4. The Power Of Nostalgia (Rubbish Costumes And All)
You might nowadays laugh at the 'bloke in a suit' monsters/enemies, but admit it, they add to the nostalgia factor. Yes, the stories may have been wafer- thin and the budgets even tighter, but there was something about the spirit of it all that's just not there in an age of CGI monstrosities gallivanting around the screen. Want an alien that the costume department can't provide? Knocking it up on a computer screen seems to be the new trend, although this was somewhat admirably reversed with promotional images of the present-day Zygons appearing in 'The Day Of The Doctor'. The reveal has shown that they'll look practically the same as they did in ' Terror Of The Zygons', with the only special effect added being that the costumes have had a wash sometime between now & 1975. Such news should make the hearts of us hardened old-timers sing with glee. Not a trace of animational wizardry here, just the sort of ploy which made us forgive the likes of the 'Full Circle' Marshmen no mean feat considering that episode also brought us the intensely annoying boy genius/swotty know-it-all Adric and the Sea Devils, who resembled nothing more than giant turtles crossbred with Rocky Horror's Frank'n'Furter as well as countless others. Now, we'll move on before getting too caught up in that mental Sea Devil image of their leader crooning 'Rose Tint My World' to the Master after their initial summoning, if you don't mind? Who-err, missus. Its just that sense of playfulness we want from our men in suits, surely? It's the sort of thing you can't get from visual FX, yet it's worth more than even the most sophisticated technology. For example, just remember Xoanon from 'The Face Of Evil', and it's 1-0 to a more natural way of being after all, the stupid machine mistook scoffing jelly babies for going a bit King Herod. Also, remember WOTAN from 'The War Machines', and quiver a bit, thanking God Bill Gates was never that evil in the process.