Sci fi villains we all know and love to hate!
24 May 2014 
So, Two Dudes in an Attic recently posted SF Villains (and idea sparked by the Fantasy Review Barn‘s Dark Lord’s of Fantasy posting). Anyway, SF isn’t my forte but I decided to find 10 Sci-fi villains that everyone will (more than likely) have heard of – even if they’re like me and have barely skimmed the genre:
Don’t laugh now, but, the Daleks from Dr Who. Come on, everyone knows them and they were scary. Need to confess: not read any Dr Who novels *hangs head in shame*. But, I have seen plenty of the tv series!
- Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from The Dune Trilogy by Frank Herbert – grossness!
Kenneth McMillan’s portrayal of Harkonnen
- Emperor Palpatine – Star Wars – couldn’t leave him off here although again I’ve not read any Star Wars books – he’s just too good a baddie!
- The Vogons (or could it be the mice?) from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
- The Morlocks from The Time Machine by H G Wells. Scary monsters who live underground and dine on human flesh.
- Dr Frankenstein from Shelly’s Frankenstein – at the end of the day he created the monster and then abandoned it setting off a string of events that he later regretted!
- 101 – the large corporation from Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One.
- The Triffids – from The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham – large, venomous plants that can communicate, move about and attack and eat humans!
- I am Legend by Richard Matheson – who is really the villain in this book, I think it’s debatable!!
- The Mule from Asimov’s Foundation Series – bends people’s minds to his will!
Like I said, easy sci fi! I think that anybody who reads this list will know at least five of my baddies!!! That’s my challenge for you all – come up with a list of at least five baddies that everyone knows. It can be done!!
Check out more villains at Dab of Darkness
Books and travelling with Lynn 
I get five on there. I’ve never even seen Dr. Who, which apparently means I live under a rock or something. I should have remembered the Vogons for my list. Sigh.
Hahaha, my mission here is complete – you got five on the list! *air punch* 😀
Davros was always creepy. That awful voice and visage… Brrr…
The Morlocks are a good choice. They are very savage in The Time Machine.
I Am Legend… What the heck are you, some kind of vampire apologist? Those are some bad dudes! The only good vampiric freak is a dead vampiric freak! Waves pitchfork and flaming torch
Dr Frankenstein earned my sympathy.
Haha – step away from the pitchfork and torch. Well, yeah, with the vampires – but at the end of the book, (SPOILERS AHEAD) they’re the civilised ones and the majority population whereas Neville is on his own, sneaking about in the daylight, killing people who don’t know him from Adam – the bogeyman!! wiggles fingers and eyebrows.
And Dr Frankenstein, well you can’t blame a guy for wanting to find new and important scientific discoveries – but, after he brought his monster to life he did do a massive runner!
Lynn 😀
If I saw that creature I’d flee as well! 0_o
Actually, it wouldn’t get made if I were the protagonist. I’d just get married to the hot girl and be a nice doctor and save people and stuff…
Run away!!! Aww, he was a nice creature really – very much maligned and misunderstood.
Saving people and stuff is always good – you could start off by saving Frankenstein’s monster – see! It’s all worked out nicely.
Selective salvation. I only save beautiful ladies 😛
Forget Frankenstein’s monster… I’d skip to the sequel and make Bride of Frankenstein. And probably run away in terror…
The Target tie-in novels for Doctor Who stories are pretty much the story told on the printed page from the dark times before we had VHS and then DVDs to allow fans to see the stories over and over again. There are some that have more merit and add details to the story. The tie-in novels from the new series have been hit or miss.
So really, I can just stick with watching the series and not worry about trying the books?
Lynn 😀
You’ve got some great choices here. I haven’t read any of the books but I love the series and films so I would also choose the Borg from Star Trek.
I was going to add something from Trek but as that was another series that I haven’t read (and there were already two unread on there) I decided not to. Was thinking of Khan.
Lynn 😀
Loki!
or would he be a Fantasy villain? 😉
I actually really like Loki – is that very weird? If so, I blame Joanne Harris with her Gospel of Loki book!
Lynn ;D
Ya, never seen Dr Who so that will forever be lost on me. And like Andrea says, where are the borg? Or Reavers?
Good list, I knew over half of them which surprised me as I am not much of a sci-fi person.
I’m also not much of a sci fi person but I’ve been reading a little more with suggestions from some of my blogger friends! I actually struggled to come up with 10 sci fi villains – I could have picked more but I already had two baddies on here where I hadn’t read the book so didn’t want to add any more. It would be just too much cheating even for me.
Lynn 😀
I love the Daleks! They’re just awesome.
As far as the Morlocks, I actually kind of root for them. I mean, they became smart and changed who they were to rise above oppression. Yeah, they eat flesh, but I think it’s a neat commentary on what happens when societal inequality becomes too extreme.
Hahah, I guess I’ve never thought about the drivers for the Morlocks – to a certain extent there are parallels aren’t there – for example, the Morlocks breed the Eloi, on the face of it the Eloi seem to have a better life. They sit around laughing and chatting, no real responsibilities but then when the time comes they might end up as dinner! It also puts me in mind of Watership Down – the rabbit Warren that the rabbits come across where all the rabbits are fed by men – but there are traps everywhere.
Lynn 😀
I know all of these, except The Mule. I think I’ll read Foundation one of these days, and I really want to read Day of the Triffids, too. I haven’t read any Dr Who or Star Wars novels, either, but of course know the villains from TV/movies. I really liked I Am Legend and Frankenstein, and their theme of “who is the monster”.
Yes, good way of putting it – ‘who is the monster’ there’s a theme in there for more than just these books I think!
Lynn 😀