2. The Rutan From Horror Of Fang Rock (1977)
A colleague of mine
has already written about how the Rutans (or is it "Rutan", since they're a hive mind?) should return in the new series, and I think he's absolutely right: these enemies of the Sontarans would benefit from an updated, probably CGI-based incarnation. But it's something of a surprise that they ever worked on screen at all. The Rutan (let's go with the singular spelling for now) are a sentient amphibious race that lives on a planet that's bitterly cold. They also appear to have two forms of defense against whatever wampa-like predators share this planet with them: they can shock the living crap out of anything they come in contact with, and they can change their shape to mimic other living beings. I'm sure the designers on this particular story got the script, read it, and said, "Great idea - but how the bloody hell are we supposed to make this work with fifty quid?" The story plays it safe by not revealing the monster in all its glory until Episode Four, but there are sufficient glances of it in the previous three episodes that you know Terrance Dicks' imagination has most likely extended beyond the restraints of the budget. But somehow it doesn't matter - even the shot of the Rutan going up the side of the lighthouse in a particularly wonky bit of Chroma Key in Episode Three is terrifying by that point because of all the build-up, and that's the story's strength. By the time you do see the green-colored bag with tentacles stuck on with a light inside it - and there's that colour green again! - Any disappointment you may have in the final effect has been leached away. Finding out that these things have been at war with the Sontarans for millennia (another idea that doesn't really bear a lot of thought, but we'll give them that) is just lagniappe. No wonder people want this one to come back almost as much as they wanted the Ice Warriors.