David Tennant, Billie Piper
Written by Russell T Davies
Produced by Phil Collinson
Directed by Dan Zeff
With most of the TV shows that I watch, I usually try to stay away from the "fan community". In my experience, fans sometimes have a warped perspective. By "fans", I basically mean people like me, so it's not (entirely) derogatory. But the sort of person who knows a series inside and out, pays attention to things like writers and directors for each episode, and keeps clued-in on behind-the-scenes production news tends to see the finished product rather differently than someone who just sits down to watch a TV show he happens to enjoy.
The one exception to my rule against getting involved with fandom is, of course, "Doctor Who". I've been involved in online "Doctor Who" fandom for as long as I've been online. It can be a rewarding experience, but it can also be extremely frustrating. I'm telling you this for two reasons. First, this episode is very much about "Doctor Who" fan communities. On one level, it's a celebration of fandom, taking pleasure in the wonderful camaraderie that comes from a diverse group of people sharing their interest in one thing, and discovering and developing other shared interests as well. The villain represents the dark side of fandom, the kind that is exclusive rather than inclusive, the kind that imposes and enforces orthodoxy, the kind that bullies. The other reason is that among fandom, this episode is controversial.
Why? If you ask me (and whether you did or not, I'm the one answering), it's because it's different. There's a production reason for this. It's actually very difficult to shoot thirteen episodes plus a Christmas special every year when you need all new sets and locations for just about every show and you have a really small regular cast. The production gets around this by "double-banking" two episodes each year. That means they're basically shooting two episodes simultaneously. Since David Tennant and Billie Piper can't be in two places at the same time, that means that one of those episodes needs to be written so as to minimize their involvement. That's this episode. Instead of a "typical" "Doctor Who" story (whatever that is), this episode presents a wonderfully sweet and touching story about ordinary people whose lives are changed forever by a chance encounter with the Doctor.
It amazes me how much many fans despise this episode. It saddens me, as well. For me, this episode represents everything that I love about the series. It's frankly baffling to me that someone could hate this episode and yet love "Doctor Who", but I'm aware that many do. I just don't get it, because this episode is to me a distillation of everything that makes me want to watch this show in the first place. It's all about the extraordinary heroism of ordinary people. It's about how eccentric or otherwise unusual people, if they're kind and welcoming, can find friendship and community together, celebrating their eccentricities in ways that enrich all their lives. It's joyous and life-affirming and funny and sweet. I can't believe people can actually hate this!
In many cases, what people hate is the silliness, and I guess I can understand that. And this certainly is a very silly episode. Ridiculous, even. But what's wrong with that? There is silliness woven into the very heart of this series, and there has been ever since 1963. On the heels of the previous two-parter and in the run up to the next one, the silliness of this episode helps to keep the balance where it should be. "Doctor Who" shouldn't always be as silly as this. But it shouldn't always be serious either. And even when it is serious, it shouldn't ever be entirely serious. By the same token, it shouldn't ever be entirely silly, and this episode features several lovely characters coming to a horrible end.
Ultimately, what I love so much about "Doctor Who" is that it is a series where an episode as bonkers as this one is possible, every once in a while.
7 comments:
I've never seen the reason for the hate on this episode. That said it's not the innovative classic that many of its supporters would claim.
It's a huge steal from the NAs (in particular Return of the Living Dad), Who Killed Kennedy and Blue Box, and a bunch of the DWM strips too.
6-7 out of 10 for me.
I've never seen the reason for the hate on this episode.
Sometimes people don't much care for the image in the mirror. (I often don't.)
It's interesting that a couple of the series' more innovative episodes came out of the necessity for creating "Doctor-Lite" stories - this and "Blink." Something to be said for shaking up your creative process. (See also BTVS - "Hush" and "Once More with Feeling.")
Well, I'm one of those that hates (well, dislikes) this episode. So I'll explain why... :)
I think silliness is something that's beneficial in Doctor Who if it doesn't go too far, but it shouldn't just be allowed free rein. Early on, this episode pushes the limits of that, but I do enjoy it up to a point...
...that point being the reveal of the Absorbaloff. He's just too preposterous, too grotesque, too OTT for me to believe in, and so my suspension of disbelief fails.
I can still find enjoyment in an episode I can't believe in (stand up, Horns of Nimon) if I can go along with the fun. But here it feels mean-spirited. If the Absorbaloff is a "mirror" of fans, it's not any fan I've ever met (and no, it's not me either! -- I'm barely involved even in online fandom). And the light, fun tone of the early part of the episode jars too much with the body horror and tragedy that emerges.
And then there's the paving slab girlfriend... yeuch. What on earth possessed RTD to write such a tasteless joke I can barely imagine. Maybe it doesn't bother you, but it really does end the episode on a sour note for me.
Well, just my opinion. Obviously, YMMV!
I have to say that Love & Monsters was one of the highlights in a very average series.
I do agree with xipuloxx when mentioning the poor taste joke about sex with a paving slab. I also think it was a horrible fate for Ursula (better off dead, surely?), but aside from these elements it was a really lovely, low-key story.
It's witty, fun and benefits from having less of the Doctor and Rose, smugly lurching from one bit of jeopardy to another while grinning inanely.
I don't see the Absorbaloff as a reflection of "fans" as a whole, but as a reflection of a narrow subset of fans who insist that "Doctor Who" must be some particular thing.
As for Ursula and the joke, I don't have a problem with it. I don't think it's funny, but neither do I think it's in poor taste. I've never understood that complaint, to be honest. Personally, I think I'd rather just die than end up as a face in a paving slab, but Ursula obviously sees it differently, and who I am to say that she's wrong?
"Personally, I think I'd rather just die than end up as a face in a paving slab, but Ursula obviously sees it differently, and who I am to say that she's wrong?"
She may prefer it now, but how long will she continue to feel that way? Presumably the Doctor has effectively left her as a quadraplegic forever ... unless her paving slab is broken which will presumably kill her. And even then she'll have to rely on someone else to do that.
All this for a rather vile joke about oral sex.
And the Absorbaloff may be only a parody of a narrow subset of fans, but that doesn't make it any less mean-spirited to me. And as I said, it doesn't resemble any fans I've met.
Having been involved in various facets of internet fandom since 1989, I can tell you honestly that I have met fans like that. The ones who insist a property be a certain way, and not deviate, or else it is "ruined forever".
These are the ones who so freely grouse that their childhood has been "raped" by some change, real or perceived, in their mythos of choice. I've even known one one transformers fan, who became notorious on usenet's TF communities, who had developed her own hardline ideas on what she perceived to be the "truth" of the original series, and she even cast aside one of her best friends simply because she committed the capitol crime of disagreeing with her.
So yeah, they are out there, and I've met several iterations of this small subset of fans, the ones who put the "atic" back into "fan", in several different fandoms. They are indeed sad and petty people.
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