I like this trio. But I feel like their TV arc is strange. They start in A Good Man Goes to War where it feels like we should know them but we don’t. Then they have 2 or 3 regular adventures and then they help Clara to accept the twelfth doctor and then they disappear forever. I feel like this trio deserves more of a character arc and maybe even a future visit. I know that they have some Big Finish stuff but I feel like they should have more of a TV present.
Yeahhh, it’s very weird
Strax especially is strange being the only sontaran we see at all in moffat’s era (outside of the pandorica alliance and such)
I’ve listened to the audios and was personally mixed, but I liked a lot of what they did with them on TV
I really like them.
It is suggested that they spent a lot of time with the Doctor when he was mourning the loss of Amy and Rory, up until The Snowmen.
I agree they popped up a few random times and then disappeared. On audios they have their own box sets and also Vastra appears in Redacted, although I think it’s a different actor? which was random.
I would have loved a spin off mini series with them, although some of the Strax jokes can get old pretty fast…
I love the Paternoster Gang, though I agree their TV appearances do seem kind of random, and they’re treated like we know way more about them than we do, which is kind of weird when you think about it.
But I do think they’re fun, and their audios - while not astounding, are by and large very enjoyable
I genuinely didn’t realise it was a different actress
I found it really distracting because it was supposed to be a mystery who she was at first and then when you heard her voice I still wasn’t sure who it was because it doesn’t sound like Vastra! Either get the same actress or change the character!
I realised who it was instantly because the doctor mentions finding her in the previous episode, and the VA was close enough, but yeah, definitely weird they didnt’ get the actual actress when everyone else was
Especially as she has returned to do loads of Big Finish.
There was a reason she didn’t/couldn’t return, I think, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was!
If you remember please tell me. It would be interesting to here.
not much info but this is what i could find.
In Redacted, Vastra is voiced by Doon Mackichan rather than Neve McIntosh. McIntosh was not available to reprise the role but she and Steven Moffat gave permission for the recasting. Since Vastra is much older in the series than in her previous appearances, an older actress was cast
Thanks for that - it matches my memory. I think it was a simple case of McIntosh having other work commitments.
I think the Paternoster Gang was set up really well and had a fine run of stories - I think they are probably at their best in Deep Breath, a bit ironic as that was their last onscreen outing.
A Lizard-lady working as Sherlock Holmes in Victorian London assisted by her wife/maid/ninja and a Sontaran butler? Now there’s a premise 
As I said I thought they were set up really well but it kind of feel as if the pay-off never really came - I think they should have had more of a presence in Capaldi’s era.
Strax is kind of a one trick pony comedywise, and it honestly became quite stale for me really quickly - doesn’t help that that particular version of our potatoheaded friends is my least favourite design (absolutely love the Flux design)
I feel they were under used on TV. I would have preferred them to carry a spin off over Class, which seemed to be so tangentially connected to the parent show that it would have benefitted from not being connected at all, but I digress. I remember reading that Moffat had had several spin off proposals turned down though I’ve no idea how credible the source was and I’ve since forgotten what it was. However, this seems like such an obvious set up for a spin off that it’s hard to believe that it hadn’t been seriously considered. The BF audios that I’ve listened to have been fun, but it would have been nice to see them strut their stuff a lot more on TV.