Creepiest/Most Evil Doctor Who Villans

[Mistah J]

If you can think of any other villans, please tell me.

[Guest]

I think that there are two answers to this.

Creepiest - The Weeping Angels. You can run from a Dalek or a Cyberman. Running away from one of the Angels is a guaranteed way to death.

Most Evil - The Master, quite easily. All of the others, on some level, believe themselves to be righteous and fair. The Master is simply malicious.

[Dan]

The Master is far and away the best, creepiest, most evil villain the show has ever seen. Unlike the Daleks or the Cybermen, who've had emotion bred out of them, the Master is making a conscious choice to do the things he does. And there's the "long lost best friend of the hero turned evil" angle to think about.

Furthermore, he's been played in many ways. Roger Delgado was smooth, charming and likable despite everything. Anthony Ainley was batshit crazy (when he wasn't being forced to play a mustache twirling pantomime villain). And John Simm ably took qualities from both. Monsters are all well and good, but give me a good criminal mastermind any day.

[Guest]

The Master is far and away the best, creepiest, most evil villain the show has ever seen. Unlike the Daleks or the Cybermen, who've had emotion bred out of them, the Master is making a conscious choice to do the things he does. And there's the "long lost best friend of the hero turned evil" angle to think about.

Furthermore, he's been played in many ways. Roger Delgado was smooth, charming and likable despite everything. Anthony Ainley was batshit crazy (when he wasn't being forced to play a mustache twirling pantomime villain). And John Simm ably took qualities from both. Monsters are all well and good, but give me a good criminal mastermind any day.

AND he killed a guy with a bean bag chair.

[Dan]

The Master is far and away the best, creepiest, most evil villain the show has ever seen. Unlike the Daleks or the Cybermen, who've had emotion bred out of them, the Master is making a conscious choice to do the things he does. And there's the "long lost best friend of the hero turned evil" angle to think about.

Furthermore, he's been played in many ways. Roger Delgado was smooth, charming and likable despite everything. Anthony Ainley was batshit crazy (when he wasn't being forced to play a mustache twirling pantomime villain). And John Simm ably took qualities from both. Monsters are all well and good, but give me a good criminal mastermind any day.

AND he killed a guy with a bean bag chair.

That's how you know he's eeeeeeeeeevil.

[Mistah J]

The Master is far and away the best, creepiest, most evil villain the show has ever seen. Unlike the Daleks or the Cybermen, who've had emotion bred out of them, the Master is making a conscious choice to do the things he does. And there's the "long lost best friend of the hero turned evil" angle to think about.

Furthermore, he's been played in many ways. Roger Delgado was smooth, charming and likable despite everything. Anthony Ainley was batshit crazy (when he wasn't being forced to play a mustache twirling pantomime villain). And John Simm ably took qualities from both. Monsters are all well and good, but give me a good criminal mastermind any day.

AND he killed a guy with a bean bag chair.

That's how you know he's eeeeeeeeeevil.

Yeah, I agree so far, but The Mara could really fuck up your mind.

[DantePD]

I'm going to go with The Master for the Most Evil. My only exposure to him outside of "The Five Doctors" is the new series, where John Simm is channeling the Joker to great effect. I put him in the same catergory as Joker. He's not a psychopath. He knows EXACTLY what he's doing, he knows it's wrong. He just dosen't give a damn. He likes killing people and that's it.

Creepy? The Gas Mask Zombies from The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Damn things just make my skin crawl.

[StacyD]

I will agree the Delgado Master is almighty creepy, but am I alone in being the only one to find Simm's portrayal of the Master molar-grindingly irritating? I can see what they were attempting to do but to me the Master is the Hannibal Lecter of Who villainy, not the Joker. Making the Master EDT (Evil David Tennant) was a serious misstep in my estimation. Yeah, I can get behind the whole 'well now he's using the Doctor's charm and whackiness against him' but the Master knows the Doctor of old. You'd think he'd be the one person to see through the Doctor's crap and know exactly what moves to make to counter him. Funny faces and jelly babies need not apply. The Master is not zany. When he shows up the first thing on everyone's mind shouldn't be 'Who is this loon?' but rather 'oh we need to get out of here now. Right now. Now.' Jacobi's Master was so wonderfully creepy, then he regenerated into Simm, who I initially viewed as 'Oh, post-regenerative trauma has him acting a bit wonky. He'll settle down. . .or not. . .oh dear God it's gonna go on like this. . .'

To me, the most frightening villains of Doctor Who are easily the Time Lords themselves. They condemn the Doctor for interfering with the development of other races whilst making their own adjustments to the space-time continuum (under the auspices of the Celestial Intervention Agency, not to mention effectively firing the first shot of the Time War in 'Genesis of the Daleks') they have ancient technology that they've largely forgotten the use for, living apart from the rest of the universe in their great glass dome. Their stated credo of noninterference is a source of some relief, but The Waters of Mars has me thinking a universe without the Time Lords might not be such a bad thing. . .

Stac

[slothian]

Whilst I don't know much of anything about the old series aside from what Richard/BOTI has taught me, could you not argue, re: The Master, that having a light-hearted/goofy facade makes the true intent of the character much darker when it's revealed. The Master spends almost every scene he has with the US President playing the fool until his true self is revealed, which leads to a fairly bad year by all accounts (being vague to avoid spoilers). At his core, he is callous in his evil/insanity; the EDT-thing is probably to play up the fact that he and The Doctor are differet sides of the same Timelord coin.

My point isn't helped by him dancing around the place to the Scissor Sisters, but damn is it entertaining! It does help that I'm a fan of John Simm from his other TV work, admittedly.

[Tom BITD]

I will agree the Delgado Master is almighty creepy, but am I alone in being the only one to find Simm's portrayal of the Master molar-grindingly irritating? I can see what they were attempting to do but to me the Master is the Hannibal Lecter of Who villainy, not the Joker. Making the Master EDT (Evil David Tennant) was a serious misstep in my estimation. Yeah, I can get behind the whole 'well now he's using the Doctor's charm and whackiness against him' but the Master knows the Doctor of old. You'd think he'd be the one person to see through the Doctor's crap and know exactly what moves to make to counter him. Funny faces and jelly babies need not apply. The Master is not zany. When he shows up the first thing on everyone's mind shouldn't be 'Who is this loon?' but rather 'oh we need to get out of here now. Right now. Now.' Jacobi's Master was so wonderfully creepy, then he regenerated into Simm, who I initially viewed as 'Oh, post-regenerative trauma has him acting a bit wonky. He'll settle down. . .or not. . .oh dear God it's gonna go on like this. . .'

Stace...you can add me to the people who hated John Simms' version of the Master with such a vengeance that it made me stop watching the new series...he was even more over-the-top than the Anthony Ainley 'Gay Pirate' version, and made it impossible for me to believe that anyone could accept him as a credible candidate for chimney sweep, let alone Prime Minister. When done well--under Delgado, and the first few stories of Ainley--no one should suspect The Master until it's too. fucking. late. He's all about subterfuge and guile and long-term planning, not about singing Scissor Sister songs and prancing about like a maniac. And this version of The Master--which only shows Russell T. Davies' actual lack of understanding of Who (as was his constant contention that no companion could ever want to travel with the Doctor except for sexual/romantic reasons)--was doubly insulting for two reasons:

1) It was a waste of John Simms as an actor, who has the chops to create a very disturbing, frightening character (and apparently wanted to do so, except that Davies kept insisting he play it 'like David, only moreso'); and

2) we saw a truly frightening and effective Master in the five or so minutes when Derek Jacobi realized who he was. That brief performance, when he realizes what he is and starts reveling in it, was what I wanted in The Master, not the faux-fag David Tennant manque we got.

[StacyD]

Stace...you can add me to the people who hated John Simms' version of the Master with such a vengeance that it made me stop watching the new series...he was even more over-the-top than the Anthony Ainley 'Gay Pirate' version, and made it impossible for me to believe that anyone could accept him as a credible candidate for chimney sweep, let alone Prime Minister. When done well--under Delgado, and the first few stories of Ainley--no one should suspect The Master until it's too. fucking. late. He's all about subterfuge and guile and long-term planning, not about singing Scissor Sister songs and prancing about like a maniac. And this version of The Master--which only shows Russell T. Davies' actual lack of understanding of Who (as was his constant contention that no companion could ever want to travel with the Doctor except for sexual/romantic reasons)--was doubly insulting for two reasons:

1) It was a waste of John Simms as an actor, who has the chops to create a very disturbing, frightening character (and apparently wanted to do so, except that Davies kept insisting he play it 'like David, only moreso'); and

2) we saw a truly frightening and effective Master in the five or so minutes when Derek Jacobi realized who he was. That brief performance, when he realizes what he is and starts reveling in it, was what I wanted in The Master, not the faux-fag David Tennant manque we got.

Again, this is no fault of John Simm and I can see the idea that Davies & Co. were putting across; that the Doctor's erratic nature and buffoonery can act as an effective weapon against his enemies. But it's completely wasted on the portrayal of the Master, who is not the Doctor's evil double (that role is filled by the Valeyard, who would've been a far far creepier 'my enemy is myself' archetype to use) but rather the Doctor's 'best enemy'. There's a fierce hatred between the two, but there's also a kind of mutual affection also. The Doctor wants to save his friend, who's become violently insane and dangerous and the Master wants to prove that he is better than the Doctor, that he is undeniably, indisputably right in his actions and his world view and he wants the Doctor to acknowledge him as being so. I will agree that Last of the Time Lords did pay off with a climax that'd been hinted at since The Mind of Evil with the Master powerless before an omnipotent Doctor, but apart from that and a few neat little bits of business the character was just wasted, a long-term plotter and a charismatic villain left a poor xerox of the main character. I hope The End of Time restores the Master to his former glory and that the war between these two strong-willed adversaries enters a new renaissance under Moffat.

Stac

[Dan]

Whilst I don't know much of anything about the old series aside from what Richard/BOTI has taught me, could you not argue, re: The Master, that having a light-hearted/goofy facade makes the true intent of the character much darker when it's revealed. The Master spends almost every scene he has with the US President playing the fool until his true self is revealed, which leads to a fairly bad year by all accounts (being vague to avoid spoilers). At his core, he is callous in his evil/insanity; the EDT-thing is probably to play up the fact that he and The Doctor are differet sides of the same Timelord coin.

This.

My point isn't helped by him dancing around the place to the Scissor Sisters, but damn is it entertaining!

Also this, if I'm being honest.

[StacyD]

I'd be lying if I said the bit with the Scissor Sisters wasn't amusing (and it turned me on to the group's music, along with the Rogue Traders 'Voodoo Child'). Mileage may vary, and I'll take Who with issues over certain other science fiction franchises who believe having fun ruins the depressive atmosphere.

I think we can all agree that Kate O'Mara's the Rani was a stone-cold fox. ^.^

Stac

[Mistah J]

Yeah, I'd have to agree I wasn't enamored of Simms's Master either. I grew up watching Delgado and Ainley<sp>? as the Master. When they brought an American to play him in the TV movie I was a little annoyed. If they had kept Jacoby's way of playing the Master, or told Simm to play it like Delgado I might have liked Simm as the Master more than I did. As it is, it was a bad choice of portrayal.

[David Gallagher]

Not the most evil but the most memorable for me is Tobias Vaughn. Kevin Stoney was just astounding

[NDCDN]

Mr Sin.

[Muppet]

The most evil for me would be the Master, but the creepiest would probably be a bit strange in that for me it is definitely evil Tom Baker in Meglos i don't know why but everytime i see him with all them cactus spines on him it makes me hair rise a bit/gives a wee shiver (not a shiver of wee, though maybe it could induce that). I think i must of seen it on original transmission and it freaked me out a bit at a young age

** oh and clowns, i £$"£%$^ hate clowns, evil beings all of them. The one in the greatest show in the galaxy is quite evil.

[NDCDN]

Hmmmm....no-one has mentioned the guy from City of Death. It seems he wasn't so evil.