Best of 2014 Awards: The Winners (Part 2)
Connor Johnston presents the second set of results from DWTV’s annual awards.
It’s time to continue revealing the results of DWTV’s annual awards celebrating the best of Doctor Who in the last twelve months as voted for by you. Today, the winners of Best Villain, Best Returning Monster, and Best New Monster of 2014.
Best Villain – The Mistress
To echo the words of Madame De Pompadour, “The monsters and the Doctor, it seems you cannot have one without the other.” Villains and evil, while so detrimental to reality, are indisputably integral to Doctor Who’s continued success. The villains of Doctor Who represent the greatness and the brilliance of the Doctor’s victories – further praising his constant and undying determination to protect the universe from these forces of destruction – not to mention (as the design quite ironically parallels) the exciting chaos that a great villain brings to an episode.
You’ll notice that for an entire, uninterrupted series we have remarkably a low amount of antagonists that fit into the typical villain category – and that’s simply due to the fact the way television writes enemies in the last few years have evolved. Being ‘evil’ is hardly as black and white anymore. While morally ambiguous foes make for rich storytelling – sometimes indulging in good old fashioned sinister villains can be just a rewarding. The Half-Face Man, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Ms Delphox and Gus were all individuals oozing with villainous ingenuity.
However, it seems no one ever stood a chance in depriving “The Queen of Evil” of her second award. Judging by the results, a 72.92% voting majority, ‘winning’ hardly seems enough to describe the annihilation witnessed. “Mistress” claim your prize! And remember to say something nice…
Well before her true identity was revealed, back when Mrs ‘Gatekeeper’ was still a mystery to all, the fandom was in a sense tormented with many scattered cameos from the character throughout the series. Funnily enough, it wasn’t until “Dark Water” that there was any solid evidence that blatantly labelled Missy a villain – yet with the character’s remarkable and menacing presence there was never any doubt.
In her most recent appearances in Series 8, the qualities that stench of villainous nature is the Mistress’ totally lack of reverence when it came to life – ironic really given the nature of her profession. Shown through her disposable attitude towards Dr. Chang, Osgood, Kate, Seb and almost Clara – Missy was never swayed by the darkness of murder – In fact, she indulged in it! The lack of remorse, hesitation and respect for life is what I believe truly has earn her the award for the best villain of 2014.
Best Returning Monster – Clockwork Droids
While Series 8 was the first series since 2005 to not reinvent a monster from the classic series, it did devote dramatic efforts into reintroducing and reinvigorating three villains that had already (and in 2/3 cases quite substantially) appeared in 21st century Who. They were of course the ever-iconic Daleks and Cybermen, as well as for the first time since their introductory episode in 2006’s “The Girl in the Fireplace,” the Clockwork Droids.
For both the Daleks and the Cybermen, Series 8 saw a recapturing of presence with both villains achieving a threatening reputation once more after years of natural ‘overuse’. While “Into the Dalek” had the Dalek’s kill people onscreen for the first time since FOREVER, it also delved into the motivations and morality of the villains unlike any episode had ever before.
“Dark Water” took a less traditional route to rebranding the Cybermen by offering a completely different, darker method to their creation that left many both impressed and unnerved. Ominous storm clouds of data gathered over cemeteries and mortuaries, “Cyber rain” fell and brought the dead back to life. Bodies sat bolt upright on slabs. Hands emerged from graves: the Cybermen were back!
However, regardless of how much justice 2014 served two iconic threats it seems it wasn’t enough to steal the show from the chilling villains from Peter Capaldi’s debut episode: “The Clockwork Droids” who take the prize today with 45.05% of the vote.
When the rumours first arose regarding the Clockwork Droids return in Series 8 a part of me wondered how it would work given the both the standalone nature of the “The Girl in the Fireplace” and the fact the Clockwork Droids were never existing monsters, but monsters by consequence: simply a spaceship malfunctioned to the point of using its crew as spare parts.
The key to the Droids’ victory today is the fact that “Deep Breath” didn’t just return the foes to our screens, but extended and built upon everything we knew about the biology and mythology of the characters. The foes were menacing, threatening and with a storyline appropriate in making commentary on the issue of regeneration married sensationally with Ben Wheatley’s direction and Peter Ferdinando’s eerie physicality – there was no doubt of how memorable their return would prove to be.
Best New Monster – The Boneless
When it comes to which new monster is elected the “best” of each year, a running theme is the importance on both the cleverness of a monster’s premise, and of course their motivations. The beauty of 2014’s selection of monsters is the variety and unique concepts behind every candidate. From the desperate actions of the Teller, the ignorant instinct of the Spider germs, rabid horror of the Kantrofarri and the menacing mystery of the Foretold, 2014 served up an all you can eat buffet of threatening and gruesome foes that were all given incredible justice in terms of their roles and ideas.
However vast and gluttonous this buffet was however, it’s clear that one popular dish has the favour of the majority – and as many predicted during the course of the poll – that privilege belongs to the Boneless from “Flatline” with 32.57% of the vote.
The Boneless achieve victory today for three main reasons: their premise, their method of murder and their unnerving realisation. Without giving too much information about the runners-up away, looking at the results it’s clear Jamie Mathieson has a knack for writing and creating monsters that are not only horrifically realised onscreen, but also tremendously well received by the public. The sheer originality of the victorious monster is something one can only meet with a mixture of dread and awe – monsters from another dimension invading our own, bringing themselves into the 3rd dimension and discarding human lives as collateral damage along the way.
What the Boneless do to Roscoe and PC Forrest is truly gruesome, dissecting both. Roscoe’s remains are stretched out like spaghetti on the mouldings of his flat, while a flake of his skin is stripped off and blown up on another wall. Forrest fares worse, with the Boneless ripping her entire nervous system out and stringing it up like a blueprint.
When they take a more three-dimensional form, the Boneless themselves are horrific monsters, soulless and hideous distortions of the human body, whose horrific presence can only fairly be attributed to the stunning work of the special effects team… Will they be accredited for said success later on in the results series? Only time will tell. For now it is clear that the Boneless have earned their own as one of the most ingenious and intimidating monsters of not only this series, but of the show’s history – and obviously a threat many would be pleased to return.
Join us tomorrow for the next batch of results. A reminder that the full list of runners up and statistics will be released at the conclusion of the winner’s presentations.
