Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who (2005) | 1x05 "World War Three"

Faint praise, but this one's a lot better than the first part of the story. The "farting" aspect of the farting aliens is significantly downplayed in favour of things that are actually interesting.

The emotional core of the story is the Doctor and Rose each coming to terms with how dangerous life with the Doctor is, and the effects it can have. I'd forgotten that Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North comments on how flippant Rose is about death, even at this early stage (too early?) of the series.

There are plot contrivances all over the place - the UK's nuclear codes are controlled by the UN! You can hack the Royal Navy's submarines and launch missiles from your home PC! But I'm pretty forgiving of stuff like that, as long as the emotional core of the episode is solid.