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Big Bad Evil Guy

2020-05-21T17:24:55Z

2A02:8108:9740:24FF:115C:4E1D:426:3E0E: /* The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy */

[[Image:Sauron.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Tolkien|Sauron]], pretty much the archetypal "Dark Lord" common to fantasy and an inspiration to countless BBEGs. We love you big S! :D]]

The '''Big Bad Evil Guy''', typically shortened simply to '''Big Bad''' or '''BBEG''', is roleplaying gamer slang for the primary antagonist of an adventure or campaign. He is the one who is ultimately responsible for whatever shit his associates or minions do, and defeating him usually means the successful conclusion of a campaign (or at least a part of it). To ensure that this is sufficiently dramatic, [[DM]]s often make the BBEG a powerful character, making this final encounter something of a boss fight. The BBEGs seem to know this is coming, so they will usually construct a suitably impressive lair for the suitably dramatic confrontation to take place in.

Many of these fantasy villains often like to address themselves as 'The Dark Lord' or add 'Dark Lord' before their name, just in case you goblin-fondling peasants weren't paying attention to who they are.

Hilariously though, the [[Abaddon the Despoiler|sheer incompetence of some of these big bads]] [[Black Crusade|is at times a beauty to behold]], as their over-arrogant natures, the stupidity of their minions, or luck and/or skill on the part of their opposition means their plans fall apart dramatically. For example Harry Potter, despite being a teen and knowing as much magic as a mouse for most of the series, time and time again foiled Voldemort's plans. Despite having control of one of the key factions in 40k, [[Abaddon]] failed to get anything done until about 10,000 years (the fact that Abbadon hasn't been killed or overthrown yet is because Games Workshop won't let the story go in that direction). And yet how do they get by with so much failure when they would have roasted their henchmen alive if they had done the same? Simple; if you dare to mention it to their face about their joy-to-watch failures, YOU will be the one roasting alive!

Note the title of "Big Bad Evil GUY", as this character is most often a man (note the BBEG's in the list below). It is uncommon for the BBEGs to be women, a "Big Bad Evil Gal" if you will. Having the main antagonist be female is rarer than antagonists that are genderless or forces of nature (such as A.Is or natural disasters in disaster films). The reasons for this are... contentious, and not well explored. [[Skub|Some could say it's sexist against women by assuming that female villains will never be as effective as male villains, or it could be sexist against men by assuming that men are more evil than women, a combination or something else]]. Leaning towards the latter, a female Big Bad is more likely to be shown mercy or have it offered to her than her male counterpart, and is less likely to die or suffer for her crimes. If the hero is a man, it's also less likely that he will directly kill a Big Bad Evil Gal.

In most video games the BBEG is usually the final villain which you and maybe a couple of hanger-ons have to defeat to win the game. Whether it will be a hard fight or not depends how merciless the game designers are feeling.

[[Paladin]]s are automatically required to attempt to offer the BBEG mercy, [[derp | even if they have happily slaughtered hundreds of relatively less evil minions without mercy on their way to the BBEG's lair.]]

==Requirements to become a BBEG==
# Kill a lot of innocents (unimaginative, but kind of a must-do on the list; a tradition).
# Make big grandiose plans that also include big holes in them, just enough for someone to mess up if needs be.
# Surround yourself with minions and right-hand men. Your evil meter goes higher the more bodies you can pile up there.
# Have a characteristic to define you from the masses, like a menacing eye (Sauron), the ability to shoot lightning from your hands (Sidious) or an embarrassing track record of failure no-one can mistake (Abaddon).
# Perfect evil laugh and twisted sense of humour.
# Have a super bad-ass evil lair.
# [[Ahriman|Don't melt into goodness at the sight of baskets of kittens or puppies.]]
# Pretend you don't have any possible mental problems even if they are there.
# Beat up anyone that even looks like competition.
# [[Kharn|Be a dick to everyone, even your own side]] (tough love).
# IMPORTANT: Do something memorable. It is not enough to just do all of the above, you need to really do something unique to stand out from your peers. Sidious masterminded the complete destruction of the Jedi and the rise of the Sith to masters of the Galaxy. Sauron helped fuck up his world and make a lasting legacy of evil by creating so many evil races. Asdrubael Vect established the single most unpleasant city realm in the galaxy and allowed the Dark Eldar to flourish as a people. What will YOU do to get your enemies quaking in jealously and respect?
# You must wear pitch black armor that covers EVERY. PART. OF. YOUR. BODY. Your face must not be shown, not even once, because that makes you a mysterious badass. Bonus point if your armor is possessed or has some evil origin.
# Developing a bizarre taste of carrying human remains on you like some kind of fashionista. Examples include wearing a human skin cape or skulls hanging on you. Everyone must see it.

==The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy==
An honour bestowed only to the most truly deserving head honchos of villainkind, not just any hireling with ideas above their station can get here!

* '''Sauron''' ([[Lord of the Rings]]): The dude who originally created the term "Dark Lord" in modern high fantasy (though ironically only the second, lesser Dark Lord, see below) and was willing to get stuck into the action himself too. Pretty much an undead fallen angel who wants to bring order by tyrannically ruling Middle-earth. Once, the men of Númenor, one of the most powerful nations ever to rise in Middle-earth decided to kick his ass, and proceeded to lay siege to his fortress and capture him. After his capture he managed to corrupt the whole nation, made them worship his old boss (Morgoth, again see below) and got them to invade the Undying Lands of the Valar (angelic beings with god-like powers). As a result, Eru Ilúvatar himself (THE 'real' God and creator of the universe) was forced to intervene: he sank Númenor into the sea, and transformed the once flat planet into a globe, removing the Undying Lands from the plane altogether. This still wasn't sufficient to kill Sauron, who managed to come back - albeit highly weakened - to fuck shit up. His one weakness, the destruction of his ring, still required an incredible amount of good luck and perseverance to pull off, as arguably one of his most sinister powers was using the ring to control whoever possessed it; this fact alone was what kept him alive long after his body was destroyed, as nobody was willing to finish the job by destroying the ring until a crazed halfling stole it and fell into a volcano. For all his celebrity, for many years he was just a thrall of next entry.
* '''Melkor''' ([[The Silmarillion]]): If Sauron was the Antichrist, Melkor is Satan himself, quite literally in this case, with Eru being a parallel to the Christian God. More famous as Morgoth ("The Dark Enemy"), the most powerful of the Valar (basically angels, but with god-like powers and comparable in their roles and manners to Hellenic or Norse gods) and second only to Eru in terms of sheer power. His calls to fame are many, among them: destroying the planet's only light sources not once, but twice, torturing Elves (or Men, depending on source) badly enough to turn them into Orcs, creating Dragons, Wights and Werewolves, resisting a centuries-long siege, winning a battle that made the Battle of the Somme look like a picnic and ruling nearly the whole of Middle-earth with an iron fist. Most importantly, he managed to drive a wedge between Elves and Men, by turning most of mankind to darkness, instilling them with unnatural fear of death. He was only defeated when the whole host of the god-like Valar assaulted his fortress and captured him (this happened twice), in a battle so violent the whole Beleriand sank beneath the oceans - a land about the same size of Middle-earth. He ''still'' was not killed, but was thrown off the fucking planet, and is prophesied to return in an apocalyptic final battle. Fun fact: do you remember Sauron's One Ring, his creation, in which he put much of this power and how it was impossible to kill him without destroying the Ring? Well, it's canon that Morgoth's Ring is ''the whole Middle-earth''. Think about the implications. To be fair half of the Silmarilion is him getting weaker and weaker as he pours more and more of his powers into his creations, developing fear, losing the ability to exit change his appearance and finally being even unable to recover from a wound, dealt to him in single combat by the Elven High-king, and thus developing a limp.
* '''Darth Sidious''' ([[Star Wars]]): Creepy old freak who single-mindedly engineered the complete destruction of the Jedi Order and turned the galaxy on its head so he could rule it as a tyrant (and fend off the the Yuuzahn Vong; think Dark Eldar crossed with Tyranids and the Imperium's religious extremism) upon their inevitable [[Rape|arrival]] into galaxy... much like another famous [[Emperor]]. Unfortunately not everything [[Not as Planned|transpired]] according to his design). His favorite trick was using his force lightning to make toast (always too overdone).
* '''The Timeless One''' ([[Halo]]): AKA The Flood and The Gravemind, came from a race of nigh-omniscient eldritch abominations called the Precursors that came before the Universe was born. Single-handedly destroyed an interstellar [[The Culture|Culture]]-level civilization, the Forerunners, for insane sobbing cynical vengeful shits and giggles [[FAIL|after it led a genocide against the Precursors, their peaceful creators now gone insane with the god equivalent of PTSD]], all because the Precursors thought humans were less stuck up than the Forerunners, and is now coming back in the form of a horrifying fusion of The Thing, [[Tyranids]] and X-Parasite; so that he can force every single living thing in the Universe to "join" him in a very fucked up version of [[Communism]] via OM NOM NOMING their bodies and souls in eternal torment and pain. This Flood also acts as a computer virus in later stages, and The Gravemind's ultimate plan is to wipe the universe clean and start over, having gone way past over-the-top friendly fire several hundred thousand years late vengeance, when everyone responsible is already dead. Also proclaimed as the greatest [[Troll]] to come out of Sci-Fi since the introduction of [[Tzeentch]] and [[Eldrad]], considering how he manages to slowly and painfully rip apart the 10 million year old culture and beliefs of the Forerunners by forcing them to do things that are both hypocritical and outright contradictory of their pacifistic religion as well as tormenting and mind-raping the Forerunner's greatest heroes into deranged psychopaths. The most perfectionist of the lot and [[Get shit done|getting the most shit done.]]
* '''Dracula''' ([[Castlevania]]): Was the big bad in the majority of the Castlevania games (but subverted for the two recent games). How bad is he? Well... when even [[Aza'Gorod|Death]] considers him as "Boss", then it should tell you the power differences here in pure EVIL.
* '''Voldemort''' ([[Harry Potter]]): The big bad evil wizard of the HP setting Voldemort spent most of the series as an evil spirit before coming back in a body made from a mixture in a cauldron (as you do). He runs on a platform of genocide against muggles and anyone with muggle blood (even though he has muggle blood himself, but hey, this the BBEG list and hypocrisy is evil), so basically he's Wizard Hitler. He failed to kill the Boy Who Lived as a baby, then failed again against him as a teenager and was hoisted by his own petards against him as an adult while failing to take over a High School. And he failed twice to take over the wizarding world, making one wonder about his track record.
* '''Jadis, the White Witch''' ([[C. S. Lewis|The Chronicles of Narnia]]): This frigid bitch likes to freeze everything and will turn you to stone at the drop of a hat if you displease her. She's so evil in fact, that she managed to keep Santa Claus out for 1,000 years so that nobody could celebrate Christmas (<s>We remind you this is a children's story, so</s> this is a big fucking deal, even [http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Darkseid-vs.-Santa.jpg ''Darkseid'' couldn't pull that off]). She had eternal life after eating a cursed apple and froze Narnia into a state of perpetual winter to be her [[Magical Realm|perfect place]], but was challenged by a gang of motley kids and killed by the a Prince. Unlike most female villains, she actually gets a painful death - first she gets mauled to death by Aslan (who is literally Jesus in the form of a lion) then, [[Skub|if the theory that she came back in ''The Silver Chair'' as the Lady of the Green Kritle is true]], she was killed a second time by being impaled on a sword. Whichever theory is true, she dies painfully. In the past, on her original homeworld of Charn, she discovered a spell called the Deplorable Word that would slay all life with the sole exception of its speaker, and used it to kill every living thing on her own world so she could be Queen. That's right, a villain from a series of children's novels committed ''world-wide genocide''; given the debut of [[Warhammer Adventures]] that means C.S Lewis technically wrote books darker than a Warhammer setting.
* '''Nothing to see here, move along. -Your friendly neighborhood inquisitior. {{BLAM|'''''[[HERESY|HERESY!]]'''''}} '''{{BLAM|<nowiki>*</nowiki>BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*}}'''
*'''Dio Brando''' ([[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]): This is one of those rare cases where we get to see most of the Big Bad's rise to power, from a normal but sociopathic aristocratic brat to a hundred-year-old vampire able to stop time itself. Like most things in JJBA, Dio is famous for his bombastic personality and his ability to kick ass in a fight. And his minions, all quite powerful in their own unique ways, simply serve as appetizers for the sheer mindfuckery he's capable of whenever he activates his Stand, <s>The World</s> ZA WARUDO! Even after he's killed, enough of his minions survived to stir up trouble, including plots to try and reset the universe to revive him.
*'''[[Yawgmoth]], the Ineffable''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): This is the formerly ordinary human that turned [[Phyrexia]] from a backwater plane to the nightmarish world that we all knew and loved via turning the people of his home into nightmare zombie robots from hell (badass), and his will influencing the 'oil' on Phyrexia. After his apotheosis, the Father of Machines was able to take on Oldwalkers and come out on top. As such, he was too powerful (post apotheosis) to print, and some of the most powerful cards bear his name (Yawgmoth's Will and Yawgmoth's Bargain are both banned in legacy). Hell, until 2018 he wasn't even in card art. In 2019 we got a pre-apotheosis card.
*'''[[Nicol Bolas]]''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): The first Planeswalker to ever exist, and possibly the oldest Dragon in the multiverse. In terms of a singular bad guy, Nicol Bolas is currently the biggest one in Magic. (Phyrexia is more of an evil civilization and the Eldrazi <s>are a trio of cosmic horrors</s> is a cosmic horror that is sealed away, for now). Bolas has created countless planes, and destroyed twice as many. His signature ability is to shatter a person's psyche by simply touching them (which is an inborn ability.) Practically all of the major catastrophes that have happened in recent times in the Multiverse have been his doing or were the result of his meddling (such as the release of the [[Eldrazi]], Ugin's Death, and the Destruction of [[Amonkhet]]), with many of the more recent ones being part of his ultimate goal of obtaining the [[Pun Pun|Multiverse shaking power]] that a Planeswalker's Spark once granted. He also prefers to simply be called Nicol Bolas because once you have practically every title, they lose meaning.
*'''Lord Zedd''' (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers): The Emperor of Evil, Ruler of All He Sees, and the one who gave you nightmares as a child in the mid 90s. (Well him, and staying up past your bed time watching X-Files). He was the character that became the first real threat to the Power Rangers, and was only finally defeated by an intense letter writing campaign by your mom. Shame because even with the over acting he came off as a badass in those early episodes. Evil atrocities include: destroying the original Dinozords, slowly draining Tommy's (Green Ranger) powers, and trying to brainwash and marry your prepubescent crush Kimberly (Pink Ranger). Biggest flaws are: his schemes always backfiring and making the Rangers more powerful, his Zord Serpentera runs on 2 AA Batteries, and excessive maniacal laughing.

===Games Workshop===
*'''[[Nagash]]''' ([[Warhammer Fantasy Battles]], [[Age of Sigmar]]): Former [[Tomb King]] (via usurping the throne) from back when they were living humans, the inventor of necromancy, the one who caused undead factions to exist in the game and the greatest threat to the Warhammer world outside of the Chaos Gods, he even plans to supplant them. And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for [[Skaven|those meddling rats]] and Nurgle. Became the god of death with his own realm in AoS and despite [[Abbadon|numerous failures on his part]], Nagash is starting to bring the grim to the Nobledark of Age of Sigmar and even the Chaos Gods are wary of his plan.
*'''[[Malekith]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): The Witch King and Lord of the Druchii, [[Malekith]] is (or was) one of the less pompous of the Big Bads of Fantasy - On his throne in the center of his evil and cold domain of Naggaroth, Malekith could see the entirety of the world, no matter where it was, but his eyes were fixed at one point - Ulthuan and the throne of the [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)#Finubar.2C_The_Seafarer|Phoenix King]], which he will always strive towards. After 6,000 years of civil war, started after his mother Morathi fucked up his coronation, the [[The End Times|End Times]] reveals something incredible and unheard of among Big Bads - He was the good guy! Or, the gods had chosen him like he said they had and they decided to let him retake their test. Which he passed. After retaking Ulthuan and killing [[Tyrion]], who was possessed by the [[Widowmaker]], Malekith was chosen as the Phoenix/Eternity King. Now the leader of all elfkind, he is the only one who can assure the survival of the entirety of the elven race... Now fused with his pet dragon and allies with Tyrion duo to salvage elves/aelfs' souls from Slaanesh's stomach.
*'''[[Archaon]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): Elected bro for life of the Chaos Gods and doer of getting shit done and given the current state of [[Age of Sigmar|AoS]] arguably the most successful BBEG ever. Formerly a pious man until the machinations of Chaos made him go off the rails. [[Failbaddon]] lives in constant terror of Archaon getting fed up and coming to kick him out of existence.
*'''[[Asdrubael Vect]]''' ([[Warhammer 40k]]): More dangerous than Failbaddon could ever be even in his dreams, Vect passes the time causing countless millions to be tortured, just for his bored amusement. Master of dick moves and getting others to get others to do ''his'' dirty work. The only reason he hasn't conquered the galaxy is <s>Games Workshop's refusal to let the plot of 40K go in that direction</s> because endlessly dicking with the galaxy is infinitely more fun and sustainable than conquering it. It's implied that the reason Vect was removed from the codex as a playable character is because GW was that scared of Vect changing the status quo. He arranged a plan to let the oldcron [[Aza'Gorod|Nightbringer]] out of his box so he could talk about killing stuff with someone who could match his tally. Last seen arranging his death and restoration to unify the Dark Eldar under his banner after Ynnead's rise to prominence.
*'''[[Matt Ward]]''' ([[Games Workshop]]): Dark Lord of [[Fluff]] [[Rape]] and [[Codex]] Destruction, his plan to unleash his hordes of [[Ultramarine]] servants to take over the galaxy in a wave of blue and to subject the [[Grey Knights]] to eternal ass rape. He's also managed to defeat the [[C'tan]] and take control of the [[Necrons]] to aid his blue-clad minions. Few, if any, are as diabolical as this man! In fact, he was so much of an evil mastermind that none of his plans were ever really challenged, and so he quit his goddamn job. As in, literally. The Throne of Defilement of Fluff and [[Crunch]] sat vacant years, but then Ward returned.
*'''[[Horus|Fucking Horus]]''' (Warhammer 40k): The great bastard himself, Horus Lupercal. He turned the galaxy from a universe that, while grey, still had light at the end of the tunnel (what with the [[Primarch]] the [[Emperor]], the [[Space Marine Legions]], and the recovery of [[STC]]), to the [[Grimdark]], Black vs. Black "we are all going to fucking die, and [[Genestealer|that's]] [[Daemon|if]] [[Necrons|we're]] [[Dark Eldar|lucky]]" shithole we know it as now. Turned the Nine Legions of Traitor Astartes and butched his way to Holy Terra (A.K.A Earth after mad max, nuclear annihilation, and rebuilding the place from the ground up with THE GLORIOUS POWER OF INDUSTRY!), where he was only defeated by 40k space Jesus. Essentially [[Abbadon]] if he was more successful.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:supervillain.jpg|Now you know.
Image:bearcula.jpg
Image:dr no.jpg|Antagonists with crazy schemes of megalomaniac conquest and revenge upon the world, their lairs full of traps and minions...Ian Flemming might have been a good DM.
</gallery>

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Doctor Who

2020-05-21T16:49:57Z

2A02:8108:9740:24FF:115C:4E1D:426:3E0E: /* The Doctors */

[[Image:tardis.gif||center]]

'''Doctor Who''' is a long-running (and we do mean ''long''; it predates [[Star Trek]]) British science-fiction television show. And it is ''fantastic''. The Doctor, an immortal/regenerating alien that has been portrayed by a variety of stellar actors since the show's inception, travels through space and time in a <s>1960s-era police box</s> super-advanced, living spaceship called the TARDIS. Joined by a variety of companions (mostly female), they solve kinks in time and sees the wonders of the universe. It's also famous for the various monsters it created, most notably the Daleks (cyborg [[Imperium of Man|space Nazis]]) and the Cybermen (cyborg [[Tau|space Communists]])... and especially, the Silence, Weeping Angels, and those fuck terrifying gas mask zombies.
'''Don't blink!'''

==The Show==
Doctor Who is the longest ongoing sci-fi series in the history of television. It started in 1963 and ran until 1989 where it was temporarily frozen. It attempted a restart with a 1996 movie, but the circumstances were not yet ripe. The show finally started again in 2005 and is currently still running. Throughout this history the show has maintained the same continuity, thanks to the fact that the main protagonist Doctor Who (aka The Doctor) is an alien capable of "regeneration" upon the time of death or when they grow old. This rejuvenates and replaces all the cells in their body, effectively changing their appearance and somewhat their mannerisms and personality (because it also changes the brain). In this way, the series has been able to continue with different actors without resorting to "remakes" or "reimaginings" or "spinoffs" like Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. There were a couple of unsuccessful attempts at making spinoffs (One during the original run and one more recently, both based on the rather twee K-9 the tin dog), and three more successful, the recent Torchwood (on indefinite hiatus despite massive popularity... come on BBC, give us Season 5...), Sarah Jane Adventures (cancelled during its fifth year due to the death of the lead actress), and Class (ended after one season). The Sarah Jane Adventures depict the adventures and encounters with alien life that the ex-companion of the 3rd and 4th Doctor goes through with her alien-made son and his friends. Torchwood is Doctor Who with a large dose of GRIMDARK (if you're a horny 12 year old and just comedy for those who aren't, Children of Earth is when Torchwood becomes worth watching), along with a literally immortal lead character with a Charisma score so high that Alpenhorn-mancers turn gay for him within a sixteen mile radius. Everyone is gay for Captain Jack Harkness. He even has a [[Harkness_Test|sexuality test]] named after him. Class depicts what happens when the Doctor sets one of their long plans in motion, and then fucks off for a good while, letting all hell break loose in the meantime.

The main show is heavily episodic, with the Doctor travelling through time and space in their TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space) and landing in different historical periods on Earth and elsewhere in the universe, often when there is some sort of trouble or disturbance nearby. The Doctor protects the flow of history, preventing paradoxes and manipulations and attempts to stop evil and violence everywhere. This gains them the enmity of their own race, the Gallifreyan Time Lords who have pledged to use their time-travelling technology only to observe but not interfere. Even so they often ask the Doctor to act on their behalf. The Time Lords got a bit shit towards the end of the original run, and were unceremoniously killed off en masse during the gap between the original and new runs in an offscreen "Time War". As of the new revival series, there has been the theme of a season long arc within the episodes, which usually takes the shape of a recurring phrase or item, which is resolved in the two part finale at the end of the season.

The show has become iconic in British culture and science fiction fandom around the world for many reasons, amongst them:

*Having been around for fucking ever. Even if you were born during the window when Dr Who was not being made, the chances are you remember it from re-runs or carefully archived bootlegged copies made by [[Neckbeard|that one uncle you had]] (No, not that one).
*Cheesy low budgeted effects and monsters which gave the show a special charm and made it rely on story instead of flashy visuals.
*The TARDIS machine which has a "chameleon circuit" which allows it to change external appearance to fit into different environments where it "lands", its inside is much bigger than the outside, potentially infinite, thanks to the space-time technology it uses. The Doctor's TARDIS got its chameleon circuit busted and is permanently stuck in the iconic shape of a 60's British Police Box. And when we say iconic we mean ''the British police have to ask Doctor Who before they can use its likeness'', not the other way around.
*The character of The Doctor and their eccentric figure, with their alien traits like regeneration and a double heart.
*The show has been known to be aimed at a younger audience but scare them at the same time, so "hiding behind the sofa" has become a phrase connected to it.
*It also retains a big following amongst older fans because its two-sided nature; it is largely easy-going, tongue-in-cheek and comical but often turns to darker and serious tones, with good storytelling.
*Comical yet fearsome enemies like the Daleks (Genocidal [[Nazi]] Pepper-pots with death rays and the best E-VIL VOI-CES E-VER while exterminating FUCKING EVERYTHING, think of the already-overpowered and omnicidal [[Necron]]s mixed with Nazis and turned up to 11 billion), Sontarans (Huge domed heads, eyebrows and foreheads of a 4e [[Tiefling]]-basically Mr. Potato Head), Autons (Shop Dummies of Death), Weeping Angels (Scared the shit out of <s>children</s> everyone everywhere, don't ever blink) and memorable "supervillain" antagonists like The Master, a rival Time Lord, and the ever-wrinkly Davros, who's basically Palpatine, the Joker, Honsou, Abaddon, Trayzn the Infinite, Asdrubael Vect, & Kheradruakh the Decapitator all rolled into one.
*Hiding behind the sofa from the aforementioned Daleks was such a common event in the lives of several decades of children that the phrase "Hiding behind the sofa" has entered [[Britfag]] slang as a slightly tongue-in-cheek way of saying "Scared shitless".
*Various toys, gadgets and gags the Doctor uses, including a 'Sonic Screwdriver' tool and the use of Jelly Babies candy to distract or bribe people.
*The theme tune. You know it, you love it. Yes you do, stop lying.
*Not being your average Science-Fiction story. While many normal Space Opera-style Sci-Fi stories are samey and bland, Doctor Who has practically every kind of adventure imaginable taking place. From dinosaurs on a space ship to gas-masked zombies (who are creepy as all Hell) to literally going to hell, Doctor Who has it all.
*For being a thorn in the side of Mary Whitehouse for the entirety of their parallel existence because of how scary it got in the mid-70s.
*Constantly being political, but in an accessible way. Ever since it's inception it has had political overtones, be that support for the civil rights movement, hatred of Thatcher, or raising concerns about climate changes eventual effect on society and the world. it does this however, in a medium that is accessible for children, which allows it to present the message of the week in very different creative formats - The Happiness Patrol being the best example of this.

==The Doctors==
[[Image:Doctor_Who_alignments.jpg|250px|thumb|right|But compared to anyone else besides themself they are irrevocably Chaotic Good]]
Originally the Doctor could only regenerate 12 times, resulting in 13 different versions of themself (12 because David Tennant once managed to regenerate into themself) but during the 2013 Christmas special they managed to restart a new cycle (something that the Time Lords offered The Master in The Five Doctors all the way back in 1983.). They are currently in their God-Knows-Whateenth incarnation (We know of at least 30, counting John Hurt who doesn't get an official number for watch-the-damn-show reasons), of which at least 16 have taken up the mantel of 'The Doctor'. This means that they've had fifteen official actors so far. We really need to update that image.

*William Hartnell (1963-1966): A mysterious grumpy old professor. He didn't like to have humans tag along with him, but changed his mind after a while. Extremely intelligent (like all Doctors, duh), but also short-tempered. And a pretty good fighter, despite being old: Once beat up a big man in fisticuffs, while laughing. The Daleks and Cybermen were introduced during his time. (Evidently, one of the replacement actors for Hartnell is a fan of 40k. Duncan got a request to paint flayed wracks from Bradley, as Hartnell been died in 1975, Hurndall in 1983, so it couldn't be them.) Some of these episodes are actually lost to the ages due to BBC at the time thinking that there was no reason to keep footage after it was broadcast. "Have you no emotions, sir?"
* Patrick Troughton (1966-1969): A cosmic hobo. He liked music, and played the recorder. More of an anti-authority figure than his predecessor. Looked like a total idiot, made his enemies underestimate him, and ran away quite a lot. It was also during his time that his race, the Time Lords, was first introduced. At the end of Troughton's run they banished him from Gallifrey for breaking the [[Star Trek|Prime Directive]], and forced him to regeneration as punishment. The Great Intelligence was introduced along with the robotic yeti during this time period, as was UNIT (more on those guys later). He is also distinguished by the fact that he may just be the most influential Doctor ever - not only would the show have failed if he didn't succeed, but over half of the later actors have claimed inspiration from his performances when they first took the lead role. Most of these episodes are actually lost to the ages due to BBC at the time thinking that there was no reason to keep footage after it was broadcast. However, the BBC is now funnelling cash into animation studios to animate the lost episodes with the use of off-screen recordings, fan created recordings, and anything that they can scrape together to resurrect them. Some of them are even animated in colour! "Oh, my giddy aunt!".
* Jon Pertwee (1970-1974): A gentleman and a dandy. Spend a lot of time stuck on Earth, thanks to his stupid race putting him into exile (and not at all because the BBC decided to save money in the cash-strapped 70s by not set-building any more alien worlds, which cost more to look good on 625-line colour TV - ushered in by Pertwee - than they did on 405-line black & white). Could do Venusian Aikido, liked vintage cars, and at the end of the day was very much a less-womanizing, more science fiction-based James Bond. The Master, his arch-nemesis and a fellow Time Lord, was introduced: He tried to conquer the world with plastic chairs! We're not kidding. "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!"
* Tom Baker (1974-1981): The bohemian, a total weirdo, who liked candy and had an extremely long, very colourful scarf. Very good in playing a fool: to quote Count Scarlioni: "No one could be as stupid as he seemed". Could switch from manic to serious in a single moment. The most iconic Doctor from the old series, probably due to his long tenure. Davros, the creator of the Daleks and a total maniac, was introduced. Baker briefly married and then divorced Lalla Ward, who played his travelling companion; their marriage difficulties (On the question, which was the most terrible monster in Doctor Who, Ward quipped: "Tom Baker!"), alongside Baker's bad relationship with the incoming showrunner John Nathan-Turner, contributed to Baker's end in the role. "Just touch these two strands together, and the Daleks are finished... Have I that right?"
* Peter Davison (1981-1984): Created to be pretty much the complete opposite of his predecessor. Very much a human, very noble, liked cricket. Was also a complete sociopath. Davison was also the youngest actor in the role, until Matt Smith some 25 years later. Some people hated him just for replacing Tom Baker (seems like the Who fanbase never changes... unlike the lead). People died a ''lot'' during his time: Sometimes there was literally no one left but him and his companions - or, in case of his last story, only his companion. Is the father-in-law of David Tennant (Tenth Doctor), which means that The Doctor's Daughter played The Doctor's Daughter, and then became the Doctor's wife, meaning that the Doctor is his own Father in-law. God time-travel is confusing... "When did you last have the pleasure of smelling a flower, watching a sunset, eating a well-prepared meal? … For some people, small, beautiful events are what life is all about!"
* Colin Baker (1984-1986): An unstable maniac. More violent than the rest of his incarnations put together, shocking the audience by dumping executioners into acid baths, and having the genetic torture of his companion broadcast live on TV - and they both happened in the same episode! The whole show became bloodier during his time. Thought he was awesome, despite always wearing that awful coat. Generally regarded as being the worst Doctor, at least in the TV shows, but became much more awesome in the Big Finish audio. Had already played a minor character in the series before he was cast as the Doctor, making this the first instance of a casting choice of a Who veteran, as it were. "I shall beat it into submission... with my charm."
* Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989): Started like a goofy wacky fellow, but quickly became more serious later on. Seemed like a god walking among lesser people, quite literally destroyed a pantheon of gods, and could probably out-manipulate Tzeentch. During his time, they started to turn onto some big questions, like who the hell the Doctor actually ''is'', but then the show got cancelled even as ratings increased. Bummer. He could also seem be a dick to his companion (even if his motives were good), taking her to a circus despite being told about her fear of clowns, taking her to a house that she burned to the ground even when she requested not to, and manipulating her into a sense of hopelessness/depression so that he could slightly weaken a cosmic entity. Had the first CGI intro; all previous intros were generated using some combination of optics and analogue electronics. "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do."
* Paul McGann (1996): A romantic. Told people to make the best use of their limited time on this world and embrace their lives instead of being all emo and crying in a corner. But he also stated that he was half-human, which is a lie. The books and audio fleshed him out a bit. Too bad his movie didn't do well enough in America to spawn a new series <s>(damn you America!).</s> Also turned up unexpectedly, but to everyone's surprise, in a quick minisode in 2013 written by Steven Moffat, which, by a rare fan consensus, is considered superior to the movie in every fashion. It probably had something to do with the lack of that wig he had to wear in 1996... "I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there."
* John Hurt (''secret bonus Doctor'', 2013): The Doctor as he was fighting in the Time War, known by some as the "War Doctor". In setting chronology, this incarnation fits between McGann's and Eccleston's, but due to committing some horrible war crimes in order to end the Time War, he denied himself the title of "the Doctor" and later regenerations refused to acknowledge his existence; so much so that Matt Smith's version is still referred to in-universe as the Eleventh Doctor, even in mysterious prophecies, despite technically being the twelfth incarnation. He was a rather grim and serious character and quite put off by the perceived sillyness and light-heartedness of his successors. He was seen only briefly in the finale of season 7 played a major role in the 50th anniversary special, and had a set of audio adventures, but probably won't be seen again (RIP, John). "Doctor no more."
* Christopher Eccleston (2005): The only survivor of the horrible Time War, which will never be fully shown, but we have seen parts of. All the other Time Lords died in it ([[Just As Planned|or did they?]]). Dark and moody, probably because of the survivor's guilt, tended to hide it behind a horribly manic and happy outward appearance. Was pretty dependent on his friends and companions when it came to moral issues. Often found himself in a kind of fix where he couldn't do shit without blowing the hell out of the area around him (the guy dropped missiles on his own head to kill a damn alien threat near him for fucks sake). The first Doctor not to wear (particularly) weird clothes. "You were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I."
* David Tennant (2005-2010): Probably the outwardly happiest of all Doctors... or maybe the most Machiavellian. A total crackpot. Talks a lot of [[Star Trek|technobabble]], at like 90mph, sometimes of something completely unrelated. If Time Lords could have ADHD, he probably does. Attracts a lot of women. For some reason, one of the last monsters featured was EAT. Yeah, that EAT. Oh and, when he'll offer you a chance of redemption and says that he can help you, you ''bloody well'' should take that offer! Because he doesn't believe in second chances, nor in letting someone walk away (Unless you're an arch villain). "I've gotten too old, Wilf, and too clever; I don't kill people, but I get them to kill themselves." (you just read that entire paragraph in his voice, didn't you?) Alternatively a child on Christmas morning and the '''MASTER''' of the ''resting bitch face'' whilst he destroys you, or ''he watches you destroy yourself''. His performance was so good that BBC actually considered to end the series after his tenure because they thought that the show would fail without him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
* Matt Smith (2010-2013): The biggest nutjob since Tom Baker's Doctor. His stories tend to feature fuck-terrifying monsters and situations, including: an army of quantum abominations who only move when you're not looking at them, but logically should be of no threat to anyone who owns a time machine, being trapped in a false-awakening loop, a crack in the wall that ''eats reality,'' and an entire fucking race of Slendermen (whom you completely forget even exist when you aren't looking at one). Two of his assistants are insanely hot and another spends most of his time getting killed (and rest of the time being awesome). "I wear a bow-tie now; bow-ties are cool."
* Peter Capaldi (2013-2017): Something in between the Ninth and Fourth Doctors, making him an all-out sinister badass if you know anything about those Doctors. The actor has appeared twice in Doctor Who (well, once in Torchwood) in other roles before becoming the Doctor, which was explained as the Doctor trying to tell himself something. Thus far fans have imagined him in the role as the Doctor in the same style Peter Capaldi has appeared on the show The Thick of It, where he was exceptionally foul-mouthed. It turned out he's pretty damn hilarious. And Scottish. Quite eccentric, though. Apparently a lot of the female fans were [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzWOlMif-Fw outraged] that an older guy got the role. It says a lot that the closest thing he had to a catchphrase was "Shut up!". Despite that charming catchphrase, his character eventually got his head out of is arse, and then decided to try and make everyone see that we should all be kind to each other. Probably also the most stubborn and loyal Doctor ever, spending roughly 7000 years in a sort of prison to save the life of his companion. He was also the absolute GOD of speeches, with arguably his best episode being a 45 minute long monologue over the idea of grief. On top of that, he is the only Doctor thus far to bring the Master round to the side of good, has stopped Zygon terrorists with nothing but words, and he became the Lord-President of Gallifrey... again. His tenure as The Doctor had ginormous levels of character development, for both him, his companions, and his own rogues gallery. Did we mention that the actor is a massive Whoovian too?. "Hey! I'm going to be dead in a few hours, so before I go, let's have this out. You and me, once and for all. Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone — or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it's easy. It’s not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live — maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, maybe there’s no point in any of this at all, but it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it, and I will stand here doing it until it kills me. You're going to die, too, someday. When will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?"
* Jodie Whittaker: (2017-present)): The first female Doctor in canon. The precedent for Time Lords changing gender was established earlier during the Eleventh Doctor's era, when he mentions banging a Time Lord named the Corsair when he became a she. An actress from ''Broadchurch'' to go along with the producer of the same show. Meanwhile David Tennant fangirls [[butthurt|cry out in horror. For the third straight time in a decade.]] [[Rage|Oh and her actress is a]] [[Tumblr|feminist]]. A small minority of fans of the Doctor up until this point [[Skub|screamed out in horror at the top of their lungs]] when she was announced. Other fans simply shrugged and settled in for new ''Who'', gratified to know that they still weren't having to wait 16 years between episodes anymore. Her first season ranged between mediocre to just above average with an awesome season finale that made the Daleks the powerful threat they should have been during Twelve's tenure, where a Scout takes out an a whole armored British Platoon with no effort. However it seems that the BBC is trying to compete with [[Star Trek|Paramount, CBS]] and [[Star Wars|Disney]] on who can run a decades old franchise into the ground first, as regardless of quality, the following season wasn’t out until (very) early 2020. Making Capaldi's comments about "The Beeb" neglecting the show prophetic. Well this is typical for the BBC dramas. Long breaks between seasons will have the typical TV viewer lose interest. For fans it's hard to generate hype for a Sci-fi show that won't have another season for at least a year or more. And when that season did come out, it was divisive, to say the least, although almost everyone agrees that it was better than the previous season. Hey, at least Jack is back! "You want the whole universe. Someone who has seen it all, and that's me. I've lived longer, seen more, loved more, and lost more. I can share it all with you, anything you want to know about what you never had. Cause he's an idiot with a daughter who needs him. So let him go, and I will give you everything."
* "Doctor Ruth" - Another "missing" Doctor played by Jo Martin who debuted in Series 12 of the modern era. It's unknown where she fits in the timeline but she is confirmed to be a pre Hartnell Doctor. As it's now revealed The Doctor is "The Timeless Child" and isn't a Time Lord or from Gallifrey, but a being from a different universe [[grimdark|stolen and experimented on]] by the Time Lords, she is confirmed to be a real Doctor and not a trick or a misunderstanding. She is the result of fixing a plot hole created all the way back in the classic era episode "The Brain of Morbius". Where the battle between Four and the Time Lord war criminal Morbius revealed several Pre-Hartnell Doctors. Whether this was a plot hole worth fixing is a matter of [[Skub]] among fans. Something that other writers have tried to explain in side materials before now. An attempt to explain said plot hole was used earlier during the McCoy era to make him not just "an ordinary Time Lord" and restore mystery to the character with the incarnation called "The Other".

===Non-[[canon]] and other Doctors===
There have been a number of Doctors who were either the Doctor in strange circumstances, were later retconned or were never intended to be canon in the first place.

* Peter Cushing (1965-66): Yes, THAT Peter Cushing, the guy that played Grand Moff Tarkin in [[Star Wars]] and was so oldschool he once played alongside Laurel and Hardy. He played a human scientist called Dr. Who (yes, his last name is Who) in two movie-length remakes of early episodes featuring the Daleks. The movies were not very good, as one would expect when they [[wat|didn't use the iconic theme tune]], had [[HERESY|blaring jazz instead of electronic music]], were directed by someone who'd [[Extra Heresy|never actually watched Doctor Who]] and didn't even realise that the [[derp|Daleks' head lights are supposed to flash in modulation with their voices]], and rumours had it that Cushing was taking any work he could to keep his mind off the recent loss of his wife. He is easily the best thing about the movies, mind, and his sweet, grandfatherly Doctor is a flavour almost worth seeing if you don't mind wading through all the crap. It also featured a set of groovy-coloured Daleks (who had decorated their base with lava lamps!), which was considered silly because Daleks are supposed to be drab... at least until they returned in Matt Smith's run as a group of happy fascist murderous rainbows. This particular Doctor has the dubious honour of having successfully defeated the Daleks' latest world-domination plan by quite literally pointing at nothing and yelling "Look!"
* Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley (1999): The BBC has a tradition of making silly parodies of their shows for charity. Dr. Who got one called Doctor Who and the Curse of the Fatal Death, where the aforementioned actors played the Ninth through Twelfth Doctors in quick succession. Rowan Atkinson played the role magnificently as the Time Lord Blackadder. He announces to the Master that he is going to marry the only companion he ever ''had'', but the Master enlists the help of the Daleks to kill his archenemy once and for all. Belayed explanations, Zektronic energy, [[Nurgle|communication based on breaking wind]], a couple of [[Wat|Dalek chairs]], and LOTS of hijinks later, the Doctor burns through pretty much all of his regenerations in two minutes. It is a very funny short and should be watched, if only for the magnificent snark that only Rowan Atkinson can produce.
* Richard E. Grant (2003): Just a few years after playing the Tenth Doctor in Curse of the Fatal Death, Grant returned as the Ninth Doctor for the "webisode" Scream of the Shalka. This incarnation was angry, moody, looked like a [[vampire]], and compared to Sherlock Holmes by the actor himself (which is funny when you consider that Benedict Cumberbatch, of ''Sherlock'' fame, was in the running to be the Eleventh Doctor), but he was still a good man who left no monster rampaging (or at least unstudied) and no woman unsaved. He fought the exeptionally creepy Shalka, whom he defeated with... no, no spoilers, you wouldn't believe it anyway. He also traveled alongside none other than the Master, who was confined to an android body stuck in the TARDIS. They share homoerotic subtext to the level it becomes homoerotic SUPERtext; the author commented that this was intentional.
**As a side note, while they were making the special, some kid pretty much kicked down the door, ranted about how much he loved Doctor Who, and begged for a role in the short. The producers gave him one, causing the kid to all but explode. The kid's name? David Tennant.
* David Morrissey (2009): In the episode "The next Doctor", the 10th Doctor stumbles upon cybermen, cybermonkeys, and a man who calls himself the Doctor, played by David Morrissey, in 1851. He claims to be an incarnation of the gallifreyan time-traveler we have had for 50 years, but something is amiss; his memory is practically gone, his sonic screwdriver isn't sonic, and his TARDIS is a balloon. In the end, it turns out he was actually a regular person who absorbed all information the cybermen had about the Doctor and only thought he was him.

==Villains and Big Players==
Sufficed to say when you have hundreds of episodes of the week format over half a century of TV as well as tie in novels, comics, audio dramas and whanot with a a guy that can go anywhere and any when with an episode of the week mentality you'll build up quite a rogues gallery. Here are a few of the more notable groups and prominent non doctor characters.

* Daleks: Nazism distilled into octopus form riding around in pepper shakers. Each Dalek is a psychopathic genius riding around in what is basically it's own tank motivated by an unending hatred and desire to Exterminate every living thing that's not a Dalek. They're also notable for being as indestructible as the show needs them to be; that is to say they have been pushed out of a window one story up and exploded, died from baseball bat attack enhanced by a Macguffin of the week, and been spun around too much and died, but at the same time a single Dalek is capable of downloading the internet, and taking on a full platoon of highly trained soldiers. Yay for consistency!
** Davros: Creator of the Daleks (twice), Davros is one of the Doctor’s worst enemies. Startlingly similar to the God-Emperor of Mankind, as both are geniuses in genetics who regard their creations as their children (or tools), but Davros is a twisted evil genius who would destroy all life - hell, all reality - if given the chance, basically just so he could say that he did. His relationship with the Daleks is complicated, as while they don’t view him as a Dalek, they also acknowledge him as their creator and that they wouldn’t exist without him. As such, they tend to spare him and sometimes follow his orders, on occasion even letting him be the emperor, but may just as easily turn on and kill him if the situation arises - or they feel like it. Covertly created a second generation of white-and-gold "Imperial" daleks that actually did revere him as their emperor, after the first generation of grey-and-black "renegade" Daleks rejected him. Needless to say, these two different Dalek factions (arguably subraces, since Davros genetically engineered the first batch from the last survivors of his own species, the Kaleds, and the second batch from human bodies he stole on Necros) did not get along very well. As of Capaldis era he seems to have a very love-hate relationship with the Doctor that stems from 12 saving his life as a child... watch this space, there could be a long story in this.
* Cybermen: Borg before the Borg, an army of Cyborgs which seek to turn everyone else into a Cyborg. Absolutely fucking terrifying when done in the right way, and generic robots when not. There are some *amazing* audiobooks with them in, notably Spare Parts and The Silver Turk.
* Time Lords: Ancient Civilization who long ago mastered Time Travel. Insanely powerful scholarly types who are mostly True Neutral isolationists. Currently all dead. Again. Ffs. At times their assholes who are no better than the Daleks. Mostly because their Founding members were jerks too. The fact that these guys produced some of the Doctor's greatest enemies and their own is a testament to their assholery. Small wonder that the Doctor doesn't come home to visit very often.
** The Master: The arch-enemy of the Doctor. Once his childhood friend, the two have become bitter, almost flirtatious, enemies. The flirtatious part isn’t an exaggeration as when the Master regenerated into a woman she kissed the Doctor as soon as they met, though she was just messing with him - and didn’t take it kindly when the Doctor called Davros his greatest enemy. The various incarnations tend to be incredibly cunning and often devise schemes to either gain power or just fuck over the Doctor in anyway they please. Though there have been several moments where he seems to have died, the Master always manages to come back. This is what happens when you’re in a fifty-year old franchise and are one of its most iconic villains.
** The Rani: John Nathan Turners's attempt to make a 'mad scientist' character that wasn't an homicidal manic in a space wheelchair. Appeared in stories that are universally considered shit, and then never appeared again. Notable for being far cleverer than both The Master and The Doctor - she was top of her science classes.
** The Valeyard: If the Doctor was a villain, he’d become the Valeyard. Literally. The Valeyard is an evil incarnation of the Doctor with none of his good qualities and all of his intelligence. Showed up for one story arc which encompassed an entire season where the Doctor was on trial but once revealed to be the Doctor, everything changed and went pear shaped. Notable for being capable of scaring the Master. Hasn’t shown up again after his one story arc, despite being either the Doctor’s darker nature given form or just the Doctor turning evil, but hey, you never know...
*Sontarans: Mr Potato Men who live to fight and die in glorious combat for the Sontaran Empire. So balls to the walls crazy for war that they genetically designed themselves so that they can never retreat; their only weak spot being a probic vent at the back of their neck. Susceptible to tennis balls, however. They plan like Tzeentch itself designed them, fight like Khorne himself had designed them, and look like Nurgle himself had designed them. Now all that's missing is Slannesh. I guess that probic vent is used for more than just food then...
*Silurians: "Homo Reptilia" who owned the planet before humankind had evolved, and will rule it again! They went to hibernation/into space when the Moon came near to the Earth, and their scientists predicted that it would collide with them. And then it didn't. And they stayed sleeping. Almost all of their stories are the same - mining operations woke up a small colony; they fuck up all humans in a ten kilometre radius; The Doctor shows up; a peace settlement that will change the planet forever is written; and then the armed forces fuck things up for everyone and lots of people die. Actually serve to show a very cynical attitude towards humanity if you look at the subtext of most plots, particularly The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and The Silurians.
*Weeping Angels: Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. In essence, the scariest damned things to be spawned from the revival. They aren't statues and they aren't angels, they just look like them. When someone sees one, they turn to stone, but if you so much as blink, they can snap your neck in a fraction of a second or send you back in time to die, while they feed off your the life you could have lived. Worse, they don't have to appear solely as angels. They can be any kind of statue - though when one of them became the Statue of Liberty it kind of nullified the scare factor.

==Miniatures and Doctor Who==

Miniatures based on Doctor Who have been around since the Eighties. In fact, one of [[Citadel Miniatures|Citadel's]] earliest plastic kits was a Dalek and a Cyberman, and a few Who-inspired models were also manufactured and sold by [[Games Workshop]] itself. [[FASA]] also made a few models.

The license got picked up by Harlequin in the Eighties, who made a few minis as well as some skirmish rules. The game was a skirmish combat affair that didn't really fit the show. Harlequin went bust decades ago and the official license lapsed at some point, but BlackTree Miniatures "own a huge stock" of unsold models (or they own the moulds and simply claim they have a huge stock. No one really cares).

Character Options produced a version of Heroclix called Doctor Who Microuniverse. It wasn't really a game, and the minis were pretty awful pre-painted, 28mm-scale minis. It is now out of print, thankfully.

[[Warlord Games]] acquired the license for a Doctor Who miniatures game in 2016, which has yet to be released as of 2017. Gale Force Nine is also licensed to produce a card game based on the series.

==The Doctor Who Miniatures Game==

In part thanks to so many terribly produced games and models in the past, small firm Crooked Dice wrote a scenario based action adventure miniatures game and called it The Doctor Who Miniatures Game. Slick, clever, quick to play and simple to get in to, it went down very well amongst nerds.

Originally produced for fun, it found a great deal of popularity in the part of the UK wargames community who wore tweed and smoked pipes. Buoyed by this success, Crooked Dice approached the BBC for an official license. Auntie Beeb said it would cost ££££ for an official license, but they it was aluded that they could continue to produce the game provided no direct profit was made.

Crooked Dice give the Doctor Who Miniatures Game away for free, and also produce a more generic action-adventure scenario based game called 7TV (Seventies TV, you see). So in a weird reversal of the way things are done, the generic rules cost money but the specific rules are free.

Unfortunately Crooked Dice, who already was producing "look alike" miniatures - started selling hard copies of the rules. This led to problems for them when Warlord Games acquired the Doctor Who license to produce a Miniatures Game and Miniatures - and not only was their Ruleset dropped, but also their range of unofficial Miniatures.

==The RPGs==
[[Image:DoctorWho_charsheet.jpg|250px|thumb|right|sample charsheet from the Cubicle 7 game]]
There have been three Doctor Who RPGs published to date. The first was produced by FASA, using the Star Trek RPG system . The FASA game was notable for its strange use Doctor Who continuity and official fluff. For example, it overused the Celestial Intervention Agency from the The Deadly Assassin episode. An odd choice.

The Time Lord RPG was closer to the series and sported a simpler system, along with mechanics that tried to emulate the show (macguffins, bench thumping etc). Published by Virgin and written by Ian Marsh and Peter Darvill-Evans, it can easily be found on the web. Legendary in the Australian con scene for one of the fastest Total Party Kills ever (GM: "You're in a moving TARDIS..."; Players: "We get out.")

A new game was made in 2010 (and remade in 2011) by Cubicle 7 Entertainment (SLA Industries, Victoriana, Starblazer Adventures), this time in conjunction with the BBC and based on the most recent series. It is rules lite, and biased against combat (much like the teevee show itself). For example: initiative depends on what you're doing, and goes in this order: Talkers, Movers, Doers and Fighters. It is a much better game than the last two, in the sense that it has modern mechanics and actually reflects the show.

===External Links===

*[http://drwhominiatures.co.uk/index.html Doctor Who Minatures Game] website with free downloads. Regularly updated.

*[http://www.torsononline.com/hobbies/timelord/main.htm Time Lord RPG by Marsh] Now out of print, you can download this game for free.

*[http://shop.cubicle7store.com/Doctor-Who-Adventures-in-Time-and-Space-Core-Set Cubicle 7 RPG store (10th Doctor edition)] Cubicle7 doesn't have any promo material of it's own about the game. Odd.

*[http://shop.cubicle7store.com/epages/es113347.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es113347_shop/Products/CB71109 Cubicle 7 RPG store (11th Doctor edition)]

*http://tardis.wikia.com A wordy wiki if you want to read up on the series and lore.

[[category:Roleplaying]] [[category:Television]]

[https://fuckofferino.ga/wiki/Who_Wiki] This is to Doctor Who as 1d4chan is to 40k.