Posted in: BBC, Disney XD, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, Christopher Eccleton, disney, doctor who, john barrowman, Ncuti Gatwa, peter capaldi, steven moffat, Susan Twist

Doctor Who Ep. 3 "Boom" Revealed The Long-Lurking Evil of Villengard

"Boom," Steven Moffat's new episode of Doctor Who, reveals Villengard's long-running villainy - which has been with the series since 2005.

"The Evil of Villengard" could be the title of an old-school Doctor Who story or novel. In Doctor Who, Villengard is a long-running background baddie created by Steven Moffat as far back as the series' 2005 revival. Villengard is a planet whose entire business is to be the biggest arms manufacturer in the known universe, which immediately makes them the bad guys in any Doctor Who story. Their name is a play on "villain" and "guard", which says it all. They were first mentioned in Moffat's first 2-parter, "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances," which introduced Captain Jack (John Barrowman). The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) mentions he'd visited the Villengard Corporation before and destroyed them once and for all. They made sonic blasters, which are weapons Captain Jack mentioned, and that's probably the least terrible thing they manufactured. Yes, I'm aware that Villengard has been mentioned in one of the Eleventh Doctor video games when Moffat was showrunner – and in the Big Finish audio dramas about The Time War, The War Doctor fought to destroy key Villengard weapons factories before the Daleks could seize control of them.

Villengard Represents The Military-Industrial Complex

"Boom" is the first episode that spelled out just how evil Villengard is. It seems to take place before the Doctor previously destroyed them. Villengard is revealed as the symbol of the Military-Industrial Complex, selling endless war for conflict, even against a nonexistent enemy, all to bolster the war-for-profit algorithm. The corporation/planet also appears to be the primary health provider and medical insurer. In "Boom", they manufactured an entire war just for profits to sell their weapons and medical tech like the ambulance, and the landmine The Doctor steps on. "Boom" is also the first time Villengard's villainy had a face – in the form of Susan Twist as the avatar of the ambulance. Her character was probably a nurse or actress they scanned and recorded to be the UI (User Interface) of the ambulance (and probably didn't bother paying her a royalty). She might even be long dead by the time "Boom" came along.

Villengard: The Biggest Villain in Doctor Who's 51st Century

If you're wondering why The Doctor (the current Doctor Ncuti Gatwa) doesn't go after Villengard, it's because they've destroyed it already in their past, but this story's future. In Moffat's final story as showrunner, "Twice Upon a Time," the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) visits the ruins of Villengard to visit Rusty, the (sort of) reformed Dalek, who has taken over Villengard and uses it as a trap and hunting ground to kill any Daleks that come hunting for Rusty. In this Christmas Special, Villengard is a symbol for Hell or Dante's Underworld, and Rusty the Dalek is the Lord of the Underworld. It carries more meaning when you remember these ruins were made by The Doctor.

Villengard is perhaps the biggest villain of the 51st Century in Doctor Who. It makes sense that the worse version of Capitalism would be one of the series' worst enemies and fitting that The Doctor eventually completely destroyed them, or already has. And just because they're already destroyed in the future doesn't mean they can't still pop up any other time in history to be the background or foreground baddies again. Timey-wimey and all that stuff.

Doctor Who is now streaming on Disney+.

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