Top Tier, Doctor Who: Top Villains
A Galaxy of Chaos
Welcome back to Feats N’ Faults, where we use our Tiered Point System to rank and record our favorite characters based on their achievements and deeds. For a more in depth look on how points are awarded, please check the About page. Below is our Tier System for quick reference.
We have a Leader Board shattering Feats N’ Faults this week. The Doctor is currently on the top of our leaderboard, accompanied by some of his companions. We never took the time to look at the villains that put them there! A hero is only as good as his villains, and the Doctor is no exception.
For a character that has been around as long as the Doctor, you would assume that he has a ton of recurring villains. That is simply not the case. You have dozens of returning monsters, yes, but not many singular villains. In the show's history, I only tracked 11 that appeared in more than one serial. I added in two more fan favorites just for fun. One iconic villain from the classic and one from the current era. It is time for those playing at home to get out those scorecards and see if you can rank these dastardly foes from least to greatest. The Master, Sutekh, Kandyman, Beep the Meep, The Black Guardian, The Rani, The Great Intelligence, Omega, Ashad, The Trickster, Tzim-Sha, Celestial Toymaker, and Davros!
Geez, what an iconic list! Last week had the fewest characters I have ever done, but this one has to be close to the most we have ever tracked in a single feed. Let me know in the comments how your lists look. I would love to know who you think will score the highest.
Let's Get Started!
Last Place, Kandyman: 4 FN’F Score (1988) 3 ep.
In last, we have the sweetest out of all the villains, Kandyman! I know he only showed up in one serial, but just look at him. This guy is iconic. The swirly eyes, hard coating, and the crumbly bottom that looks like it’s about to fall apart. It is just the perfect design for a classic Who rogue. Is he intimidating? Yes. Well, until he is beside the 7th Doctor. He is quick to cut this mad scientist down to the candy wrapper. With all the awful things this guy does, he is ultimately done in by some lemonade and an open oven. Not the most dignified end, but a pretty entertaining one. For us anyway.
12th Place, Beep the Meep: 9 FN’F Score (2023) 1 ep.
Those of you who watch Doctor Who might not know that Beep the Meep first appeared in the comics during the 80s. Unfortunately, we are only tracking his on-screen appearance. Still, with only one special, Meep did well. Meep has no faults to their name, allowing Meep to retain all those feats they struggled to get. If they had used more detail on what happened to Meep’s home planet or the battles that were waged, I could have added a couple more points. However, with the vagueness of the backstory, I just could not justify it. I would love for Beep to be a recurring character. So, if they ever show up again, I’ll be the first to tell you and update their score!
11th Place, Black Guardian: 12 FN’F Score (1979-1983) 13 ep.
The Black Guardian marks a low in the series for me. This might surprise many people, but the 5th Doctor is my least favorite. Now, I do not think there is such a thing as a “bad Doctor,” but poor Peter Davison is at the bottom of my list. I just was not a fan of the Tardis Team during this era. It was full of fighting and yelling and backstabbing. A lot of that was due to this menace here. The Black Guardian held Turlough captive. Tempting him with freedom if he tried to foil the Doctor. Having someone on the Tardis who is secretly an enemy is a neat idea, but every time I see it in practice, it makes me mad, and I hate it.
The Black Guardian might have scored low, but that does not mean he is weak. This is an excellent example of what we do here at Feats N’ Faults. If you were comparing these characters based solely on their power, BG would be near the top of the list. He is a universal god/deity that has almost unlimited power. He never uses it, though! He is trying to get one over on his counterpart, the White Guardian, and does not want to get caught. So, he hides behind a mortal and just yells at him constantly. BG could have just helped Turlough in his plot against the Doctor. He could have simply told him what to do or how to do things. BG just seemed to refuse every step along the way. That is what awarded him his fault and is why he scored so low. Complacently is the diminisher of FN’F Score. BG here is no exception.
10th Place, Ashad: 17 FN’F Score (2020-2022) 4 ep.
Talk about a waste of potential. Not with the score but just with the stories Ashad was in. I have always loved the Cybermen. They are my favorite Doctor Who villain of the week. It is about time that they got their own big baddie to differentiate from the rest. I think the concept is really neat, too. A Cyberman that only had half of his conversion. He is basically a cyberman but keeps emotions like pride and ambition. This leads him to control the Cyberium and all of the cybermen. He is a modern-day Frankenstein! With all this potential, he is turned into a glorified henchman for The Master. What a shame. I would love to see more of Ashad, but I doubt we will ever see this character again. Maybe one day.
9th Place, The Trickster: 28 FN’F Score (2007-2009) 6 ep.
Gotcha! Even huge Doctor Who fans might not know this villain. And the 10th Doctor even went up against him! The Trickster comes from the spin-off show “The Sarah Jane Adventures.” During these episodes, the Trickster alters timelines and even beats the Doctor in a crossover episode. Trickster is another god in the Doctor Who universe and feeds off of people’s potential. So, when he changes the timeline and makes Sarah Jane die as a child, he feeds off all those potential adventures and timelines. Pretty gnarly. In the end, The Trickster has no faults. He was defeated by a child, but that child did have Tardis energy flowing through him. So that’s something.
8th Place, Tzim-Sha: 46 FN’F Score (2018) 2 ep.
Tzim-Sha is a hustler. He only had two episodes and did not even show up until halfway through both of them. Yet, look at his score! A 46 is impressive on its own, and he did it in two episodes. To put that in perspective, he scored higher than Loki Prime and Martha Jones.
People initially complained about his look, but I like his design. They thought the teeth on his face looked silly, but I think they are pretty menacing. This species takes a tooth from each person they kill and embeds it in their head. Each tooth is a kill, and they were given a score for this. While I do not really want him to return, I do appreciate his character and think he is a fun villain for the first season of the 13th Doctor’s run.
7th Place, The Rani: 52 FN’F Score (1985-1987) 6 ep.
Welcome the first Timelord on our list. The Rani is another rogue Timelord who is more like a mad scientist. She likes to do biological experiments and mess with DNA and bacteria. As of now, she is the only other rogue Timelord that I know of besides the Doctor and Master. They all know each other too. Quite well. I almost picture a Harry Potter like situation with these three. Being troublesome students on Galifrey that grew up and left to pursue their own interests.
When I watched classic Who, I could have sworn that she had more episodes. She had a huge impact and lasting impression, yet we have not seen her in the revival era. Who knows what happened to Rani, but I am sure she will pop up again eventually.
6th Place, Omega: 56 FN’F Score (1972-1983) 8 ep.
Beating the Rani by just 4 points is the next Timelord on our list, Omega. Omega is the entire reason that Timelords exist. Sure, if you believe the timeless child, The Doctor is the reason they can regenerate. However, Omega is the reason that they can time travel. He sacrificed himself to create the energy necessary for such a feat. While he was waiting for his people to come and get him, he grew even more powerful. After realizing he was abandoned, he learned how to manipulate antimatter and create an entire world for himself. Then, he created life to serve him. In the end, Omega could not maintain a form made of matter. He eventually dissolved and exploded, leaving our realm forever. It was an unceremonial end for one of the greatest Timelords who ever lived.
5th Place, Celestial Toymaker: 111 FN’F Score (1966-2023) 5 ep.
Just look at that gap in years. They recently brought the Toymaker back for the anniversary specials. I loved it. I really like Neal Patrick Hariss and his portrayal of the Toymaker. It was fun and terrifying and everything I wanted. I wish the climax fit the character better. The Toymaker sitting on a big laser is not the most interesting thing to do with this guy. I would have much rather him have been in his toy domain fighting the Doctors, but I am sure it was a budget thing.
There is just something about his FN’F Score that I love. 111 just seems fitting for him. I cannot put my finger on why. It may be because of the rule of three or just because it looks fun! In any case, this man is a monster when it comes to our villain scores. Not many characters break into the hundreds; he did so in two stories. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
4th Place, Davros: 144 FN’F Score (1975-2023) 23 ep.
The Daleks are one of the most iconic villains in all of media. It is about time that we covered their creator, Davros. Davros is the reason I started covering the Doctor Who villains. Before I had any idea that I would turn this hobby into a substack, I did this for fun. I just wanted to see which Doctor was statistically the best, and it gave me a fun game to play as I watched some of the more boring episodes of Doctor Who. Once I finished, I realized I could use this system to compare everyone and everything! My first thought was, “I wonder how Davros would score?” The answer to that question is really well! He might not be first on our list, but a 144 FN’F Score is fantastic. For comparison, he scored higher than The Hulk, Poirot, and R2D2! He stole planets. Like, literally, he just plucked them out of the sky. He created the most advanced killing machines in the universe and captured the Doctor on multiple occasions. The universe would be under his thumb if the Doctor were not around. Davros is a legend, and with a score like that, we will see him on our leaderboard for many years to come.
3rd Place, Great Intelligence: 186 FN’F Score (1967-2013) 15 ep.
We finally made it to our top three. The Great Intelligence might not be a household name, but man did they conquer. It is not often that a villain beats our heroes. Yet GI here altered the entire universe by erasing the Doctor from existence. If it were not for Clara, that universe would still be that way. The revival story is not the only one GI was in. GI gets its roots way back during the 2nd Doctor’s era. Troughton and the Brigadier were the first to fight this menace. Back then, they controlled robot yetis instead of snowmen. It might sound silly, but just look at the devastation that they brought to the Doctor. They killed a version of Clara in front of him, Altered the entire universe by killing the Doctor, and broke poor Jamie’s sword. That last one might not seem like a big deal, but Jamie loved that sword! GI might not be a household name, but they scored better than many. They will surely be remembered here.
2nd Place, Sutekh: 267 FN’F Score (1975-2024) 6 ep.
We have another classic villain that no one thought would return in second place. Sutekh first appeared in a 4th Doctor serial with Tom Baker. Sutekh is the god of death who was imprisoned by the other members of its species. Sutekh was just too powerful and threatened the entire universe. Luckily, the 4th Doctor and Sarah Jane were able to keep him imprisoned… or so they thought. He clung to the side of the Tardis and slowly evolved, gaining power and planting little bombs on every planet the Doctor landed on.
Don’t give this guy too much credit, though. He was not able to take a simple collar off. He couldn’t even take an open hook off his collar. Crazy, that is how the Doctor beat him. His redesign is impressive, but he must have lost much of his mobility by sitting on the Tardis for all those years. Even with his humiliating defeat, Sutekh was able to break the 200s. An impressive feat that put him in the top 10 scorers in all of Feats N’ Faults, as of 2024.
1st Place, The Master: 383 FN’F Score (1971-2023) 1 Movie + 107 ep.
We have finally made it to our first place. Is anyone surprised? Of course, The Master is in 1st place. How could it go any other way? The guy had 107 episodes and a movie to earn points. That is more than some protagonists get. He is the Doctor’s opposite in every sense. It would be a bit disappointing if he weren’t our highest-scoring villain. I spoke about the Master in length in my Master Special Feats N’ Faults. If you are curious about how each iteration scored, you can check it out there.
Thank you to anyone who tuned into this extra-long Feats N’ Faults. How did your rankings turn out? Did you guess any of the order right? Let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe and tell a friend to stay current on all your favorite characters’ scores! I love this community we are building and am excited to share everything I have planned for the future.
Until Next Time!