Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North.
On one hand, you want to be somewhat easy on Series 1 of the revived Doctor Who. After all, they were just getting to their feet and some missteps were bound to happen. But on the other hand, if something lets a story down you should note that because you might be less likely to watch it later. The first two-parter, Aliens of London and World War Three is like that.
The unfortunate thing about this story is that it had a nice set up as it revived elements from the classic series. An alien ship crash lands in London but this is a misdirection as a group of aliens called the Slitheen have already infiltrated the British government and use the crisis to seize control. Refreshingly, they are not interested in conquest but intend to destroy the planet, harvesting the radioactive slag for profit. This is actually a clever idea. Of course, they are all thwarted by the Doctor and his companions and all but one are killed when 10 Downing Street is hit by a missile.
This story has good elements to it. The plot of the Slitheen is interesting and the idea of creating a fake alien landing to cover a real alien plot is also good. The pacing in Aliens of London is pretty good and the acting isn't bad either. We also get the introduction of Harriet Jones who is a fun recurring character.
However, there is also the not so good. First and probably most prominent on the list of annoyances is the farting. I understand that some method needed to be given that this heavy person was a Slitheen in disguise but the use of farting as the giveaway was just bad. It's taking a somewhat interesting story with some darker overtones and jamming it with stupid juvenile humor. This is the kind of thing that appeals to eight-year old boys and just about no one else. I understand wanting to spread the demographic appeal of the show, but this is just annoying.
The second thing on my list is more of a trial and error thing for the show and that is the design of the Slitheen. The big green rubbery monster with a baby face just didn't do it for me. It smacked too much of what done in the classic series because technology and budget limitations forced them to just put a stunt man in a suit and chase everyone. The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead demonstrated that the show was capable of so much more than had been done in the past and to revert to this silly looking monster was just disappointing.
Third is the pacing of the resolution in World War Three. Since this was the first story to have a cliffhanger, the production team through everything against the wall and put all three groups of protagonists in some sort of peril at the end of Aliens of London. It was a bit much and it had the unfortunate effect of leaving things at a stand still only a few minutes in to World War Three. There is a lot of back and forth banter which is OK to listen to but it is all filler with just a big lull in the drama.
The only source of drama comes from Mickey hacking into the government database and a Royal Navy submarine to destroy the Slitheen before they launch the nuclear missiles that will start World War Three. Even this is rather silly as Mickey isn't shown to be a brilliant hacker but instead finds a simple backdoor password that allows him access to the whole system. I get that this was designed to give the kids the feeling that anyone could be the hero the Doctor needs, but come on.
This story is probably the most childish of the whole first series. I get that they were finding their way but when you sandwich this between the creepy The Unquiet Dead and the PTSD moments of Dalek, it just feels even more out of place. It's watchable, but I'd need a good reason to go back watch these two again.
Overall personal score: Aliens of London - 2 out of 5; World War Three - 1.5 out of 5
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