The Whoniverse is full of one-hit wonders! These are the Doctor Who monsters who are long overdue a rematch…
The Rutans
The Rutans may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing of the Doctor Who monsters, but they’re an intriguing species. Created by Terrance Dicks for the creepy ‘Horror of Fang Rock,’ the Rutans were a shape-shifting race of Doctor Who monsters who were locked in a never-ending war with their sworn enemies the Sontarans.
Certainly, the Rutans were not the easiest of Doctor Who monsters to bring to life on screen. They resemble octopuses (or a cursed breed of Pokémon) with glowing orbs for heads and deadly tentacles which can kill in an instant by zapping the victim with millions of volts of electricity. This may be why the single Rutan in ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ spent the majority of the story walking around in human form – it was much easier than manipulating a puppet!
But this is the age of CGI and it wouldn’t take long to produce a convincing army of Rutans. Plus, any Doctor Who story that involves a shape-shifting villain has to be a winner. How about an adventure where the Doctor takes on an army of Donna Nobles, with no way of knowing who’s real and who’s Rutan? BBC, call us.
The Jagaroth
Coming up with a sequel to ‘City of Death‘ would be no easy task, particularly as this adventure is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time. But the story plays host to a vicious, war-like race known as the Jagaroth – spaghetti-headed, one-eyed beings with little regard for the lesser species (or indeed, any species which aren’t Jagaroth.)
And one of the most fascinating things about this particular race of Doctor Who monsters is the fact that they were in existence millions of years before life on Earth began, and were wiped out before the dawn of human civilisation. It would be interesting to do a prequel to ‘City of Death’ and actually find out more about the massive war that virtually destroyed their entire species. Could this take us into the Time Lord Victorious arc, which is set in the Dark Times of the universe? Or perhaps the Jagaroth could be pitted against other classic Doctor Who monsters such as the battle-obsessed Sontarans?
It may even be possible to recruit the actor Julian Glover, who played the last of the Jagaroth in ‘City of Death.’ Now that would be something…
The Mara
We’re breaking our own rules here slightly, as the Mara has already done battle with the Doctor on two occasions, but this was some 40 years ago and it would be great to see this snake-like menace on our screens once again.
However, unlike the other Doctor Who monsters on this list, the Mara is not a race but a single entity. And even though it has a physical form, it also exists inside people’s minds and dreams, and is capable of possession. Arguably, the Mara is one of Doctor Who‘s deadliest and creepiest baddies, and the closest thing to Satan the Doctor has ever fought (apart from Satan himself in ‘The Satan Pit…’)
Interestingly, the Mara did make a brief return for the Series 20 Blu-ray trailer, in which it was revealed that the creature was still inhabiting Tegan‘s mind. This could lead to a whole range of story-telling possibilities, depending on the canonicity of that particular minisode…
The Kandyman
The next of our Doctor Who monsters might be a little trickier to resurrect. For one thing, he was killed off at the end of ‘The Happiness Patrol,’ and for another, his inclusion in that particular adventure did cause some legal niggles for the production team owing to the Kandyman’s resemblance to Bertie Bassett of Liquorice All Sort fame.
But the Kandyman is arguably one of the best-remembered Doctor Who monsters from the Seventh Doctor‘s era, and for good reason. There’s never really been a Doctor Who baddie like him, who kills people with sweets that are too delicious for them to cope with. In ‘The Happiness Patrol,’ he operates out of the Kandy Kitchen, channelling some serious gingerbread cottage vibes from Hansel and Gretel, and indeed he wouldn’t look out of place in a Grimm Brothers fairy tale.
But as mentioned previously, the Kandyman met a sticky end in ‘The Happiness Patrol,’ so a rematch with the Doctor might have to take place in prequel form. Speaking of which, Big Finish has already done this in its first Ravenous box set with the Eighth Doctor, so perhaps a TV adaptation could be on the cards.
The Carrionites
These Doctor Who monsters made their one and only appearance in the Tenth Doctor episode ‘The Shakespeare Code,’ closely resembling the famous witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But of course, with this being Doctor Who, they weren’t simply witches; they were alien beings with their sights set on turning planet Earth into a Carrionite paradise.
Ultimately, the Time Lord defeated these Doctor Who monsters by trapping them inside a glass sphere. But they weren’t destroyed and the Carrionites are still very much alive inside this sphere, and are stowed safely aboard the TARDIS, so it wouldn’t be impossible for them to break free and take on the Doctor once more.
And what’s interesting about the Carrionites is that they use words to conjure up all manner of deadly dangers, and in ‘The Shakespeare Code’ they’re trying to coerce the famous bard into penning a speech that will free the Carrionite race from their prison. So this idea could certainly be expanded upon in a sequel adventure, perhaps with the Carrionites using the words of angry social media mobs to wreak havoc on planet Earth. (Although many social media platforms are doing a good job without them…)
So there we are. This is just a small selection of Doctor Who monsters who could be deserving of a sequel. Which baddies would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
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