The somewhat controversial return of Sutehk in Doctor Who Season 1/40/14/flapdoodle begs the question — where’s everyone else? During my recent overview of the classic “Golden Age” of Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes’ time on the show, I was struck not only by the great selection of characters, villains, and monsters, but also by how rare it is that they ever return. 

One might assume that because they left such an indelible mark, no one would resurrect them, either out of respect for the work that was done by the writers, or the knowledge that they’re near impossible acts to follow, no matter how good the intention or attempt. But nothing is ever so simple.

The War Games colorisation and edit had current showrunner Russell T Davies and amateur editor Benjamin Cook decide to ignore Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke’s intent — the latter pair said that the War Chief was definitely not the Master. Russell and Ben took it upon themselves to state that he undoubtedly is the Master! So respect for the work of previous writers may not be a priority anymore.

And as tremendous as Pyramids of Mars was, it didn’t stop Davies from making an attempt to bring the villainous god back from exile in the time vortex. Unfortunately, the two-part finale of the past season was not well received. I guess we’ll decide how the return of the Rani in Series 15 fares in future debates, though that might be in question too, seeing as her original return, in Time and the Rani, isn’t exactly heralded as a classic.

So then the question becomes, does bringing back a classic villain taint said character if the comeback is a bust? It certainly can’t harm the brilliance of the original story, but an unfortunate connection is made between the original and the tepid return.

But we’ve had brilliant resurrections as well.

It took 38 years for the Zygons to make a return to our screens, and that was mostly because Steven Moffat knew that David Tennant was a huge fan of those blobby kissers. Still, the return of the Zygons in the 50th anniversary was a huge triumph. It took 51 years for the Mondasian Cybermen to return, again, primarily because Moffat knew Peter Capaldi wanted to face them. And viola! World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls was voted best story ever in the 60th anniversary poll. Obviously, good things happen when great old villains return — depending on who’s doing the writing.

And we’ve had the return of many monsters, such as the Ice Warriors, the Macra, and the Great Intelligence, usually to varied success. Setting aside the possible risk of bringing back some of the all-star classic monsters and villains, it does seem that there are still some enemies from the Golden Era that would be welcome back if the right scripts/writers came along. And yes, I’m talking about Doctor Who television proper, not Big Finish. They’re definitely their own thing.

Let’s start with Morbius. Seems like there’s plenty of history there, from his life before being separated from his brain, or after the events of his classic story. Sure, he fell to his “death”, but he not only has the lungs of a Birostrop, the overall chassis on him looked pretty durable to me. Seems like a return could work. After all, Time Lords are notoriously hard to kill, and…. I’m sorry, but couldn’t he regenerate? I know he’d be starting with only a brain, and hey, it worked for the “Cyber Lords”… kinda… but I digress.

How about the Wirrn, the insect species from The Ark in Space? Seems like the CGI boys could have a field day with a race of giant insects who lay their eggs in the native species of every planet they land on.

And speaking of taking over every planet they land on, it’s been about 50 years since the Krynoids popped in on our screens. One of the greatest monsters of the classic era. Say, if you want to have a miniseries where there’s a war between two alien species, how about a planet where both the Wirrn and a pair of Krynoid seeds land? Why not make it the one Rose went to live on? It would give Russell yet another chance to bring Tennant back in his old, human version.

Then there’s the Kraal, an incredibly devious species with plenty of resources to take over a planet like Earth. I’m kind of surprised they gave up after one shot. I’d imagine their androids would be even more impressive now.

And although we’ve seen the Sontarans numerous times, we almost never see the Rutans, aside from their one appearance at Fang Rock. Yes, that was a smidge after the Golden Age but that’s okay. 

The Mandragora Helix! That swirling mass of death and destruction seems to possibly be on par with Sutehk’s power levels. In its lone story, only a small part of it stowed away on the TARDIS. Imagine what its full force could and would do. I wonder if a trace of it stuck around on the TARDIS…? Evidently, that’s a thing. 

Eldrad must live! If ever there was a megalomaniacal silicon-based life form who’d crave revenge against the Doctor, it’s the gemstone-encrusted wonder. Yes, he fell into an abyss. So what? She was crushed and came back fine. Eldrad seems pretty durable.

I’d love to see a return of the inanimate stars of The Robots of Death! Not even necessarily as bad guys, or a threat; I’d take them just as window dressing, and don’t you dare change one bit of that design! 

And of course, there are numerous renegade Time Lords all over the place we never see. Aside from the Rani. It’s never the Rani, except, of course, this season, when, it turns out, it actually was!

And the Meddling Monk? Plenty of possibilities there if you want a light comedy ep, or subvert expectations and go dark.

Romana, for heavens’ sake. In fact, make her a him, just to further illustrate the fluidity of the regenerative process. Romano? The Roman?

Seems like the Valeyard would have been a slam dunk by now. After all, with time travel in general, he or she could show up at any time or place. If it’s a matter of him being associated to the rather abysmal Season 23, a good return script could mean redemption.

We… probably don’t need Drax coming back.

Lest we forget the black and white Guardians, but there are theories out there. Gods and myths are Russell’s stock and trade these days.

So many possibilities. Did I forget anyone else noteworthy? 

Ah yes. Mr. Sin. The sociopathic, animatronic murder machine with the frontal cortex of a pig. His plug was pulled, buuuuuut, that was it. Here’s an idea. Give us a look back to around the time he was in action in the 51st century — and adjust the camera speed so he looks like he’s moving like a stop motion puppet. Creepy! Talk about a dark episode.

In the end, the biggest hurdle for any returning antagonist is a good script. And we do need good scripts in general. As has been mentioned, we do need to get the next generation Moffats in the writing stable. Time will tell. 

That story where Rose’s planet is inhabited by the Wirrn and the Krynoid where they’re taking over everything? Eh, if all else fails, have the current Moffat write it.