Doctober Who? A not-so-scary Doctor Who alien: The Slitheen
BBC, Doctor Who, Slitheen
Many people who watched Doctor Who, especially those who started with New Series, are familiar with the Slitheen. The absolutely disgusting alien that seemed to have been thought up by a twelve-year-old boy.
Yes, I’m talking about the green monsters who fit themselves into bigger people and compensating by farting their way through the episode. Ugrgh. I still, to this day, skip the Slitheen episodes of nine. Not because of Nine, just because I absolutely can’t stand those aliens!
But, despite the possible stick up my butt-ness and having a general dislike of bodily functions, these have a possible sentiment with them. They were the main alien during Nine’s season and they brought about the Bad Wolf stadium. Also, they were admittedly cute, somehow, in their general form.
These creatures haven’t shown up since Nine’s season, except in the first episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures. In what’s a fantastic episode, the slitheen are trying to take over a school by posing as teachers. You can imagine the hilarity that ensues as teacher farting during class. Even I laughed at that.
Why were Slitheen not used more on Doctor Who?
Perhaps they weren’t used more because they gave Doctor Who a campier feeling, when RTD wanted to bring the show away from that stigma. The show had 40 years of being labeled campy with the lack of CGI and ability to bring the show to it’s full potential.
When it came back in 2005, the first season certainly had that feeling. The plastic Mickey that looked like a Barbie doll was not a good starting point. If I were RTD, I would try to give the show the old time feeling and see how it went over.
When you realize now that CGI is available and you can do more with it, why not take advantage of it? Make scarier aliens, bring the show up to par. Unfortunately, that leaves farting aliens in the dust.