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The 'We think Love & Monsters is an underrated classic' club
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I think it is!
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[Deleted User]
Posts: 581 [Deleted User]
Posts: 581 [Deleted User]
Posts: 581 [Deleted User]
Posts: 581
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And while I don't think I can join the club, as "classic" is going a bit far for me right now, I will claim associate membership under the banner of the "It's not as bad as people make it out to be" Association.
That was very well done.
And it tickles me that Peter Kay puts on a posh accent to portray a human then reverts to his northern accent for the absorbaloff...:D
(And the thing about the twin planet of racsacoriaphalapatorious being klum, or something! )
Plus if he ever gets bored Elton could smash up his girlfriend and use her as a jigsaw....:D
Lots of planets have a north!
Your experience of Who is often dictated to by who you watch it with. Old Who was watched with my parents, generally on a cold winter afternoon at the **** end of the seventies. As the new series comes back I watched it with my partner - parents and friends ringing soon after to gauge my reaction to an episode compared with theirs. But I have been lucky enough to watch it with my neighbour's kids, who are aged 9 and 11, with their father. We started with the Cybermen episodes and carried on until we hit Love & Monsters.
The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit thrilled them to bits and they were looking forward to this episode. Despite having monsters at the very beginning (was THAT prosethetic suit far better then the one they gave Peter Kay!) they slowly lost interest. This adventure isn't really very good at keeping children interested. Which was a blessing in disguise as we have Elton explaining "we have a kind of lovelife..."
Their father's mouth dropped open.
And just in case you didn't get what Elton was talking about we had Ursula get embarassed with "don't tell them that..." Is this really for children? I don't know whether RTD was trying to be daring or controversial but he came across as puerile. Once again his toilet humour ruins things.
The last ten minutes are some of the worst Who you will ever see. Peter Kay leaping over the desk and wobbling down an alley in a big shoddy suit was easily the nadir of season 2 for me. But if you find a big fat man moving his arse to reveal a trapped woman underneath and saying it "tasted like chicken" then you will probably will get a kick out of Love & Monsters.
There was something ghastly about this one. I bet the regulars thanked their lucky stars that they only appeared for five minutes. Bold, exciting and innovative it may be - but there was something rotten in the state of Denmark, and it left a very nasty taste in my mouth. Who has been a massive success, its ratings are huge, its actors stars, and it is slowly conquering America (again?) on the Sci-Fi channel. It can afford to drop a clanger like this one. It won't seriously damage the series. If it becomes the norm then we may have another season 24 on our hands.
But I cant see that happening - but I do see more cheap little fillers like this. There are fans out there who see it as a work of genius: a touching commentary on friendship and fandom. I don't. I see it as a result of a producer/writer whose clout is so massive no one has tapped him on the shoulder and said "Er, Russell - sorry mate, but this one is crap... perhaps you shouldn't go ahead with it."
And the thing is, I honestly believe we will see worse from RTD before he leaves the series.
I agree with Slug-its not quite 'a classic' but it does have some very funny moments-love the chase at the beginning, and I'm a huge fan of Marc Warren, and I used to love E.L.O.
But Peter Kaye (whom i normally love) kinda let it down for me.
So I'll just make the Tea and serve it with a smile if thats OK:)
It is one reason that DW is so popular. One persons stinker is another person's favourite episode and if you don't like it, next week there will be something competely different, like episode 4 of City of Death (10 points for the first person who gets my warped sense of humour and can explain the reference
A small group of people come together to share a mutual appreciation of something and are having a nice jolly time until one person comes in and says "No, no, listen to me! I'm right and you're all wrong AND HERE'S WHY!!" :rolleyes::D
"Since it has no call to be here, the art lies in the fact that it is here!"
"Exquisite... absolutely exquisite."
I'm sorry - what did you think of when he said that?
I took it to mean that hey have a kind of lovelife, in that although she's a pavement slab, he loves and cares for her, and she loves and cares for him.
Now, if they'd said sexlife, perhaps I could understand your shock - but IF a child had asked about that line, it would have been so very easy to explain.
Elton represents the innocent joy of Who when you're a kid hiding behind the sofa.
Victor Kennedy represents the cynical "Comic Book Guy" of adulthood.
Your view of L+M is therefore bound to be predicated upon how close you are to your childhood self.
Ditto other much maligned episodes like AOL.
Which gives me the perfect excuse to repost this:
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There were more than ten positive to highly positive, even glowing, newspaper (and Radio Times) previews and reviews, for Love & Monsters, from:
That's not including the magazines - there were three or four of them too.
In The Times we had:
In The Mail (from reviewer who had very low expectations of Doctor Who) we had:
From The Observer:
In the Radio Times:
The Times again:
The Evening Standard:
The Mail on Sunday:
The Scotsman:
Daily Star:
And so on.
As for the general public reaction - to hear some you'd think it was hated - yet according to its AI score the average mark given by the Pulse panel (the several thousand viewers who rate their appreciation of TV shows) was 7.6/10 - where 7/10 is considered 'good' and 7.7/10 is the drama average ('average' in the quantative, not qualitative sense) dramas generally getting a decent AI).
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So yeah even though this episode has a lot of awful humour, it is still a great episode because what else is on offer is so strong. It would only be better if Elton would return in a future episode. Oh and the 'bit of a lovelife' line is hilarious. Very risque but very funny too
As it happens I think Peter Kay is funny but he is so, so, so wrong for the Who universe. I'm surprised RTD didn't having him farting too.
As it happens I think Peter Kay is funny but he is so, so, so wrong for the Who universe. I'm surprised RTD didn't having him farting too.
It would be if that was why, due to time constraints they had to film two episodes at the same time so Tennant or Piper couldn't be in it.
it's poignantly beautiful in the way it shows how Jackie is affected by Rose galvanting off across the universes, and how Elton has been affected by the traumatising thing he experienced in his childhood.
it shows different ways in which the Doctor (and aliens) can affect people.
IMO some of the best writing RTD has done.