The Nemeses
The Doctor has faced some memorable nemeses through time and space – many recurring through different generations. While some have been relatively easy and swift to deal with (such as Max Capricorn, the owner of the Titanic; Lady Cassandra, the last full-blooded human; the Empress of the Rancoss, a giant spider; the Ice Warriors from Mars; and the Sycorax from the planet Fire Trap), others have proven to be spine-chillingly iconic. While evil entities such as the ancient and influential Black Guardian have remained present throughout the Doctor Who mythology, there are four villains that truly invoke a terror response in fans.
The Weeping Angels are the most recent addition to this category of foe, having made their first appearance in 2007 with the Tenth Doctor. They’re predators taking the form of human-sized stone statues of angels, while sometimes also appearing as stone cherubims. The adult-sized versions are silent, while the cherubims giggle – and both advance upon their prey when their target blinks. They feed upon their victims by touching them once, and sending them into a Time Paradox – leaving them in a moment before their own birth, and consuming the energy that would have been generated had their victim had the opportunity to live their life.
The Weeping Angels are terrifying for three reasons. Firstly, it’s the way in which they creep up on victims while their gaze is averted. Secondly, it’s the way in which they simply erase people from time without any apparent motive. Thirdly, it’s the fact that stone statues are everywhere, and any one of them could be a Weeping Angel in waiting.
Then, there’s The Master. The Master is terrifying precisely because he’s a Time Lord, just like The Doctor. The Master can regenerate and manipulate space and time – but the difference is that The Master always seeks to use those powers for evil, rather than to help others. The Master seeks absolute power, wishes to conquer the universe, and would like to see the entire human race destroyed – simply because The Doctor is so fond of it.
The Master has been a core part of the Doctor Who story for many years – first appearing in 1971 (played by Roger Delgado) with the Third Doctor. The evil Time Lord has since been instrumental in a number of The Doctor’s own regenerations, having caused him mortal injury on many occasions. Having regenerated into versions played by such actors as Derek Jacobi, Eric Roberts, and John Simm, the character most recently transformed into Missy, played by Michelle Gomez.
The Cybermen are also a perennial foe of The Doctor, and have been responsible for many lethal confrontations. They’re a race of emotionless cyborgs who spread through the universe seeking other races to assimilate. This is how they ensure the expansion of their own race. They first appeared in 1966 with The First Doctor, and it’s this encounter that prompted his regeneration. The Cybermen have since encountered every Doctor except the Third, Eighth, Ninth, and War Doctors, and it’s their cold relentlessness that makes them particularly terrifying.
The most iconic of all the Doctor Who nemeses, though, is undoubtedly the Daleks. Like the Cybermen, these are cold, mechanical, relentless beings whose sole purpose is universal domination by any means necessary. They’re mutants from the planet Skaro, living inside drivable metallic containers equipped with a ray gun that allows them to vaporize their target at will. While the Cybermen desire something of a ‘hive mind’ expansion of their race, however, the Daleks seek something much more disturbing.
The Daleks are essentially the Nazis of the Doctor Who universe in that they seek absolute conformity to the will of their leader – Davros. Cybermen assimilate and effectively enslave, while Daleks simply destroy anything and everything that might undermine their desire to dominate the universe and all that live in it. They believe they are the superior race, and those that don’t conform face the haunting, robotic shriek of “Exterminate!”
The Daleks were one of the first enemies to face The First Doctor in 1963, and every Doctor since then – with the exception of the Eighth – has had to face them. Usually, more than once.
