Doctor Who foes you felt for, or felt bad for?

Even if only for a moment.

The Daleks at the end of The Daleks (1963). At this point the Daleks had not become the galactic terror they later would, so their comeuppance and the Doctor's lack of remorse at their demise as they beg him for mercy comes off a little harsh.
Evil of the Daleks. Again the Daleks' death agonies heard amidst the civil war were a little bit harrowing.
The Sea Devils (1972). For obvious reasons. A chance for peace was lost.
Planet of the Daleks. I really couldn't help feeling sorry for the base commander when the Dalek Supreme decides to execute him.
Robot (1974). This is definitely a story where the humans are the bigger monsters, and the Robot itself was just confused and twisted and misled toward evil purposes.
Terror of the Zygons. I was a bit surprised how ruthless the Doctor was about destroying them.
City of Death. For the longest time, Scaroth's goals seem to be entirely sympathetic, to save his lost race, and the Doctor almost comes off as the villain of the piece in trying to stop him.
Earthshock. Again the Cyberleader's death was pretty graphic and harrowing. I just wished for his agonies to be over by the end.
The Five Doctors. The poor Cybermen didn't stand a chance against the Raston Warrior Robot.
The Caves of Androzani. Jek's final moments were pretty poignant and always leave me a bit of a lump in my throat ("Salateen... hold me!").

I agree with you on the original Daleks. As warped and demented as they were, they were quite pitiful creatures in the end. The Dalek lifting it's eyestalk up with a pitiful whine just shows how weak and pathetic they actually were in the end.

Omega, I felt really bad for. The scene in The Three Doctors where he sees what he's become and just falls to his knees wailing was pretty tragic as well as the scene at the end of Arc Of Infinity of him just wandering around Amsterdam with a childlike fascination is excellent.

Not a foe, but the Marshchild in Full Circle really saddened me. It spends the whole story getting mistreated by everyone with the exception of the Doctor and the way it dies in fear is just gut wrenching.

Again not a foe, but the Castrovalvans leave me feeling sad as well. The screaming and chaos you can hear as the Doctor and co escape the place is just spooky and the final shot of the Master being trapped in the dark area about to collapse in on itself with them howling is pretty distressing.

The Headmaster and the little girl in Remembrance were pretty grim as well. Both were slaves against their will and the former dies with a defeated ''No.'' which came off as quite pitiful.

Indrid Mercury wrote:I agree with you on the original Daleks. As warped and demented as they were, they were quite pitiful creatures in the end. The Dalek lifting it's eyestalk up with a pitiful whine just shows how weak and pathetic they actually were in the end.

Indeed.

I think originally the Daleks were meant to be more sympathetic, with a third party at the end revealing they started the hostilities, and peace being made. And I think there was always the ghost of that original premise in the final product, only the Daleks didn't get their happy ending.

Omega, I felt really bad for. The scene in The Three Doctors where he sees what he's become and just falls to his knees wailing was pretty tragic as well as the scene at the end of Arc Of Infinity of him just wandering around Amsterdam with a childlike fascination is excellent.

Indeed. The final ten minutes of Arc are near golden enough to almost salvage the rest.

The Headmaster and the little girl in Remembrance were pretty grim as well. Both were slaves against their will and the former dies with a defeated ''No.'' which came off as quite pitiful.

Yep.

I did like the choice shot of Sheard resting by the "in loving memory" engraved goblet.

I have to say, first time I watched Remembrance at age 11, for a horrid moment I thought they were going to kill the schoolgirl off at the end. I was very relieved they didn't (though perhaps in hindsight it's obvious they wouldn't).

The thing that bugs me about the Cyberleader's death in Earthshock is how much more violent it is in comparison to Colin gunning Cybermen down at the end of Attack. Yet people gloss over the former and pan the latter as being one of the many moments where it felt like Doctor Who lost it's way....

Indrid Mercury wrote:The thing that bugs me about the Cyberleader's death in Earthshock is how much more violent it is in comparison to Colin gunning Cybermen down at the end of Attack. Yet people gloss over the former and pan the latter as being one of the many moments where it felt like Doctor Who lost it's way....

Well, I think with the exception of Twin Dilemma and Mindwarp (and possibly The Two Doctors) you could probably put Davison's Doctor into any Colin story and have him commit the same actions and still come out looking innocent.

I do however think that the Earthshock sequence is better directed so that it feels urgent in a way that mitigates the desperation Davison resorts to, whereas the Attack sequence is shot a bit more calamitously and is a bit drawn out in a way that makes Colin look like he's all the time in the world against the staggering Cybercontroller.

That *and* of course it came after some of Davison's more pious pacifist excesses in Season 21 that made Colin's violence seem more of a betrayal than it actually was.

I felt bad for Jean and Phyllis. To be converted into Haemovores and then killed in a horrific manner within the space of a few hours was devastating.

I also felt sad for Mike. I just think he was brainwashed by Ratcliffe. The book goes into more detail about their relationship and reveals that Mike was going to kill Ratcliffe after he escaped captivity.

Yeah, despite his politics and prejudices, Mike does come off as a sympathetic guy and as simply someone who's been misled by the typical fascist chickenhawk like Ratcliffe.