Aliens and monsters appearing in Big Finish Doctor Who, the audio play series based on Doctor Who.
Please keep in mind, although the series is officially part of the Whoniverse, it encompasses many different timelines / continuities and includes adaptations of existing works from the Doctor Who Expanded Universe. Due to Big Finish's sheer size and complexity, it also plays by the rules of the Doctor Who Expanded Universe: The TV series can at times contradict or overwrite the timelines described here, or adapt them for the televised continuity.
For a still-growing recap list of the audio dramas featuring these characters, feel free to look here.
Many, many aliens and monsters from the TV series return in the Big Finish audio plays. Starting from 2015, this includes monsters from the revival series as well. For the TV series tropes about (some of) these characters, see Doctor Who – Aliens and Monsters.
Voord (First Doctor, Eighth Doctor)
- The Bus Came Back: They return from a one-off appearance during "The Keys of Marinus".
Ice Warriors (Second Doctor, Third Doctor, Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor, Eighth Doctor, Tenth Doctor)
- Voiced by: Nicholas Briggs
- Disproportionate Retribution: Before "Cold War" established the Martian doctrine of "an attack on one is an attack on all", "Red Dawn" has some Ice Warriors try to murder the first human mission to Mars in response to the death of one of their own.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: In "Cold Vengeance", the Ice Warriors were minding their own business on an isolated planet, when mankind came strolling in. Humans having previously been in some nasty wars with the Ice Warriors, they picked a fight, which the Ice Warriors lost.
- Human Popsicle: Or Martian Popsicle, in their case. "Cold Vengeance" happens because a bunch of Ice Warriors were in stasis, and the ice they were in was scooped up by a megacorp.
Kraals (Fourth Doctor)
Aliens from a world ruined by their own greed, the Kraals once tried to invade Earth in the 70s (or maybe the 80s?) via a laborious scheme involving robots. The Fourth Doctor encounters them some years later, still at it again.
- Joke Character: No-one takes them or their plans seriously. Not even the Master, and he's working with them.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: Their main agents. Also, they have the odd Ridiculously Gallifreyan Robot or two.
Zygons (Fourth Doctor, Eighth Doctor)
Shapeshifting monsters, trying to take over Earth, after getting rid of all those humans milling about first.
- Becoming the Mask: In "Zygon Hunt", one of the Zygons comes to sympathise with the humans after spending so long in her disguise.
- ET Gave Us Wifi: Much of the fads of the 80s were the Zygons trying to get rid of us.
- Hostile Terraforming
- Just Eat Gilligan: In "Zygon Hunt", after the original plan to invade Earth has been ruined, the Doctor points out that there's nothing stopping the Zygons establishing a home on the planet they're on at the moment, which doesn't have a sentient species they'd need to kill first.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: The ones the Eighth Doctor encounters almost outright ask this.
Vardans (First Doctor, Second Doctor, Third Doctor, Fourth Doctor)
- The Bus Came Back: From a one-off enemy in the Fourth Doctor's tenure, to semi-recurring foe.
Sirens of Time (Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor, Seventh Doctor; indirect meetings with the Third Doctor, Fourth Doctor, Eighth Doctor, First Doctor, Second Doctor, Tenth Doctor)
The Sirens of Time are a species that manipulate an altar history in order to feed on the energy released by temporal distortions caused by changes in the timeline. They were the first enemy the Doctor encountered in the first Big Finish Doctor Who story and later make their comeback in The Legacy of Time, the release celebrating the 20th anniversary of Big Finish Doctor Who.
- The Assimilator: In The Avenues of Possibilities, one of the people the Sirens have manipulated begins to turn into a Siren herself.
- It's All About Me: The Sirens have no problem manipulating history to the extent of destroying it completely so long as they get a chance to feed.
- Manipulative Bastard: The Sirens successfully manipulate three different Doctors to change history to fulfil their own agenda.
- Our Sirens Are Different: They're never explicitly shown singing in a traditional sense, but in some way are able to lure the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors to specific time periods to fulfill their own agenda.
- Sadistic Choice: The Sirens attempt to force one of these on the Doctors; either they assist the Sirens by changing history again and thus become the Sirens' eternal slaves, or the Siren will kill the Fifth Doctor, erasing the Sixth and Seventh from history and causing even more chaos for them to feed on.
- Temporal Paradox: The Sirens feed on temporal paradoxes of varying degrees.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: In Collision Course, the Sirens' actions are intended to create the circumstances that will allow them to escape their prison before they have actually done so.
The Carrionites (Sixth Doctor)
Aliens from the Dark Times of the Universe who use word based science to perform "Witchcraft", eventually banished from the Universe by the Eternals, they managed to return in the 16th century with the help of a certain grief-stricken bard, before once again being banished with the help of the Doctor. Unfortunately, they once again managed to return...- Temporal Paradox: Attempt to kill the Doctor in his sixth incarnation after encountering him in his tenth, as well as essentially weaponising various other temporal paradoxes involved in this crisis.
Vashta Nerada (Fourth Doctor, Seventh Doctor, Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor)
- All Your Powers Combined: "Red Darkness" sees the Vashta Nerada merging with the Vermine, a species that is essentially a sentient shade of red, combining traits of both species to create the more dangerous Red Darkness.
- Gone Horribly Right: During the Time War experiments attempted to basically weaponise the Vashta Nerada by augmenting them in various ways, ranging from adapting them to cope in light to making them able to eat Dalekanium; the Doctor explicitly compared it to attempting to give a shark more teeth.
- It Can Think: When the Doctor initially explains the history of the Vashta Nerada, they are dismissed as just animals, but it soon becomes clear that they are strategists who actually come up with a plan to defeat their enemies.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: As with "Silence in the Library", people chopping down their forests sets the Vashta Narada into an unstoppable rage.
The Silence (UNIT, Seventh Doctor, Eighth Doctor)
Decades after their banishment from Earth, the Silence return to get revenge on Earth.- Lack of Imagination: According to one Silent, the species lack creative thought of their own, requiring others to come up with ideas and plans.
The Viyrans (Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor, Eighth Doctor)
An race created by ancient Well-Intentioned Extremist scientists, who created a number of very nasty biological weapons to use in their warfare. Realising that those viruses might end up destroying the universe after they were released in the destruction of Amethyst Station, they set the Viyrans the goal of wiping them all out again. Every single bit of them. Every single bit of potential of someone, somewhere, maybe mutating a gene that might cause them to develop the diseases. And if they can't destroy the virus, they'll gladly murder its carriers. First encounter the Fifth Doctor and Peri, then get mixed up thoroughly in Charley Pollard's life thanks to the Dalek Time Controller, before becoming antagonists to the Eighth Doctor and Molly. Originated in Nicholas Briggs' doodles when he was 14, then first showed up to bother Ten and Rose in the short prose story "No One Died" before finally emerging in Big Finish.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: May apply, depending on whether the Viyrans are machines or just heavily-programmed organic life forms.
- Ambiguous Robots: They're all a bit Straw Vulcan, and it's clear that they're constructs, but they can also feel pain.
- The Atoner: Travelling through time and space to destroy the viruses their creators once made.
- Bad Boss: To Charley Pollard, eventually, although she's willing to act as a sort of Silver Surfer to them.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Viyrans consider any price worth paying in order to stop the spread of the viruses.
- Cross Through: The events of The White Room were caused by the Charlotte Pollard story the Viyran Solution
- The Dreaded: The Viyrans are so powerful that they can even match the Daleks.
- Fake Memories: They have the technology to implant any memory into someone, which Charley gladly makes use of to remove all memories of herself from Six's mind, replacing her face and name with Mila's true appearance (as well as giving her a non-Viyran-related departure).
- He Knows Too Much: The Viyrans consider anyone with knowledge of the viruses they are tracking to be this, although they are willing to erase memories rather than just kill.
- Immune to Bullets: Shooting at the Viyrans with standard guns just prompts them to say "Please cease your hostile intentions", and even being shot by the Daleks just immobilised them for a few moments until they could put themselves back together.
- Knight Templar: The Viyrans are so dedicated to their mission that at one point their mission to destroy a virus nearly decimated the human race, based on a one in 54 billion chance that this virus would manifest seven hundred millennia in the future (and there was no sign that it was a particularly dangerous one anyway).
- Memory-Wiping Crew: The Viyrans are able to erase all recollection of the viruses they are tracking from survivors, but some minds are particularly hard to wipe; Peri and the Sixth Doctor only accepted the memory wipes once they were convinced of the necessity of it.
- Pulling Themselves Together: What happens when a Viyran is destroyed.
- Sanity Slippage: At one point the Viyrans became convinced that they had to wipe out all life because a temporal paradox meant that one of their viruses had essentially created life in this galaxy.
- The Slow Path: The Viyrans have spent millennia searching for the viruses, and appear to have no means of time travel themselves even if they're aware of the ability.
- Voice Changeling: How they can communicate with people, through A Form You Are Comfortable With.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Viyrans are willing to kill and even commit genocide in order to keep the viruses contained, but on some occasions the viruses they are trying to stop are relatively harmless or may never even manifest. The Doctor's companions, particularly Peri and Charley, occasionally manage to convince them otherwise.
The Ravenous
Supposedly the natural predators of Time Lords, these creatures were trapped in a bubble dimension until they were released by a woman who feared the coming Time War.
- Clown Species: The Ravenous are described as looking like clowns in their default state; the Doctor speculates that humanity adopted the image as part of a racial memory they were trying to make less scary.
- Monster Clown: Clowns that basically eat people; 'nuff said.
- Picky People Eater: The Ravenous can at least theoretically devour life energy from any living being, but the regenerative energy of Time Lords is particularly potent to them; the Doctor compares it to other life-forms just being a packet of crisps while Time Lords are a full steak dinner. Also, the Ravenous reject two particular Time Lords- the Nine/the Eleven and the Master in his human body- because the Time Lords' current conditions have in some way tainted the regeneration energy to make it unpalatable.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Ranveous were originally a peaceful race whose energy was drained off as part of the Master's latest efforts to gain power.
