Favourite Dr. Who monster or two!

[jmilsom]

What is your favourite Dr. Who monster or race? Feel free to have more than one!<br /><br />Depsite all our talk about daleks, I remember finding them quite tedious in the end . I must admit to liking the Sonatarans, those warlike dome-heads with their achilles 'probic vents' at the backs of their heads! The Sontaran Experiment was a great episode.<br /><br />I always throught cybermen were silly, but was terrified of cybermats!<br /><br />The Krynoid in the Seeds of Doom was perhaps the most terrifying of all!!! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I'm a Cyberman fan myself, particularily when it is emphasized that they multiply by taking other humanoids captive and converting them into Cybermen. It's quite a disturbing concept.<br /><br />The Krynoid was cool -- I totally agree there, even if some of the shots of it aren't very convincing. The concept is neat, and also pretty scary.<br /><br />Sontarans are neat too. The Rutans could've been played up more as their adversaries, but I think they were just too hard to realize on screen with their budget.<br /><br />And then there were the Autons. They'll be coming back on the new series.<br /><br />The robots in Robots of Death were awesome. So was the giant robot in "Robot", but in a different way.<br /><br />And I know some folks will cringe at this, but I also kind liked Kroll. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

my Dr Who lore is negligible (havent yet rented the videos to refresh my memory) but I remember finding the giant rat in the London sewers creeeepy <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

Some of the worst "monsters" in Dr. Who were human. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

For the Dr. Who+Apollo fans:<br /><br />Apollo Pic - Notice anything?<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />From Badastronomy- Lunar Conspiracies Forum<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

thats deep <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I liked the Sensorites too. Don't remember the Voords really.<br /><br />The Zygons were a good scary monster. They were especially creepy because of their ability to polymorph into the shape of a human captive held in a special device onboard their ship. The ship was neat too -- organic. The Skarasen was a bit cheezy -- actually looked cute at times! But it was a neat idea, and neat to make it into the Loch Ness Monster.<br /><br />The Zygon costume was also one of the ones designed by multiple-Oscar-winning costume designer James Acheson. He did a lot of costumes for Who, actually, but was particularily pleased with the way the Zygons turned out.<br /><br />Oh, and I like the Zarbi and the Menoptera. They were cool. When I was a kid, I desperately wanted one of those costumes (either one) for a Halloween outfit! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Ah yes, the Zygons and their organic spaceship. They were great. I must admit though that my memory is getting vague on some of the others. <br /><br />Do you know any links to a catalogue of Dr. Who monsters? We need some pictures. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I found one site with a listing and pictures of some of the monsters Here:<br /><br />http://wheelinspace.com/<br /><br />Here is a Sontaran! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

And the dreaded cybermat! I still think are more terrible foes than cybermen. Cybermen are more tangible, you can grab their head handles for instance. Cybermats attack without warning, are hard to spot, and give you blue glowing veins! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[flynn]

I had a teacher at school who mde Cybermen suits for the actual series. Mrs Cook her name was. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

There were interesting range of monsters, ranging from classic monsters (Krull, the Crinoid) to some very unpleasant concepts (Cybermen and the Daleks), to very interesting ideas (Zygons, Axons, the Jageroth), to the tragic (Sea devils and Silurians). Some, like the Sontarans were admirable in their own ruthless way. A few were quite silly.<br /><br />We have just had the Zygons on TV, very impressive, but ruined by the Skarazan, I thought. But as someone said, the worst monsters were human, or at least humanoid (The Master, Davros).<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[mattblack]

Cybermen and Sontarans. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>We have just had the Zygons on TV, very impressive, but ruined by the Skarazan, I thought. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Was it just me, or was the Skarasen more cute than scary? <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> It was a neat idea, but the execution was AWFUL. Bad stop-motion photography, bad puppetry, and bad bluescreen. You really have to work at suspending your sense of disbelief whenever it comes on the screen. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /><br />The Wirrn (from "Ark in Space") were another interesting monster that was hindered by its execution. You just can't help but wonder how the heck they get around, since you can see all of their limbs, and none of them move. (How does it really get around? Well, presumably the actor's legs are sticking out the bottom of the costume, the part the camera never lets you see.) And then there's it's larval stage, made by wrapping an actor in green bubble wrap.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

How does K-9 go up stairs and across rough terrain? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[flynn]

I'd like to know how he "cocks a leg" <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

The correct answer was "K-9 goes up stairs the same way the Daleks do." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Yeah -- a prop guy carries him when he's off camera. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /><br />Serious answer: stairs don't often make an appearance anyway on Dr Who. Not enough budget for that big a set, much of the time. Also K-9 typically doesn't come out if there is rough terrain, and if he must, the Doctor has been known to carry him short distances.<br /><br />Unanswered, however, is how K-9 gets in and out of the TARDIS on his own. There's a ledge about an inch high that he has to somehow navigate. The camera usually pans conveniently away when he actually crosses this ledge.<br /><br />K-9 was upgraded to handle some fairly tricky terrain; he was designed with dual tracks to enabled him to handle some fairly uneven terrain. But there were limits. For instance, in some episodes you can occasionally make out fishing line used to pull him across the shot. But in general he was pretty rugged for what amounts to a little R/C vehicle.<br /><br />K-9 trivia: the actor who provided his voice did appear once as a human. Look for him in "The Power of Kroll" (where the swampy terrain made it completely impossible for K-9 to appear). Also, the actor helped greatly in the blocking of K-9s scenes, by crawling around on hands and knees during rehearsals. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Cybermats do not have legs and they can leap up into the air and attach themselves to your throat!!!! Perhaps K9 and the Daleks could learn a lesson or two from the cybermats!!!! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

The Cybermats in "Revenge of the Cybermen" do not have legs, but earlier Cybermats may have had legs. It depends on what the prop-guys intended all those feelers around the edges to be. They didn't work like legs, but given the way things are on Dr Who, that may be simply due to the limitations of the budget -- they may have been meant to be like centipede legs. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

The Draconians are gorgeous pieces of costume design. Absolutely fantastic, and ahead of their time in some respects. As you point out, they are reminiscent of Klingons, though I'd say they're also reminiscent of Romulans culturally.<br /><br />Another absolutely beautiful costume was the first of the two Eldrad costumes from "The Hand of Fear". Actually, Eldrad was nicely creepy, starting out as a disembodied hand (freaky in and of itself) which sets off a nuclear chain reaction -- but absorbs the released energy to rebuild his body. But he rebuilds it in the shape of the first human he touched, in order to be better accepted by the natives (presumably), so he ends up shaped like Sarah Jane Smith. They got an actress about the same size and body shape as Elizabeth Sladen and made an absolutely skin-tight costume encrusted with sparkling crystalline things which actually had to be sewn onto the actress each day. Rather like Mystique from X-men, in some respects, except that it was a bodysuit, not paint. Very beautiful costume.<br /><br />When he was later changed into his original form, you could tell they had spent most of their effort on the earlier Eldrad suit; it's much less inspired. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> But still pretty, because it had the same crystalline look to it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Yes. The ealier cybermats were nowhere near as creepy as the later ones (and they had legs). If K9 could leap like the later cybermats - he could help the Doctor by headbutting his foes into submission. <br /><br />Any pictures or links - I am having trouble remebring many of these monsters now. I remember hand of fear as a great epsiode - but i can only remember the hand in the quarry! I am located in a place without access to Dr. Who films! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

You poor soul, stuck without Dr Who!<br /><br />Okay, the best nexus for Dr Who websites is The Dr Who Home Page at Nitro9. It'sa good place to start for everything Whoo. I'll see if I can get some piccies for you. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />To start off, here's a shot of Eldrad and the Doctor. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Here's a good shot (a color publicity still) of a Cybermat from "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (which starred Patrick Troughton). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Here are a couple of Draconians: <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>