The Judoon are an enemy that have been surprisingly underused. Its been seven years since their first appearance and they have been reduced to cameos since then, only one of which gave them any dialogue. For years they have been either background monsters or comic relief (in their sole appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures) while the prosthetics and costumes sit in the BBC Wales costume department and gather dust for the rest of time. Theyre a different kind of enemy for the Doctor to face since, although he may agree with their overall motives, he looks down on them considerably; deriding them as stupid and being fundamentally opposed to them dishing out justice in such a broad and unflinching way that often brings innocent people into the crossfire. As the first (and only) Judoon story Smith And Jones showed; when the Judoon are about, delaying tactics are the name of the game for the Doctor. Let the Judoon do what they came to do but try everything to minimise any collateral damage. The hard-nosed law enforcement approach worked for them and made them a threat. Just having them in the background looking menacing or providing exposition is a bit of a waste. Even if they are appearing as the Doctors allies then their original characterisation should be in place, unless its a specific character point as in the Tenth Doctor novel Judgement Of The Judoon. And although a comic relief Judoon worked in The Sarah Jane Adventures, its not really something that would suit Doctor Who. Its one of several points where the two programmes differ greatly in tone.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
