ThroughoutDoctor Who’s many serials and episodes,Planet Earth was invaded several times, but some of these instances were more memorable than others. Many ofthe greatestDoctor Whostories of all timesaw an alien species descend upon the Doctor’s favorite planet and cause all manner of destruction and mayhem. However, only a select number of these events were so chaotic that the population took notice.
Thankfully,Doctor Who’s UNITwas, more often than not, on hand to help the titular character save the day.These invasions often resulted in some amazingDoctor Whovillain reveals, especially in adventures when the Doctor’s rival made an unexpected or anticipated return to the show. There were plenty of notable invasions of Earth inDoctor Who, but only a selection were so wild that humanity remembered them – raising questions as to why certain invasions didn’t have more of a lasting impact.
13The Daleks Occupy London
“The Dalek Invasion Of Earth” (1964)
TheclassicDoctor WhoDalek story“The Dalek Invasion of Earth” famously saw the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, depart the TARDIS. When Team TARDIS landed in 22nd-century London,Daleks were spotted rising out of the River Thames and lining the streets.
This played a part in whyDoctor Whosaid goodbye to Susan, as she fell in love with a human and decided to help him rebuild society.
“The Dalek Invasion of Earth” was an astounding invasion of Earth that sat with the population for long after they were stopped. The Daleks utterly destroyed London and left it in pieces, and the physical damage took time to be fixed. This played a part in whyDoctor Whosaid goodbye to Susan, as she fell in love with a human and decided to help him rebuild society, along with the remaining survivors of the Dalek’s tyranny, marking the story out as a pivotal episode in the show’s human chronology.
12UNIT Faces The Cybermen
“The Invasion” (1968)
While theclassicDoctor Whoeraserial “The Invasion” wasn’t the first time the Doctor encountered the Cybermen, it was the first occasion that the villains invaded Earth on such a large scale. With Tobias Vaughn’s assistance,the Cybermen took over London’s sewers and started to either kill off the population or analyze them for conversion.
Doctor Who: The First Appearance Of The Cybermen Explained
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This resulted in a huge battle in the streets between the Cybermen and UNIT’s soldiers, and later, the Cybership heading for Earth was destroyed by a government rocket. Although humanity didn’t know about the incoming spacecraft, anyone on the ground would have undoubtedly spotted the hundreds of Cybermen storming the streets, making this a theoretically unforgettable invasion.
11The Ice Warriors Disperse Their Pods Across Earth
“The Seeds Of Death” (1969)
Doctor Who’s Ice Warriorsreturned in “The Seeds of Death” and attempted to take over Earth using the planet’s own T-Mat system. In the year 2086, Earth had access to instantaneous travel, and the Ice Warriors took charge of its Moonbase before sending out their seed pods across the planet.
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Genesis of the Daleks: Part One
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The pods arrived in several cities across the UK, killed many people, and ruined local areas with its foam.The mysterious foam caused anyone who inhaled it to lose oxygen drastically,an image that anybody who encountered one shouldn’t have forgotten anytime soon. This was an occurrence on Earth that technically could have been ignored, but there circumstances were so strange that to do so feels realistically impossible.
10Dinosaurs Roam London
“Invasion Of The Dinosaurs” (1974)
The titular event in the serial “Invasion of the Dinosaurs” wasso wild that it bordered on unbelievable, even byDoctor Whostandards. Sarah Jane and the Third Doctor were stunned to find 1970s London in complete despair, as the population looted the streets and UNIT attempted to regain some form of control. However, the various species of dinosaurs that also roamed the area were even more astonishing.
Anyone who wasn’t a part of UNIT wasn’t aware that the dinosaurs were transported through time as part of a plan to wipe civilization clean. Any time aliens arrived on Earth was memorable enough, but there was no way humanity should have ever forgotten dinosaurs in the street.Doctor Whostrangely didn’t reference this serial again after this, butthe events weren’t reversedeither, so it would have remained a memorable occasion.
9The Auton Shop Dummies Wake Up
“Rose” (2005)
The Ninth Doctor’s first meeting with Rose Tyleralso involved him facing the Nestene Consciousness again. After the Nestene brought all the shop window dummies across the UK to life, the Autons descended on the population and brutally killed many, although one lucky survivor was Rose’s mother, Jackie.
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Forest of the Dead
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This invasion in “Rose” was a great way forDoctor Whoto return to screens after decades off the air,and it was a moment that humanity wouldn’t forget quickly. One moment, everything was peaceful, and people were happily shopping, but within seconds, families were being slaughtered by the Nestene’s animated footmen. Those affected should have remembered this forever, although they probably forced themselves to ignore any mannequins while shopping afterwards.
8The Slitheen Take Over Downing Street
“Aliens Of London” & “World War Three” (2005)
The first season ofDoctor Whoafter its 2005 reboot was a busy time for Earth invasions. The Slitheen made their first appearance in the episode “Aliens of London,” whichsaw their ship crash into Big Ben and plummet into the River Thames. This was publicly broadcast for the world to see, and there was constant coverage of the ship’s mysterious arrival throughout the entire escapade.
The world unknowingly watched as the real threat bartered for nuclear launch codes and huddled in fear over what the fallout would look like. At the end of “World War Three,” 10 Downing Street was blown up, andDoctor Whotechnically broke the Geneva Convention, something that the population should have never forgotten. These events led to Harriet Jones’ campaign for Prime Minister, although many seemed to forget her experience with aliens when it came to her downfall at the hands of the Doctor in “The Christmas Invasion”.
7Humans With A+ Blood Climb To The Roof
“The Christmas Invasion” (2005)
Christmas Day 2006 was hectic in London, especially whena third of the world’s population randomly climbed to the roof of the nearest building while possessed by the Sycorax.The species’ ship loomed above the city and taunted humanity in “The Christmas Invasion,”the Doctor’s first storyin his tenth incarnation, and when the Sycorax found a sample of A+ human blood on a space probe, they used it to control them.
With such numerous people at risk, including the British Royal Family, the UK faced one of the most stressful Christmas Days of their lives.
With such numerous people at risk, including the British Royal Family, the UK faced one of the most stressful Christmas Days of their lives. Many were in a panic as they tried to talk their loved ones down from the edge, whereas others didn’t recall it at all as they were in a trance. A majority of humanity should have remembered thisDoctor WhoChristmasforever, even if it was just because it snowed after the aliens left.
6The Domination Of Cybus Industries
“Rise Of The Cybermen” & “Age Of Steel” (2006)
While John Lumic’s EarPods initially seemed like a groundbreaking invention, the surviving residents of Pete’s World highly regretted purchasing them by the end of “Age of Steel.” The Cybus Industries invention allowed the company to control the free will of anyone who wore them and gain whatever personal data they wished to access.
The EarPods eventually took over the brains of the wearers and forced them to walk the streets in a tranceand straight toward the nearest conversion center. Those who hadn’t jumped on the EarPods trend, if they were fortunate enough to be missed by the villainous metal men, were forced to watch Cybermen line the streets and march others straight to their deaths. Lumic was stopped, and humanity may have carried on peacefully, but those who paid attention would know that there were other Cyber factories out there with millions of inactive Cybermen.
5Ghosts & The Daleks Vs. The Cybermen
“Army Of Ghosts” & “Doomsday” (2006)
With the exception of Donna Noble, who was scuba diving in Spain at the time, the entire world should have remembered the skies of Earth full of Daleks and Cybermen. Humanity was amazed when their loved ones came back to visit them in the form of blurry ghostsin “Army of Ghosts,” but it waslater revealed that these figures were actually Cybermen.
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Inside Torchwood, the Cult of Skaro emerged, and a full-blown war kicked offbetween the two ofDoctor Who’s best recurring villains. As both tyrannous groups killed off as many of each other as possible, the streets below suffered too, and many humans were needlessly killed either in the crossfire or directly by the Cybermen and Daleks. The Battle of Canary Wharf’s list of the dead was monumental, but there was also damage to the entire world because of the millions of Daleks and Cybermen that were violently ripped across the planet and into the void, creating what should have been a lasting legacy.
4The Sontarans Poison Earth With ATMOS
“The Sontaran Strategem” & “The Poison Sky” (2008)
While a lot of humanity didn’t realize that an alien invasion was happening in “The Sontaran Stratagem” and “The Poison Sky,” they did remember choking on the poisonous gas that emitted from their cars’ ATMOS.The system was a creation of the Sontarans’, who were using it to poison the Earth with clone feedfor a brand-new army.
Although Planet Earth was none the wiser about the Sontarans’ presence, they knew that ATMOS spitting out dangerous fumes at them wasn’t normal. Humanity might have put these events down to global warming and general pollution, although the sheer amount of it and the chaos it caused clearly proved otherwise. The Doctor also ignited the atmosphere to burn the clone feed, and it should have been incredibly difficult for anyone who looked out the window not to spot it.
