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| “ | Oh, but they taste so sweet. Just think about the Doctor. Oh, how will he taste? All that experience, all that knowledge. And if I've got to absorb Jackie Tyler to get to him, then so be it. | „ |
| ~ The Abzorbaloff threatening to absorb the Doctor and Jackie. |
| “ | You've dabbled with aliens. Now meet the genuine article! | „ |
| ~ Victor Kennedy revealing his alien form to Elton Pope and Ursula Blake. |
The Abzorbaloff also known as Victor Kennedy was a male Abzorbalobian who appeared in Doctor Who and acted as the sole antagonist of the episode "Love & Monsters".
He was portrayed by Peter Kay.
Role
As is implied by the alien's nickname (his real name is never said in the episode, but the Doctor and Elton Pope coin the nickname for him) he can absorb living beings into himself, gaining their memories and knowledge as a result - his victims retain some awareness for up to two weeks after being absorbed, giving him a truly horrific appearance as the faces of his victims are still visible, however after a few weeks they are fully absorbed into his form.
However, in order to keep his power from going out of control, the Abzorbaloff had to rely on a limitation-field (disguised as a cane) to stop the collected souls from tearing his own form apart.
History
Little is known about the Abzorbaloff's past or whether his powers are standard for his species, which were aptly named Abzorbalobians. It is known that he comes from the planet Clom, which is the twin planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius which is the home planet of the Slitheen and the Blathereen families, whom the Abzorbaloff looked down upon.
In London in 2007, disguising himself as a wealthy socialite named Victor Kennedy, the Abzorbaloff recruited the services of LINDA (a group of friends who investigated the Doctor) in order to find the Doctor so he could absorb him and gain his memories and knowledge and use The Doctor's ship the TARDIS to return to Clom in victory. Along the way, he absorbed the members of LINDA one by one. To cover up their disappearances, "Victor" would claim that they left the group. Eventually, the two remaining members of LINDA; Elton Pope and Ursula Blake came across "Victor" in his true form and saw the faces of the other members of LINDA all over his body. The Abzorbaloff then absorbed Ursula and tried to do the same to to Elton, but he escaped.
The Abzorbaloff then ran after Elton just before the Doctor arrived with his companion Rose Tyler. When the Abzorbaloff threatened Elton's life to try and take control of the TARDIS, the Doctor replied that the other members of LINDA would have something to say about that. Ursula and the other absorbed members of LINDA then began to fight back against the Abzorbaloff by pulling him apart from the inside.
As the Abzorbaloff struggled to contain the rebelling souls, he dropped his cane, which was promptly snapped by Elton, which destroyed his limitation-field and thus the monster melted into nothingness as his powers went completely out of control.
In 2021, an online animated Doctor Who episode called "The Genuine Article" (set in 2009) featured The Abzorbaloff's father attempting to avenge his death by having a creature called The Krakanord to kill The Doctor, only for The Krakanord to turn against him and kill him for making it hide in their hideout in Cardiff for three months and for having to been fed nothing but baked beans and wheat biscuits, which The Krakanord did not like.
Gallery
Trivia
- Many fans criticised the Abzorbaloff's appearance in the episode, claiming it was a good concept executed poorly, as well as being out of place with the tone of the first half hour of the episode. The negative reception often stems from the creature's oddly sexual habit of licking its lips and moaning, as well as the infamous scene where Bliss (one of its victims) is farted on after appearing on the creature's right buttock.
- The Abzorbaloff was created by a nine-year-old boy named William Grantham as part of a drawing competition on British children's series Blue Peter, where the winning would have their monster appear in an episode of Doctor Who. The Abzorbaloff remained true to the drawing except for the size as Grantham had intended for him to be the size of a building rather than human-sized.
- William has a YouTube channel called Channel Pup and is still a fan of Doctor Who and has said that in spite of the negative reputation his monster received from fans he still doesn't regret creating him, although does wish he was written better in the story.
