Best Of Who Awards: Top 5 Greatest Alien Races

Counting down the biggest and best of extraterresterial species that the world's favourite Time Lord has ever encountered...
Our Best Of Who awards continue today with a countdown of an unusual sort. Rather than looking at specific villains that have menaced the Doctor in Doctor Who's half-century history, today we're examining the unearthly creatures that the Gallifreyan hero has encountered during his travels in the TARDIS these past fifty years. Let's look, then, at the Top 5 Greatest Alien Races of Doctor Who in full...
5. THE TIME LORDS (1969-2010)- The Doctor's own race has an intriguing history of its own in the lore of Who. Their first appearance in the penultimate cliffhanger of The War Games evoked a profound air of mystery and fear about their mere presence, yet the Time Lords have had some ambitious representations through the years, The Deadly Assassin, Genesis Of The Daleks and The End Of Time particular highlights in the history of Gallifrey's inhabitants.
4. THE CYBERMEN (1966-2011)- When you stop for a moment to consider the legacy of the Cybermen, it's a rather terrifying prelude to what we as humans could become: emotionless men of metal, determined to perfect themselves with technology by the omission of the qualities which cause us pain yet encompass our very nature as a race. Sure, recent appearances of the Cyber-foes such as A Good Man Goes To War and Closing Time haven't quite done these legendary adversaries justice, yet with Neil Gaiman's The Last Cyberman to come in the Summer, we're sure for an iconic reboot...
3. THE MIDNIGHT CREATURE (2008)- This nameless alien menace formed the solitary threat we saw (or rather, never saw) in the titular planet Midnight in the fourth season of the show's reprisal in 2005. Perhaps the most cunning element of this alien, created by then-executive producer Russell T Davies, was that we as viewers of the bus the Tenth Doctor was trapped on never even glimpsed its shadow or visage, and as such we were left to speculate on it as it intelligently manipulated the bus' passengers to turn against the Time Lord. Few writers can bring us such a terrifying concept of horror without a single glimpse of the monster, so that's testament to Davies' writing alone!
2. THE SILURIANS (1970-2012)- Shrouded in secrecy, these previous inhabitants of the Earth have frequently risen up to menace the Doctor on his travels. The progression of the Silurian race from 1970's Jon Pertwee tale Doctor Who And The Silurians (yes, really!) into the sly and captivating detective character of Madame Vastra in A Good Man Goes To War and The Snowmen has given us a compelling species of aliens to watch who frequently display qualities which we as viewers can truly empathise with, relatable perceptions of home and ownership.
1. THE WEEPING ANGELS (2007-2012)- Right from the first appearance of these seemingly motionless creatures in Steven Moffat's 2008 introduction Blink, it became clear that the Weeping Angels would be a bonafida hit. And so they have been, these past few years, with the Moff cleverly only revealing slight hints at their mythology, keeping the hints of their origins to a miniscule limit. Again, just as much of the appeal of the Midnight creature was its shroudedness, so too does such appeal appear here, and it's what we don't see of the Angels until right at the last moment- as we discovered tragically with the Ponds' final fate-that proves the most terrifying and successful element of their appearances by far. Just remember one simple thing: Do. Not. Blink...
NEXT TIME: TOP 5 GREATEST DOCTORS