Doctor Who redesigning a classic monster is a relief after Jodie Whittaker Era made them a joke

The first Doctor Who
New Who’s latest era spin-off is in active development, and leaked set photos reveal that a familiar villain seen in the Whittaker era is getting an updated design. With the long history behind Doctor WhoSpanning over six decades, the Doctor has faced an incredible number of aliens and monsters on his travels. Along the way, several of these antagonists are brought back, such as the Daleks and the Cybermen, who end up becoming regulars throughout the show’s history.

However, there are other creatures that appeared once or twice in the classic series and were featured again in the revived series. This forms a connection between the classic series and the fan base that grew up watching it. Doctor Whoand modern viewers. While this works extremely well for some characters, like the Sontarans or the Ice Warriors from Mars, not all classic Who the villain design works in the modern showas seen by the return of the Sea Devils in Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor era.

Doctor Who’s authentic Sea Devils design didn’t work in Jodie Whittaker’s era

The old Sea Devils design should have stayed in the past

The issue comes down to how these monsters are represented Doctor Who. In the classic series, some of the strangest aliens to appear were created using prosthetics, large rubber suits, and other props. This served a purpose and allowed the show to create a variety of aliens, but there was a disconnect between these ominous creatures that look organic but have no real range of motion. To get around this in the case of the Sea Devils, the classic series established that these creatures communicate telepathically, meaning they don’t need to have movable mouths.

When these classic monsters were brought back in 2022, they kept their classic design and telepathy, but with updated technology and costumes, the creatures have mouths that could be functional. This has resulted in a strange disconnect between creatures that have no real purpose for this telepathic communication and could have had more expressive faces with modern technology. While the the design remained authentic to the originalit would be worth considering how these creatures could have been upgraded.

New Sea Devils design will make them more expressive

Sea Devils has needed an update for a long time

Fortunately, the Doctor Who spin off, The War between Land and Seaappears to be doing just that. The show is set to follow important events and developments between humans, represented specifically by UNIT, and the Sea Devils, one of the original sentient species that inhabited Earth before humans became the dominant species. Even this connection means that both humanoid creatures have reason to share similarities in their appearance throughout their evolution. And to better communicate this, and make Sea Devils a more engaging and interesting species in the show, the design was updated to become much more human.

Similar to the Silurians, which is another race of lizard-like humanoids, the Sea Devils will now have a very similar facial structure, with unique ear shapes, skin colors, and skin texture, judging by the leaked photos. Obviously, the the design may change again before the show is releasedand with the images coming from set leaks, it’s hard to say for sure that this is a new design, but it appears to be the equivalent of the missing link between the classic Sea Devils and the humans.

Authenticity is usually a good thing in Doctor Who, but not always

Doctor who has always changed with the times

When it comes to creatures like the Sontaran, it’s worth keeping the same design for a race of aliens that has reached the pinnacle of its evolution. Warrior species are perfectly adapted to their main purpose, and unless the species undergoes a radical change, there is no real need to change it. On the other hand, there are enemies like Cybermen and Daleks that maintain the same core designbut like hybrid robotic creatures, they can change and be upgraded in small ways over time.

With a show like Doctor Whoall time and space are at stake, so that the show can show the beginning, middle and end of an evolutionary cycle. For audiences to recognize these monsters as versions of the same species, all the show needs is for the Doctor to speak this information out loud or find it in some database. There is no real reason to keep a design that was built in a way to be practical in the 1960s or 1970s when modern methods could improve on those designs and make something more realistic, more authentic, and more fun. Fortunately, the Doctor Who spin-off seems to be on the right track.