As a kid I was terrified by the slitheen. The idea of being hollowed out and an alien wearing my skin was the scariest idea as a 5 year old. Heck I didn't even remember the farts but remembered the giant claws breaking down wooden doors.

Honestly, "Do you mind not farting when I'm trying to save the world?" is brilliant. Not only did it make me laught, it also illustrates just how irreverent the whole thing is to the Slitheen. It's the moment where we realize that no, it's not just a gassy fat minister of candy, it's an alien inside the body of the head of government who orchestrated the entire crisis and is just about to kill everyone who can stop him. I feel like this scene is the payoff for all the fart jokes earlier, and I loved it.

The only issue with the Slitheen is the farting? How is it so many people don't realize the farting is a metaphor for 'politicians talking out of their asses'? It's not solely supposed to be comedic, I'd argue it isn't childish, and adds a lot to the political satire.

I didn't hate this episode but imo SJA made the Slitheen better

“Harriet Jones, MP: Flydale North” Yes, we know who you are

The farting grates a bit, but it was a useful tool to let the audience know who was an alien (I'm particularly thinking of the policeman). It's a quick cue to the audience that someone's not who they say they are..

I always liked how the Slitheen seemed to not take Earth seriously at all, that's how I read the whole farting thing. "I'm... *shaking* my *booty* "

It is not a secret masterpiece. It is just a masterpiece- no secret about it.

I think that people see the farting aliens and pass the story as bad and childish but if it had the Zygons or the Chameleons in, people would see it as a classic.

The moral if this episode is that if you can’t take occasional silliness... then you should not be watching _Doctor Who._

"Aliens of London" was the first ever episode of the show I saw. Not all of it, but my dad had family friends over to watch it and so I asked to join in. I remember seeing the set pieces like the Big Ben crash, the space pig, and above all the cliffhanger for the first time, which was the moment 10-year-old me wanted to keep watching. Of course I didn't follow the politics but the action, the threat and the comedy was more than enough at the time. It's nostalgia but I own a lot to this two-parter. It brought me on board for the ride, and just in time for the first new Daleks to boot. And though I fell away at the start of the most recent series, I'm still fully immersed in the franchise. So that's the tale of how my life what changed by a story about farting aliens.

I have one question about Aliens In London: How would Captain Jack Harkness react to Tosh describing The Doctor and the events of the alien investigation scene? (yes, that was Tosh not just the same actress, she and Owen make reference to it as "Space pig" during Exit Wounds/Torchwood S2 finale where it's mentioned that Owen was meant to be there). Also I feel that the Slitheen fit better in the Sarah Jane Adventures and even their next episode at the end of this series is a guilty pleasure episode for me.

I didn't see this as a kid, but I did see "Revenge of the Slitheen". The Sarah Jane Adventures is a good way to contrast a kids' show with a FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY show.

People hate the farting because other people hate the farting. I hate how people just look pass this Story. The Slitheen are absolutely terrifying hunters in this Story. Harriet Jones is an underrated Queen x and the Doctor and Rose are brilliant in this. Mickey is great in this and I love how the Doctor actually invited him to join. This is where Jackie’s character begins to develop as a character. I’ll always love this Story, it’s fun, creative and has amazing character moments x

Yeah i hated the farting jokes, but i still love the episode.

But in it the politicians that are evil fat farting lying aliens. How on earth did RTD sneak that past the BBC. I never saw these episodes as bad. They're a fun pair and of course have the introduction of Harriot Jones. A nice two parter that's both funny, campy, dark and political. All things that would only fit for series 1's feel

Seriously though, how do people not get the fart jokes in these episodes? The point is that politicians are always **talking out of their ass**. GET IT?

"If you overlook the farting, they're actually quite unsettling" Im using this as my yearbook quote

Due to all the Farting Jokes, these 2 episodes were definitely geared towards children. But, they still do have plenty of material for adults to enjoy. :-)

This story is perfect, its a great invasion episode, its got policital commentary and its not afriad to take itself too seriously. It is perfect mix of drama and humour to create what I feel is one of the best doctor who stories and the highlight for me of the 9th Doctor's run. And the pacing of the episode and the use of the news broadcasts its brillant and make it feel like this is serious global event that we have never really seen before this and unfortunatly after Moffat and Chibnall never used the news to such great effect as Davis to really upscale the threat.

Yet another of my favourite episodes is apparently one of the ones everybody hates. Also random thought: the doctor thinks people are stupid for thinking that a walking pig is an alien, yet the space police are walking rhinos

100% agree mate. If this episode got rid of all the...farting XD It would be a perfectly good Doctor Who episode. The opening with Rose returning a year later was so well done, as you pointed out. Heck, all the family drama with Rose and Jackie's realisation of what's been going on was great, even the last scene where she says she is gonna be back in 10 seconds. As for the "farting aliens" themselves, they have a really solid design. The practicality is great and it puts a nice spin on how aliens are normally seen as green, bugged-eyes monsters. Overall, if u can get past the goofiness and points it a blast! However, then you watch the episode after this and you look back at this and think how much this pales in comparison XD

This was young me’s favourite Ecclestone episode, and I never thought it was that bad.

Honestly I like every Eccleston story. Personally End of the World is a little dull but by no means bad. This two parter is really fun though

I appreciate that you referred to DW as a family show, it always annoys me when people (even including fans) call it a kids show. One of the things I've always loved about DW is how it makes an effort to appeal to all ages (with varying degrees of success admittedly) and this story is a really good example of that IMO.

You are a bold one.... No but for real, I really agree with you yet again and these videos are by far my favourite ones, it's just so refreshing to see that not every DW-Fan is so toxic

"Without a VPN" 😆😆😆

masterpiece is generous, but it's a fun episode to watch

The slitheen have always been one of my favourite villains. I love their design. They’re like twisted version of your classic bug eyed alien, but giant with massive claws. Their shutter like blinks are iconic as well. Their design is so recognisable and are one of the only nuwho aliens that people who watched it casually 18 years ago can remember (+weeping angels). Also I love the lore. There is so much back story to their planet and culture. The fact the slitheen are a criminal family which are hated by the rest of the Raxacoricofallapatorians is such a cool idea. And how can we actually avoid the fact that they skin people alive and then wear their skins! Like that’s messed up. I feel like they put the farts in to cover that! I will defend them to my death

Ah now, the slitheen cant help it. Also I love the beginning of the episode its great to see the downsides of running off with the doctor being shown so realistically. Great Video man really enjoying this series!

Even tho The Return of Doctor Mysterio stole the concept of unzipping and replacing political figures (which it acknowledges), I feel like it's done better there. It's the right tone.

I think The reason this episode gets a pass on the Political angle is because like a lot of political classic episodes, it is woven into the story seamlessly and doesnt feel forced, its organic it works with the story and doesnt jump out at you from out of no where, nor does it preach to you about somthing. I really feel like the newest stuff is way to, preachy and i feel like it often feels like episodes were made to preach first, entertain second, at least thats how it comes off for me, feel free to disagree

2:35 Mickey: *shows 4 fingers* Also Mickey: "five times they suspected me"

*LONDON 1965*

Fart jokes yeah but the Slitheen's faces could've also looked a bit less cherubic in the cheek department

Love this two-parter. And love the politics. I think the problem with the politics in Chibnall's era is that he's clearly trying too hard to be 'woke', yet the messages are actually less radical and less complex than Davies' Iraq satire or mass media critique, and SO much less subtle. Also, the Slitheen are way better than the Zygons, soz not soz 😁

I was born in 2004 in British family that was brought up on Doctor Who but I had never seen the Ecclestone season I was pretty much just brought up on Donna Noble and I remember seeing the poster for the AOL/WW3 and being enchanted and then when I watched episode. incredible. I still love it today. it was a dream come true to see it

I’m glad someone else has highlighted why this story is an underrated classic.

I bloody love this episodes. Love how the aliens take over parliament. It’s brilliant. Come on giving how dark some of kills were in the episode, and how dark and brutal the next 2 parter was. I’m let farts slip.

i remember "back in the day" when they were releasing the episodes on dvd with a magazine about the episodes (2 episodes on a dvd w/ magazine each week or something) and i ended up only getting 3, two of which had aliens of london and ww3 on. These are two of my most watched episodes and having just found these videos by you has reminded me of that and im loving listening to what you have to say about each episode, especially at the moment since im a big 9/10th and rose fan

Eccleston would’ve been everyone’s favorite if he got a few more seasons

This was one of the best 2 parters doctor who has ever had

I'm really enjoying these! Fantastic commentary and I find myself really agreeing with your insights (although that may be the Eccelston lover in me showing) but one thing I'd love to see more of is audio from the episodes! Especially when you're talking about how good the acting or writing of a scene is, I'd love to just see ten seconds of that scene :)

I think it helps that RTD kept this as a more light-hearted episode. It works to offset a lot of pretty dark stuff that happens (people are murdered and their skins worn as disguises, people killed on/offscreen, the aliens die horrifically and coat people in their guts, there's a threat of nuclear annihilation, etc.) The ridiculousness of it all works to distract the viewer and keep things balanced, otherwise the episode would be far too depressing and gritty.

Ah yes, the episode where Rose calls the Doctor 'gay', my favourite

I really enjoyed your analysis of this story, and couldn't agree more! I have a lot of nostalgia for this two-parter in particular, and I think it was probably the story that cemented my interest in Doctor Who - which was helped even more with Dalek the following week. I probably didn't understand too much of the deeper plot and character development of this story as a kid, but what I could was really intriguing to me, and made it clear that this wouldn't just be a very episodic series of self contained stories week by week with little connecting them. At the same time though, I think a big part of the appeal was the focus on an iconic "monster of the week" style antagonist, which the first three stories were lacking in a little. The Autons were great, but they aren't notably alien or monstrous to me I don't think? whereas the aliens in ep2 were all friendly, and the Gelth are ultimately just ghosts. The introduction of the Slitheen just really grabbed my attention in that moment, and the cliffhanger had me really excited. In hindsight, it's not that great of a cliffhanger, because of the next time trailer and convenient solution at the start of the next episode, but it's pretty decent - the wait to reveal of the Slitheen up until shortly before was some great build up, and the tension set with the cliffhanger hints at the recurring tension of the following episode. I have always been confused why people downplay this story so much, and always write it off as "the farting aliens one"? I just find it a bit unfair to all the great aspects of this story, especially when the fart jokes aren't even that frequent? I can think of maybe four or five scenes? none of which last long and are part of a hour and a half long story overall? Like you said repeatedly, there's a lot this story has going for it if you can look past these moments - but even still, I don't see much problem in the show indulging in this type of humour occasionally? Doctor Who has always been silly, whimsical and camp at times, and it's part of it's charm. I find it a bit of a shame that the Raxacoricofallapatorians were kind of delegated to the SJA for being received as too childish? SJA uses them wonderfully, and they are an antagonist that can certainly be geared incredibly well to a younger audience. At the same time though, they have the capability to work just as well under a more serious context - Boom Town demonstrates a more mature use of the Slitheen, which unfortunately seems to have gone ignored (probably down to how underrated that episode was). I feel like the Slitheen would've worked perfectly in Return of Dr Mysterio, and might've made that episode better overall, as opposed to the alien brains that were a little underwhelming and not particularly scary. Part of me feels like that episode was maybe even intending to use them at some point with just how interchangeable they'd be. I'd like to see them back in S13, I think they'd be an interesting antagonist to revisit after so long (like S12 did with the Judoon) and could be really fun when pit against Jodie's more humorous take on the doctor.

Another great video critique. Thanks so much👍

The thing is, why is it that every Prime Minister in the RTD era of Doctor Who does the most f***ed up things? Slitheen: Want the Earth to nuke itself. Harriet Jones: Orders Torchwood to wipe out the Sycorax (at least can be argued to be justified) The Master: Takes over the world with Humanity from the end of the Universe and planned for Galactic domination... so basically a standard plan by the Master. Everyone from Children of Earth (apart from Frobisher): Agree to had over 10% of children to the 456 because the Doctor couldn't be bothered to get his ass in gear despite being in the timeline at least twice as his 10th and 12th incarnations with the latter being even worse when he was *stuck* on Earth guarding Missy in the Vault and could have easily solved everything since he looked like the aforementioned Frobisher.

Bruh who said this episode was bad. Recently rewatched it and I still love it, don’t see why ppl would hate it just becuz it has some fart jokes?

It’s definitely an underrated story. I found the Slitheen to be suitably creepy and I liked the concept of them wanting to destroy the Earth and sell it for profit. I’ve not come across that as an alien motive before. RTD was good at incorporating popular culture elements (24 hour news, game shows etc) into his stories in a way that Dr Who hasn’t really done in the Moffat and Chibnall eras.

I love this channel and the way it champions the underdog. I enjoyed Aliens of London at the time. It felt very much in vein with the “zeitgeist” in 2005. It hasn’t aged particularly well but I will always remember it fondly. Russell T Davies might not have got it right every time but his age of Doctor Who was definitely a golden age for the show. 👍🏻

The flaws in these two episodes can basically be written out. Joseph Breen being put in charge, despite only having experience in sugar standards and Micky Being able to hack into Unit to access a missile seem like they could be rewritten. The former is just a throw away joke and the latte could've had the Doctor telling Micky a secret code that only he knows, because Unit entrusts it to him, so that Micky could bypass the firewalls and security defences. I think that would make sense. The spirit of the story, stays largely in tack. Chimbnals is politcal........ In not a good way. His messages are forces and often biased towards the far left end of things, where as the messages here are alot more subtle and neutral. Making fun of how humans are quick to panic over thinking and/or laughing at the flaws in a system or something like how soldiers are trained to be blindly obedient to following the Doctor, whom they just were pointing their guns at, because he took charge. It's making points that are subtle and aren't against any one group, nor are they just "lol, everyone is to blame lol".

As a kid this episode terrified me. The scene where they come out of the suits and blink sent me behind the sofa. Now I quite enjoy the episode but as a young child I though the Slithean where terrifying.

Love this episode. the Slitheen are my favorite Doctor Who villains :D

This is a classic episode!!

5:36 i love the police officer just going "...no"

"Another outstanding performance by Ecclestone" is a catchphrase at this point lol

Because the premise of Dr. Who is so extreme, the suspensions of disbelief are easier than for, say, Star Trek, which is a more grounded show. You roll the eyeballs a bit and move on. The farting is easy enough to overlook, and overall the Slitheen are fun villains.

I love this two-parter. I don't personally enjoy the fart jokes, but they don't bother me for exactly the reason you state - some people, especially kids, love them.

I haven't seen these episodes since they first aired. I was ten at the time, yet I clearly remember them, and I think that says enough about them for me

I thought it was alright because in my opinion and I might be wrong but I think it’s a social commentary of politicians talking out their arses.

This was literally my favourite episode when I was kid. I was about 6 when these aired, but I thought they were scary but cool

whaaaat? i love these episodes! i like the story , look of the aliens , yes its a bit funny but thats the charm of it all , but as always i love the interaction between the doctor and others

Although I don’t adore this story, I still find it underrated and you make some good points here.

I love those episodes!!!

When I was little I didn't see it as a joke.

One overlooked thing... I think Russell T Davies was also poking fun at politicians with the fart jokes... denoting them as gassy windbags, which for me, makes the fart jokes funny for kids on one level and funny for adults on a whole different level.

I really like this story, the plot and the meaning behind it. And I like the Slitheen - there's nothing wrong with the farting, it's a bi-product of the technology, and it's funny. The difference between them and say the Zygons, is they are a family trying to make money, the Zygons would just invade. The effects from 2005 are not dated, I'd rather you don't say they look dated.

i will keep this short it is a masterpiece.

Underrated GEM

I personally love The Slitheen. They are my favourite New Who villains and I really wanna see them in the show again.

This has always been a favourite of mine. I thought it was a well crafted episode and even the fart jokes worked. It had such a likeable cast!

These 2 episodes are apart of my favourite episodes of Series 1

These who episodes made me realize how much i actually loved the show. So the pirate site i was using to watch aliens in london cut off at the 10 minute point and after searching and searching site after site for the rest of the episode, that's when i knew. Eventually i did find the rest of the episode but it has a place in my heart for that very reason.

"When I was a kid in 2005" Me: Man I'm old

The Slitheen scared me senseless when I was a kid! Might be nostalgia, but growing up there were always a quintessential Doctor Who alien for me, and I always wondered why they never appeared again after Series 1. Guess I know now lol

I actually remember that this was the first time ever saw of dr who (but it’s a bit fuzzy since I was 5) and I didn’t know that it was dr who until years later

Definitely a masterpiece! SO much more to these episodes than the Slitheen. Incredible storytelling AND hugely entertaining! One of the high points of Russell T Davies' career. A revelation.

as a kid i loved the Slitheen as monsters, and as a kid my grandma would sit me and my brothers down infront of the telly and watch the sarah jane adventures where the Slitheen where frequentky recuring monsters, they bring back some nice memories. I also love their cousins the Blatherieen, theyre just brown Slitheen but theyre always something i remember about the monsters

These are actually two of the episodes I wont skip ever

Doctor Nine says, "Would you mind not farting while I'm trying to save the world?"

This episode of doctor who convinced my friends and I that our teacher at school was definitely a slitheen.

Adored this story.

I actually really like these episodes. I look forward to them over episodes 2 and 3, because the pace of the 2 parter, as well as the good writing all just worked for me.

I loved these episodes

Harbo's doing Aliens of London/End of the World. Oh Boll...

The episode itself is definitely very well crafted and very good for series one, but I would like to point out that it's not just the fart jokes that people dislike about the Slitheen, it's also the fat jokes. As a fat person myself, it does hurt to see a show I love openly mock me and play into unfortunate stereotypes. Of course I'm used to it, because all media does it, but that doesn't change the fact that it is demoralizing. Also, I know you're doing your series one rewatch right now, but given that even though Clara is my favorite companion, I still struggle to enjoy a lot of series 7b, I just want to say I really look forward to more of that series being featured in Defending the Despised!

Since when is it a secret that this 2-Parter is an Masterpiece?

This was my first episode of doctor who I ever watched

The slitheen gave me nightmares when I was a kid! This is the only episode of episode 1 I have an actual memory of watching! (I was 3 at the time)

It’s not too shabby! I’m not big on the Slitheen, but World War 3 rules, especially Mickey proving himself to The Doctor, Jackie is also hilarious in it

It's a very good story in a number of ways, enough that the farting can be forgiven.

I’ve always liked these ones, apart from when they first came out and I couldn’t watch them without having nightmares, upon being older and rewatching they’re brill tho !

I really enjoyed this 2 parter. The Slitheen are funny villains and they are my favorite color green. The farting aliens didn't bug me at all. I hope they return in future series/episodes.

The aliens of London you could see the aliens in the most recent episode when the doctor remembers everything

This is my favourite episode of series 1

You made some real good points in this video, but I still prefer the "Unquiet Dead" to this story.

I used to watch this episode in repeat as a child

The problem with Chibnall is not the politics but the lack of subtelty.

The fart jokes make these episodes unique. They may not be funny but the episodes themselves are actually really interesting and tell a great story