12 Yeti In The Underground
"The Web Of Fear" (1968)
Down in the London Underground, Patrick Troughton hides, huddling next to the rails, as two Yeti stomp onto the platform above him, and spay webbing all over it. Placing the Yeti in a familiar setting may be the kind of trick the show had pulled off a number of times already with various monsters, but there's something especially creepy - not to mention claustrophobic – about the abandoned tube system. And Troughton totally sells the scene, with a look of genuine fear on his face throughout.
Big screen relatives: The spaceship discovered in the Underground in Quatermass And The Pit.
11 Silent Scream
"Fury From The Deep" (1968)
Mr Oak and Mr Quill (short for tranQUILLiser, perhaps?) earn their place in this list mainly because of the efforts of the two actors (John Gill and Bill Burridge). As the spooky saboteurs who can emit toxic gas from their mouths, they had the ability to look so totally alien and terrifying without the need for masks and complex make-up. They just open their eyes as wide as they can and their mouths even further and stand there, uncannily still. So simple. So effective. So chilling. Especially when combined with some typically pulsating '60s cross-fade editing.
Big screen relatives: The alien doubles have a very similar style of scream in the '70s version of Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers.
10 The Giant Spider On Sarah's Back
"Planet Of The Spiders" (1974)
Some people freak out when they've got a tiny money spider crawling on them, so the sight of Sarah Jane Smith with an arachnid the size of car tyre on her back is bound to freak them out. It's just a classic horror image, and one unique to Doctor Who (in fact, the show plagiarised itself in "Turn Left"). And it makes you feel all itchy just thinking about it.
Big screen relatives: There are dozens of films featuring giant insects (Them!, Food Of The Gods, etc) but usually they're dumb, rampaging animals, so that's not quite the same thing as here. However, the same year this story was screened, a film called Phase IV was released, and that was about super-intelligent ants. Also, in Star Trek II alien grubs were used for mind control. Okay, we're stretching it.
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