Doctor Who Just Confirmed Daleks Aren’t the Show’s Worst Monsters

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For over sixty years, the Daleks have been a major threat in Doctor Who, but a new spinoff, The War Between the Land and the Sea, has introduced an even more dangerous enemy. This first modern-era Doctor Who spinoff is a welcome return to classic form, focusing on the Sea Devils – now known as Homo Aqua – and their war to reclaim Earth as their own.

The Homo Aquan, first appearing in the 1972 Doctor Who story “The Sea Devils,” have become recurring villains for the Doctor. They’re considered some of the show’s most iconic monsters, ranking alongside the Cybermen, Sontarans, the Master, and the Daleks. However, recent stories, particularly The War Between the Land and the Sea, have given us a deeper look at the Homo Aquan, revealing their society, beliefs, and motivations, and ultimately portraying them as more sympathetic. This has also positioned a different creature as one of the most dangerous threats in the Doctor Who universe.

Humans Are the Villains in The War Between the Land and the Sea

In The War Between the Land and the Sea, it’s actually humans who are the villains, not the Homo Aqua. The Homo Aqua are simply responding to decades of pollution humans have dumped into their ocean home, throwing the trash back onto land as a form of retaliation. They aim to restore environmental balance, even though the human characters are hesitant to take action and clean up the planet.

The main story follows Barclay (Russell Tovey) and Homo Aqua Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), but the series also delves into political conflicts and personal struggles among the human characters. The British Prime Minister (Vincent Franklin) is working with corrupt officials and wealthy individuals on a secret plan called “severance” (unrelated to the Apple TV+ show), and even Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), head of UNIT, has been making ethically ambiguous choices during this worldwide crisis.

Recent episodes of The War Between the Land and the Sea, specifically “The Deep” and “The Witch of the Waterfall,” have revealed increasingly hostile actions by humans. In “The Deep,” Ted Campbell (William Gaminara), connected to a secretive organization called “The Initiative,” set off a bomb in the underwater Homo Aquan base, aiming to destroy them even if it meant sacrificing much of the human diplomatic team. Furthermore, U.S. General Oscar Gunsberg (Stewart Alexander) has demonstrated a clear intent to commit genocide against the Homo Aquan, highlighting that humans are often the most dangerous creatures in Doctor Who and its related series.

Humans Have Been Doctor Who’s Most Terrifying Monsters For Decades (Since the Very Start)

“The War Between the Land and the Sea” isn’t the first time in the 62-year history of Doctor Who that humans have been the biggest danger. In fact, humans have often been the villains in Doctor Who stories, all the way back to the very beginning with the first episode, “An Unearthly Child.” This early adventure saw the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companion Susan (Carole Ann Ford) bring Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) aboard the TARDIS, leading them to prehistoric times and an encounter with an ancient tribe.

Within this tribe, Kal and Za fiercely competed to create fire and become the leader, even resorting to kidnapping the Doctor and his companions. While initially not a major threat, humans have become far more powerful and influential in the 62 years since this story originally aired in 1963, often proving more disappointing to the Doctor than any other race. Throughout the history of Doctor Who, humans have frequently been portrayed as the villains, a trend that continues in the show’s modern era following its 2005 revival.

Throughout its history, Doctor Who has repeatedly portrayed humans as the villains. Starting with the very first monster in 1963, episodes like “Dalek,” “Army of Ghosts,” and more recently, “Oxygen” and “73 Yards,” have shown humans capable of great evil. This trend is reaching a peak in the current storyline, The War Between the Land and the Sea, where humans seem poised to commit terrible acts against the Homo Aqua. We’ll find out the full extent of their actions – and how the story ends – in the final episode, “The End of the War.”

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2025-12-15 22:40