Love & Monsters

I can understand why there is a loathing for the Series' Marmite episode, but I fall into the 'love it' camp. It dares to be different, it is often branded with 'Fear her' as terrible and lazy. Fear her's script was a lazy one, this one isn't, it's different, full of life and full of laughs. The script is a goody, and it falls together nicely.

It's funny throughout, funny and terror work really well together. The funny bits are nuts, from the Jamie/Troughton-esque runs of Rose and the Doctor at the start to the utter brilliance of Camille Coduri, her seducing Elton is class, so funny. Bella Emberg's cameo appearance had me screaming laughing, what a gem!!

There are also some beautifully touching moments, The Doctor's visit of junior Elton and the sadness of his mum's death, the members of LINDA talking. The climax is wonderfully touching, and I applaud Marc Warren's performance.

I bet Peter Kay had the time of his life playing Victor and the Abzorbaloff, he's a great character and the effects are super.

I love the links back to Aliens of London and Rose episodes, so cool to see that done. (Especially with my friend Eve's face behind Marc Warren.) Victor comes from Clom, Clom is one of the planets that disappear when the Daleks take planets out of time and Space for Series 4's finale, and we also get the first mention of Harold Saxon for Series 3's arc.

It is just a joy, I love it 10/10

I'm not normally one to post reviews, but I couldn't let the one negative post sit here as testimony to this episode. Yes, it wasn't perfect. The broad comedy and grotesque nature of the central villain would obviously not be to everyone's tastes. But Marc Warren turned in an excellent performance, as did Camille Coduri. The group of people who set up the "club" were portrayed as decent sorts who didn't deserve what became of them, and there were moments of charm and sensitivity. The use of E.L.O. in the soundtrack is also a plus point! Overall, the episode was an interesting experiment. If I met Russell T Davies I'd happily discuss it with him (without resorting to the violence another on this thread seems to expound) and of course thank him for making Doctor Who popular with a mainstream audience again.

Clearly, based on the comments left here, "Love & Monsters" is a love it or hate it affair. And probably all you need to know going into it is that after 45 minutes you'll likely fall into one camp or the other. I can certainly see why it would rub someone the wrong way, and yet I feel for the DW fan who doesn't embrace this episode for the wonderful stretching of the show's format that it is.

The episode, written by show runner Russell T Davies, is a great example of why he's in charge of the new series: He's an idea man, and unafraid to try new things, rather than simply fall back on the tried and true. Maybe some of his more radical ideas don't work for everyone? Even with the most mainstream episodes, Davies & Co. don't please everyone, all the time. After watching "Love & Monsters", my 13-year old son was so into it he immediately said, "I didn't even notice the Doctor and Rose were hardly in it."

In Season One Davies took some baby steps (the highly underrated "Boom Town" springs to mind); in Season Two he's confident and willing to go even further. "Love & Monsters" is a bright, shiny example of DW for the new millennium. While many have concentrated on its humorous aspects, few mention the episode's melancholy, which for me, was the core sell.

And on top of everything else, it's got ELO tunes. This fan was in heaven.

I lived in england at the cool age of 13 and watched jonathon pertwee cavort with characters who looked like they were glitterock backup singers with mild disbelief...

...But as a young adult in the early 80s I fell in love with the weird insouciance of the Tom Baker era, followed by a mild rooting interest in Peter Davison, further declining until Ecclestone and Tennant revived the franchise for the new millennium...

Back in the 80s the local PBS station KTEH helped fill me in on the doings of the good doctors that preceded Baker and I grew to appreciate Pertwee, and his nemesis The Master... good times...There were also some very well constructed plots/story arcs (the planet pirates, for example) which would take many episodes to resolve But enough of my fanboy credentials

This is an art film episode of Dr Who as told from the the view of the red shirted star trek crewman who will probably perish on the plant's surface.

It is a unique take on the normally unseen collateral damage these great events and adventures have upon the incidental characters. This teleplay looks at the effect on those who are merely aware and interested in the Doctor. It's probably the very first PoMo dr treatment apart from Comic Relief, etc.

This is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with a handycam and it has that same unsettling realism that the more recent Dr Who episodes have had, and such as were found in some of the 'Historical' Pertwee and Baker episodes that were set in Medieval and Cavalier times in which some technologically advanced being attempted to subvert the flow of history for their advantage.

If this is from the guy with his hands on the franchise then I cheer for the revival of one of the most thoughtful TV scifi series of all time.

Through all I sit here and I wait, this filler episode will just not abate. The poorest show of season 2 (so far), the search by Elton for Doctor Who. But the Lord of Time is barely in it, the writer's fail their scope and remit (they get away with it in Blink though, Season 3). I fear the next (instalment) will not atone (it doesn't, it's gets worse) and Ursula-like, I turn to stone.