tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582542117653672265.post5717939308192690587..comments2024-03-18T10:07:52.719-07:00Comments on My Shiny Toy Robots: Strax, and the fall of Sontar?Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008161240137256096noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582542117653672265.post-80317299035147924852014-01-31T02:28:04.528-08:002014-01-31T02:28:04.528-08:00Couldn't agree more.
I love Strax, Jenny and...Couldn't agree more. <br /><br />I love Strax, Jenny and Vastra, they're probably my favourite innovation Moffat has introduced in his time running the show. Strax, particularaly, has become a real fan-favourite - Dan Starkey does a fantastic job with the character. And that's exactly what's so great about Strax and Vastra - they're actual CHARACTERS. In a show where all too often alien races are treated as monolithic, homogenous groups that threaten humanity, it's so refreshing to have a counterpoint, showing us their lighter side, and the diversity within those groups.<br /><br />But the Sontarans and Cybermen, particularly, have really suffered from being made the butt of all the jokes and not having strong stories of their own. I really do think the Sontarans have the potential to be great Big Bads... the production team needs to ditch the bloody Daleks for a couple of years and give us an arc where the Sontarans are behind everything, and the same for the Cybermen - take them seriously (Don't get me wrong, I love the Daleks, but they're suffering from overuse). Back in series 6, I was really hoping the Sontarans would turn out to be behind the Flesh-Amy deception, because the white goo looked so much liek the gunk the clone Martha was made of back in series 4. But it wasn't to be.<br /><br />Let's have Strax encounter his people, and see their reaction to how he has changed as a result of being around Vastra, Jenny, the Doctor and Clara. Now that he's become so adored by viewers, the writers could do something really traumatic with him, like have his people mercilessly hit the factory reset on him, or something, seeing him as aberrant and either disposable or in need of 'fixing'. The moment in 'Name of the Doctor' when he turned on Vastra was really dramatic - they need to do something big like that with him to restore the Sontarans as actual threats. And doing it that way would make it less an issue of 'race' than one of culture, which is far less problematic.<br /><br />Anyway, that's probably enough from me, but yeah, totally agree :)liminalDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621859737411962756noreply@blogger.com