Day Seventeen - Dr.Who: Series 1, Episode 5, or "Obese Aliens Selling Earth... Cheap!"

So, we're back to Chris Eccleston's version of The Doctor, after a lovely week off.

When I last saw The Doctor and Rose, they (and Harriet Jones, MP of Flydale North) were about to be killed by the Slitheen. Well, Rose and Harriet were about to be killed by a stuntman in a rubber suit. The Doctor was being zapped by electricity or something, along with the unnamed UFO experts (some of whom are implied to be members of UNIT, from the canon of the old Dr.Who series).

Of course, The Doctor, Rose, and Harriet all manage to escape to the Cabinet Room which has 3" thick steel doors to keep the gassy, baby-faced claw aliens out.

Still... there is danger afoot.

Seems that the Slitheen aren't a race... they're a family. Of salespeople, no less. They want to sell the Earth, just without all the pesky humans on it. To do so they've invented this whole end of the world scenario and implanted themselves in fat civil servants across the UK in order to instigate nuclear war.

Seems kind of a roundabout way to do it, doesn't it?

The Doctor & Co. don't want that to happen, though. First they go about saving Rickey (Mickey, whatever) and Jackie (Rose's mum) from the Slitheen chasing them last episode. How do they do it? In typical Whovian fashion... or MacGyverian fashion, if you're so inclined... with common household items.

Namely anything with vinegar in it.

See, for some reason, like M.Night's little green men in Signs, the Slitheen have a ridiculously common weakness to something human. In this episode, it's vinegar... which causes the one going after Mickey and Jackie to explode.

How convenient... and messy.

Well, one down and several dozen to go. Time is of the essence, though, because they have to be defeated before the UN releases Britain's nuke codes BACK to its government.

I mean, really? Britain gave up the keys to its own nuclear arsenal? Seriously? Then why did the Slitheen bother? Why not just invade America (which would never hand codes over to the UN)? We've got our fair share of fat politicians for them to take over!

It's just another reason why I cannot just go along for the ride with everyone else concerning Dr.Who. It's like it's written by a twelve year old. Ugh.

Also, the glaring differences between the Slitheen and their practical effects versus their CGI versions are terrible. Whenever the real suits are on screen, they're slow and lumbering goofs... who then turn into fast, graceful, and agile attackers whenever we switch to CGI. It's a terrible and obvious mismatch. They should've just done one or the other... not both.

Still, there are one or two points that make me grin... namely any time Harriet Jones (played by Penelope Wilton, who some folks might recognize as Shaun's mother in Shaun of the Dead) introduces herself. The whole flashing her card and "MP, Flydale North" just cracks me up.

Well, as much as I can crack up when it comes to Dr.Who... which is really just the occasional turn of the corners of my mouth. Still, it's something.

In any case, this is me soldiering on though the first series. Only eight more to go before Tennant. I think I can make it.

I think.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~