A little further along the fourth dimension, we return to Doctor Who as presented in TWO dimensions.
ELO, an obese alien and a living cement fleshlight in possibly the most divisive episode of Doctor Who to date.
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The Tenth Doctor and Rose stay out of this one almost entirely. In a first for Doctor Who, this week we’re treated to a vlog by ELO-fan, Elton, as he talks us through how he joined “LINDA”, London Investigative ‘N’ Detective Agency.
Originally formed to track down The Doctor, LINDA soon develops into a glorified daycare centre for lonely grownups, until the mysterious Victor Kennedy arrives and puts them back on track with almost militaristic attention to detail.
Kennedy isn’t all that he seems, though, and soon members of LINDA begin to disappear.
Love and Monsters is, if not the most hated, then surely one of the most divisive episodes of Doctor Who, ever. The (main) alien of the week, The Abzorbaloff, was originally designed by 9-year-old William Grantham for a Blue Peter competition. And well done, Will! Truly, congratulations!
What a shame that this episode has to suck so hard, though…
P.S. Here are (a) the Love and Monsters chase sequence and (b) the advert the Drewdhammer refers to in this episode. Notice any similarities?
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PS: Mirimu, who guest-appeared at the round table this week, gave this episode a 2.5.
Love and Monsters . Abzorbaloff Anal Abcess . I was struggling with Doctor 10 before that , or at least with him and the smugness of him and Bingo from the Banana Splits , but this was the final straw . One of the best monsters in New Who , ruined by the Scooby Doo chase scene , and for what purpose ? I’m not even commenting on the AbzorbalottaGin before writing this story . Get stuffed . Never , ever darken my memory again . Not even for sex with a paving slab . No , especially not for that .
Ha fully amazing review Jeff!
OK, where to start on this one……..
What I like about this story is the naivety of Elton. Everything is from his perspective so the silly back and forth chase scene, his wonderment and recollection of the whole event *may* not be how things ACTUALLY happened. It’s all coming from his perception and the story is being written around that. ALSO, the Abzorbaloff was a child’s Blue Peter competition entry (and winner) so however shit the monster is, the writers had this to write the story around and went for the video diary angle which further painted themselves into the corner. SO……keeping these things in mind, the story actually isn’t all that bad. It keeps with the theme of ‘what the Doctor leaves behind’ which we find dotted through Who’s history and not only does this crop up with Elton’s mother’s death, but also with Jackie and with whatsherface in the paving slab. The monster is ridiculous and his motive to eat the Doctor is just rage inducingly bad but the writers had their hands tied by this and had to write the story around it. That being said, this isn’t my favourite episode by a long shot BUT I don’t think it deserves the ALL the hate it receives………….the hate for sex with a paving slab is justified.
This episode makes me somewhat happy I’m so late to the New Who party. To think I might’ve spent the past sixteen years thinking, “I’ll never get back those forty-five minutes.” Origin of the story aside, this one is just plain awful — and it hasn’t aged well.