May Monster Madness #6 - My Favourite Dr Who Monsters

This is my sixth post for the  May Monster Madness Blog Hop.

Today, I'm devoting my post to a fandom I have been in since I was a little girl, Dr Who - yes, anyone under 20, there was a series way before the 00's revamp, and although CGI was unheard of, it spun a damn good yarn.

Dr Who had villians and heroes and it's fair share of monsters too, and today, I'm going to share my top 5 Dr Who monsters with you and tell you why I love 'em.

5. The Wirrn from The Ark In Space

I've mentioned these guys before in my May Monster Madness #5, and these are in my top DW monster list because they come straight out of insect behaviour 101. Anyone whose seen Life In The Undergrowth knows about parasitic wasps and how they can inject their larvae into the body of a living host to take it over. That a monster alien can do this to a sentient creature disturbs me more than any cutting, slashing killer.

4. Light from Ghost Light

Light is an almost all-powerful being, whose monstrousness lies in his instability and his complete disrespect for the life he is obsessed with cataloguing. Abuse of power is a theme that comes up in Dr Who from time to time and if ever there was an abuser, it is Light. He hates change, he hates evolution, because it puts his catalogue out of date and so his answer: not to start again, but to reduce life on Earth back to the primordial soup it was when he arrived on the planet. He's insidious, selfish and deserves to be on my list of favourites.


3.The Robots from The Robots of Death

Now, these might not sound like monsters, they're man made and humanoid, but it is their expressionlessness and lack of emotions that make them monsters for me. One of the characters from The Robots of Death, Poul, has a breakdown when the robots go rogue and start killing people, because he can't handle the fact that he is surrounded by mechanical men that look like him, but aren't, and that is the essence of why I find the robots so disturbing. They're on a par with clowns, where makeup hides real emotion, but in this case, they don't have any natural responses. The eeriest scene for me is where a damaged robot is lying on the ground, motionless except for its flailing fingers - it's like a corpse possessed.

2. Weeping Angels from Blink

I'm being very specific here. I loved the Weeping Angels in their original episode, Blink, because they were isolated, unknown and really, really creepy. Put them en masse, as they were in their second and third episodes and I think they lost some of their scariness. In Blink, they were perfect, it was even suggested at the end that they could be any shape of statue, not just an angel, and that is what was so damn frightening. They were a creature whose presence you could only track when not looking at them, because they did not move in sight of anyone and they could go from tragic stone figure to snarling evil in, literally, the blink of any eye. A really, really great monster straight out of nightmares, but they should not have been reused in hoards - more was not scarier.

1. The Fendahl from Image of the Fendahl

The creature of which I speak is not the wyrm-like creature in the background, although a Fendahleen is pretty scary, it is the Fendahl, the golden woman in the front (who, as an N.B. was played admirably by Wanda Ventham, a.k.a Benedict Cumberbatch's mum). The Fendahl is an ancient evil, something that can destroy all life on a planet, something so terrible, the Time Lords have been very naughty and sealed the planet where it originated in a time loop to destroy the Fendahl. I think it was very clever of the writers to gradually convert a woman into a stunning, but totally evil creature that wants to devour everything. This story of Dr Who left a lasting impression on me and still has the power to frighten me. When the Doctor tells people not to look in her eyes, I'm the one trying to watch the action while not looking all the way at the screen ;P!

So there they are, my top 5 monsters from DW - do you have any favourite Dr Who monsters? Do tell! :)

On another note: I'm an author, and I have dabbled in a few horror stories if you're interested. :)

When Darkness Beckons
This is a two story horror anthology created for All Hallows Read 2012.

Catcher of Souls by Natasha Duncan-Drake (that's me :))
When Miles sets foot inside The King James pub he knows instantly there is a disembodied soul in residence. The question is, is the soul responsible for the deaths that have happened on the site or were they just accidents. It's Miles' job to catch troublesome lost souls, but when danger strikes he might just be too late.

Some Things Are Stranger... by Sophie Duncan
Life is weird enough for Jake being a werewolf on the run from The Pagan Dawn, ruthless hunters determined to wipe out all 'paranormal scum'. His luck runs out when he is ambushed after a Halloween party and, badly injured, he dives into the shadows of an abandoned warehouse with his pursuers on his heels. Yet, Jake discovers that he is not alone and his encounter with a goofy hobo, who talks about the place being haunted, teaches him that all strangeness is relative.

Book of Darkness
An anthology of six short horror stories.

Sleep Of The Damned by Natasha Duncan-Drake
How would you cope if you discovered your bed was haunted?
BFF by Sophie Duncan
New school, new best friend, but Karen discovers that Debbie has dark secrets.
Just One Day by Sophie Duncan
The house was a bargain and Georgie loves it, so she's not going to listen to the strange warning from the estate agent that for one day every year it is haunted.
The Crosses We Bear by Natasha Duncan-Drake
Shitty hotel, shitty team bonding weekend, but Lyle gets more than he bargained for when he removes the cross from above his bed.
Queen Of My World by Sophie Duncan
Alfred doesn't like people very much, but he knows how to use them to get what he wants and he wants Lissy.
Dead Not Dying by Natasha Duncan-Drake
Jo loves her cat, Tigger, but when he comes back from near death, Jo eventually realises that it might actually have been death itself.

Sacrifice of An Angel (The Haward Mysteries #1)
"Harry Potter (with grownups) meets Midsommer Murders with a magical version of C.S.I. thrown in for good measure." - Rob Drake

The body of a beautiful girl dressed in a ceremonial robe is found on a playground roundabout. Her throat has been ripped out and the roundabout has a bad case of perpetual motion. Is it a ritualistic, magical murder or a setup to distract from the real killer?
That is the question that faces twins, Theo and Remy Haward, detectives in the Sorcerous Crimes Task Force (SeCT), when they are called to the scene in the middle of the night. That and who could commit such an act. They must find the answers to these and other questions, all the while ensuring the general public finds out nothing about the magical world that co-exists with their own.
 Armed with their experience, their natural magical abilities and their complimentary instincts, Remy and Theo must identify the victim, follow the evidence and find the killer before anyone else dies.

Death In The Family (Heritage Is Deadly #1)

When coming of age means a taste for blood.

Tom Franklin has never really understood his midnight cravings for red meat, he has merely accepted them. His Harley Street doctor had always diagnosed his symptoms as a protein deficiency, aggravated by stress, particularly the dark dreams that haunt his subconscious. Yet, when his dreams and consequently his symptoms escalate, Tom's parents are forced to reveal the truth: he isn't human. Tom discovers that the nightmarish images of dark places and even darker instincts are in fact repressed memories of his early childhood, and he must face the wild heritage from his birth-father, a ruthless vampire known only as Raxos.

Realising his memories are his only hope of controlling his awakening instincts, Tom returns to, Coombedown, the sleepy, Cornish village in which he was born, unknowing that the night-breed in his veins will lead him into danger.

"Death In The Family" is a young adult, paranormal novel.

Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles May Monster Madness Posts

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