What would a fan rather see, a monster that's a good idea but that's not done entirely effectively, or a monster that's realised well but that's not very exciting? As far as 'enemies that sound great on paper but look so-so' go, the list is nearly endless. The original Silurians had seams plainly visible on their backs and the giant fly at the end of The Green Death is a visual effects disaster, but these creatures are still fondly regarded because the concepts behind them are great. Who doesn't love intelligent dinosaur people and oversized insects? The Order of the Headless first seen in the prequel for A Good Man Goes To War firmly fall into the other category. There's nothing wrong visually with how they're depicted but, goodness, they're dull. Basically, these villains are monks with flaming swords who shuffle around very slowly. They do have an excuse, though. They don't have any heads and are, presumably, remote controlled by the Papal Mainframe. No wonder they're so bumbling.
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
