(700) Aliens of London

The thing about the new era of Doctor Who is that the stories are mostly single episodes with the exception being the occasional two parter. So with single episode stories being the norm, it means that the two parters pick up a new meaning and excitement. Today is the shows 700^th episode and the show has changed since the 600^th episode which was the first episode of The Kings Demons. Wow there is very little the same apart from the fact there is the Doctor and the TARDIS.

The Doctor takes Rose back to the council estate that she lives on thinking that it’s only been twelve hours since the events of the opening episode. The first few minutes with this idea is quite fun but the good news is broken when the Doctor realises that it’s been twelve months and not twelve hours and Jackie has a shocked look on her face. The Doctor is quite funny when he breaks this news to Jackie and Rose. The advantage of having 90 minutes is that there is time for a slower build up and it means that there is time for family domestics. Russell T Davies wanted the family dynamic thrown into the episode to be an anchor for Rose, giving her a reason to return to Earth.

The term companion sounds dirty in this episode when the Doctor announces to the police that he Rose is his companion and the policeman asks if it’s a sexual relationship. I think that this pretty much retires the term as well as assistant. Friend is the term I will be using from now on to describe future people who travel in the TARDIS.

This is another episode that shows the new series means business in terms of what we see on screen. The effect of the alien ship crashing into Big Ben is one of the most memorable ones from this season. The shot of the ship crashing into the Thames is also well done and I saw Doctor Who Confidential (remember that) and it showed how this was achieved and it’s a simple yet effective visual effect.

This episode sees Naoko Mori play Doctor Sato and it’s a character that she would play in the Torchwood spin-off. Again watching this back in 2005, there was no way anyone watching would have known that she would go on to be in the Torchwood spin off but it’s a good performance from her.

Joseph Green who has the job title of Minister on the Monitoring of Sugar Standards in exported confectionery which is the best job in politics (if it existed of course). This is a bit of RTD having some fun with less than minor details. Green becomes Prime Minister because of the un-named PM (supposed to be Tony Blair). I think that he is an effective baddie. The other Slitheens are all good as baddies but its Green that is the standout character. Penelope Wilton makes her first appearance as Harriet Jones. Wilton is a superb actress and she brings a nice warmth to the show and stumbles into the adventures. I think its funny that she introduces herself to everyone and holds her ID card. It just makes me like the character even more.

UNIT make their first appearance since Battlefield and I like how the Doctor stumbles into a room where they are all resting and waits for them to pick up their guns and point them at him. Moments later he acting in charge calling in the shots although he doesn’t know its UNIT. Despite the slow reaction time with the soldiers and the Doctor, UNIT don’t come across as the bumbling outfit that they use to come across. I think that I miss that.

There are a couple of cameo appearances. Firstly there is Andrew Marr who is currently appearing in his own political talk show on Sunday mornings on the BBC and Matt Baker who was in Blue Peter on this episode but now is the co-host of the One Show. This is the sort of stunt casting that I like as its relevant to the story and they are not too important to the story.

If there is something that has always troubled me about the Slitheen then it’s the breaking wind that regularly happens. It’s a fun idea that they are squeezing themselves inside human skins and the effect of then unzipping from their foreheads is one of the things I like about the Slitheen but it’s just the farting which seemed a bit childish.

The cliffhanger has a nice build-up of a few minutes where in three different areas, the Slitheen are finally revealed and it’s he right point for them to do this and the final shot is of the Doctor and the other members of UNIT being electrocuted. The NEXT TIME trailer is put in a rather stupid place because within seconds of the cliffhanger, the Doctor is shown to be perfectly fine and running around. I think that it was Steven Moffat that pointed this silliness. It’s a shame that this was done because it just takes out the immediate threat that they spent 45 minutes build up to. I think that this is an important lesson that RTD, Julie Gardner and Mal Young have learnt. This is more of a build-up episode because 45 minutes is spent setting up the characters and the setting. If this were the classic era then this would have two episodes into a four parter and in those stories it is in the third episode where the story starts to build up. There was a bit better pacing in this episode and as a result it seemed like a slightly stronger episode as a result.