Favorite Doctor Who alien race?

[Captain Kathryn]

Just curious which alien race / alien featured in Doctor Who is your favorite?

My faves (from "New Who"):
-Time Lord
-The Ood!!!!
-Daleks
-Cybermen
-Face of Boe
-Adipose
-Lady Cassandra (I know technically her DNA is human, but she must count!)
-Weeping Angels

I have more faves from the later seasons, but I am re-watching Season 2 at the moment so it's on my mind.

My favorite (besides the obvious big ones) is probably the Ood for some reason. I found them really interesting in every episode they were featured in. Even though Moffat didn't use them as much as Davies, I liked that they didn't disappear entirely.

Eh, I just think they were really cool (no 11 pun intended) for the fact that they were able to have prophecies of future events...and adding to that, the fact that they were first shown as a violent race, but then the viewer discovers they are a peaceful people who just want freedom like anyone else. Whenever they show up in an episode, I feel like it takes on a more prophetic and mysterious tone.

Ood love...

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jacnYjL4hDg[/YT]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAZUl9yCx6g[/YT]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKFSM9T_ei4[/YT]

 

[Candlelight]

Daleks.

I'm old fashioned.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Actually there's one thing that really annoys me about pretty much all of the major DW aliens. People get on Star Trek's case for having 'planets of the hats' - all members of a certain alien race acting and looking alike - but it is literally the case with Doctor Who aliens far more often than it is not.

Daleks - Metal boxes. Yes, there are subtleties in designs, but in the vast majority of cases individuality is specifically bred out of them. All just 'Daleks.'

Cybermen - Specifically designed to all be the same, certainly the modern versions. That's their whole point.

Sontarans - Cloned warriors, so that - what a surprise - they all look the same and can be portrayed by the same actor. The one time they have a Sontaran who acts different - Strax - they get complaints that he's not a real Sontaran anymore.

Silurians - All of the same "gene line" or some such, so that they can all look the same and be portrayed by the same actors.

Weeping Angels - Some slight differences to their looks but they don't even talk so it's impossible to call any of them individuals.

Ood - All look the same, and they're telepathically connected so they all act the same too.

Silence - All look the same. They even relied on that to make us think Clara was in trouble in "TotD."

And so on. Alien races are made interesting by adding complexity, things to be interested by. Pretty much all DW aliens are one singular gimmick blown up to be an entire race.

All that being said, I do enjoy the Angels - they just need to be used sparingly or else they lose their bite, rather like the Borg.

.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Mine (in exact order):

1. Time Lords (when they're good, they're good--when they're bad, oh are they ever so delightfully bad).
2. Cybermen (robotic zombies with guns that can either kill you or turn you into one of them--what's not to love about that?).
3. Sontarans (didn't care for 'em that much in the classic days, but they're a total riot now).
4. Silurians (I absolutely love the 2010 redesign, yet they still retain their classic-era axe to grind against Humans).

 

[Candlelight]

Daleks - Metal boxes. Yes, there are subtleties in designs, but in the vast majority of cases individuality is specifically bred out of them. All just 'Daleks.'

In the new series, yes. With the exception of the obvious leaders like the Emperor, or Davros, or the Supreme, or Cult of Skaro, or the Paradigm Daleks, they're an army of foot soldiers so they have to be identical. It's cheaper to reuse and refurbish old props than create new ones for each serial.

Go back to the original series though and once you get to the colour serials they started to change them slightly every story, so they did appear different each time you saw them.

That said, Doctor Who has always been held back by budget. I'm sure they'd love to do different types of alien species each week but it all comes down to money.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Actually there's one thing that really annoys me about pretty much all of the major DW aliens. People get on Star Trek's case for having 'planets of the hats' - all members of a certain alien race acting and looking alike - but it is literally the case with Doctor Who aliens far more often than it is not.

Yeah, but I do think that overall the non-humans in Doctor Who do appear to be less human-like than Star Trek though (with the exception of some, like the Time Lords). Yes, within a race in Doctor Who the individuals tend to be very similar, but the differences between one another is pretty drastic I think.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Humans. They can be really creepy aliens in this show.

Mark

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

For me, the scariest are definately the Cybermen.

I like the militarism of the old school Sontarans. And Strax is hilarious!

 

[diankra]

Ice Warriors. Mainly thanks to Brian Hayles's books. Side order of Sontarans and definitely Alpha Centauri. Sensorites and Wirrn among the one-timers.

 

[PorthosShadow]

I can't really put my sonic screwdriver on it but I really like The Judoon. It would be nice to see them show up again.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

For weirdness, I gotta love Alpha Centauri, Zarbi, Menoptra, & Monoids.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I can't really put my sonic screwdriver on it but I really like The Judoon. It would be nice to see them show up again.

The Judoon are probably the best design.

 

[od0_ital]

The Judoon are pretty awesome.

Weeping Angels have been pretty good, too.

The Daleks are interestin' when they are more than just foot soldiers. Cybermen, too. But their uniformity can make 'em dull unless there's a second or third party handler/motivation.

 

[RoJoHen]

Actually there's one thing that really annoys me about pretty much all of the major DW aliens. People get on Star Trek's case for having 'planets of the hats' - all members of a certain alien race acting and looking alike - but it is literally the case with Doctor Who aliens far more often than it is not.

Daleks - Metal boxes. Yes, there are subtleties in designs, but in the vast majority of cases individuality is specifically bred out of them. All just 'Daleks.'

Cybermen - Specifically designed to all be the same, certainly the modern versions. That's their whole point.

Sontarans - Cloned warriors, so that - what a surprise - they all look the same and can be portrayed by the same actor. The one time they have a Sontaran who acts different - Strax - they get complaints that he's not a real Sontaran anymore.

Silurians - All of the same "gene line" or some such, so that they can all look the same and be portrayed by the same actors.

Weeping Angels - Some slight differences to their looks but they don't even talk so it's impossible to call any of them individuals.

Ood - All look the same, and they're telepathically connected so they all act the same too.

Silence - All look the same. They even relied on that to make us think Clara was in trouble in "TotD."

And so on. Alien races are made interesting by adding complexity, things to be interested by. Pretty much all DW aliens are one singular gimmick blown up to be an entire race.

All that being said, I do enjoy the Angels - they just need to be used sparingly or else they lose their bite, rather like the Borg.

.

Not to mention the Whisper Men, the robots inside the Tessalecta, the medical robots from "The Girl Who Waited," the clockwork robots from "The Girl in the Fireplace," etc...

Also, there's just too many damned robots.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Some of the most interesting aliens to me are ones that were treated pretty much as throw-aways.

The Forest seen in The End of the World -- I don't see the idea of plant people explored in Sci-Fi that often. Mostly just in fantasy. The thought that the species is descended from the trees of Earth is quite improbable, but very Doctor Who-ish. I wish we could have seen them again.

The Fish-people seen in the Doctor's daughter -- I guess originally these people were given actual lines that were replaced with bubbling noises. If they could make a translator for them then it would be great fun to see them again.

These species had the ability to produce individuals that were --well, individuals, and not just swarms of monsters. But I think their design indicates that they would have some interesting views on the universe than most of the bipedal mammal aliens and near-humans.

Actually, my favorite Dalek story in Nu-Who was "The Daleks in Manhatten." The Daleks recognized that in order to keep exterminating the universe they were going to need to change, and so they tried to create a new breed of Dalek -- but then couldn't accept change when they came across it.

I do enjoy the Doctor Who staples, though. They're always good fun, so long as the writers keep thinking up fresh ways to use them.

 

[Candlelight]

Actually, my favorite Dalek story in Nu-Who was "The Daleks in Manhatten." The Daleks recognized that in order to keep exterminating the universe they were going to need to change, and so they tried to create a new breed of Dalek -- but then couldn't accept change when they came across it.

I wished they'd focused on that aspect rather than have the pig-slaves or six-penis-head Sec.

I'd have preferred the conversion to have gone in the other direction; Sec stays in the Dalek casing but changes within. It would've made Sec even more dangerous as he would be fighting with his new emotions AND still have Dalek weaponry at his disposal.

 

[Reverend]

I don't have any favourites per-see, but I do have something of a soft spot for the Silurians and I'd like to see more with them down the line. Either in the future after the survivors re-emerge and join with the human civilisation or go off to found off-world colonies of their own. Actually what I'd be really interested in seeing is their civilization at it's peek before they were forced underground.

Did classic Who ever go there? Seems like an obvious thing to do, no?

 

[Candlelight]

I don't have any favourites per-see, but I do have something of a soft spot for the Silurians and I'd like to see more with them down the line. Either in the future after the survivors re-emerge and join with the human civilisation or go off to found off-world colonies of their own. Actually what I'd be really interested in seeing is their civilization at it's peek before they were forced underground.

Did classic Who ever go there? Seems like an obvious thing to do, no?

They only featured in two stories (The Silurians and Warriors of the Deep) and both featured attempts to kill the humans. The first story was more civilised. The second was just dumb.

 

[Sindatur]

I don't have any favourites per-see, but I do have something of a soft spot for the Silurians and I'd like to see more with them down the line. Either in the future after the survivors re-emerge and join with the human civilisation or go off to found off-world colonies of their own. Actually what I'd be really interested in seeing is their civilization at it's peek before they were forced underground.

Did classic Who ever go there? Seems like an obvious thing to do, no?

They only featured in two stories (The Silurians and Warriors of the Deep) and both featured attempts to kill the humans. The first story was more civilised. The second was just dumb.

You forgot The Sea Devils as well.

I agree with Reverend, I've always wanted to see a story with The Silurians/Sea Devils at the height of their power, before the slumber, or after waking and building a new Society. That was one one thing I really enjoyed about the Matt Smith Silurian Two-Parter, was seeing their Society functioning.

 

[Redfern]

I think I'll start a slight scandal by suggesting the felinoids depicted in "New Earth and "Gridlock". Since late 1982 (after seeing Paul Schrader's lurid remake of "Cat People" which awakened something deep within my id), I've always wondered how Lt. M'Ress (from the animated Star Trek) might have appeared in live action format, and seeing Novice Hame (the "cat" nun who cared for the Face of Boe) gave me a possible solution. Seriously, the way the makeup team was able to apply actual "fur" to the appliances rather than just painted patterns, was truly amazing and better done than a fair number of big budget movie designs.

Hame was a sympathetic character who got a bad deal (I gathered she honestly didn't know what her "sisters" were doing and got arrested unjustly), so I was thrilled she was revealed as a heroine in her second appearance. Plus, Brannigan was just a trip, a likabe, funny fellow from start to finish. Not to mention his "children" were completely heart melting. "Mamma!" Indeed!

Sincerely,

Bill