"Aliens of London"/"World War Three"

The first two parter of the 21st century is a significant story for long-standing fans of the programme. It is similar in length to the 4-parters that the programme used to have and, perhaps even more critically, this means that "Aliens of London" ends with the first proper cliffhanger the programme has had in 16 years. But, what of the story itself? Russell T Davies's script definitely proves one thing- he can make ordinary human drama funny, intelligent and touching. This is immediately apparent from the very beginning of "Aliens of London". The Doctor has brought Rose back home, but has accidentally arrived a year after they left. Rose returns to find that her mother believes she is dead and Mickey is rumoured to have done the deed. These scenes are excellently done and drive home a fact that we never consider about the Doctor- his companions are, effectively, alien abductees and, for the first time, we see the trauma for those who have been left behind. This is as good time as any to address a fandom criticism of 'New Who' that has always infuriated me- the accusation of 'soapiness'. For a certain minority of fans (not just of Doctor Who, but all sf/fantasy) anything that does not involve aliens, monsters, spaceships etc is 'soap opera'- an attitude that says more about the lack of sophistication of such fans than the quality of the programme/ film/ book. Davies creates interesting characters who behave in ways appropriate to their personality and situation and this aspect of his writing is phenomenally strong.

This helps to make "Aliens of London" a very strong episode indeed. The alien threat is very intriguing- a crashed spaceship contains a surgically augmented pig, but the Doctor suspects that there may be more to this than meets the eye. Politicians and key people in other areas are disappearing, and the (rather corpulent) people who remain appear to have certain flatulence problems. It turns out that they are aliens from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, all members of the Slitheen family, who are keen to remove any threat to their eventual plan. This gradual revelation of the alien plan is very well written and work very well with the more domestic scenes- the Doctor trying to watch the news while a toddler steals the remote control. "World War Three" reveals the plan, but the perfunctory way in which the threat is overcome is rather disappointing- a missile strike is used to dispose of the aliens- but Davies's character writing remains excellent.

The main problem with the story as a whole is the direction. Keith Boak deals well with the more domestic parts of the story, but his direction of the sci-fi aspect is all over the place. Although he comes up with some memorable shots and scenes, there are a few which are carelessly sloppy, especially in his supervising of editing. Most serious of all is the tone of some of the Slitheen scenes, which seem to come from the bad end of the 'kids TV' spectrum. Some of the performances by the Slitheen actors are painfully unsubtle, but in a way that makes it clear that the fault is with the director- Annette Badland's talent manages to overcome Boak's limitations, notably in the scene where she is threatened by the Doctor. This is a pity, as the production is of a very high standard- the crash-landing of the spaceship is phenomenal, one of the best special effects seen on the small screen. The Slitheen are realised with some effective CGI and some good costumes- which lose something when Boak directs.

Slitheen aside, the cast is excellent from Navin Chowdhry's Indra Ganesh (odd name, by the way- it's like calling a Greek man 'Uranus Apollo'!) to a pitch-perfect cameo by Andrew Marr. However, Penelope Wilton's brilliant Harriet Jones is instantly memorable and a special mention must be given to Noel Clarke, whose performance as Mickey is phenomenal. Christopher Eccleston is brilliant in every scene, from his reactions to life on a council estate to his memorable face-off with Margaret the Slitheen. Rose has to cope with a veritable emotional barrage and Billie Piper conveys this with aplomb.

"Aliens of London" / "World War Three" has its faults, but it is entertaining and by no means a bad story.

NEXT: "Dalek"