Character: The weeping angels
Show: Doctor Who
Episode: "Blink"

A more appropriate title for this episode of Doctor Who would have been "Don't Blink", or even "Let's Prevent Annie from Ever Enjoying the Sculpture Garden of Any Museum Ever, Ever Again. Ever."

The weeping angels were a group of statue-like creatures that "killed" their victims by sending them backwards through time to live out their lives before their birth. The angels would freeze into stone if they were seen, but between blinks or in darkness, they could move extremely quickly to their victims. To prevent looking at each other, the angels would shield their eyes, giving the appearance that they were weeping. The heroes of the episode had to avoid the angels by taking the advice of the Doctor and always keeping an eye on the villains, never blinking.

As someone who usually watches horror films, just to supply obnoxious commentary on the bad effects or acting, and is more likely to get queasy at the thought of student loans than blood, I was surprised to find myself silently peering through my fingers, too scared to move, throughout the entire episode. At certain points, I even felt my eyes water a little bit, only to realize that I had stopped blinking several minutes ago. I think I was most impressed that the angels weren't ruined by cheesy effects or bad costumes, which, to be perfectly honest, aren't exactly rare in the world of Doctor Who. Instead, everything was executed in a way that was simple but brilliant. Between the blinks of a lightbulb, the angels would make their way across the room, arms outstretched and vicious teeth bared.

To tell the sad, geeky truth, I've had a few nightmares about Daleks. Yeah, I said it was sad, okay? But there's no doubt that the Daleks are nothing compared to the angels. Look, there's even been a vote on it! The angels beat the Daleks and The Master by a huge percentage to take the top spot as the Scariest Monster of the latest Who series. The numbers don't lie, folks: Angel statues are super-creepy.

And then, as if to guarantee no one could comfortably turn their back on a statue ever again, the episode closed with this warning: