The family Slitheen are one of those foes that polarise fandom. For some, the contrast between wide-eyed, almost child-like faces and more monsterish bodies with razor-sharp claws is a design triumph. For others, the flabby paunches and puerile farting caused discontented muttering rather than the hoped-for adoration. At least they could run, an ability not often granted to Doctor Who villains. Following their appearances in Series 1, the Slitheen were transferred over to The Sarah Jane Adventures. Inevitably, due to that programme's lower budget, the Slitheen were less well executed there. They didn't return to Doctor Who until becoming members of the Alliance against the Doctor in Series 5's The Pandorica Opens. And the last mention of the Raxacoricofallapatorians on screen was as part of the fleet surrounding Trenzalore in the 2013 Christmas special, The Time of the Doctor, although they were never actually seen in that story. Despite all the efforts to promote the heck out of the Slitheen, children and adults alike never seemed to fully embrace them. Even in stories like Boom Town, where they had good dialogue and great acting, the sight of their awkwardly lumbering forms was enough to destroy most viewers' willing suspensions of disbelief. Many Whovians would agree that the Slitheen were a failed experiment in monster making and shouldn't be revisited any time soon.
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
