Love & Monsters

"Are you sure we are on the right channel Dad? This isn't Doctor Who."
(Alastair James... Age 6 )

Out of the mouths of babes !

I don't know whether to praise this episode for attempting to break free of normal expectations or ridicule it for being so far off the mark it lost sight of 'Who' and what it was.

And because I'm not quite sure how to deal with it, it leaves me with one major problem...which is...I quite enjoyed it.

But how can this be?..this is NOT WHO...but then, wasn't that kind of the point.

I enjoyed it in the same way that I enjoyed the comic relief Who sketches, and as such it had a lot of fun about it and some interesting alternative perspectives. It would have been nice to have seen or heard something of Clive, the original Whovian detective from 'Rose' episode one ( before his demise at the hands of the Autons ) as he would clearly have fitted right in with this group.

And yet...there it is again... that little voice...
..this is NOT WHO
..this is NOT WHO
..this is NOT WHO...

...and if it's not Who...then why has it taken up a whole episode of real Who that could have been put to good use with a decent story line?

I certainly liked the concept. A whole episode seen through another's eyes, but for it to really work it would had to have been the most gritty and realistic of the season so far. Fathers Day worked fantastically for just that reason. It took itself 100% seriously. It was a painful, emotive bitter sweet slice of real life that just happened to get tangled up in the world of the Doctor. If this episode had taken itself as seriously it could have been superb. As Clive said..." he brings death in his wake" that's the legacy of the Doctor for so many people. Yes there is triumph and victory, but also death and pain and loss. By the end of this episode, the main character, Elton, should have been cursing the doctor as an enemy. The death of his mother, the loss of his friends, all because the Doctor 'got it wrong'...that in itself is a worthwhile idea to explore. The doctor makes mistakes, he's vulnerable, sometimes he actually makes things worse. He's a renegade for goodness sakes, by all accounts a pretty damn dangerous one at that. If this episode had brought out some of his Hartnell dark side it might have worked.

And what of Tennant? Admittedly, he was deliberately left out of most of this episode, but it still brings into question his 'ownership' of the role. For all that I had issues with Ecclston, I never doubted for a minute that he believed he was the Doctor. Tennants performances so far ( with a few exceptions...Reunion, Tooth and Claw ) have been some what lacking in energy. I think this is partly down to the writing. Eccleston was given some brilliant dialogue. With it being the first season it was needed as we were introducing the character to a whole new generation. We had the ancient history and past encounters to draw upon to flesh out the Doctors personality. Tennent's tenancy of the role has not been given the same regular dialogue opportunities. But even then, I get the sense at times that he doesn't really want to be there. Like his heart just isn't in it. In this particular episode he only gets a few minutes of screen time...but if he were the REAL Doctor ( you know what I mean here...I mean Baker or Pertwee...or yes, Eccleston ) he would have still FILLED the screen for those few minutes. His lack of 'presence' at times is a concern for me and one I hope he will resolve next season when he really feels like he owns the part. I also miss those 'Baker' moments...you know, the ones, where you're watching and the doctor says or does something and you just KNOW it wasn't in the script, it was a genuine moment of on set inspiration. Some of the episodes are becoming very clinical, sterile, obviously following the script so tightly they don't leave enough room for the actors to inject anything personal into it.

And personal was where this episode ultimately fell down. That was the essential ingredient for it to work at all as a premise.

I wanted to believe. I wanted to get inside Elton's head and really understand why HE believed so deeply. That comes down to soul searching emotional depths of internal analysis. It's a story that says, ' we are who we are because of what the word has done to us' ...in this case because of what the Doctor has done to him, his effect, his influence, his horror. This episode could have revealed more about the Doctor THROUGH the eyes and experiences of Elton than any episode before it.

Instead, we get the RTD treatment...the girl friend as a slab of concrete, the alien with a northern men's club accent ( I'll suck ya up and lick ya bones...but first, let me tell you 'bout the mother in law..." Blue bucket, red bucket...and CUE the BENNY HILL silly running about routine...So...the Abzorbalof was designed by an eight year old....did he write the script as well? These can all be added to the list of RTD indiscretions for the purist Whovian. The burping wheelie bin, the farting aliens, Jackie Tyler, Jackie Tyler...and let's not forget...Jackie Tyler. He really is going to have to redeem himself in the last two episodes.

Just because Sci-Fi is fictional doesn't mean it can't be believable. Fiction, science fiction in particular, has a duty to act as a mirror. It has the ability to pass social and political comment on the state of the world in such a unique way that we actually listen for once. Or at least...GOOD Sci-Fi can.

Was THIS good Sci-Fi? Did it change anything? Did it make you think? Did it effect you in any way?

DID IT WORK?

I think the answer I inevitably have to come to is...no. It was an interesting idea that turned into candy floss and washed away in the rain.

And yet, I hope that in itself does not deter the production team from trying such a thing again. If you look back on Who history, it is the 'Ghostlight's'of the Who universe that make it such a rich, varied and often rewarding place to belong. The episodes that took you places in a way you just weren't expecting were often the ones that stayed with you the longest. You only have to look at the dreadful format driven structural rigidity of American Sci-Fi to see how ultimately unrewarding such a path is. You see one episode of Voyager, you've seen them all.

So let's not look too closely at the questionnaires of a cross section of the viewing public in order to determine what will work and what will not. Let's not follow the insipid routine of format derived script to obtain maximum viewing figures from the lowest common denominator and the cheapest budget.

In short...let's not think about it too much. It was fun. Like it or hate it, it has been an episode that has given us all something to talk about.

BBC Wales clearly love the work they are doing. They obviously care about Who and what happens to it in the future. The fact that they have already shown such reverence and loyalty in linking the old with the new and maintaining the bond between them should mean that we continue to trust them.

Great Love comes with Great risk. Love and Monsters was not Who. It was a chance taken that didn't pay off.

But it was still a chance worth taking.

Perhaps next time, in the hands of a writer like the great and mighty Moffet, this will be the sort of episode that will reshape the way we think of Who altogether.

Unfortunately, not this time. What was this episode like?..

"Tastes like chicken"