Rate "Aliens of London"

The first part of Nu Who's first Two-parter. Whadda ya think?

Nowhere near as bad as many say, IMO. 3/5

I too have a soft spot for this one. A brilliant setup episode. 4/5 from me. It's the second part that drags it down.

Aliens of London gave us one of the signature images of Series 1: Big Ben being hit by an out of control space ship. After that, even flatulent Slitheen didn't both me.

I enjoyed this opening episode of the two-parter. I have to admit I was never actually sold on the Slitheen as a menacing alien, though, which is why I only gave this a 3/5.

this was the one, especially the cliffhanger, which made Doctor Who my favourite tv show again.

it's a bit uneven, but i think it's great. 4.

Thanks to Watch, I saw some of this again a few weeks ago, and it's still really good fun. With hindsight, it's interesting to see how much it acts a bridge between the styles of the old series and the new. I think a 3/5 is fair for it - it doesn't quite reach the standard I'd expect a 4 to reach now.

Patrick wrote:I have to admit I was never actually sold on the Slitheen as a menacing alien, though, which is why I only gave this a 3/5.

Same here, I think they fit better with SJA. And I'll also be giving it a 3/5. I did find this two-parter fun.

Three, verging on four.

The Slitheen are still creepy. We're not going to get the point driven home until Boom Town, but...but...they're wearing people!!!

I also like that they're ruthless criminals, and that they're a family. So the other Raxicoricalfalopatorians might be quite nice.

The thing that sets the stamp on it is the Eccleston performance, going from the slight panic of his arrival at walking into a room full of squaddies to the assured control of "defense pattern delta", and the look on his face when he promises to stop the Slitheen from inside a locked room. These days, Matt Smith would probably be obliged to say "Basically...run".

3/5 from me. The performances were a touch too broad for my liking - a crime that has been getting this episode 1/5s for years - and there's a sense that the new series of Doctor Who is still working out who their audience is (it was the first to be filmed, wasn't it?). Never again would a story be pitched to this young an audience.

Saying that, this did have the effect of doing something that only Doctor Who seems to do effectively; shuffling a creepy idea onto Saturday night telly disguised as a dumb kids show...

stanmore wrote: Never again would a story be pitched to this young an audience.

Because it contains fat people and fart jokes.

And also aliens who wear flayed human skins, and who can get into your homes disguised as policemen, naturism, the murder by electrocution of a dozen people on screen, the implied death and sudden reveal of a sitting PM - because that's definitely Tony Blair - and the destruction of Downing Street by missile. As well as a passing swipe at the Iraq war, and a plan to end the world by causing a nuclear holocaust.

Dave Webb wrote:And also aliens who wear flayed human skins, and who can get into your homes disguised as policemen, naturism, the murder by electrocution of a dozen people on screen, the implied death and sudden reveal of a sitting PM - because that's definitely Tony Blair - and the destruction of Downing Street by missile.

All excellent points, Dave. For me, however, the fact that they're wearing flayed skin suits is interesting and creepy in a Hannibal Lechter sort of way, but the horror aspect has been watered down due to the fact that I knew nothing about the people whose skins the Slitheen inhabit. I agree, the point that Margaret is wearing someone else's skin, lying out of someone else's mouth is a point that gets far more attention in Boomtown, but it would have been interesting to meet Margaret before her death, just to make seeing someone in her skin that much more horrific.

Patrick wrote: the horror aspect has been watered down due to the fact that I knew nothing about the people whose skins the Slitheen inhabit.

So...wearing people is only a bit creepy unless you know them socially?

Dave Webb wrote:

Patrick wrote: the horror aspect has been watered down due to the fact that I knew nothing about the people whose skins the Slitheen inhabit.

So...wearing people is only a bit creepy unless you know them socially?

No, I mean the point that they were wearing actual people wasn't driven home until we got to Boom Town. In AOL and WW3, for all we knew, the skin suits might have been synthetically made.

Patrick wrote:

No, I mean the point that they were wearing actual people wasn't driven home until we got to Boom Town. In AOL and WW3, for all we knew, the skin suits might have been synthetically made.

Apart from the bit where they skin a general and wear him.