Here is a story, that, for me is one of the highlights of the first series, yet I see so much negativity on here about the story that I thought, for balance, I, being someone who enjoyed it, would put my in my view by highlighting the many elements at play and why I enjoy them.

For instance:-

The Plan
I love how we are only gradually drip fed the details of what is actually happening, and how much thought is put into it, what with the fake alien and all. Then when all is known, we find that unlike most who stories, the plan is nothing to do with takeover or being evil, or control, but simply a bunch of intergalactic rogue traders out to make a bit of cash.

The Slitheen
Now here's where I address what I hear to be the biggest complaint (and seemingly only one since it's the only one ever mentioned) given by people who don't like the story - 'farting aliens',. Now the thing that bugs me about this as a complaint is that, for anyone actually paying attention to the story would know from the dialogue, that the gas noises 'the farting' is actually part of the story and the fact that they are compressed into bodies too small for them. Not only does it fully make sense, but there are even scenes where we are shown the aliens, when in the human bodies, to be in pain at being in these bodies as some of the noises are being made. For the most part of the episode the farting isn't particularly played for laughs, and has clear reason to be part of the story. The only one mostly shown to find it funny is the female, but I think the entire story show's her to be the more eccentric one anyway, so again, that's fully in keeping with the story and characters in my opinion. I think if the gas element hadn't of been there, people would have been saying 'oh, so were supposed to just believe those huge things fit into those smaller human bodies easily'. That's why having it actually add's a further layer of realism to me, which I believe was the intention moreso or at least as much as the comic effect element of it.

Even if with the logic above, you were someone who still had a problem with the farting, then I still don't understand why that would be enough to dislike the episode. If I saw an utterly fantastic episode where there was an annoying character in the background who kept burping now and then for comic effect, If, as I say it was otherwise fantastic, then that one annoying element alone wouldn't be enough to make me dislike the story. I'd more just say 'what a great episode, except for that one guy'.

It's why I can't quite understand why so many on this forum say they dislike the story, yet only ever cite that one element as the reason why, when there is so much going on within it otherwise. Of course, I can't change anyone's mind, but I just think it's a shame to downgrade the entire story for a small reason.

For me, I like the Slitheen design, I like the personalities given to mischievous family, and how those go some way to making the story what it is, don't mind the farting (like I said, why would I, it's fully explained), and seeing that they have been used in spin off media and books since, I believe they are or at least were popular amongst the mainstream.


Harriet Jones
Not only is this the introductory story of Harriet Jones, but the lowly MP for flydale north (at this point) is on top form in this episode, showcasing all of the qualities that make her a beloved character, and written in a way where she is strong and add's much to the episode, but also never feels like she overshadow's the doctor or tries to be his boss, the way I might imagine the story would have gone if certain other people had written it.

Family and the impact
We start the story with the whole 'gone for 12 months' idea which sets up a running side story of the impact of the doctor's companions on those they leave behind and who worry about them. During, this encapsulates only Jackie and Micky getting targeted in the episode just because of there association with Rose, and by extension the Doctor, a culmination in the 'will my daughter always be safe' speech from Jackie to the Doctor, and a sort of side story epilogue in which he won't even stay for dinner because he 'doesn't do families'. All of this is seemlessly interwoven with the main story, and neither the main story or this side story, feel squashed in content for the other. The whole thing flows brilliantly.

The Doctor and Rose - Relationship development
We see a fair bit of relationship development between the doctor and rose in this episode, from the angst amongst them at the start when it has all gone wrong, to the part where the Doctor goes investigating alone, and she worries, to elements like here getting the TARDIS key and at the end packing a bag in a way that shows they have become fully comfortable with each other enough that she is now confident enough to give over her entire life to the wonders of travelling with him.



So, these are some of the reasons why I feel that Aliens of London/ World War Three is a quality story which works on a story level, an emotional character level, an everything inbetween. It's a story which has so much to offer, that I think it's a shame that it's so underrated on this forum.

I don't expect I'll change any minds of those who are dead set against it, but I think it's great all the same.

Hate this story with a passion. It could have been good but was let down by the awful Slitheen. The fact they never were in the show again speaks volumes.

Yet one of them was, mere episodes later. Not to mention they've been in books since.

Besides, if we were judging episode quality on whether the character/race appeared again, there would probably be a fair few highly rated episodes seen as bad one's in that line of thinking.

The farting is adequately justified within the story, but I'm afraid your justification of it somewhat misses the point of all the objections to it.

People dislike it because it's infantile and silly (like the burping bin in Rose), not because of any lack of justification within the story. It's intended to be that way by the writer too (aiming at the younger members of the audience) as some of the Slitheen are obviously finding it funny and chuckling away as if they were some kind of pantomime villain.

That said, Slitheen apart, I don't particularly mind this story.

Like I said, I distinctly remember scenes where both the Slitheens in the general body and MP body had faces contorted in pain at being in the bodies and the gas exchange, so like I said, to me, not only is it justified, but I feel it is used to show the awkwardness and discomfort of their situation in equal measure to whenever it may be used for a laugh.


With all this getting hung up on one small thing, it makes me wonder if this would be a fan favourite if they'd taken out the farting.


Out of interest, do you hate anything about the Slitheen that isn't to do with the farting? or to put it another way, would you like them as villians if the farting element hadn't been there?

Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm reading the thread?

It was a gas exchange from the body i'm compressed into, honest.

Yeah, I know you're thinking 'that's what they all say'

I don't really mind the Slitheen either. Perhaps if they'd been better executed. At this point (2005) CGI in Doctor Who was primitive, even by the current standards of the time. There are some fairly obvious transitions between CGI versions (where they move really, really fast) and the physical costumes and props, (which are slow and a bit clumsy).

The Slitheen seemed to be played more for laughs than as "serious" villains. Contrast them with "The Family". The Family had a menace that the Slitheen, as portrayed, couldn't hope to compete with.

Eh, for me, this was the first bad story New Who ever had, so it kind of sticks out that way. For whatever role in the story it plays, the farting was just petty and embarrassing to watch. No one in my family laughed at these two episodes when they aired, and most of us were just kids back then. I don't know what gave RTD the impression he was being funny, because he wasn't.

Overall this, this episode is an example of a fair few things that I didn't like about this era. Once Rose got back to Jackie and Mickey, things started going downhill when she really showed what a horribly unsympathetic character she could be. I realise this was supposed to add a bit of conflict and realism and flesh out Rose's character, but RTD simply can't write personal character stories interesting enough to distract from the fact that this is a show about travelling through time and space, and I really couldn't bear seeing how badly written and unlikeable Rose was and yet see the show try and make out she was amazing and could get away with murder. She was a character who didn't grow from her mistakes because the writing would barely acknowledge she was making any.

The alien threat for the story, the Slitheen, were the first in a line of dull and unexciting enemies that would shape up this era (in a show where the aliens are usually the best part). Apart from looking so generic, the most memorable thing about them is the farting and the fat jokes, which makes it very difficult to take them seriously as a threat. RTD would try to flesh the lady one out a little more in Boom Town, but this would be done over more toilet humour. It's very counterproductive.

I would give a little praise to the political setting, as it was a good way to continue giving the show a more modernised edge, and Christopher Eccleston played his part very role, but it's all overshadowed by the sad toilet humour and the poor character writing

It's far from a perfect couple of episodes but I'm another who'd jump to their defence. There were clear teething problems with these episodes, and given that they were the first to be filmed their status and quality makes them a bit of a de facto pilot.

I found a lot to like about them though. Before later series would desaturate the sense of scale in the contemporary London invasions there was something special about this one. Not just its sense of scale but its attitude. The story scoffs at the 'domestics' that later series would embrace a little too much at times. It remembered to be decent drama, knowing that you have to flesh out this contemporary London with characters like Harriet Jones and with a political backdrop that gives the story style, scale and perspective. It has it's more soapy edge at times, but Rose's year-long absence wasn't glossed over and they made a decent point of it to develop the characters.

The strengths extend into the plot itself as well. One of the strengths of Series 1 in particular was that RTD's alien plots were always inspired by some really down-to-earth kind of motives that you could accept would apply across time and space as well - "five billion years and it still comes down to money", he says to Cassandra a few episodes earlier. There was real variety and edge to these Series 1 ideas from RTD - the last human orchestrating a failed hostage situation later turning into a stocks/shares scheme, the Earth facing the consequences of the Doctor's heroics in The Long Game and Bad Wolf because he shut down the news networks overnight, and indeed the Slitheen scheming their way into Downing Street trojan horse style because there was a recession and the Earth was going to keep the criminal Slitheen family afloat. It was a fascinating approach, which combined with the 'aliens faking aliens' slant was also quite inspired.

If anything lets the episode down I would say that, yes, it was the Slitheen themselves. I personally have little problem with the whole 'when they fart, if you'll pardon the word' aspect of it. Overall I'd say there were a few directional approaches that weren't needed - maybe they played up the fart gag a little bit too much on a couple of occasions (not enough to ruin a story for me), maybe the transisitions between waddling suit and predatory CG-Slitheen were a bit too manic. But even this I can forgive to a de facto pilot story. There was a lot of good stuff in here, most of it outweighing the bad. It's not the best of Series 1 by far, but that's more a testament to the strength of the series I think. As contemporary invasion stories go this wasn't too bad at all, and I certainly don't think it deserves the really poor reputation it gets. The Long Game followed just episodes later and I felt that committed a far bigger crime - it was dull.

I found the story fun we're back home, and find the Slitheen, people take them way too seriously. It was fun watching them all run around trapped in Downing Street trying to prevent World War III and find their weakness, and fun seeing Rose come back her and seeing everyone reaction, just kick back and relax.

Nice to hear some others who appreciate the story. I was starting to think I was the only one on this forum who did.

I actually liked parts of the story and it as a whole. I liked how it dealt with Rose, her mum Micky and the idea itself was good. But it wasn't executed well, the 2nd part of this story was definitely made for you to feel scared, trapped in a room with people who want you dead. But instead it was just silly and shallow. And the pace really did slow down. Basically the Slitheen carried a big portion of this episode and were simply terrible, a good villain and this may have been a great story.

Not at all, but then there's few episodes I won't try to defend. I think Fear Her, The End of Time and The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe are about the only ones I have a real broad disliking for beyond any sense of reprieve.

As Abomination points out, this was the first C21 Who to be filmed and I read somewhere that it was a bit of a troubled shoot; basically the production team were just starting to work out how to shoot Who and apparently they were soon well behind schedule. I think the concept of the Slitheen is interesting, the execution dodgy. The 'farting' gets tiresome pretty quickly.Tonally the story is a bit all over the place, but I think the first episode is actually pretty good. And it has one of those iconic moments that lingers in the memory...the excellent model shot of the spaceship crashing into Big Ben.

The second episode is weaker I think. Just rather a lot of running around and then Mickey rather easily manages to launch a missile, big bang, sorted. Overall though, it was an ambitious story with some nice ideas. Eccleston is on form and it brought us Penelope Wilton and Annette Badland, two fine actors who would return. Flawed but with some fun moments. And the Pig was cute. Poor thing. Piiiiig iinnn Spaaaaaace!

Apart from the childish stupidity of the Slitheen and overdone farting, I didn't think it was terrible, just not wonderful. But it had a good pace, sense of fun and there were serious elements to it that made it overall a good watch. I also liked the nod to The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy towards the end, made me laugh that line.

I agree the story was fun and had an energy about it. Plus for the first time ever in Who it touched on what happens to those left behind when someone goes off with The Doctor. I haven't watched it in a long time, and, perhaps it has faults that I was willing to forgive at the time as it was so great to have Doctor Who back after so long. But I would rather watch an entertaining story like this over and over than some miserable story of someone talking to themselves while they repeat their actions over and over while trying to tear down some wall with their bare hands.

Same as for the episode you we're refering to, Heaven Sent,I felt the same, I tried my best to like it, but I really was bored senseless throughout it, I have no idea why that episode is praised so highly.

We're veering off topic here, but whilst I'll stick with my "fun but flawed" summary of AOL/WW3, I think 'Heaven Sent' is a brilliantly acted and beautifully directed meditation on Grief and perseverance. It is possible to enjoy both, mind!

Yeah, but where's the "grief" when we all know that all post 2008 companions who die are brought back to life? And, yep, there she was, next episode and for all eternity! And it makes no sense that the Time Lords set a trap when he was searching for them in the first place! But like you say, off topic, so no further comment from me on that abominable / boring story in this thread.

^ this. Two totally different stories, I personally really enjoy both - love Heaven Sent.

Imo, if RTD has a Heaven Sent, then Midnight would be it. Both creatively inspired and powerful episodes that are the best of each writer.

Good call. Midnight is also (generally) companionless, psychologically intense and atypical of the show. As indeed is 'Turn Left' (obviously pretty much Doctorless there of course) which I've said before on here I think is brilliant and contains the best performance by a companion in all Who.

It's why I love the programme. You can go from dark and intense to funny and even silly from one story to the next. Sometimes from one episode (or scene!) of a story to the next. Getting it slightly back on topic, I thought Margaret the Slitheen and the not overly praised 'Boom Town' is a good example of that. Pantomime villain running away and getting 'soniced', "She's climbing out the window, isn't she." (One of my favourite Eccleston line deliveries) to the 'dinner' scene which goes from silly murder attempts to a quite dark discussion about execution effortlessly.)
Last edited by Michael_Eve : 21-09-2016 at 15:38

Wow! IMO Midnight is brilliant and Heaven Sent is abysmal. Strange how people can strongly agree on one yet strongly disagree on the other! That's life. SM has written some of my favourite Who stories ever but all four were before 2008.

I love these two episodes.

I think its too easy to label it as the 'farting aliens' story so I'm really pleased doctor blue box has set out all the really good and important aspects of the story.

It does develop the Doctor and Rose relationship and also makes Jackie and Mickey more central to the ongoing narrative. And I actually like the Slitheen.

I also gives as Tosh!