Some Old Blog

I recently embarked on an exhaustive New Who rewatch with my partner. We had both seen the entire show up to Capaldi’s seasons (2014-2017), but had not watched everything, together. So we decided to remedy that situation upon finishing our last TV show we watched together, and get into rewatching all of New Who.

Such a rewatch entails, of course, relishing in the sheer magnificence of experiencing episodes like “Dalek” (Season 1, Episode 6) or “The Satan Pit” (Season 2, Episode 9), but also some less glorious moments of television like the ever-farting Slitheen of “Aliens of London” (Season 1, Episode 4), or the infamous and widely hated  “Love & Monsters” (Season 2, Episode 10). (You can like the Slitheen, but I find the never-ending fart jokes goddam grating after a while– its five year old humour)

I used to be a “Love & Monsters” hater myself (like most people – it’s a WEIRD episode). However, on this specific rewatch of the show I got something completely different from that particular last episode of the list. A quick search on IMBD reviews and some Reddit forums makes it quite obvious that, although its widely considered a meh-to-terrible episode, a lot of people have latched onto it as an original, quite unique and layered episode.

I so happen to be knee-deep in research for my Master’s Thesis, looking into a bunch of Henry Jenkins’ stuff and fandom, audiences and mass/popular culture and, with a reading of Convergence Culture (Jenkins, 2006) super fresh in my mind, “Love & Monsters” absolutely blew my mind this time around. So gather round, grab a snack and enjoy my unhinged ramblings at the intersection of my fandom and academic worlds. Cause if you have a thought and don’t immediately share it on the Internet, did you have the thought at all amirite?  (I really should not be writing this right now I should be working on my thesis but who cares)

Because I’m probably already massively testing your attention span, here is my main point for the rest of this post/crap essay: “Love & Monsters” tells the story of fans coming together and finding community in fandom, only for that sense of community and belonging to be destroyed and commodified as the corporate powers that be attempt to re-absorb and control fan modes of production and communities. (phew, say that 3 times fast). Now  why I think my point is somewhat original: honestly even for people who catch the not-so-subtle LINDA as geeky social inept fans  subtext, I’ve almost only seen negative takes (its mocking fans, showing them in a bad light etc…). While its definitely not all flattering, I think there is a sweetness  and positivity to this representation of a group of fans, so I  wanna make my case  for it I guess. 

Love & Monsters: a brief summary

Quick recap for anyone who has not watched the show or finds the detail of this episode a bit fuzzy.

The episode begins with Elton Pope, a man who becomes fascinated with the Doctor after an encounter with a mysterious blue box in his childhood.

Elton joins a group of people who also have encounters with the Doctor, forming the "Linda" group.

The group meets Ursula Blake, a woman who joins them after witnessing a Slitheen attack.

The group's meetings become more about their personal lives than the Doctor.

Elton falls in love with Ursula, and the group's dynamics change.

A man named Victor Kennedy joins Linda and takes control, pushing out some members and focusing on finding the Doctor.

It's revealed that Victor Kennedy is actually an alien called the Abzorbaloff, who absorbs people into his body.

The Doctor arrives too late to save most of Linda, but Elton manages to escape.

Ursula is absorbed by the Abzorbaloff, but her face remains intact in his body, allowing her consciousness to survive.

The Doctor traps the Abzorbaloff, saving Elton and the remaining members of Linda.

Elton continues his life with Ursula's face in a slab of concrete, grateful for the time they had together.

(summary provided by ChatGPT because I want to get to the good stuff, sue me, this is exactly the kind of stuff AI is good for)

I’ll also quickly add the following important contextual tid-bits about the episode. First and foremost, it was written that way (barely featuring the Doctor and Rose Tyler, focusing on people who’s lives have been indirectly touched by the Doctor and who are looking for him and generally Doing a Fandom about him) because the production schedule required simultaneous filming of a pair of episodes (because otherwise they would run out of time in the production schedule). They filmed the episode at the same time as “The Satan Pit” with a second crew, and the little screen time of The Doctor and Rose allowed them to film both episodes at the same time (and obviously feature a lot more heavily in “The Satan Pit”).

The other important thing about this episode (that I will admit actually harms my argument a little but I will tell you why I don’t care about that later) is that the main monster – the “Abzorbaloff” was designed by a kid in the context of a Doctor Who monster contest. Basically, the winner got their monster featured in a Doctor Who episode. So, RTD didn’t really come  up with the Abzorbaloff himself, but honestly I think the interpretation I’m about to make still holds (death of the author and all that stuff, I can interpret this episode how I want and so can you my friend)

Anyways, now that we’ve got all that out of the way lets get into the good stuff.

LINDA:  Fandom as community

The members of LINDA – London Investigation N’ Detective Agency – basically come together as a group initially because they all have an interest in “The Doctor”, as an elusive figure, permanently out of reach and that they don’t fully understand, but that has touched their lives quite significantly anyway. The original members of LINDA are Elton (POV character for the episode), Ursula, Mr. Skinner, Bliss and Bridget.

Other people who have discussed this episode in the past have pointed out that LINDA and its members resemble a parody of Whovians (see “thecoolkat”’s review in the links below, but also numerous ScreenRant or other such internet media articles), but I’d argue they serve quite well as a representation of a stereotypical image of fans and fandom more generally. Obviously, they are Whovians because the object of their fandom is LITERALLY The Doctor himself inside the story, but its more than that in my opinion. Let’s not forget when this episode aired (2006), fandom had yet to go fully mainstream – although the situation had markedly improved since the 90s when fans were still almost only the object of ridicule for anyone who was not themselves a fan. I’d argue that the members of LINDA quite accurately represent a few different stereotypes about fans common in the late 90s to early 2000s, but also many of fandom’s “redeeming” qualities that were starting to be acknowledged as well as internet fandom became more popular  and visible.

Our in-text fans do have some of the more socially-awkward trappings often associated with fandom by outsiders: they’re shy, unfashionable, perhaps slightly socially inept – possibly even infantilized or desexualized. (for more on fan stereotypes at the beginning of the 90s, see chapter 1 of Jenkins 1992). Its fairly obvious that, as others have pointed out, the members of LINDA are a parody, a stand-in for loser fans who have surrendered any other sense of identity to the object of their fandom. They are the hardcore Trekkies who get married in pointy Vulcan ears. Bliss, Bridget, and Ursula are single women leaning on the older side – although Ursula is the younger of the three, she’s also the most “visibly” nerdy, which “disadvantages” her romantically in other ways. Mr. Skinner is also presumably single, maybe even lonely – divorced, perpetual bachelor or a widower, I guess we’ll never know. Elton, finally, seems fairly normal by comparison, but its his obsession with the Doctor and some mysterious childhood trauma that does give him that slight “I can tell that guy is not fully right in the head” vibe.  

Speaking of traumas though, we also find out fairly early on in meeting of all the LINDA members that Bridget’s daughter is a drug addict, and disappeared from her mother’s life, which obviously leads her to worry to no end and carry some pretty deep grief. (sidenote because that is not my main point here and this is already going to easily cross into 2000+ words: theres also some pretty significant amount of stuff written about fandom as a way to deal with trauma, that people retreat into fantasy – often as a byproduct of what we would call fandom – to deal with traumatic life events) (Hinerman, 1992, full source below)

So, our gang of nerds with various levels of social aptitude and trauma find each other, this group and sense of community that they so obviously share in the part of the episode showing LINDA before Victor Kennedy’s takeover. Although pretty much all of them are introduced with some of the “negative” trappings of fandom, LINDA is absolutely represented in the episode as a positive force and community in their lives. They begin by bonding over their “fandom”, theorizing about the Doctor as a metaphor, a role, a figure (like Mr. Skinner brings up in a whiteboard  presentation), but quickly their interactions evolve into something more. They sing, dance and share deep personal concerns and difficulties with each other (it’s at one of those sessions that we find out about Bridget’s daughter, for example, and we see the group be quite supportive of her in her pain). The point is, the people of LINDA could only have found each other through fandom, but their collective involvement in that fandom brought them something more; genuine connection and friendship. LINDA pre-Kennedy takeover is something that is good for these geeky, lonely, maybe a bit socially inept people, and would have continued being good for them if it wasn’t for…

Victor Kennedy/the Abzorbaloff as the embodiment of corporate media control

So, the members of LINDA have bonded over their shared passion for The Doctor, they’ve exchanged theories and eventually broadened their social activities to karaoke and emotional support-and even some romantic stirrings  for the Mr. Skinner/Bridget  and Elon/Ursula. In doing so, they have diverted some (although I don’t think all) of their meeting times to activities other than searching for and theorizing about The Doctor. Their fandom has ceased to be the sole reason for their weekly meetings, essentially. They’ve now made the group their own thing.

Who walks in next? Victor Kenndy aka the Abzorbaloff, a tall, mustachioed, robber-baron coded  and snob-ish figure, intent on  re-focusing the members of LINDA onto the search for the Doctor, under his leadership  and to his own ends.

I think Kennedy’s physicality even before his reveal as the Abzorbaloff is super significant; the robber baron appearance – complete with fur coat, cane and hat- screams “19th century industrial factory owner,” and I do believe that’s the  whole point. He represents the modes of cultural production that, in 2006, still didn’t know what  the heck to do with fans who take mass culture and make it their own through folk processes. Active audiences that make demands of producers, feel a sense of ownership of shows and characters, organize creative communities and  Active audiences that make demands of producers, feel a sense of ownership of shows and characters, organize creative communities and create fanfiction  or fanart that basically  represents  copyright violations NEEDED to be harnessed and controlled by producers (or at least that’s how a lot of producers, writers and networks felt  in the early  2000s). So the old-timey 19th century industrialist look given to  Kennedy’s human form is a metaphor for that old media magnate  mentality, that will only put up with fans that “work” for them and respect their “rules.” And, as we see in the episode, by doing so, he robs LINDA of basically all their fun and connection; they get sat down at individual desks, with piles of work to sift through. Fandom has stopped being fun as it gets controlled. They’re having such a terrible time in fact that the Abzorbaloff can absorb like 2 of them (Bliss and Bridget) before any of the other members of LINDA suspect anything is wrong; they just assume they stopped coming because the group absolutely sucks now.

So now on the absorption part; its not enough  for the Abzorbaloff to control everything the fans do, he needs to absorb and incorporate them into him to have full control; LINDA must become part of him to be acceptable. Ok I’ll admit this is pretty far-fetched, but honestly not that much. In Convergence Culture (2006) Henry Jenkins talks  a lot about fan theories, spoilers   and fan films. The latter, specifically the Star Wars fan films made in the 90s  and 2000s, have a super interesting history that I think makes  a compelling argument for the move of  media  corporations  from  attempts to control fans to trying to ABSORB their work into the acceptable corporate brand  when looser  control just didn’t cut it (because fans  are just like that, were fundamentally ungovernable).

The  TLDR of it all is that George Lucas and Lucasfilm (this was before the Disney sale obviously) flip-flopped a lot on their stance towards fan  creation, at first praising their creativity, but quickly moving  to REALLY intense cracking-down  on fanfics  and fan movies (spoiler  alert: the  crackdowns  started  to happen when  fans started to make it gay) (or generally sexual, but  mostly  the problem seemed to be  the gay stuff).  The thing is, its really hard  to control – let alone  know about- everything consumers  do or say about a brand on the internet. So  what does Lucasfilm do? They start creating official, Lucasfilm-sanctionned fan film contests-even letting fans use some assets like music or effects-but with really specific rules (and claiming the IP  for Lucasfilm, making it not belong to fans anymore, of course). So not profanity, no altering canon, and CERTAINLY no sex (AND  CERTAINLY NO GAY LUKE SKYWALKER)  (with the Chanel boots). You get it now right? Lucasfilm = Abzorbaloff. Or like  they WISH they could absorb fans  that efficiently, make them a part  of  the brand, under complete control. That’s still kind of the ideal  utopia  of media relationships for a lot of these producers too I’m  guessing: all the fan labour and productivity, without any of the potential tensions  fan creativity can create. Corporate-controlled fan clubs that uphold canon and are basically word-of-mouth and customer loyalty machines.

Except, that’s not how communities work. Communities work like LINDA; a bunch of seeming  randos  are  brought together by shared interest, but eventually a  deeper sense  of “us-ness” develops, and we start to care for one another and have our own agendas and  agencies. (heck, everytime Tumblr staff tries to get this site’s users in line we basically laugh in their faces)

So yeah, caveat about the Abzorbaloff though: as  I said earlier, a kid created this monster for a contest, RTD  did not create it. Therefore, I don’t know if the absorption power was like thought  about as deeply as I have thought about it. Nevertheless, I think the choice  to make the Abzorbaloff’s human  “Kennedy” disguise look the way it does and interact with LINDA the way he does speaks to my conclusions. While RTD didn’t create the character, he wrote the story around it, and I think he used it to great effect to tell a story about fandom, community, and media  attempts at control.

Conclusion

Ultimately I  saw a ton of parallels to phenomena documented in scholarship I’m currently reading in Love  and Monsters and I needed to get these ideas out of my head. I’m fairly  certain  im digging a little bit too deep into certain things, but ultimately my view of this oft decried episode is that it really  actually has a lot more to offer than people give it credit for. I also think it presents  an actually much more  sympathetic view of fans than we’ve previously recognized in it. Especially, it feels WAY more respectful and like  humorous than that god awful era  of 2010s fandom where  writers and actors would routinely shit on us in panels for shipping characters or depict us in their shows as crazy  conspiracy theorists who think they own  the show but actually can never be right (Looking at you Mr. Moffatt and Sherlock season 3). Personally, I much prefer the LINDA endearing weirdos with trauma, interests, and lives, who find kinship and community in each other.

Holy crap that was long. anyways. Really deep in the DW hole rn so I'm probably gonna write something about Martha Jones soon (instead of my thesis mehehehehehe)

Links and sources

I’m going to properly cite any academic articles and books, but since this is not homework and no one is forcing me to use APA 7, the random webpages, discussion threads and other miscellaneous stuff is getting dumped into a list of links. Anyways enjoy

“Real” Bibliography (nerd)

Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers: television fans & participatory culture (Ser. Studies in culture and communication). Routledge.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York University Press.

Linerman, S. (1992) “ ‘I’ll be here with you’:  Fans, Fantasy and the Figure of Elvis.” In The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media (ed. Lewis, L. A.) Routledge. pp. 107-134

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (May 2023 version) [can you summarize the plot of "love & monsters" (an episode of doctor who) from beginning to end as a series of bullet points? (include spoilers)] https://chat.openai.com/c/7ef1ccab-c6ed-488c-99c8-3a94b877fe4a

Links

Reddit threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/ex3zvm/why_love_monsters_isnt_the_worst_episode/?rdt=51957

IMDB:

Youtube:

Doctor Who Confidential on the filming of “Love & Monsters” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRGDMg4XZ1s