Favourite Monster

[Si Hunt]

Everyone says the Daleks are the best monsters, but I have to say personally although they are the most iconic, probably the power powerful and the best realised... there are others that I'm fonder of. The Autons for example, I love the Autons! And the Zygons! Never been that keen on Sontarans, not sure why.

What are your favourite monsters? And which would you bring back which haven't yet been ressurected?

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

As a kid I always loved the two Yeti stories. I don't really see that you would want to bring them back now, or how you could, but I remember getting a genuine thrill at just a brief glimpse of one during The Five Doctors in 1983. So, probably quite irrationally, but my favourites are the Yeti!

[shada pavlova]

...You're all expecting me to say the Voords, aren't you?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Although I do acknowledge the iconic status of the Daleks - I know I was always far more fascinated by a child by the Cybermen - the idea of a race so desparate they had to upgrade themselves with mechanical parts to stay alive is a grim one.

I was so excited to see them return in Earthshock, where they were terrifying. Alas though the Cybermen don't always have the best of stories. Attack of the Cybermen I remember enjoying, but Silver Nemesis, you pretty much could have had any stock villain in there.

I of course (along with just about any other fan) enjoyed the BF audio Spare Parts, and overall the Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel was a powerful reintroduction of the monster, focusing on a kind of theft of identity and humanity. But that's been frittered away. They were brought back as nothiing more than cannon fodder in Doomsday, and the Next Doctor was also a waste - again you could have substituted any villain for the Cybermen in that one.

Will be interesting to see if they have a prescence beyond "armoured robot menace" (which kind of misses the point of the Cybermen ... or rather who they were) under Moffat.

[SiHart]

The Cybermen have always been my favourites too, although I don't think that they've ever been used to their full potential. There should be the whole fear of being made like them, that sense of the loss of humanity. I think this is what many Cyber-story writers have missed down the years.

Someone once said that The Ark In Space should have been the Cyberman story of season 12- a whole body of humans ripe for conversion. It could have been the ultimate Cyberman story.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

The question is really, with that potential plot in mind, why was the Cryogenic Set the one bit of the Ark that they didn't use in "Revenge of the Cybermen"?

Si.

[SiHart]

I don't think Robert Homes quite "got" the Cybermen really- the way he treats them (and it was he who wrote most of Revenge) is like robots really, forgetting the human conversion aspect.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Another favourite of mine were the Robots. Okay there's been a hell of a lot of robots - but the Robots of Death robots ...



Although essentially just a man-in-a-mask, I think their design was quite effective. They were supposed to be android-like, and yet there is something human-like-but-not-quite, which really adds to their slight creepiness. Add to that a kind of HAL-9000 quiet and calm voice as they come to kill you.

There is something more unsettling about a Robot Of Death turning it's head to one side slightly and calmly saying it will kill you, over a Dalek screaming it'll exterminate you.

[Stuart Wallis]

The Cybermen have always been my favourites too, although I don't think that they've ever been used to their full potential. There should be the whole fear of being made like them, that sense of the loss of humanity. I think this is what many Cyber-story writers have missed down the years.

Someone once said that The Ark In Space should have been the Cyberman story of season 12- a whole body of humans ripe for conversion. It could have been the ultimate Cyberman story.

Si xx

Killing Ground was my favourite MA simply because it capitalised on this. For those who haven't read it, and I'll put the spoilers on just in case, the Cybermen take over an Earth colony with the intent to use the humans there as a eugenic nursery for new Cybermen. The rebels plan to take the planet back, developing their own cybertechnology in secret, ready for the day when they can make their own army in order to take the main base back. However, the Doctor does try and argue that this is missing the point - why are they trying to stop the Cybermen turning their people into monstrous Cybermen by turning them into monstrous Cybermen - and inferior copies that won't stand much of a chance in pitched battle against them anyway?

[Dino]

I love the look of the Cybermen in Revenge of the Cybermen. They can't be faulted for their design at least. I'd like to see the Sea Devils back as I don't think Warriors of the Deep saw them in their best light? (You don't saay?)
Although he faced the Daleks and Cybermen, would you say the McCoy years were the most monster-lite of the series? Ok, you have Fenric and Battlefield stories but other than that, new monsters were thin on the ground?

[Jonno]

It's definitely the Daleks for me - the voice in particular, the design. The show often seeemd to get a boost for me with a lot of their stories - I was very excited by Resurrection - a rare example of me recording and keeping a story on tape, Revelation livened up a fairly dull S22 and Remembrance restored my flagging faith in the show (and again both kept on tape). And Dalek 5 years ago really shot up my appreciation of the new series, even though I had on the whole enjoyed the first 5 episodes, this was the first classic episode of the revived show for me.

Needless to say, I'm very excited about next Saturday!

[WhiteCrowNZ]

For saying they were the first real aliens the Doctor encountered, the Daleks were suprisingly effective. You look at them and how they were designed and realised, and it was spot on perfect.

There hasn't been an alien since which has been quite as effectively realised. Much as I love the idea of the Cybermen - you tend to look at them and go ... look they're wearing spray painted boots ... with cyberlaces, and the effect is kind of ruined.

[Stuart Wallis]

It's definitely the Daleks for me - the voice in particular, the design. The show often seeemd to get a boost for me with a lot of their stories - I was very excited by Resurrection - a rare example of me recording and keeping a story on tape, Revelation livened up a fairly dull S22 and Remembrance restored my flagging faith in the show (and again both kept on tape). And Dalek 5 years ago really shot up my appreciation of the new series, even though I had on the whole enjoyed the first 5 episodes, this was the first classic episode of the revived show for me.

Needless to say, I'm very excited about next Saturday!

You're not Wayne in disguise are you?

[Jonno]

It was certainly one thing we had in common in happier times, Stuart!

[Stuart Wallis]

At least he's not forgotten, eh?