Some Doctor Who villains are far more cunning than others...
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00:00When you stand back and look at Doctor Who, the majority of the villains weren't all
00:03powerful beings. They're scavengers, taking advantage of whatever's to hand to make
00:08the most of a bad situation. Maybe that makes them smart, maybe that makes them lazy, but
00:13whichever way you look at it, you'd be hard-pressed to find a scheme that wouldn't have succeeded
00:17if it wasn't for the Doctor's intervention.
00:20Pretty much every villain the Doctor has fought would have got away with it if it wasn't
00:24for the Doctor or their companion saving the day, and some of them had some pretty smarty
00:28pants plans that we're genuinely impressed by.
00:31And so, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with the 10 smartest villain
00:36plans in Doctor Who.
00:3810. Miss Foster in Partners in Crime
00:42One surefire way to invade without resistance is to trick the population into thinking you're
00:47offering them something they want. That's the tactic Matron Cephalia under the alias
00:51Miss Foster took when she was tasked with finding a new breeding world for the Adipose.
00:56She capitalised on 21st century Britain's obsession with weight loss by distributing
01:01a too-good-to-be-true diet pill, which, when activated, turned excess human fat into Adipose
01:06babies. It's the one plan on this list that, in fairness, might have actually benefited
01:11humanity under more agreeable conditions. Even the Doctor eventually admits that, as
01:16a diet plan, it sort of works. It's just a saying that using a level 5 planet for breeding
01:20is against galactic law.
01:22Besides, Miss Foster had her eyes on much more than just weight loss. Ultimately, she
01:26planned to conduct emergency pathogenesis, a process by which human hair, bones and organs
01:32can also be converted, leaving nothing left. The Doctor was able to put a stop to this
01:36scheme by hacking the Adipose computer, but there was nothing he could do about the Adipose
01:40that had already been bred, other than let them live, which means that, to quote the
01:45Doctor himself, Miss Foster's plan sort of worked.
01:489. The Master in Frontier in Space
01:52The first Master, brought to life so brilliantly by Roger Delgado, had his fair share of evil
01:57schemes, from the bonkers to the brilliant. Frontier in Space most definitely falls into
02:02the latter category. In the 26th century, humans and draconians are able to exist alongside
02:08each other, but allegations of attacks on each other's territory are rife, heightening
02:12tensions between the two species. The real culprit? The Commissioner of Sirius Four,
02:17otherwise known as The Master, who is using a hypnosound machine to disguise ogrons as
02:23humans and draconians, with the intention of provoking a full-scale war. As revealed
02:28at the serial's end, this is part of a larger plan to pave the way for a Dalek invasion.
02:33Unfortunately, we never got to see the end result of this invasion, nor how The Master's
02:38alliance with the Daleks ended. In fact, Frontier in Space marks Roger Delgado's final appearance
02:44in the show, as he would tragically pass away shortly after the story first broadcast.
02:49Had he been around to feature in the following season, we might have seen an even more audacious
02:53scheme from this Master. But as things stand, this is definitely his most ambitious.
02:598. The Ravagers in Flux The Ravagers, otherwise known as Swarm and
03:04Azure, were the overarching antagonists of Series 13, and for a while, we were constantly
03:09in the dark about their true motives. But if you stand back and look at it, their plan,
03:14though technically complex, is actually pretty simple. Swarm and Azure are the ultimate scavengers.
03:20Their initial aim is revenge against the Doctor and Division for imprisoning them all those
03:24years ago, and how do they go about doing this? By using Division's most powerful
03:28weapons against it. After building a psychotemporal bridge capable of reaching Division's base,
03:34the pair are able to complete the first part of their plan, doing away with head honcho
03:38Tectean. But their ultimate goal is to do away with all physical things in the universe.
03:43And how? By hijacking the Flux to create endless destruction, and then using time
03:48to replay that destruction in an endless loop. If the Doctor hadn't managed to, in turn, hijack
03:54the Flux against them, the Ravagers would have succeeded, with devastating results for the entire
03:59universe. 7. Scaroth in City of Death
04:03Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, is a textbook example of making the most of a bad situation.
04:09When his ship exploded in prehistoric Earth, he was flung into the Time Vortex,
04:13and split into twelve splinters of himself, scattered across Earth's history.
04:18Scaroth's twelfth incarnation found himself in Paris 1979, a period where, obviously,
04:23time travel had not yet developed. However, there was nothing to stop him developing it
04:28prematurely by conducting his own experiments. There was just one problem. Time travel
04:33aren't cheap. Fortunately, one of Scaroth's splinters, Captain Tencredi, was a contemporary
04:38of Leonardo da Vinci, who he persuaded to paint a further six copies of the Mona Lisa.
04:44These could then be sold in 1979 to make a quick buck. In the end, Scaroth's ultimate plan,
04:49to go back in time and prevent his ship from exploding, was sabotaged. But his plan was
04:53very smart, and he was successful in one regard. When most copies of the Mona Lisa are destroyed
04:58in a fire, including the original, the only copy left is one of Scaroth's fakes. So, in a sense,
05:05we've got him to thank for the fact that the painting still exists today.
05:08Number 6. Missy in Darkwater and Death in Heaven
05:12The Master's regeneration into a woman was the single biggest change to the character
05:17in their then 43-year history, as reflected by their temporary name change to Missy.
05:23But one thing that hadn't changed was the Master's knack for a good old evil plan.
05:28They'd always enjoyed playing the long game, but Missy took it to the extreme,
05:32establishing herself as a godlike figure and picking up the Doctor's departed friends
05:36in a series of cameos across Series 8, apparently set in heaven.
05:40Of course, the truth was a lot darker. In reality, this mystery location was the Nether Sphere,
05:46a cloud-based depository to which mines were uploaded and then downloaded into new Cyberman
05:52bodies. Missy's ultimate aim? To gift this new army of Cybermen to the Doctor as a birthday
05:58present. But there's more. How did the Doctor become embroiled in Missy's plan?
06:02Through his companion, Clara, whose partner, Danny, was killed in a hit and run. Might Missy
06:07have been the one driving the car to ensure the whole chain of events was set in motion?
06:11Well, it's not the most unlikely, headcanon.
06:14Number 5. Davros in Revelation of the Daleks
06:17Missy wasn't the only one to take advantage of dead bodies. In fact,
06:21the Doctor's other nemesis, Davros, got there first, fashioning a new race of Daleks from the
06:26dead. And having established himself as the head of Funeral Parlour, Tranquil Repose,
06:30he was perfectly placed to do so. This wasn't the only string to Davros' bow, however.
06:35Ever resourceful, he used the remains of these, well, remains, to create a revolutionary new
06:41food source for a famine-ridden galaxy. This, in turn, bolstered his reputation as the philanthropic
06:47Great Healer, which enabled him to continue his experiments unnoticed.
06:52Like Missy, Davros used one of the Doctor's friends to lure him to his lair, the late Arthur
06:56Stengos. Unlike Missy, however, his aims were more traditional, to conquer the universe.
07:02What he hadn't counted on was two of Tranquil Repose's staff allying themselves with the
07:07rival Renegade faction of Daleks who were intent on recapturing Davros and putting him on trial,
07:12a goal they managed to achieve. In the commotion, he lost his surviving hand,
07:16hence why the Davros of the Revival series has a metal gauntlet.
07:21Number 4. Rasmussen in Sleep No More
07:24Like Miss Foster, Professor Gagan Rasmussen came up with a solution to one of humanity's biggest
07:30bugbears. Sleep. The average person spends one third of their life sleeping. Rasmussen
07:34sought to do something about this, and he succeeded. His Morpheus Pods, named after
07:39the God of Dreams, were capable of concentrating a month of sleep into five minutes, enabling its
07:45user to spend more time awake. They were loved by some and hated by others, but you can't deny
07:50that, at least in principle, it's not a bad idea. But there was a catch. When we sleep,
07:55dust builds up in the corner of our eyes. The more time we spend asleep, the more this dust
07:59builds up, and the electronic signal transmitted by the Morpheus Pods had the unfortunate catch
08:04of giving this dust sentience, creating carnivorous sandmen. Which is kinda gross
08:09when you think about it. I mean, the sleepy dust in your eyes making creatures? Grim.
08:13The Doctor managed to destroy the Morpheus Pods which hadn't yet been distributed,
08:17and sought to destroy all those that had. But Rasmussen, being a genius,
08:21had one more trick up his sleeve. A video recording into which the Morpheus Signal
08:25was encoded, infecting anyone who watched it. And not just any video recording,
08:30but the very episode of Doctor Who we'd all just witnessed. Does anyone else feel
08:34like they need to rub their eyes now? Number 3. Rassilon in The Five Doctors
08:40As one of the founders of Timelord society, it was important that Rassilon maintained his
08:45position. So he designed a test, the Game of Rassilon, for anyone who sought to usurp him.
08:50And in fairness, it worked. The challenge? To reach Rassilon's tomb in the Death Zone
08:55on Gallifrey. The reward? The Ring of Rassilon, which bestows immortality upon its wearer.
09:01At least, this is what fellow Timelord Barusa understood the Game of Rassilon to be.
09:04But there was a catch. A riddle hidden in plain sight, inscribed on an obelisk in the tomb.
09:10To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose. Though that clearly sounds like a warning,
09:16Barusa doesn't care one bit, as he discovers the Ring of Rassilon does indeed grant its
09:21wearer immortality, albeit not in the form of perpetual regeneration, but perpetual imprisonment,
09:27as a mummified face on the side of Rassilon's sarcophagus.
09:30It is quite different to the other plans on this list, since the Doctor was quite
09:34happy to stand back and let it reach fruition, but no less ingenious.
09:39Number 2. The Slitheen in Aliens of London and World War 3
09:43Let's face it, the Slitheen are remembered for one thing, and one thing only. But forget about
09:47the flatulence, and you're left with a surprisingly canny, watertight plan.
09:52This was 21st Century Who's first fully-fledged alien invasion, and showrunner Russell T. Davis
09:58pulled out all the stops, coming up with something truly special.
10:01It all begins with that iconic shot of a spaceship scuffing the side of Big Ben before landing in
10:06the Thames. Its pilot? A spacesuit-clad pig, designed to distract from the real aliens while
10:12they establish themselves at the heart of the British government. Their goal? To incite enough
10:17panic to initiate a third world war, reducing the earth to smithereens which can then be sold
10:22on the black market. Meanwhile, they can escape in their spaceship, conveniently parked at the
10:27bottom of the Thames. Staging a fake alien invasion in order to further your own is a
10:31frankly genius move, and quite unlike anything we'd seen in the show up to this point.
10:36It's never going to be the thing the Slitheen are best remembered for,
10:39but that doesn't stop it from being a genuinely brilliant plan.
10:43Number 1. The Monks in The Monk Trilogy
10:46The Monks are, without a doubt, the most duplicitous race to ever stage an invasion
10:51of Earth. For one thing, they had a lot of practice, using a highly sophisticated
10:55simulation of the planet to determine the optimum time and place to strike.
11:00For another, they rule not through force, but through a contract of consent.
11:04Once they've secured that consent by, for example, posing as saviours in the face of
11:08a genuine natural catastrophe and framing their dominion as the least worst option,
11:13there's no going back. The Monks had used this strategy to conquer a multitude of planets,
11:17and Earth was no exception, the catastrophe in question being the accidental creation of
11:22a deadly bacteria. Fast forward six months and they've subjugated the planet's population.
11:27For a time, it seems even the Doctor has fallen under their spell. Ultimately,
11:31though, Bill is able to corrupt the Monks' propaganda with memories of her mother,
11:35but if it wasn't for that, their reign might never have ended.
11:38What's more, unlike most villains on this list, the Monks escaped with their lives,
11:42and arguably in a stronger position than they were in before.
11:45It's surely only a matter of time before they just strike again.
11:48And that concludes our list. If you think we missed any, then do let us know in the comments
11:52below, and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe, and tap that notification
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12:00and Instagram as well. I've been Ellie, with WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself,
12:05goodbye, sweeties.