RPG Menagerie: Judoon

I've done a lot of work with Cubicle 7's Doctor Who RPG, and the Whoniverse is rife with "monsters", so here we go.

Monster: Judoon
Game/Product: Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space/Aliens and Creatures
Writing: DWAITAS team. Photo: BBC
Origin: First appearing opposite the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones in "Smith and Jones" (NuWho Series 3, episode 1, written by Russell T Davies), the Judoon as dense space cops who seem to have evolved (or been uplifted) from rhinos. They have a cool look and animatronic heads, which is why a "hero" Judoon can take his helmet off, and the rest usually stay hidden under them.  Of course, your role-playing game has no such budget concerns.
Fear Level: They are very serious and look like fascists, but they're also a little silly. The phrase "Judoon platoon on the Moon" runs through your head, and then you hear their language, and it's pretty hard not to laugh, or at least smirk. Nevertheless, the game gives them Fear Factor 2 (out of 3).
Danger Level: That said, they aren't very imaginative and tend to follow the letter of the law, so you end up failing to reason with them and get disintegrated for your trouble. I would run the other way, but that could get you shot, too. 
Famous examples: They're all pretty much the same, but the captain in Fugitive of the Judoon was notably female, and apparently, you could tell because she had hair and males are bald. Good to know, but it doesn't really make a difference. On television, the Judoon have appeared in 11 episodes (9 of Doctor Who, across three showrunners, and 2 of Sarah Jane Adventures). They've also appeared pretty extensively in other media. The RPG offered an early adventure where you had to ally with one.
I wonder if: I could have convinced a potential player to play that Judoon and join our TARDIS crew if I'd tried hard enough, but the downstairs neighbor I targeted never accepted the offer. To Bo Fo Ho.

Where do the Judoon fall in your Doctor Who monster top lists?

Comments

misterharry said…
I can't say the Judoon are in my Top 10 or even 20 Who monsters. Maybe in the Top 50, if I had such a thing? But they're good for adding some light relief while at the same time being a credible threat. And it's easy enough for the GM to mimic their speech. No Bo Sho Lo Po!
Siskoid said…
The problem is that they're always working for someone else, so they're basically NuWho's answer to Ogrons.
daft said…
Despite the advent of animatronics occurring in the interim, NuHu generally had a paucity of memorable adversaries. The Weeping Angels being the obvious classic edition, but rather limited in application due to being decidedly hamstrung by the attendant lore (no matter how much they subsequently attempted to retcon it). I like the Ood addition unto the cannon, but more as an durable ally, given they aren't inherently evil and look more like frail desiccated canaries, facially at least.

I wish they had followed through with the return of the Yeti, the 60s additions were great, just imagine the addition of advanced animatronics - the associated plush dolls would have simply flown off the shelf.