Nerdee Birdee | Doctor Who

The Enemies

There are 100+ different aliens featured in the Doctor Who universe. Below is a small list of some memorable enemies/aliens, most of which had threatened the life of other species, to the Doctor, or his companions. Most are admirable, some are just plain silly. There is a brief description of each and not too much info to avoid any spoilers.

Abzorbaloff

First appearance: "Love & Monsters" (2006)

Absorbs his victim's bodies and consciousness. The Abzorbaloff was based on the design of the winner of a children's competition to design a Doctor Who monster.

Adipose

First appearance: "Partners in Crime" (2008)

Squishy beings composed entirely of fat. By themselves they are harmless. However, they can be a bit frightening when you realize they're born from your own body and pop out of your tissue and start walking around.

Autons (Nestene Consciousness)

First appearance: "Spearhead from Space" (1970)

The Autons are the possessed form of the Nestene Consciousness. They Usually take the form of plastic dummies, the kind you see in shopping malls.

Beast

First appearance: "The Satan Pit" (2006)

An imprisoned creature stuck on the planet Krop Tor. Self-identifies himself as Satan.

Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17

First appearance: "The End of the World" (2005)

Addicted to surgery with only her face and brain intact after an accident ("The End of the World"). After the Earth is engulfed by its star and the end of the star's lifespan, she believes herself to be the "last human".

Cybermen

First appearance: "The Tenth Planet" (1966)

Augmented humans / humanoids (their origins vary). They forcefully augment humanoid species and have them join their ranks.

Daleks

First appearance: "The Daleks" (1963)

Heavily armored creatures (originally called "Kaleds"), hell-bent on universe domination. Huge antagonist of the Doctor.

Davros

First appearance: "Genesis of the Daleks" (1975)

Mad scientist. Creator of the Daleks, their current form, that is. Davros had given the Kaleds a means of survival by designing the machinery around them. They were then renamed "Daleks".

Dreg

First appearance: "Can You Hear Me?" (2020)

The mutated remains on Planet Orphan 55. These creatures were the evolutionary result of a dying planet wrecked with war.

Giant Maggots

First appearance: "The Green Death" (1973)

What's worse than maggots? Giant, mutant maggots!

Ice Warriors

First appearance: "The Ice Warriors" (1967)

Reptilian humanoids originating from the planet Mars. Usually the villains but on a few occasions they've actually allied with the Doctor.

Judoon

First appearance: "Smith and Jones" (2007)

Galactic police with meaty bodies and rhinoceros-like heads. Ho flo lo lo plo! Check out the Judoon language translator at judoon.com

Seen here is actor Derek George Jacobi (2007 master)

Master

First appearance: "Terror of the Autons" (1971)

Fellow Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor. Power hungry, tormented, and evil.

Midnight Entity

First appearance: "Midnight" (2008)

A life form living on the planet Midnight. Possesses bodies, able to repeat other's speech at first but eventually paralyzes its victims while forcing them to repeat after it. Not scary? Watch the episode ;)

Ood

First appearance: "Tardisode 8" (2006): eighth episode from the Tardisode mini-episodes

Sensitive, two-brained aliens who often communicated telepathically. Enslaved by humans at one point in history.

Pig slave

First appearance: "Daleks in Manhattan" (2007)

Genetically altered humans. Slaves to masters who made them half pig, half human.

Racnoss

Seen here is the Empress of the Racnoss

First appearance: "The Runaway Bride" (2006)

Half-arachnid, half-humanoid creatures. Their babies invaded planets to feed off all the life on them.

Silence

First appearance: "The Impossible Astronaut" (2011)

Under the orders of others, the Silence has done various tasks including manipulating Earth's human history to fit their own needs. You can see them with your own eyes, but once you look away, the memory of ever seeing them is erased.

Silurians

First appearance: "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (1970)

A reptilian-like species, some varying in appearances due to their breed. They were native to Earth and pre-dated humans.

Sisters of Plenitude

First appearance: "Tardisode 1" (2006): First episode from the Tardisode mini-episodes

Part Cat, part humanoid, part nun, part nurse. Aren't they cute?

Slitheen

First appearance: "Aliens of London" (2005)

The Slitheen were a family of the Raxacoricofallapatorian species. They were galactic criminals who came to Earth to salvage it for money.

The Snowmen (Great Intelligence)

First appearance: "The Abominable Snowmen" (1967)

The Snowmen, among other creatures were possessed by an entity called the Great Intelligence who tries to conquer the Earth.

Sontarans

First appearance: "The Time Warrior" (1973)

Created by the Kaveetch, the Sontarans are a race of clones. Militaristic in nature, they never turn down a war, and are eager to join in.

Thijarian

First appearance: "Demons of the Punjab" (2018)

An ancient species from the planet Thijar, these creatures communicate telepathically and at will can inflict pain upon communicating this way.

Time Lords

First appearance: "An Unearthly Child" (1963)

This episode marks the beginning of the Doctor Who franchise.
Humanoid alien race from the planet Gallifrey. They are extremely intelligent, sometimes viewing themselves as superior to other alien races. They are most known for their time travel technology.

Toclafane

First appearance: "The Sound of Drums" (2007)

Humans last physical form in one possible future. They were merely heads, woven electronically inside metal, weaponized, spherical balls.

Vashta Nerada

First appearance: "Silence in the Library" (2008)

Swarms of microscopic beings, capable of consuming their victim's entire bodies. They appear as shadow.

Weeping Angels

First appearance: "Blink" (2007)

Beings who live off the "time energy" of their victims by ripping you from your own space and time and sending you back to a different space and time. They only move when you're not looking at them.

Wirrn

First appearance: "The Ark in Space" (1975)

Insect-like species, living mostly in space. They resemble Earth's extremophiles in that they can live in extreme environments, have really tough bodies, and are hard to kill.

Zygons

First appearance: "Terror of the Zygons" (1975)

Tough humanoid species capable of mimicking other species and transforming others into Zygons. Their skin was covered in suckers, they have barbs on their hands, venom sacs in their tongues, and they could generate electricity from their heads!

The History

Created by: C. E. Webber, Sydney Newman, and Donald Wilson

Produced by: BBC Studios

Doctor Who is a British science fiction/fantasy franchise based on the television series which aired for the first time in 1963.

The series revolves around the adventures of an alien from the planet Gallifrey, known as a Time Lord, who calls himself "the Doctor".

The Doctor travels the universe in a time-traveling space ship called the TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimension in Space"). It resembles a blue police phone box popular in the 60's in Britain. The ship is designed to take on as much space on its exterior as a police phone box but its interior, the space is more like an apartment perhaps bigger. More times than not he is accompanied by a number of companions, humans (usually) who happen to cross his path. He and his companions take on adventures, fighting foes, and saving innocent people in need.

Upon death he is able to change his appearance as well as his personality in a process called regeneration. His memories remain intact. This process allows the show to cast different actors to portray him and the franchise to live on so long. In 2017, for the first time, a woman was cast to portray the doctor. See Jodie Whittaker

In 2023, former tenth doctor, David Tennant returned to play the series' fourteenth doctor for three special episodes, being replaced by the fifteenth incarnation of the Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, at the end of the specials.

The franchise has a few movies and spin-offs (Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, to name a few), as well as magazines, short stories, novelizations, novels, novellas, comics, audio plays, board games, card games, game books, pc games, action figures.

The Doctor

The Major Doctors: Main Appearances

The First Doctor

Portrayed by: William Hartnell

Nov 1963 - Oct 1966

Doctor Who

Portrayed by: Peter Cushing

"Dr. Who and the Daleks(1965)",
"Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D(1966)"

The Second Doctor

Portrayed by: Patrick Troughton

Oct 1966 - June 1969

The Third Doctor

Portrayed by: Jon Pertwee

Jan 1970 - June 1974

The Fourth Doctor

Portrayed by: Tom Baker

June 1974 - March 1981

The First Doctor

Portrayed by: Richard Hurndall

"The Five Doctors(1983)"

The Fifth Doctor

Portrayed by: Peter Davison

March 1981 - March 1984

Doctor Who as the Valeyard

Portrayed by: Michael Jayston

"The Trial of the Time Lord(1986)"

The Sixth Doctor

Portrayed by: Colin Baker

March 1984 - Dec 1986

The Seventh Doctor

Portrayed by: Sylvester McCoy

Sept 1987 - Dec 1989

The Eighth Doctor

Portrayed by: Paul McGann

"Doctor Who(the movie)(1996)"

The Ninth Doctor

Portrayed by: Christopher Eccleston

March 2005 - June 2005

The Tenth Doctor

Portrayed by: David Tennant

June 2005 - Jan 2010

The Eleventh Doctor

Portrayed by: Matt Smith

Jan 2010 - Dec 2013

The War Doctor

Portrayed by: John Hurt

"The Name of the Doctor(2013)",
"The Night of the Doctor(2013)",
"The Day of the Doctor(2013)"

The Twelfth Doctor

Portrayed by: Peter Capaldi

Dec 2013 - Dec 2017

The Thirteenth Doctor

Portrayed by: Jodie Whittaker

Dec 2017 - Oct 2022

The Fourteenth Doctor

Portrayed by: David Tennant

Nov 2023 - Dec 2023

The Fifteenth Doctor

Portrayed by: Ncuti Gatwa

Dec 2023 - present

The Doctor

Honorable Mentions

See Wikipedia's List of actors who have played the Doctor Geoffrey Hughes, Anthony Howell, Arabella Weir, Damian Lynch, David Banks, David Bradley, David Bradley, David Collings, David Troughton, David Warner, Frazer Hines, Geoffrey Bayldon, Ian Brooker, India Fisher, Joe Bassett, John Banks, John Guilor, Jon Culshaw, Katy Manning, Liz White, Melvyn Hayes, Michael Jones, Michael Sagar, Nicholas Briggs, Nick Scovell, Nicola Bryant, Peter Purves, Richard E. Grant, Steve Hill, Terry Molloy, Tim Treloar, Toby Jones, Trevor Martin, Trevor Martin, William Russell