Cosplaying As Doctor Who Aliens Doesn’t Have To Be Difficult
With the new season/series of Doctor Who releasing, it seems like as good a time as any to go over how amazing Doctor Who is for cosplaying. Because the series almost always uses humanoids for its species and has almost always been working from a fairly limited set of options, its designs are perfect for the average cosplayer.
But there are some that are more difficult than others. And I don’t want to throw anyone into the deep end right away. So, let’s take a look at five Doctor Who aliens that are good beginner options, either because they do not require too many different skills or only present a few challenges.
Cyberman
The difficulty here will depend a lot on what version of a Cyberman you want to do. Some are decked out in a lot of complicated parts and will basically have the same complexity as making an entire suit of medieval armor. The version in “Nightmare in Silver” especially. Alternatively, there’s the older version that’s called back to in the devastating episode, “Word Enough and Time.” Whatever your choice, be sure to practice your best “delete” in your best robot voice.
The Silence
This is one of the harder cosplays to do on this list…
…I’m sorry, what was I talking about?
Oh! Right. Yeah. The Silence aren’t that challenging from an outfit standpoint. If you have a nice suit, then you’re done. It’s the mask and hands. The Silence’s face will likely require a complex rubber mold with a lot of folds to account for. But, if you can manage it, you will not only get a lot of compliments but also get a lot of people “forgetting” they saw you. If you really want to play into that, bring some kind of black marker for people to mark their hands.
Venetian Vampires
Let’s get a little obscure, shall we? This is a one-off villain (unless it’s in the background of the Pandorica scenes) from one of Matt Smith’s episodes. The full version of this alien species is likely out of the scope of what someone can do, but the human disguise is still really cool to see. The teeth aren’t your usual vampire fangs and will take a lot of creativity to make comfortable to wear, and the white dresses are totally a callback to Dracula’s brides—and seem pretty lightweight for walking around a con all day.
Vashta Nerada-Filled Suit
Really, this is two costumes. The Vashta Nerada are moving a spacesuit with a skeleton in it. So, you need to make a very specific—and iconic—spacesuit and then figure out how to wear that and a skull mask. What I’m saying is to make sure that you can breathe and don’t overheat in that getup before you figure out a fun phrase to repeat over and over while slowly walking around.
Water Zombies
This is all makeup effects, but wow, is it menacing looking. In the episode “The Waters of Mars,” a microscopic being of some sort takes over a person’s body after they’ve been exposed to a single drop of water. AKA: TERRYFYING. The visual components are skin dehydrating and cracking, and yet still wet. For safety reasons, don’t actually spill any water or let it drip—we don’t want anyone to trip. The end result should instantly make any entrenched Doctor Who fans think back to that pivotal episode.
And that’s five of the many, many amazing Doctor Who aliens. Hopefully, you’ll find one of them the perfect challenge for your next cosplay adventure in whatever time or part of space you happen to need them.