Blue Peter competition winning child. A good idea really, a creature who can absorb you into his body to feed off you. In execution they put ‘comedian’ Peter Kay (not actor Peter Kay as this episode amply proves) into a rubbish plastic suit and a loin cloth. I know I’m hiding it well, but I’m not a fan!

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5) Cybermen
There isn’t much new to say about these evergreen foes of the Doctor. They started way back in the 1st Doctors last adventure with effectively socks over their heads and boxes across their bellies with the trade mark handle bars of course and now we can see them I full metal glory with a new catchphrase ‘delete’… cause in new Who you need a catchphrase!

My Cybermen were the 80’s model who also had somewhat of a catchphrase ‘excellent’ and sounded like Darth Vader. As Russel T Davies pointed out when he bought them back they haven’t ever really had a consistent voice, it just feels like they have and in the new series they have done a good job to give them one and once again give them a sinister edge. Although for my money they are now running close to feeling a bit like a copy of the Borg that seemed inspired by them in a sort of snake eating its own tail kind of way. Still almost 50 years since we first saw them and they still make the grade… or the upgrade!

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4) The Kandyman
Well not one of my favourites, but one which is increasing in popularity in monster polls as the years go on.

This Bertie Bassett inspired miscreant appeared in the 7th Doctor adventure the Happiness Patrol and was defeated by being melted by lemonade…. You voted for it, you got it!

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3) Michael Grade
Just to prove that the Doctor faced enemies on and off the screen, this is the man who cancelled Doctor Who… twice!
When Michael Grade became the controller at the BBC the knives were out for our favourite TV show. He did not like it one bit. When he took over it was still getting fair ratings, but he soon sorted that out. The budget was cut, it was moved about in the schedules and the scripts became inconsistent at best. One of the most loved TV shows of all time, but because he didn’t like it he torpedoed it.

It took him a while to grind down the rating to the point where it wasn’t sustainable and a petition and a charity record (that might go best unmentioned) saved it for a while, but at the end of the day he got his way and the show was axed. It all worked out after the 2005 reboot, but as this top 3 entry proves, Whovians hold grudges!

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2) The Daleks
The infernal eternal nemesis of the Doctor, the Evil pepper pots that are the Daleks are in at number 2.
Dating back to the second ever adventure of Doctor Who back in the 60’s, they have been the most iconic creatures to ever point a plunger at the Timelord. When viewed in full in good light maybe not the scariest of enemies, but if you use shadowy lighting, an askew camera angle and their menacing voice then you can see how they made people run behind the sofa with the kids.

And how incredible is it that they still look virtually the same! I recently had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ one of 3 of the original Daleks left in the world from the original set (3 more and Hartnell has completed his mission!) and the eyes were a little more ping pong ball looking and the head a little rounder, but other than a few details like this they still look the same 50 years on.

Daleks, I give you a 5 plunge salute!

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1) The Weeping Angels
The only beings stone cold enough to knock the Daleks into number 2, The Weeping Angels. First seen in a Doctor light episode, ‘Blink’, like the Gas Mask people they were instantly in the nation’s conscience. And what scarier enemy than one that is all around us? Statues with angelic appearances became something a bit more sinister and Don’t Blink was another catchphrase that swept the planet!

They have only been in 6 episodes but it feels like so many more. Possibly one of their most memorable appearances since Blink was the emotional exit of the Ponds when they send them into the past in The Angels take Manhattan. So remember, ‘don’t turn your back, don’t look away & don’t blink!’

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Here’s what we at Indie Mac User think;

Lewis: My scariest Doctor Who villain has got to be Davros !!!! He’s so twisted to have created the Daleks and to think that using dead people as food is so disgustingly messed up!

Ben: Mine has got to be the Krillitane from School Reunion played by the brilliantly creepy Anthony Head !!

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My personal favourite has got to be The Master – because he is what would happen if the doctor had no sentiment or moral core but had all his knowledge.

For more talk of monsters this Halloween listen to this weeks Gallifrey Stands ‘Who-lloween 2: The Monsters’ here.

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Whats YOUR favourite? Tell us in the comment box below and at @IndieMacUser on Twitter 🙂