Doctor Who - "Aliens of London"

WHOSCALE: 6.0 OUT OF 10

The fourth episode of Eccleston's year returned us to modern day Earth, but not before a quick montage of clips from the previous Earth episode, "Rose." Personally, I'm not sure what the purpose of that was - it was likely any viewer tuning into this episode had likely seen the previous three.

As with most Whovians, my biggest shock was the farting aliens. Don't get me wrong; the Slitheen themselves were actually well-designed in appearance I thought, but their frequent farting sounds and fart jokes made it extremely difficult to take this story seriously. Classic Who was always about a serious tone on whatever the plot might be, proposterous though it may be. An example would Terror of the Zygons, in which the Loch Ness Monster was used as a tool by the Zygons to aid their takeover of Scotland. As silly as the notion was, it was taken seriously, and we were taught to "make no bones about it."

However in the case of the Slitheen, RTD treated the threat of alien takeover lightly, taking full advantage of the modern day setting, inserting as much modern-day smeg as he could into the 45 minutes.

The episode's few saving graces were that because it was spread over 2 episodes, it allowed the plot to unfold slowly and naturally as with classic Who serials. Unfortunately, rather than put the additional time to good use by making relevant contributions to the overall plot, Davies instead filled in the "holes" with irrelevant scenes with Rose, Jackie, a detective, Mickey, Harriet Jones, etc. While Jones had a crucial role in the story, many of her first scenes contributed nothing to the plot. Neither did the scene of Rose, Jackie, The Doctor and a detective at Rose's home. The other saving grace being the re-introduction of the cliffhanger ending accompanied by the "sting" of the Doctor Who theme music.

While the Doctor is frequently known for missing a particular time/location by a few years/miles, the fact that the Doctor and Rose arrived exactly one year after her departure seemed to be more of a drama device than anything else. As with most of RTD's plots, the episode was usually first about Rose, then about the Doctor, then about the Doctor AND Rose, and then about the initial plot. Resolving irrelevant domestic issues became primary, and the resolution of the overall plot often became secondary.

An OK episode, but not one of RTD's better attempts. The plot of a hostile alien takeover in Doctor Who usually works best FOR THE EPISODE if it's set in a rural village of sorts, but RTD often set his alien takeovers in the heart of London so that scenes of nameless, frantic, panicky people could be shown running and screaming - all of the sake of making it more dramatic.

While the incidental music was more in this episode than the last three, it still was subtle enough I thought to fit the mold of a classic Who score.