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7 Terrifying Sci-Fi TV Villains That Only Appeared In One Episode
They say that a good villain can make or break a series, but what about underutilized villains? When it comes to sci-fi, there’s no shortage of spine-chilling villains running through the shadows. Doctor Who has the Weeping Angels, Stargate Atlantis has the Wraith, and Stargate SG-1 has the Goa’uld. Then there are the villains who only appeared once, yet left a lasting mark on their franchise. These are the monsters that we can’t quite get out of our heads, which begs the question: do they hit so hard because they only appeared once? If not, one does have to wonder why some of these monsters didn’t make a second appearance.
Truthfully, every solid sci-fi series has its own antagonists and heroes, which help to flesh out the universe and add stakes to the story. We all know that not all villains or monsters are created equal, with some gaining more traction in pop culture. Likewise, some villains always get more attention from creators, even when the community has developed an obsession with characters who only appeared once or twice. It’s how fandoms tend to work. So while these villains may have only gotten their chance to shine for one arc, we certainly won’t be forgetting them anytime soon.
7) Vashta Nerada
The Vashta Nerada are an enemy that appeared in Doctor Who during David Tennant’s run as the Doctor. Technically, the Vashta Nerada are microscopic beings that form swarms, as opposed to singular entities, but that does not decrease their threat. They appeared in “Silence in the Library,” slowly working their way through an archeology team. By that, we of course mean that they were devouring the poor team, with the only survivors being The Doctor and Donna Noble. Unless you change the definition of surviving, which the Doctor is very good at.
What’s terrifying about the Vashta Nerada is that they hunt in swarms, and a large enough swarm (such as the one in the Lux Foundation Library) can strip a human being down to bones in seconds. The only thing that will seemingly keep them at bay is light. Fun fact: if you want to terrify a Doctor Who fan, all you need to do is shout, “Hey! Who turned out the lights?” They’ll scatter.
There’s one final horrifying detail about the Vashta Nerada; they signal the end of River’s story. We all know that River and The Doctor’s story ran backward; his first time meeting her was her last time among the living. We didn’t know it when this episode first aired, but this was a moment that would hit harder and harder with later events.
6) The El-Adrel IV Entity
Naturally, there are many famous episodes in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Arguably, one of the most discussed is “Darmok.” Usually, this episode comes up because of the groundbreaking portrayal of conversation and culture, but today, we’re going to talk about the monster that hit the scene during this time.
The El-Adrel IV Entity is extremely fast and aggressive, a native lifeform of planet El-Adrel IV, hence the name. What makes this predatory creature particularly dangerous is its ability to become nearly invisible. When hunting, it often looks more like a blur, at best, and that’s a terrifying thought. On the bright side, it does become visible when it attacks, so the creatures have a chance to know what killed them. Haunting last moments and all that.
The presence of the El-Adrel IV Entity proved to be a powerful motivating factor in getting Dathon and Jean-Luc Picard to come to an understanding, as they raced through the early steps of creating a communication channel. Sadly, the monster did take out one vital target before the tale was done (Dathon), though this helped solidify The El-Adrel IV Entity as a real threat.
5) The Shadow Creature
It’s safe to say that the crew of Stargate Atlantis came across many threats during their time in the Pegasus Galaxy. Most threats were found outside the City of Atlantis, but more than a few appeared within the seemingly safe city walls. Enter The Shadow Creature.
We don’t know where this creature came from, but we do know that the Ancients captured it for research purposes. When the Ancients left the city, they also left the Shadow Creature. That would probably be reason enough for this monster to tear through the city. As the name implies, The Shadow Creature is a sentient energy construct. Notably, it also feeds off of all kinds of energy, from the Naquadah generators to even the smaller (proportionately) energy a human being puts off.
The Shadow Creature was accidentally released by Jinto, one of Teyla’s people, during “Hide and Seek.” It went on a merry feeding spree, and had McKay not figured out how to wear a personal shield, things probably would have ended horribly for the Atlantis expedition.
4) The Reapers
Since Doctor Who is famous for time travel (obviously), many fans may have wondered why The Doctor doesn’t run around changing horrible moments in time. The answer to that is simple: The Reapers. The Reapers are seemingly linked to time itself and will seek out temporal paradoxes. So any change to time will likely draw them straight toward The Doctor.
This is something that Rose learned the hard way, during “Father’s Day”. It all began when Rose tried to save her father’s life. Before long, the Reapers appeared, though they were never named as such over the course of this episode. The Reapers have a haunting design not all that dissimilar to a gargoyle, albeit with red eyes. To make them all the more terrifying, they can eat any target, eliminating any trace that they ever existed.
Interestingly, the Reapers have appeared outside this one episode of Doctor Who, just not in this format. They have appeared in the comics, a novel, and the game.
3) Kivas Fajo
It sometimes feels like Star Trek: The Next Generation had more characters than we could easily keep track of. Some were friendly, while others were decidedly not. Kivas Fajo fell into the latter category. He’s a Zibalian trader who is borderline obsessed with collecting unique items. The compulsion to collect doesn’t automatically make anyone a villain (otherwise, most fans would be guilty of this), but Kivas Fajo takes that to villainous levels.
For example, Kivas Fajo really wanted to add Data to his collection, and he didn’t much care that Data was sentient enough to have an opinion on the matter. When he doesn’t easily get what he wants, Kivas Fajo picks up the villain playbook and crafts a plan to kidnap Data.
The plan included poisoning the water supply of Beta Agni II, just to highlight the far and horrible lengths he would go through. His time in possession of Data was far from kind, leaving a mark on everyone who adored this character.
2) The Flood
Doctor Who has a way of making fans stop and think of the things we take for granted: darkness, our memories, our place in time, and even water. Their most memorable villains are ones that play on these core constructs, and that brings us to The Flood. The Flood appears in “The Waters of Mars”, which should be a hopeful story about humanity finding a place on Mars, right? Wrong!
The Flood is more of a viral infection hiding in the water of Mars, capable of infecting any life it comes in contact with. No, thank you. In other words, The Flood is basically Doctor Who’s take on zombies, and they’re terrifying. Infected humans get cracked skin around their mouth, not to mention black teeth and milky eyes. The overall appearance is highly disturbing. The Flood can seep through any crack or crevice when in its virus form. Once it’s taken control of a host, they no longer need to worry about silly things like breathing, so the hostile life of Mars is not enough to stop them.
1) The Clown
We have been trained to fear things as comical and light as clowns, so it’s really no surprise that many series have toyed with this fear. That includes Star Trek: Voyager, which introduced The Clown during “The Thaw”. More importantly, The Clown is more of a holographic manifestation than a real entity, but that doesn’t negate his threat, or our terror.
The Clown represents the fears of the Viorsa species, five of whom have hooked up their minds into a virtual reality while in statis. The goal was to keep their minds active and healthy, not get chased around by a terrifying embodiment of everything they fear most. Worse, one of the biggest fears they all share is the fear of their own death, which is natural, given what they have gone through and are currently going through. Seeing this come to life was a haunting experience, to say the least. On the bright side, The Clown was tricked by a hologram of all things, allowing the crew to escape safely. We appreciate the irony in that turn of events.
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