Monsters who Came Back for More! (documentary)

Monsters Who Came Back For More! was a 2|entertain DVD documentary in which Nicholas Briggs and Peter Ware examined the reasons why monsters returned for further adventures.

Briggs explained that he often felt empathy for the characters when they were clearly afraid. For this reason he fondly remembered the Second Doctor era as Patrick Troughton could could portray fear very well.

The first section, "Shadow of the Daleks", explained how the immediate success of the Daleks led to their return in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The various attempts to better the Daleks were mentioned. Briggs dismissed the notion that the War Machines could be a recurring monster, despite their Blue Peter presentation as "bigger Daleks".

Ware and Briggs then listed their "top recurring monsters" with Daleks and Cybermen being unanimously on top. Briggs went with Ice Warriors as his third while Ware went with Sontarans before changing his mind and going for Weeping Angels. Both agreed that the Robot Yeti were worthy of praise despite having only been in two stories. Briggs went so far as to jest that he had a "Yeti sphere" in place of a heart.

As to why monsters came back, Ware suggested it was a cost-based decision as the costumes could simply be reused. Both Briggs and Ware agreed that viewers liked to see old monsters as they were familiar with them. Ware compared it to a concert where people wait patiently for the band to play their most famous song. Briggs saw how well a monster was remembered to be important. Particular attention was made to the return of the Macra with Ware viewing it as a crazy decision only a fan like Russell T Davies could make where Briggs took a similar view suggesting only some fans would identify the species while others would just see it as "a crab monster".

Next on the agenda was the question of whether the best monster returned the most times. Both Ware and Briggs disagreed with the latter evidencing the Zygons. Ware explained how monsters were often better in their returning stories than their debut. As examples of this, he gave Daleks, Cybermen and the Robot Yeti. Briggs viewed the changing face of the Sontarans and criticised how vastly they changed it from the established design of the The Time Warrior and saw their redesign for The Sontaran Stratagem to be faithful to the original, albeit in blue. Slaar was viewed favourably as he made the Ice Warriors more sinister as he could articulate better.

The section "Everyone has a favourite monster", saw discussion as to the best monster. Jon Pertwee favoured the Draconians while David Tennant chose the Zygons. Ware explained how the Doctor Who Magazine comic often brought back old monsters as did Briggs in terms of Big Finish. If he was in control of the TV show, Ware and Briggs both agreed that the Draconians and Zygons should return. Ware suggested that a well-realised Bandril could return but Briggs viewed this as ridiculous.

In closing, Briggs commented on how the shear amount of spin-off media meant that every story would likely have a sequel sooner or later and that every monster deserved to do so.

Booklet synopsis
Nick Briggs and Doctor Who Magazine's assistant editor Peter Ware take a look at the reasons why monsters often return for further adventures.

People interviewed

 * Nicholas Briggs, Voice of the Daleks, Executive Producer, Big Finish
 * Peter Ware, Assistant Editor, Doctor Who Magazine

Crew

 * Researchers - Simon Guerrier, Jim Sangster
 * Camera - Sophie Stern
 * Special thanks to - Doctor Who Magazine
 * Executive Producer - Dan Hall
 * Edited & Produced by - Thomas Guerrier
 * © 2|entertain 2010