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Doctor Who Enemy Evolutions

Whether you like it or not, a number of the Doctor's recurring foes have undergone a redesign. We break down some of the more major of Doctor Who enemy redesigns in Doctor Who Enemy Evolution.


Constrained by a budget of about fifty pence, it's a wonder how Doctor Who was able to produce any effects at all. But they did the best with what they had, creating some of television's most iconic monsters - even if you don't know what a Dalek is, if you see one, you'll recognize it. But times have changed, and the show's budget has grown considerably. It's only logical, then, to expect some of those budget-monsters to get a much deserved facelift. Here are eleven examples of such transformations. Some were explained away by evolution, upgrades, etc. Others were not explained at all.

What is your favorite baddie redesign? Or do you still prefer the original version?    

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Doctor Who Redesigns
Credit: BBC

The Macra

The Macra are giant crab-like creatures who feed on poisonous gasses. They started out as a fairly intelligent species, hypnotizing a group of Human colonists who journeyed to their home planet and forcing them to mine gas for their consumption. The Doctor put an end to this enslavement, and he wouldn't see the Macra again for a long time. Over that period, the creatures devolved into mindless feral things with little intelligence left. This creature's redesign is slight and completely glossed over in the show. Essentially, it all boils down to going from large Papier-mché dummies to CG models. The Macra of the new Doctor Who look far more realistic, and their eye-stalks tend to be longer and thinner than those of their predecessors, although you could pass that off as evolution.    

Doctor Who Redesigns
Credit: BBC

Autons

These creatures played quite a landmark role in the Doctor's return to television. They mad appearances in the old show and were the first enemies that the televised version of the Ninth Doctor had faced off against in the reboot. In a way, much like Christopher Eccleston himself, they are underappreciated. After all, they were the ones who started the new series. These baddies actually experienced a sort of redesign during the run of the new show, going from something that looks a lot like a store display mannequin to a model that is completely identical to humans - like the ones in The Pandorica Opens. 

Doctor Who Redesigns
Credit: BBC

Werewolves

Yes, there are werewolves in Doctor Who. They aren't cursed humans or anything like that. Over time, the explanation for the cause of their affliction has changed along with their appearance. Due to budget constraints, the earlier versions of werewolves were just humans with bad makeup. The makeup grew a good deal more intricate during the new series, and a brand-new reason for werewolves was also introduced in the episode "Tooth and Claw." There, the Doctor claims that the werewolf is afflicted by an alien called "Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform," a strange race of creatures capable of transmitting their existence via bite.    

Doctor Who Redesigns
Credit: BBC

The Cybermen

Second only to the Daleks, these baddies have appeared in countless of the Doctor's adventures. Their main goal is typically to turn all humans (and occasionally other species) into Cybermen. Since their inception, way back when in The Tenth Planet, these human-brained cyborgs have undergone a lot of changes to both their look and voice. Orignally, the Cybermen spoke simply with a higher pitched voice, bearing a strange inflection. Over time, however, that voice was turned more and more machine-like. Similarly - and probably due to a substantial budget increase - the appearance of the Cybermen also became more machine-like.

Doctor Who Redesigns
Credit: BBC

The Silurians

These guys have made quite a comeback recently, quickly going from the Doctor's enemies to some of his closest allies. The original Silurian design had many eyes and a much more animalistic appearance. The newer version appeared more human-like, with only two eyes (actual human-looking eyes, too), a human nose and human lips. If anything, this new design reflects the period in which these creatures were put to television. The older version appeared in the times of swamp monsters, while the newer appeared at time when creators began to seek a sort of realism about their characters in an effort to make them more relatable.

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