Aliens have been a part of our culture for a long time. We both fear and desire them, so the best place to put them is in our stories. The science fiction genre is where most alien characters make their home. While they have been in film and literature, they have also made strides in television shows. In fact, some of the most popular and memorable aliens are out of television.
On this list, we are going to talk about aliens out of television that frightened us whether it be in their motivations, their designs, or strange behaviors. So, let’s check out these ten terrifying aliens.
Silence From Doctor Who
The design of these aliens were crafted to instill fear into audiences. Their faces are quite similar to the famous artwork by Edvard Munch, The Scream. This alien was considered so scary by some that parents began to fear that Doctor Who became too frightening for children. While they have no mouth, they speak in low guttural voices that are not pleasant on the ears.
Besides their design, they are frightening because they have a lot of power over people. They can influence others by giving them suggestions and then being forgotten about the moment the person looks away from them.
Wraith From Stargate Atlantis
These aliens serve as the main antagonists of Stargate Atlantis. In a way, they are like space vampires. They are biologically immortal and suck the life out of humanoid species. They are known to feed and then hibernate and then feed and so on.
The manner in which they feed is the most frightening aspect about them. They are not like vampires in this manner, as they use a special organ in their hands to drain the life of others through their hearts. They have an ability to make their victims stronger so that they do not immediately die upon this process. Some humans get addicted to this and the wraiths take advantage of that and brainwash people.
Colonists From The X-Files
X-Files explores a ton of monsters and aliens. To be fair, the monsters tend to be more scary but that is not what this list is exploring.
So, the main antagonists of the series, the Colonists, had to make it onto this list. The plot of the whole series is to unwrap the mystery about them. So to know why they are scary, you really need to watch the whole series. One part is that they are in a secret collaborative plan with the government.
They created the black oil virus, which is horrifying.
White Diamond From Steven Universe
White Diamond is very different from the other aliens on this list. She is very human-looking, but is not human at all on the inside. She is the leader of the gems, who colonize planets. She waged war on Earth when the Earth colony rebelled. She is the big bad of the show, and meeting her has a lot of well-paced hints throughout the show.
What is terrifying about her is she, in a way, is like an abusive parent. She acts like she cares for her people, but she never actually listens or cares about what they want.
Daleks From Doctor Who
Doctor Who had so many scary alien races that we could not just put one. Of the antagonists in the show, the Daleks are most well-known.
They are a machine race that care only for the extermination of lesser species (which actually means kill everyone but their own). They are not aliens that you can reason with, as they only experience angry emotions.
The Espheni From Falling Skies
This alien race are invaders of Earth in Falling Skies. While they ultimately failed and were rendered extinct, they were still very frightening to watch and learn about. In certain ways, they are a lot like humans. For example, they create ghettos across Earth for humans to live in, they separate children from their families and try to indoctrinate the kids into supporting them instead of their fellow humans.
These are similar actions to what colonists and Nazis have done in humanity’s past and present. In reality, man is the only monster we really have, so its nice to reflect those aspects of ourselves in alien creatures.
The Borg From Star Trek
These aliens explore the concept of a species with a hive mind. In other words, they all share the same things, feelings, and goals. It is like one being that is sharing a bunch of bodies at once. That alone is pretty horrifying since a lot of humanity puts value in diversity, individuality, and freedom.
The worst part is that these aliens do not just leave everyone alone. They want to assimilate others to their ways and turn them into “drones” by injecting little machines into them and giving them cybernetic components against their will.
Time Lords From Doctor Who
The Doctor is not your typical Time Lord, thank goodness. The series has shown us and hinted that other Time Lords are not very good people. You definitely would not want one as your enemy since they can control time and space. In a war with the Daleks, they have destroyed entire planets and possibly galaxies.
Interestingly enough, Time Lords are not evil like a lot of the others on this list. They are rather a reflection of humanity with a lot of power on their hands. In a way, that is the scariest of them all.
Clyons From Battlestar Galatica
Created by an alien reptilian race in their vintage version, this synthetic species goes to war against humans since the humans got involved with their slaves, the Hasaris. In the reimagined continuity, Clyons are actually made by humans to be soldiers.
In that series, they actually make models of them that look no different from other human beings. So, they are only aliens in the original version, which is important to note.
Armus From Star Trek: The Next Generation
This black ooze from Star Trek: The Next Generation is basically evil incarnate. Its species is unknown since it is the one and only of its kind that we know of. It is capable of enveloping humanoid species, which is terrifying.
The worst factor in all that is that the one who is sucked into this liquid creature remains conscious while inside it. So you are basically trapped and tortured inside its body.
