We have already discussed their development in the novel The Monsters Inside in Book Club with the introduction of their rival family, the Blathereen.
But the Slitheen also returned with the same season on TV in Boom Town (scheduled for June’s TV Club) and then made a leap over to The Sarah Jane Adventures where they returned more than once, and we also saw the Blathereen appear on screen.
They have also featured in comics and audios.
Do you agree that they suited SJA better? Is there an audio or comic featuring them that you would recommend fans of the Slitheen would enjoy? Have you read The Slitheen Excursion?
Given the small pieces of information we’re drip-fed about Raxacoricofallapatorian society, it seems like a pretty bloody awful place to live. I would be interested in visiting the actual home planet and having a story set there - I think there’s enough to be built out of them that could potentially put them as an Ice Warrior level enemy race, where they actually have culture as opposed to just being a monolith for UNIT to shoot at. They have crime families, after all, and they’re not always in the fart suits. Give them a bit of 2024 zhuzhing on the CGI front and I think you could do something quite interesting. Could even bring back Margaret for a cameo, now changed and living with another family.
It does seem like a race ripe for exploration. The fact that the Slitheen are a family, not the whole race, has echoes of how Malcolm Hulke created alien races, like the Silurians, who had ‘character’ - good and bad ones.
The Clom joke in Love & Monsters always amused me too.
I like the idea how the Slitheen family are just a family business and not all of their race are evil
However it doesn’t really turn out like that most times we meet them, especially in SJA, they just pretend to be good so that’s a bit of a shame.
They are played for laughs mostly, which is fun, and in SJA they always end up getting covered in an exploded Slitheen. Which is really gross when you think about it.
I really liked Margaret, I think Boom Town is underrated and a great piece of drama. I would definitely be up for her coming back, although she did get reverted back into an egg. I guess she has grown up again now so maybe she is back to her fiendish ways.
I’m not sure how much they helped make the show look like serious adult drama though
The Slitheen are mainly played for laughs, which was probably the tone they were looking for. If RTD has wanted to be more serious in Aliens of London/World War 3 he could have just used the Zygons for a similar plot really.
Though I must say I prefer them in SJA with the reduction of the results of the gas exchange
I really like the slitheen as a concept, and I think they’re a solid villian in SJA even if they do tone down the ‘familiy-buisness’ side of them there
I think they could be used to great effect in either dr who or SJA(/any kid focused spinnoffs)
Would be nice to see more of them or of other families and definitely agree their homeland would be nice to see.
As for multi-media, I’m also a big fan of Suzie and Blon’s interactions in Sync
Yeah, it’s pre-Boom Town, post-WW3, and ofc pre-Everything Changes (but not too far), so you’ve got Suzie already striking out on her own a bit, not fully in line with torchwood idealistically, and Blon while she’s Mayor of Cardiff, trying to get her way off world
Came across this on Spotify - looks like the group only did two episodes, but the actor doing the 9th Doctor does a good impression of Eccleston in the bit I listened to. Going to give this a proper listen to later.
To reply to myself - this is actually quite good. The cast are good actors, the guy doing Nine is great and the simple story works quite well. It’s a shame it looks like they didn’t do anything after this one as I’d listen to more of their stuff. The production is as good as early Big Finish.
While you do have to listen to the several stories leading up to it for full context (Tartarus to Thin Time) it has an interesting take on a slitheen character that hasn’t been done before (tho there are two who are Very Stereotypical slitheen in contrast)
I want one