by Shannon Lush
Writer's note: This particular blog entry was patched
together, must like Frankenstein's Monster, over a period of time. For several
days, I had suffered from debilitating stomach flu, and was only able to write
sporadically, if it all. Thus, if some of the narrative appears disjointed at
times, please factor in, it was written at various times through a period of
almost two weeks. Thanks, hope you enjoy it, and Happy Halloween!
For a television series such as 'Doctor Who', based on the
premise of a time traveling alien who encounters and opposes all manner of
devious and demonic monsters, the idea of utilizing classic monsters as
antagonists 'should' have been a slam-dunk. After all, the modest budgets
allocated each season were stretched to their limits in creating new and unique
alien monsters every week; why not present home-grown versions of classic
cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Dracula, etc.? Not only would
it save valuable exposition, as the vast majority of the viewing audience were
no doubt familiar on 'some' level with these legendary creatures, but the
design work was, essentially, already done for the production team, as the
basic visual framework for these characters existed within the public mind
already. On paper, then, it is odd that more stories involving these creatures
were not pitched, and even odder that there was such a relatively small amount
of appearances that did make it to the screen.
