Can You Name These "Doctor Who" Villains From One Screenshot?

ENTERTAINMENT

By: Ian Fortey

7 Min Quiz

Image: BBC One / BBC HD / BBC One HD

About This Quiz

Did you know "Doctor Who" has been around since 1963? It's one of the longest-lived shows ever, and even though it hasn't run non-stop that whole time, it never goes away for too long. Part of the brilliance of the show is the way it easily allows for a total cast-swap without having to explain away the change in faces. The Doctor can simply come back as another person. Different face, same basic being. Another aspect beloved by fans is the diversity and range of its villains. From the corny effects of the '60s to some lofty and incredibly ideas in the modern age, the Doctor has fought everything from robots to statues to gods and devils. At their best, the villains of "Doctor Who" dive into something dark and primal with a creepy sci-fi twist that makes them grotesque and reprehensible. Villains like The Master warped by madness or the Cybermen who strive to achieve their perverse brand of perfection. 

If you're a true Whovian then you'll surely recognize some of the Doctor's most famous enemies, but is there a chance you can guess all of them? One way to find out! Hop in your TARDIS and take the quiz.

Which of these villains is a Time Lord like Doctor Who?

The Master was once childhood friends with Doctor Who, which is a weird concept since the Doctor keeps coming back as new people but nevermind that. He went mad and now seeks to conquer the entire universe. Also, like the Doctor, he can come back as many other people, and not always as a man.

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Which of these are widely regarded as the most terrifying enemies in "Doctor Who" history?

The Weeping Angels look like typical statues you might find in a cemetery. They are quantum locked beings that are essentially frozen if they are being viewed. But the moment they are unseen, even in the blink of an eye, they can attack and wreak havoc.

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These enemies either upgrade you to become one of them or delete you. What are they?

Along with Daleks, the Cybermen are one of Doctor Who's most deadly villains. They are cyborgs that contain brains but have been stripped of emotion or free will, essentially destroying humanity n an effort to become streamlined and "perfect."

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Do you know which of these villains thought the Doctor could grant them immortality?

The Doctor initially flees the Family of Blood and it makes it seem like he fears them, but he was actually merciful. When he defeats them, he gruesomely grants their wishes by trapping each one in a punishment that will last for eternity.

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Someone once claimed this villain looks like a baked potato. What is it?

Supposedly the finest soldiers in the galaxy, Sontarans are cloned in groups, so they're all essentially the same being. Unfortunately for them, they have a vent on the back of their suits that is their one weak spot. Doctor Who exploits it with a tennis ball once.

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Do you know which of these aliens tried to take over Queen Elizabeth?

You can't get much weirder than Zygons when it comes to villains. These sucker-covered beasts hid out in Loch Ness and used the monster to do their bidding. They can also look like humans but they have to keep the actual human alive to do it.

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Which of these villains claimed to be pure human?

Lady Cassandra was a sheet of skin with a face which, as villains go, is pretty creative and weird. According to the show, she had extended her life through over 700 surgeries until all that was left was a brain in a jar and her skin, which needed regular moisturizing.

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Critics said this villain was a rip off of The Gentlemen from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Do you know it?

The English language is a funny thing. The Silence, if you were to Google them right now, might also show up as "The Silents" depending on what site you go to, thanks to the fact the words are homonyms. The official word from the show is that these things are called "Silence," though. They had the insidious ability to make you forget them as soon as you weren't looking at them.

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Do you know who these anthropomorphic cats are?

The Sisters of Plenitude were cats and nuns, so that's different. They ran a hospital where they cared for the sick and cured many diseases, until it was discovered they gained their knowledge by cloning and killing thousands of humans.

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This villain created an assassin to kill the Doctor. Who is it?

Madame Kovarian tried several times to eliminate the Doctor including going back in time to destroy the TARDIS, but all that did was destroy the universe, which the Doctor then had to fix. All in a day's work for a Time Lord.

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Which of these villains was said to be the inspiration for the Egyptian god Set?

Sutekh was an ancient being imprisoned in an Egyptian pyramid by his brother Horus. While many villains have nefarious motivations, it seemed like Sutekh's sole motivation was to hurt as many people as possible.

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This enemy disguised itself with human skin to blend in. What was it?

The Clockwork Robots try to blend into society by skinning their victims and them wearing the skin so they look normal. It doesn't always work out, but it beats walking around looking like a robot all the time.

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Which of these villains very noticeably fart on the show?

The Slitheen look a little goofy, but are intergalactic criminals who have been banned from their homeworld under penalty of death. In order to disguise themselves as human, they need to fit into human skins, a side effect of which is the expulsion of gases.

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On the show, which of these villains claimed to be the inspiration for Satan himself?

As villains go, few were ever more terrifying than the Beast, a demonic entity that claimed to have been the source for mythology about devils and demons throughout history. On the show, it was an effect that was voiced by Gabriel Woolf who has also voiced villains like Sutekh.

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Which of these creatures had no form at all?

The Midnight Entity came from the planet Midnight and had no form or even a real name. The Doctor had never heard of it before, so he knew nothing about it. It was the first time on the show the true nature of an enemy was never revealed or explored, rather left as a mystery.

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Which of these villains tried to bite Queen Victoria?

The werewolf, which is also referred to as a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform, is explained away as an infection that passes from victim to victim and has existed for years after it landed on Earth. It can be killed in the ways you'd expect, including silver bullets.

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These villains team up with The Silence to fight the Doctor at one point. Who are they?

The Headless Monks live up to their name and indeed cut their own heads off as a sign of their faith. Why doesn't that kill them? Don't ask! But they do keep their heads in boxes, where they eat rats.

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Which of these villains was played by the same actor who played Giles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Also known as Lassar, Mr. Finch was played by Anthony Stewart Head, most famous for playing Rupert Giles on "Buffy." Weirdly enough, before Buffy, Head was most well-known for an ongoing series of coffee commercials that played out like a soap opera.

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Which of these enemies was once enslaved by humans?

The Ood are a race of tentacle-faced aliens that are psychic and possess a pair of brains. They were normally peaceful, but apparently are easily corruptible by other beings that have psychic abilities, like the Beast.

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Do you know which of these villains was a manifestation of the Doctor's inner darkness?

Created by some space pollen, because why not, the Dream Lord was born from the Doctor's own mind and could control the dreams of others, even connecting people through their dreams. He had no power over the real world, though.

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Do you know which of these villains gave Time Lords their powers of time travel?

Alongside Rassilon, Omega was a Time Lord who harnessed the power of a black hole to give the Time Lords their incredible powers. He was pulled into an antimatter dimension and vowed revenge on the Time Lords he felt abandoned him there.

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This villain was basically a creepy Martian zombie. Can you name it?

An organism trapped in a Martian glacier, the Flood are basically water zombies from space. They need a host body, so they infect humans, but unlike a typical zombie movie in which the monster leaks blood and gore, these ones just drip a lot of water.

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Do you know which of these villains are actually microscopic?

The Vashta Nerada are a race of microscopic creatures that eat pretty much anything. According to the show, they live everywhere in the universe but usually not in dangerous numbers. The dust specks you see floating in sunlight are sometimes Vashta Nerada.

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These aliens were essentially highly-evolved spider people. What were they?

The Racnoss were said to be an ancient race that returned after billions of years away to devour mankind. There were hidden Racnoss eggs underground on Earth that would hatch and eat everyone, which makes you wonder how they knew people would ever show up on Earth if they left billions of years ago.

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This villain was the Master in a new body. Who is it?

Missy, short for Mistress, was the female version of the Master and somehow oddly more deranged than the Master, at least at first. In a super weird twist worthy of "Doctor Who," the Master and Missy end up killing one another at some point.

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Do you know which of these enemies are the evolution of humanity from a far distant future?

When they first appear, the Toclafan seem to just be mechanical spheres but later it is revealed that a shriveled human head is inside of them. They are human beings from trillions of years in the future, the final evolution of what our species will become.

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These villains are supposed to be the inspiration for human witches. Do you know their name?

In the Whoniverse, Carronates use a science-based on spoken words rather than mathematics, the result of which is they say things and it causes an effect. That effect is mistaken for magic and thus these villains were said to be the inspiration for witchcraft and witches.

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These beings were designed to be servants, but they also could kill. What are they?

Designed to look like angels, the Heavenly Host were essentially glorified information booth attendants. But because they were programmed to follow orders, if someone ordered them to kill they'd do that too. Robots are tricky like that.

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Pompeii's destruction was the result of which of these aliens?

The Pyrovile were beings of rock from another world who traveled to Earth and crashed at the site of Mount Vesuvius. They're responsible for the eruption that destroyed Pompeii and killed its inhabitants, who were infected by a kind of Pyrovile dust.

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James Bond actor Timothy Dalton portrayed which of these villains?

Like Doctor Who himself, Rassilon is a Time Lord. Unlike Doctor Who, Rassilon is an extreme jerk. A legendary figure in Time Lord history, Rassilon captured a black hole through which the Time Lords get their power. But then he also wanted to end all life in the universe except for Time Lords.

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Do you know which of these villains is the creator of the Daleks?

Despite looking as feeble as can be and also not being able to walk, Davros is pretty much immortal since every time he seems to die he pops up again later on. The character dates back to the 1970s on the show.

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The females of which species are known as "Sisters of the Water?"

The Saturnyn are some seriously unfortunate-looking fish people who come from a world that was destroyed by The Silence. In the episode in which they appear, they're essentially credited with being responsible for vampire mythology, since they drink blood and can't cast a reflection in a mirror.

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These villains fed on children as a kind of narcotic. Do you know them?

The 456 were aliens that siphoned chemicals off of human children as a kind of narcotic. The British government in the '60s gave them a dozen orphans in exchange for a flu vaccine, and then, when they returned, they demanded 10% of all children in exchange for not destroying mankind. Ouch.

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Do you know which of these villains could create scimitars out of their own bodies?

The Shadow Kin lived up to their name and were unable to exist in light. In fact, they had to be in a shadow to exist at all. They travel to Earth through some rifts in space/time to get revenge on The Doctor and some aliens from their home world.

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Which of these villains got their name from Shakespeare's "The Tempest?"

The Sycoraxs looked oddly like the Pokemon Cubone in that they both wear bone helmets. The species are supposed to be scavengers, and they borrowed their name from Sycorax, the mother of Caliban in Shakespeare's play.

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This villain claimed to have started the human race. Who is it?

Scaroth was the last of a race called the Jagaroth and was played by actor Julian Glover, who has been around forever and starred in every awesome franchise ever, from "James Bond" to "Star Wars" to "Game of Thrones" and even as the voice of Aragog in "Harry Potter."

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Which of these villains does Doctor Who compare to a sea urchin?

House is an entity that's essentially a small, living planet that lives in a pocket dimension. It feeds on the energy found in a TARDIS and therefore wants to feed on Doctor Who's TARDIS until he realizes it's the last one he'll ever find.

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Do you know which of these is a giant wasp?

The Vespirform were intergalactic, shape-shifting wasps that could look human if they wanted to, but also had a bad habit of killing people. Apparently, when they shapeshifted, they were totally genetically compatible with whatever they shifted into, and could even breed with the other species.

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Which of these villains had Yeti minions?

The origin of The Great Intelligence is not an easy one to figure out. In one episode we learn that it was a being from a universe that predated the one of the Time Lords and was basically an old-school kind of Time Lord. In another, it was a snowman made of alien snow that formed a psychic bond with a young boy. Who knows?

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You could make an easy argument that these are the show's most famous villains. What are they?

Daleks come from the planet Skaro and have a withered little humanoid inside of them and date all the way back to the 1960s making one of the most long-lived creations in TV history. They were so popular they appeared on a British postage stamp in 1999.

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