Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who (2005) | 1x04 "Aliens of London"

I enjoy this episode, though it certainly has its problems. I took notes as I was watching. Lots to say.

The sub-plot of Rose having vanished for a year is a really nice idea, especially as she just up and left without saying anything to anyone. It is a useful way to set up the tension with MR ickey. It's a testament to his overall blandness that even when Rose comes back pretty much everyone forgets to tell him. Mickey in the tardis later gets a chance to flesh himself out a bit as what we would probably now call an open source intelligence guy. I think that the doctor works better when he's got a smart entourage he can bounce off, whether it's individuals like Mickey, SJS, or the modern unit crew with Kate. Mickey though never really felt particularly interesting as a character.

Some part of this episode have not aged well at all. The slaps (which the policeman present doesn't even try to intercede in) and a remark later 'you're so gay'. I get that this is the way people spoke, but still... Other parts though still hits me the way it did when I first watched it - During the crash scene Murray Golds soundtrack is fantastic, and the visuals aren't too bad considering how old this is.

The writing really gets the era right here - mid 00s, 24hr news, a few years after 9/11, after a major event this is exactly what people would be doing. The doctor as the one person in the room really paying attention while everyone else is chatting and gossiping is great. If this were rewritten for today, I wonder if everyone would be chatting, or if they'd all be shown doomscrolling instead.

Inside downing Street we met Harriet Jones for the first time. She seemed like such a grounded politician as a backbencher, it's a shame she ended up going mad with power. Reminds me a bit of Kier Starmer - starts off fairly innocuous, just trying to do the right thing, and then faced with actual responsibility starts to go a bit too hard down on protectionism.

The fart Jokes begin as soon as we enter downing street, and as juvenile as they are, it is mildly funny to see the camera cut immediately afterwards to show the on duty security guard in the corner of the stairwell, unable to move away. This might be the only time I actually found it funny. A later scene in the cabinet office is one of the worst for fart jokes and it goes on too much here to be funny, and completely ruins the tone of what should be a horrific scene.

To this day I'm still not sure how the aliens managed to kill the prime minister and subdue the entire chain of command - if they had the resources and were able to do that the rest of the setup seems kind of unnecessary. Does the whole UK chain of command / succession really boil down to these three? We get some hints, particularly when the general tries to impose martial law as to how things ought to be working, but it doesn't go anywhere. No deputy, no home sec, just straight to the sugar minister. And the cabinet we know are still available, they're just waiting to be "airlifted in", as if they wouldn't all immediately be jostling to get in.

The doctor being apparently unaware this is humanity's first contract moment is interesting : it's either retconning; or the doctor who started coming to earth in the 60s hates spoilers and just wants to follow earth's development in real time?

Rose getting the tardis key is different to how I remember watching this as a kid, I can now see its more like her getting to move into a new friends house rather than just access to a vehicle.

When Harriet encounters the open cabinet door as the invaders are leaving, we get my favourite pet peeve - an immensely secure area and they just leave the door unlocked and important documents lying on the table. Eyeroll.

In the hospital the pig reveal actually spooked me as a kid for some reason, it's laughable now. Poor animal.

On the design of the slitheen - The skinsuit idea is a pretty neat concept, a good twist on the changeling invader concept. The obvious zip we see in some of the shots is a bit silly though, and inconsistent. When we finally see the aliens I think their designs are really impressive. It's the first time we get a real big bad alien costume (after a few background ones in episode 2). The eyes are dead though, that's the big thing I wish they had done differently.

The overly dramatic phone call from Jackie to the helpline is great. It makes no sense that sirens would be going if like that in some random room at downing Street, but it makes for a good TV shot, and is a decent tool in showing how important the doctor is.

When Rose realises she's going to number 10 she seems elated. That one was always a bit weird to me - is that a place the average person dreams of visiting? I don't feel it has quite the prestige that say a royal household, the white house, or the palace des Élysée has.

This episode has a "next time" teaser, and honestly kind of defeats the cliffhanger ending. I always hated those, I'm glad when they get bumped either to the end credits or off entirely.

As a one of episode of doctor who this one has a lot of problems. But, in the context of being the first two-parter of the revival, and watching it as a kid years ago, it stuck with me. I loved the juxtaposition of aliens against the mundane every day life that goes on, and the behind the scenes of what governments would do in scenarios like this. And I think it was a formative experience for the kinds of disaster film and scifi drama i like now - less focus on the death and chaos and more on the logistics and the how and the why. Re watching it there are some things that stick out in a bad way but overall its still an enjoyable watch.

Oh boy, it's the one with the farting aliens.

I don't care for this one at all. It's a very pure expression of RTD's "kid-friendly" vision of Doctor Who, but...it makes it kid-friendly by featuring farting aliens. No thanks.

But there's still good stuff! Pretty much everything about Rose's return is pretty great. Jackie's anger and relief after Rose has been missing for a year, Mickey's status as a suspected murderer, all good stuff. We get to meet Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, who's always a delight. We get to see UNIT, still with "United Nations" in their name. We also get to meet Toshiko Sato.

The broad strokes of the plot are interesting. A crashed UFO, faked by aliens not as a diversion, but as a trap for the council of Big Brains that would immediately convene. I like that a lot. I also liked the way the Doctor immediately drops his dismissiveness of Ricky Mickey as soon as he says something intelligent.

But at the end of the day, those farting aliens are always going to be there.