I agree. Also, I'd add that a lot of it is due to lighting, hence my earlier 'Alien' comment. Take the Alien out of those dark Nostromo corridors and have it walking around in broad daylight, some here would call it unconvincing.
Many people take lighting for granted, it really sets the mood, the way the Zygons were lit in 1975 were ten times better than this year's example. The sleep creatures in last week's episode were superbly lit in my opinion, I liked the way that I couldn't 100% make them out.

Your comment about the creature in Alien and the use of effective lighting is spot on. Much of that film's effectiveness is because only the adult creature's head is seen at first in extreme close up as its inner jaws extend for the "kill". It's seen very briefly in silhouette in the air shafts, but isn't revealed fully until very late in the film, and when it is, it's lit by strobe lights or in strong lighting giving extremely bright highlights and deep shadows.

By contrast, one or two of the shots of the creatures in Aliens, particularly the one with a large number in the space above the false ceiling are nowhere near as effective and convincing.

I agree about the sandmen in the last story. I thought they worked well as a slow, lumbering, slightly malformed humanoid monster.

They actually had someone on stage at the DW Festival performing in the costume. Coupled with the performer's movements and lighting it was very effective, reminiscent of an animated version of Munch's The Scream.

Said on another thread; the 1975 Zygons were definitely more effective for me in every way.

Yeah, I certainly agree and have already said upthread that it comes down to lighting, direction and editing when it comes to our rubber friends. Putting the concept of them aside, I thought the Dustm...sorry, Sandmen were pretty effectively shot. A bit like the not dissimilar 'future echo' thingies from the 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS' episode that IMO worked pretty well and were quite creepy as we didn't really see them that clearly.

The Magma creature in Davison's wonderful swansong nearly got away with it apart from a couple of shots, a bit like the Fisher King this series....a lingering, wide angle shot spoiled the illusion a bit. Still, imagine the disappointed and grinding of teeth of the poor people who spent days and days creating these things...and then they're hardly seen at all, never mind the poor b*ggers sweating buckets inside the costumes!

So the real issue here is not 'rubber suited monsters', it's the way you light and shoot them.

That's always been the case. Right back in 1964 the Voord looked quite creepy in dark photos and when only glimpsed in the shadows, but when seen fully they are clearly waddling actors in wetsuits with funny shapes stuck on their heads. Spooky lighting is always going to make any monster look better and your imagination is always better than the reality of a man in a suit / cgi horror.

Audiences would be more forgiving if DW was broadcast early evening, 6:30pm say. Strictly is really the 8pm show.

I have no doubt this weird swapped over scheduling is down to government bullying over poor ickie-wickie ITV.

The great thing about the Voord is that they are men in wetsuits and funny-shaped headgear playing men in wetsuits and funny-shaped headgear ("waddling" is perhaps a little unkind, but irrelevant: we know from other episodes that there are podgy and evil men on Marinus). We are even shown an empty wetsuit to underline this. Presumably the headgear contains whatever it is that enables them to resist the Conscience, which is why they never take it off, even though, in Yartek's case, this completely torpedoes his attempt to impersonate Arbitan in Episode 6. As a solution to the "men in rubber suits" problem, this is ingenious.

I would be pleased to see them again, but even more pleased to see the Morpho brains ("Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" - that was their catchphrase). A return to Marinus, one of the very few planets in Doctor Who to have different climatic zones, would be great fun.

Along with the Mondas Cybermen, the Zarbi and the 'middle Eight' of the theme tune, Mr Capaldi might well be doing his utmost to see this come about.

As others have said- its all about the lighting and direction. I think recent series they have gotten away with more because the cinematography and direction in general is miles more sophisticated than it was in the first few seasons. The cinematic edge and use of filters/grading/various tricks makes the likes of the Zygons look significantly less silly than some of their earlier counterparts. The design of course is King but its remarkable what can be achieved not just through effects or production but also in-camera. Someone mentioned the Xenomorph? That was impressive but the Alien queen is an even bigger feat. The behind the scenes footage makes the puppet look cumbersome and borderline unworkable, Its genuine magic they managed to turn it into such a classic scene.