DAY 3 – Favorite Villain/Monster/Alien/Baddie of the Week
The Sontarans
I was going to say The Silence, but they’re not my “favorite” so much as they SCARE THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF ME. Lots of people would probably say Daleks, but honestly, to me the Daleks have become so much of a “thing” that they’ve stopped being scary or interesting, you know? Silurians are interesting in concept, but in practice have only begun to be explored in a nuanced way. And the Weeping Angels, while interesting in “Blink”, stopped being interesting in “Flesh and Stone,” even though the episode itself is great. And The Master is more than a mere “Baddie of the Week.”
But from Classic Who to New Who, I’ve always really liked The Sontarans. I have a huge respect for warrior races on television (see: Klingons), mostly because they force us to reexamine our own moral codes. While you know that Sontaran goals are antithetical to our own, and therefore must be stopped, you can’t really out and out call them “wrong.” Also, they have a freaking BATTLE CRY. “Sontar, HA! Sontar, HA! Sontar, HA!” 
Gotta love a race with their own battle cry! “The Sontaran Experiment” is one of my favorite Classic Who story arcs, and “The Sontaran Strategem” from Season Three of New Who is one of my favorites of that season.
So, yeah – The Sontarans. Fave “Baddie of the Week.” Sontar, HA!
Ooh, good choice! I agree, the Sontarans are awesome. I like that they’re warriors but still very different from Klingons. To Klingons, war is great fun. To Sontarans, it’s a science, something to be studied and meticulously practiced. They’re like master craftsmen. To continue the Star Trek example, they’re much more like Jem’Hadar than Klingons.
But “The Sontaran Experiment”? Seriously?!? I’m much more partial to “The Time Warrior.” Also not so fond of the “Sontar HA!” chant. I don’t know why Russell T. Davies was so keen on giving classic villains catch phrases they didn’t have on the original show, like that one or the Cybermen’s “Delete.”
I REALLY like the Sontaran/Jem’Hadar comparison! They’re also both grown and bred for war, rather than war being cultural and organic.
And yes. I liked The Sontaran Experiment! Shut your face!
The Sontaran story I love – at least in my ten-to-twenty-year-old memory – is “The Invasion of Time.” I liked the thuggish Sontarans wreaking havoc among the genteel Timelords.