Doctor Who 12.8 "Love & Monsters" [Text View]

PJO1966

12-09-2006, 12:54 AM

I know this one was a little different, with very little of Rose & The Doctor... but I really enjoyed it. I liked Elton a lot. We also had another Harry Potter alum, Ursula was played by the same actress who played Myrtle (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0376602/).

I was hoping that...

Elton would be the next companion

... guess not.

It seemed to me that Elton was much too young for Jackie. In real life he's only a year younger than she is.

dswallow

12-09-2006, 01:33 AM

It was very different. In a very good way, too. Sometimes it just is really corny; this episode still had the really corny stuff (Absorbaloaf or whatever) but it was relegated to the back of the bus by the character development we experienced through this method of storytelling.

I've been playing catch up since I never started watching the new Doctor Who series till several weeks into Torchwood, and oddly enough I was up to this episode just tonight, the same night Sci Fi was up to it. Now I'm gonna move ahead through the rest of the season.

I really enjoyed Marc Warren playing Elton. I see he's one of the cast of the show "Hustle" so now I'm gonna go grab them. :) Oh, and he's gonna be a villain in season 2 of Life on Mars.

Langree

12-09-2006, 02:57 AM

The use of Il Divo's Unbreak My Heart was a nice touch and worked well with the scene setting with Jackie and Elton.

Rob Helmerichs

12-09-2006, 07:52 AM

I heard a rumor that the producers were given the go-ahead to do another Christmas special this year, but with no extra schedule, so they had to shoot one episode (this one) concurrently with the others to make time. That's why the Doctor and Rose don't appear much (they're on other sets, shooting another episode).

Don't know if it's true, but it ought to be! :D

TAsunder

12-09-2006, 11:04 AM

Il Divo and nice touch should never be used in the same sentence, sorry.

Kind of a strange episode, but fun.

dcheesi

12-09-2006, 11:12 AM

Not quite a clip-show, but almost as bad. Although it did have a bit of an "SG-1 joke episode" feel to it, which is okay.

So did he himself forget, or block out, the fact that the Doctor's first appearance was the same night as his mother's death? If he knew that all along, I would have expected his search to take more of a vindictive tone; in the absence of facts, one would naturally tend to assume that the one extraordinary event/person caused the other.

It seemed to me that Elton was much too young for Jackie. In real life he's only a year younger than she is.Whoa, I guess some people age better than others?! :eek: Granted I guess he was playing younger than his usual self, but still...

srs5694

12-09-2006, 11:26 AM

Most of the original Dr. Who was shown in 1/2-hour episodes, with several episodes making up a story (4-parters were common). I seem to recall that one very early one had an entire episode with none of the regular characters; it was all just setup for the arrival of the Doctor and his companion(s). Thus, the light use of the Doctor and Rose isn't exactly unprecedented in the annals of Dr. Who.

Overall, I liked this one. The last two or three have been very much "classic" Dr. Who -- I could see them as Tom Baker or Jon Pertwee episodes, for instance (although of course the effects and production values are much better now). This one wasn't a "classic" Dr. Who story, but it was done well, with a lot of quirky humor.

Sherminator

12-09-2006, 12:45 PM

cheesesteak

12-09-2006, 01:14 PM

I said to myself "Hey, that's Danny Blue!" when Marc Warren appeared. I'm a big fan of Hustle. This was a bit of a weird ep, but I enjoyed it.

betts4

12-09-2006, 03:52 PM

I enjoyed the episode and the fact that there was a group of Doctor fans meeting and bonding and enjoying the thrill of knowing others that knew of the Doctor. It reminded me of when fans of a tv show gather to talk about it. Nothing in common with each other except the Doctor. Till they become friends, then they are willing to fight for each other.

edc

12-09-2006, 09:51 PM

this episode still had the really corny stuff (Absorbaloaf or whatever)

It must be noted that "Blue Peter" (a BBC children's show) had a "design-a-monster" contest, with the winner getting their design on the show. The Abzorbaloff won, and was portrayed by a well-known British comic actor.

So did he himself forget, or block out, the fact that the Doctor's first appearance was the same night as his mother's death?

Well, if we want to retcon it, Torchwood showed up after the Doctor left and gave Elton a dose of their "forget drug" [which RTD has cleverly named...retcon :) ]

trainman

12-09-2006, 10:04 PM

You know, I'm not sure being a face attached to a paving stone is all that much better than being dead. But I guess as long as Elton was happy...

Rob Helmerichs

12-09-2006, 11:08 PM

You know, I'm not sure being a face attached to a paving stone is all that much better than being dead. But I guess as long as Elton was happy...
The hint about their sex life was...disturbing.

Sherminator

12-09-2006, 11:33 PM

Ursula: "Elton, I know you love ELO almost as much as you love me, but could you please stop playing 'Turned To Stone' " :)

betts4

12-10-2006, 12:14 AM

The hint about their sex life was...disturbing.

Yes, yes it was. Especially since he held it at lap level the rest of the conversation.

Warren

12-10-2006, 12:15 AM

The hint about their sex life was...disturbing.
Yes, Yes it was.

Anubys

12-10-2006, 01:35 AM

I thought the JOKE about their sex life was very funny!

Magister

12-10-2006, 09:21 AM

Idearat

12-10-2006, 11:47 AM

I was surprised that Mrytle's voice really sounded like that.

That's why I recognized her voice! Thanks!

dcheesi

12-10-2006, 12:21 PM

I was surprised that Mrytle's voice really sounded like that.Actually I believe that it's an affectation, just one that she chose to re-use for this character. I was going to mention that I've also seen her in another BBC TV series from several years ago ("Hamish MacBeth"). Although her voice was always mousy, it didn't have the same "weird" tone that it has in HP and again here.

In fact I didn't make the link between the actress and Myrtle until seeing this episode --where she looks more like herself, but still sounds like Myrtle.

EDIT: actress' IMDB entry: Shirley Henderson (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0376602/)

DianaMo

12-10-2006, 04:47 PM

I liked the ELO music in this episode. Is there a specific reason that they went with this choice of tunage?

I thought Elton would be the next companion too. Wasn't there an ad for a product during this show with the word companion in it?

Elton has a certain Turlough quality about him...(No one else will agree with me, but oh well.)

Which Harry Potter alumni do you want to see to visit the Tardis next?
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=330945

Stormspace

12-12-2006, 01:11 PM

I was surprised that Mrytle's voice really sounded like that.

Pretty darn cool episode. My hope was that the Doctor would be able to save the whole crew and they would be able to get the band back together.

There was an ETV special several weeks back, e=mc2 I believe and she played Albert Einstein's love interest/first wife. Same voice, so she mustn't be faking it.

DianaMo

12-12-2006, 03:30 PM

Love & Monsters Wiki page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_%26_Monsters

Love & Monsters pages on the BBC website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2006/flash/homepages/index-love.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2006/loveandmonsters.shtml

Church AV Guy

12-12-2006, 05:23 PM

Shirley Henderson was also in the Shakespearetold story of "The Taming of the Shrew." Wow was she scary in that! That voice she uses is very distinctive, like a dentist's drill.

The poor guy had a "shade?" in his house, was attacked by the Autons... I can't remember how many of the recent episodes he was an unseen part of, but he has had one really bad decade or so.

The scene in the beginning, when the Doctor and Rose were chasing the monster with a bucket of something, was right out of a Buggs Bunny cartoon. They were running back and forth through various doors, with them chasing the monster at times, and the monster chasing them at times. All it needed was Benny Hill music to make it a total parody. It got better after that.

For a group who believe in an extraterrestrial, they should have been a little more keen to see that Victor Kennedy was an alien.

dcheesi

12-12-2006, 06:08 PM

There was an ETV special several weeks back, e=mc2 I believe and she played Albert Einstein's love interest/first wife. Same voice, so she mustn't be faking it.I've seen that show (on PBS here); I didn't notice the "Myrtle Voice" but then she was doing sort of a German-ish accent wasn't she? I probably assumed it was part of that.

Come to think of it, the actress is from Scotland, and the show I know her from (Hamish MacBeth) is set in Scotland. Maybe the Myrtle Voice comes out whenever she tries to do accents (including English ones)? Anyway, I'll re-watch my Hamish episodes and see if maybe I simply overlooked the "Myrtle-ness" in her voice...

nedthelab

12-12-2006, 07:20 PM

That was total moaning mrytle voice

mportuesi

12-12-2006, 07:23 PM

Elton has a certain Turlough quality about him...(No one else will agree with me, but oh well.)

I thought that maybe he *was* Turlough at the beginning of the episode, that they had recast Marc Warren in Turlough's part. But aside from Marc Warren's obvious resemblance, I didn't really see much the same between Elton and Turlough.

I thought this episode, while funny in parts, was pretty lackluster and plot-free overall. This season of Doctor Who has relied on one too many "bug eyed alien" plots for my taste, even if done from a novel angle.

Bill Reeves

12-12-2006, 08:12 PM

The scene in the beginning, when the Doctor and Rose were chasing the monster with a bucket of something, was right out of a Buggs Bunny cartoon. They were running back and forth through various doors, with them chasing the monster at times, and the monster chasing them at times. All it needed was Benny Hill music to make it a total parody. It got better after that.

I thought it was more Scooby Doo than Looney Tunes.

I loved this episode. My wife has not been into the new season, she is a few episodes behind, but I showed her this one because it was relatively light and fluffy (compared to the two parter immediately before). I mean, the bad guy was a fat thong-wearing alien with a mohawk, but like Doug said, he was on the back of the bus while we got to see Elton and his pals singing "Don't Bring Me Down" and Jackie throwing herself at Elton. Fun stuff.

Church AV Guy

12-13-2006, 02:20 PM

I thought it was more Scooby Doo than Looney Tunes
Yeah, you're right about the Scooby Doo part, I should have just said cartoon.

There were definitely some pretty funny parts to this one. I loved it when they all formed a band. And Jackie's interest, making all the moves on him that he was supposed to be making on her, was well done.

sonnik

12-13-2006, 05:24 PM

They were running back and forth through various doors, with them chasing the monster at times, and the monster chasing them at times. All it needed was Benny Hill music to make it a total parody.

I think that was used to give it more of a "things happening from Elton's perspective" feel. It didn't do a good job at that however.

To me, the most critical part of this episode is the speculation Elton states in his monologue at the end, on what the future holds for Rose and Jackie.