Doctor Who: Monsters And Villains

by Justin Richards

For over forty years, the Doctor has battled against the monsters and villains of the universe. This book brings together the best - or rather the worst - of his enemies. Discover why the Daleks were so deadly; how the Yeti invaded London; the secret of the Loch Ness Monster; and how the Cybermen have survived. Learn who the Master was, and - above all - how the Doctor defeated them all. Monsters and villains that have made Doctor Who the tremendous success it has been over the years. Whether you read it on or behind the sofa, this book provides a wealth of information about the and the galactic phenomenon that it is today.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Reference, Time Travel, Pop Culture, British Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2005

About the author

Justin Richards is a British writer. He has written many spin off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and he is Creative Director for the BBC Books range. He has also written for television, contributing to Five's soap opera Family Affairs. He is also the author of a series of crime novels for children about the Invisible Detective, and novels for older children. His Doctor Who novel The Burning was placed sixth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine's "Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel" category of 2000.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of all visual guides of BBC Doctor Who.
Ir shows the 9th Doctor and Rose, but almost the 70% of the Book is about the oldest Doctor's foes ! Like the Daleks. Very detail visuals about the Sliteen and other enemies of the 9th Doctor. It is a must for any Doctor Who Fan. This books are far more educational and complete than the Doctor Who encyclopedia, buy all the volumes with the great visuals and detail explanations rater than the "Encyclopedia"

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice A to Z guide of various monsters that have appeared in the show.

Published just after Series 1, it’s was a great way for new fans to learn more about the Doctor’s past.
For example The Autons feared in a Ninth and Third Doctor Stories.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice A-Z of various monsters, most of whom appeared in the first series of New Who. It was pretty cool because it linked Old Who to New Who and looked back at the older Doctors adventures as well.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written for the re-boot of Dr Who but covers most of the classic enemies going back to the very first series. All your favorites are here with info and background on some of the classic episodes they appeared in. As most of the original series are now available on Amazon Video this is a good reference guide to some of the high points of past Doctors escapades.

One thing that did strike me as funny while reading this book. The synopsis of some of the stories sounds like really, really bad SF. If you actually watch the shows it's not that bad at all so I think the writing of these parts could have been a lot better.

I'm filing this under non-fiction as it's not a novel :)

[Nicholas Richard Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who’s Television Revival in 2005 saw the dawning of a new age for us ‘Whovians’ as we hadn’t seen anything related to the series on the small screen since the 1996 TV Movie starring Paul Mcgann. However, the character and the show in general had survived throughout the ensuing years in a range of formats; including tie-in novels, comic books, audiobooks and documentaries, amongst other such things. Fans were unsurprisingly ecstatic when the show was renewed for revival in 2005 on British television, helmed by the great writer Russell T Davies and starring Christopher Ecclestone as the titular Doctor, alongside Billie Piper as companion Rose Tyler (who was most known for her brief pop music career in the late 90s).

At first, it wasn’t quite clear if the Revival series (now cited as NuWho) was going to contain plot elements and retain the vast history it had accumulated since the show first aired in 1963 with William Hartnell at the helm. This was confirmed to be true within the first few episodes with the Doctor talking to Rose about Galifrey (his home planet) and the inclusion of past enemies, including the Autons and Nestene Consciousness, the Cybermen (later to be seen in Season 2) and his most nefarious foes the Daleks, who it was said were responsible for the Time War; a recurring theme within the New Series.

‘Doctor Who – Monsters and Villains’ was published in 2005 by BBC Books and put together by Justin Richards, who has written scripts, novels and audiobooks for the franchise. It has an A-Z Contents listing of the Doctor’s most famous and renowned enemies, from the Autons to the Zygons, plus it has the honour of being the first official Doctor Who BBC Book published for the revived series, with similar themed books following its release schedule. This particular book is 96 pages long; incorporating the aforementiomed contents listing and index. Its theme of monsters and villains mainly focuses on the classic series due to the release being just after ‘Dalek’ was broadcast - very early in the revived era indeed. It has a main focus on the Cybermen and the Daleks, plus the Visitors aboard Platform One during the episode titled ‘The End of the World’ and the Slitheen. Also of interest is the incorporation of Silurians, Zygons and Ice Warriors; yet to be realised for this new generation of Whovians.

With each listing, there is a single page dedicated to each serial that the monster/villain appeared in. There is also a little bit of extra trivia connecting the serials and characters appearing in them, plus a few script extracts that are quite interesting. Also added is some background on the concept of such villains and how they initially came to be; early sketches and stills taken directly from the serials themselves. What I found particularly interesting was the concept art behind such characters as the Lady Cassandra and a few in-universe prose from Davies himself detailing the history of each character from a journalistic perspective. With the series just starting and new fans not necessarily having seen much of the Classic Series (if at all), I can see how such a small tome can be useful in digesting the history of major villains in small bite-size chunks with visual aids.

For those of us who have been fans of Doctor Who since the early 60’s onwards until the show’s cancellation in the late 80’s there is little that would be considered new material. However, for the Slitheen and creatures from the first few episodes of the Revived Series, there are a few gems that make this book worthy of being in your reading collection. Doctor Who lore is vast and wide, and has only just been embraced by a new generation. Having just watched the end of Series 11 with Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, looking at the entry for the Cybermen makes for an interesting look-back at how such an integral symbol of the New Series had only just made its mark; having only featured in a cameo up till this point. The same can be said of the Master who hadn’t even been considered as a returning villain as yet.

BBC Books have now published many more Doctor Who themed books and guides to the series, and this is an interesting look-back at the show’s beginnings when being targeted towards a fresh and modern audience. There is in fact a follow up book to this that incorporates ‘Enemies and Aliens’; published in the infancy of the Tenth Doctor’s tenure, plus the aforementioned companion guides to spacecrafts, companions/allies and alien worlds amongst others. These are certainly recommended for any Doctor Who memorabilia collector and the passing fan alike for reference guides and to explore the sheer history relating to just one aspect of a show that has stood the test of time.

[Toby Price]

Monsters and Villains was the first of three child oriented reference books, showcasing various creatures across the Whoniverse. Although highly outdated by 2020, this is surprisingly better than one would assume on first glance.
Inside, the book goes over many creatures, and a significant amount of them are from the Classic era of the show. Credit where credit is due, it's nice to see a BBC book for kids that doesn't dumb down the information inside - it gives a lot of detail, including appearances, transmission dates, and more.
Although now this information can be sourced online by us older fans, this I can see a kid under ten really enjoying.

If you are wondering, this books goes over the following monsters:
The Autons
The Cybermen
The Daleks
The Haemovores
The Ice Warrior
The Master
The Morbius Monster
The Adherents of the Repeated Meme
Cassandra
The Face of Boe
The Forest of Cheem
The Moxx of Balhoon
The Silurians and Sea Devils
The Slitheen
The Sontarans
The Yeti
The Zygons

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good collection of monsters and villians from the show. Covers from the start to more recent and is very detailed with lots of good photos.

[Leonardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Monsters and Villains" is a very entertaining and profusely illustrated introduction to the classic Doctor Who Villains (with a generous addition of new creatures from the early episodes of the moder Doctor Who first series). Every feature monster's appearance in the series is presented as reasonably-spoilers-free summaries of their appearances in the classic series, as well as details about their appearance and how their costumes or props were created. Of course, Daleks and Cybermen get most of the coverage, but Autons, Yeti, Silurians, Sontarans, and Ice Warriors are also featured. The Doctor's rival renegaed Time Lord, the Master is sadly only given only as much space as the Morbius Monster, and less than the Haemovores. The book closes with a two-page section on the Zygons, which perhaps are not the most famous of Doctor Who's enemies, but whose importance has certainly been rekindled with their major role in the 50th anniversary special. My only complaint of sorts is that so much space was given to the characters that are present on Platform One on the day the Earth finally died. Although the second episode of 9th Doctor was quite impressive and intelligent, many of the creatures that appeared there, and which take 14 pages of the book, have failed to make any further appearance in the past 9 years, so the information provided about them seems more like tidbits, than flesh and blood information about the Doctor Who extended universe. Nevertheless, this is a very entertaining book and an ideal introduction to the series.

[Elo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's was a nice, and short read, to be introduced, or re-introduced to some villains of the show.
Published during Christopher Eccleston's Doctor time, it only covers the monsters he and Rose encounter during the 1 season they have together.

Lots of them were already "old" monsters and villains during the first run of the show, so the books also presents the adventures where they were first encountered, with the 1st to 8th Doctors and his companions.
Each episode summary is taking one page, 2 or more more New!Who episodes.

The villains covered are the famous one, such as the Daleks and Cybermen, but also the Autons and The Slytheen family.
For each of them, there are a lot of facts to learn (if you're not already all-knowing on the subject) Enough for a book that size (not to big).

Good book if you want to learn or remember a bit about the first season (2005) villains. Do not expect an encyclopedia and you'll be happy.

[Gareth Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsters and villians was the first of a few books that was released at the start of the series one reboot to introduce old and new villians, it seems like it was only a few episodes into Christopher Eccleston's run as it only has the first few episodes of his. I enjoyed this book as Justin Richards knows his doctor who and has a great deal of history regarding the classic episodes and also has a lot of Patrick Troughton when they look at past monsters, which is great as in most Doctor who books he tends to get overlooked for the more popular classic doctors like Tom Baker. This also goes into details with making old and new monsters and the actors underneath the costumes.I'm not sure if this is out of print, but if you can track down a copy i'd advise it as it's a great must for any whovian or doctor who newbie who wants to catch up on monsters and a more detailed account of past doctors.

[Llama's rule (not Aaron Francis) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned that the Doctor who series has been going on for a long time and this tells you about his greatest friends and the most evil foes that he fased. I gave this book a 5 star because it tells you every thing you need to now about his enemys like the Daleks or the Mastereven the Cybermen!

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Villians are not really my reason for liking Doctor Who. I like the story arcs and character changes. That said, I enjoyed this book, it gives insight and detail into the monsters and villians. Gives some back story and traces the history within the show. Nice.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10