Day 701: World War Three

This episode feels remarkably underrated. I loved it as a kid, mainly due to the comedy aliens, but now that I'm a bit older, it's easy to see that there's a fair but more to love than just a story about farts and it's something truly special.

For a start, it's incredibly funny. There's a fair range of jokes in this, going from the basic joke of having farting aliens to the truly great moment of the sergeant bursting into the Prime Minister's office to let them know of the crisis, only to discover that the room is filled with aliens, at which point he promptly decides that leaving would be the best course of action. The latter joke is also good because it comes in the ending sequence, where events are reaching breaking point. We then get a series of quick cuts, going from the tense scenes as the Doctor, Rose, and Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North) try to figure out their best chance of survival, while the Slitheen flounder about and provide light relief to the otherwise frightening events. This juxtaposition makes both the Doctor's scenes feel slightly tenser, as well as the Slitheen's scenes slightly funnier, making for, although an uneven in tone sequence, a relatively even in quality series of events.

There's also the social satire present within the story. The acting Prime Minister (actually a member of the Slitheen in disguise) tries to get the Earth's nuclear codes by claiming proof that there are "Massive weapons of destruction", with clear danger present for all humans living on Earth. It's a clear comment on the Iraq War, where the war was brought about due to apparent proof of weapons of mass destruction, which may not have been fully correct. This story, then, looks at the trust that we place in our leaders, not knowing whether they have our best intentions in mind, and gives us the moral that we shouldn't rush recklessly into such an event like this.

It's telling, as well, that the only politician who Davies writes sympathetically is Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North), who is clearly just a backbencher that just wants the best for her constituents and has no delusions of leadership. This search for people who speak truthfully, and genuinely make what they find to be the best decision for the people, and not the best decision for them, is the heart of what democracy should be about, and seeing a character like Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North) is actually kind of life-affirming.

And all of that makes for a surprisingly underrated gem of a story that I would heartily recommend and say is clearly part of one of the best series of Doctor Who ever broadcast.