Love & Monsters

Well, what DO you say about an episode that really doesn't much feature the Doctor or Rose, and whose villain is a monster who came from a Create-A-Monster contest won by a nine-year-old?

First off, you say that it was a bit of an experiment. Not really a filler episode, per se, but not one that's really relevant to the overall storyline (such as it is), despite the Torchwood references and the deeeeep foreshadowing to something that we pretty much all know is going to happen anyway because for the second year in a row BBC couldn't keep their big yaps shut. Yeah, the Doctor and Rose kinda take a backseat in this one, but then again, how many New Adventures did this happen in? Speaking of the NAs, did anyone else notice that one of the centerpiece motiffs in this story, Elton seeing the Doctor as a young lad, was kinda sorta lifted from Damaged Goods? Yeah, thought so. Anyway. The motley crew known as LINDA. Less fan geeks than UFO abduction survivors, I reckon. The idea of a support group formed around people who've encountered the Doctor has been seen in numerous fanfics, although usually it's with former companions as its members (at least the ones I've seen). Hmm, makes ye wonder for a tick whether or not a cameo from Liz Sladen wouldn't have been too out of place, but I digress. Although that would've been something. "I saw him when I was child." "There's always this police box." Then we get Sarah Jane popping in with "Oh yeah, big as houses the thing is. Did I mention I used to shag like jackrabbits, I mean, er, TRAVEL, yeah, travel with him?" Ah well, another comedy gold moment missed. That's what you have me for. You know come to think of it, didn't it strike anyone else as a bit odd that everyone in this support group save one has ever encountered the Tennant Doctor? I mean, Bridget was the only one who even mentioned the vague possibility of there being other Doctors. Ummmm and what about that website that Mickey used to maintain? Oh, wait, and wasn't Eccleston only on the front page of a major newspaper and on live worldwide TV once? Gosh, can't countenance that anyone's ever seen HIM, now, can we. Bit of an annoyance, that, really. Nice one, RTD. Jackie was White Trash, more or less, but hey, what do you expect. Oh, yes, and the Abzorbaloff. Yes, it was created by a nine-year-old. Very cute, especially since the winners of a previous competition on Blue Peter way back when never actually got to see their creations actually on the show, but then, well, sorry if anyone out there happens to be one of those past winners, but they looked gawdawful. Even by William Hartnell era standards. Meanwhile, in today's day and age, we actually get to see said monster on the show, and he's basically a mixture of Fat Bastard and that really obese bad guy we saw on an episode of Monk once, played by some comedian I've never heard of, which means something to most British viewers I reckon but means less than a thimbleful of jackshit to me. Making it come from the sister planet to the Slitheen was, well, a bit of a copout, really. And...that's it. I really can't think of much more to say. The monster really means that little to me in the grand scheme of things. I mean, when the Doctor couldn't even be bothered to fight him, what does that tell you? And the music. Good GAWD was it the worst. ELO? Foreign language versions of "Unbreak My Heart?" That one song that caused John Belushi to destroy a guitar in Animal House? You've GOT to be kidding me. Same rule applies to that Scooby-Doo chase at the beginning. Good Lord. But in the end? Elton did have a fascinating story. Being visited by the Doctor as a lad. Being an eyewitness to the Auton attack in "Rose," the spaceship crash from "Aliens of London" and the Sycorax incursion, kinda gave him a bit more of a perspective. A bit tragic, too, with some of the worst repression of memory I've ever seen if he can remember the Doctor but blocked out his appearance being tied to his mother dying. The true love of his life is a cement block (I don't even wanna touch the "love life" comment there), and he's seen a bunch of death and destruction because of the Doctor, directly or (mostly) indirectly. Makes you wonder how long his sanity CAN hold. So, yeah, it has flaws, it's not RTD's best script, but I liked it OK. Basically. Or something.