Doctor Who Season 27 (Episode 4, "The Aliens of London" and Episode 5, "World War III")



Writer/producer Russell T. Davies reserves the first two episode arc of the new Doctor Who for himself, and attempts to tell an epic story about humanity’s first contact with alien life. In the first episode the Doctor returns Rose to London 12 hours after they left at the end of “Rose,” but being the Doctor he miscalculated and it’s actually been 12 months. In the intervening year Rose’s Mum has devoted herself to finding her daughter and Mickey was suspected of her murder. Before Rose has to get too involved in explaining exactly why she disappeared an alien space ship crash lands into the Thames, precipitating a very public crisis. The Doctor decides to take a passive role, even watching developments on TV (!), until he grows suspicious and discovers the crash is a fake, and a group of aliens is secretly overthrowing the British government.



The aliens are the Slitheen, a family of 9-foot tall reptiles who can stuff themselves into disguises made of human skin so long as the donating human is of… certain proportions. Let’s just say that there’s a good chance Harvey Weinstein is a Slitheen. The technology is somewhat buggy, so the Slitheen in human forms occasionally make an involuntary farting noises. 

Obviously the Slitheen are supposed to be taken seriously, which I think is a miscalculation on Davies part. Humorous aliens, and even humorous invaders are certainly not unknown in Doctor Who, but the episode contrasts that with a very serious portrayal of how these events  are perceived by the general public. It never gels. It also doesn’t help that a large part of “World War III” is devoted to various characters being chased around the halls of Whitehall (which are really red in color – England, go figure) by the Slitheen in chases that look like they were taken from a French bedroom comedy. Bad as they are, these scenes do mark an important milestone for Doctor Who special effects. They’re the first time the Doctor Who TV show has featured fully CGI organic creatures that move around a real environment, and they’re not bad looking at all. The days of Doctor Who being a synonym for bad special effects are over, assuming everybody in the world forgets the previous 26 seasons ever existed. (But don't worry purists, in most shots the Slitheen are slightly wobbly costumes.)



What I really enjoyed about these two episodes was everything with Rose and her family and friends. Rose has quickly become the most interesting traveling companion the Doctor has ever had. It’s fascinating to see the series deal somewhat realistically with how it would feel to pulled out of your everyday life and suddenly have all the possibilities that the totality of time and space offer open to you.

Posted: Sun - June 26, 2005 at      

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