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.
It’s a very odd little mini era they have on TV. You sort of get the feeling they were introduced for A Good Man Goes to War and then became a bit of a surprise hit so Moffat decided to bring them back in Series 7. Certainly, I don’t think he would’ve killed Strax in War if he’d known he was going to bring the character back.
I wonder if, when devising a Victorian companion for Series 7, Moffat decided the Paternoster gang could feature again because of Vastra’s ties to Victorian London?
It is a bit of a shame they never returned after Deep Breath but I imagine it was felt that Capaldi was a new era and they wanted to move forward. If Smith had stayed, I wonder if they’d have brought them back another couple of times.
They also feel like a missed opportunity for a spin-off, although it would’ve taken a lot of logistical workings out, actors spending a lot of time in and out of prosthetics, finding funding, etc. It was nice that they kept Strax around as a kids ambassador for the show though (the cinema screening introductions, etc.)
Ah, have had a rummage:
Another benefit of the Victorian setting was that it would permit Moffat the opportunity to revisit a trio of characters he had originally introduced for Season Thirty-Two’s A Good Man Goes to War. These were the Silurian adventurer Madame Vastra, her associate Jenny, and the Sontaran nurse Commander Strax; they had proved so popular that Moffat had held preliminary discussions with the BBC about developing a spin-off series for the characters, before he realised that his obligations to Doctor Who and Sherlock would preclude this. Actors Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart and Dan Starkey all confirmed that they were interested in reprising their roles – although Starkey may have been somewhat surprised by the offer, given that Strax had died in his earlier appearance. Nonetheless, the idea of Strax serving as “a grumpy butler” to Vastra was derived from comments Starkey had made in the August 2011 issue of Doctor Who Magazine.
On August 23rd, the chase across the rooftop of Darkover House was taped at Roath Lock. The same day, recording began on two Moffat-scripted projects related to “The Snowman”. One was a prequel which would be broadcast during November’s Children In Need charity event as The Great Detective. The other was destined for release through online retailers iTunes and Amazon in March 2013; it was meant to explain how Strax had survived his apparent death in A Good Man Goes to War and formed a partnership with Vastra and Jenny. Entitled The Battle of Demons Run – Two Days Later, it was directed by Doctor Who producer Marcus Wilson.