For a while now I’ve been telling people the first season of the 2005 Doctor Who is okay, and that they may want to start with the second one. I think that’s a mistake. I think you have to start with this one, and World War Three is a big part of why I’m saying it.

We found out a while back that Mrs. Know-It-All hadn’t seen the very first season of the 2005 reboot, so we’re going through and watching those together. We may or may not continue past this, but for now we’re enjoying walking through it with you. We’re doing these on Sundays on purpose, too. That’s when the new ones drop, the new David Tennant ones and Ncuti Gatwa’s seasons after that, so I wanted you to start building up to, oh yeah, that’s right, this is when we watch them.

Last week was Aliens of London. This week is the continuation, World War Three.

World War Three concludes the story that began in Aliens of London. With the threat of interplanetary war looming, the human race prepares for the end, little knowing that their enemies lie at the heart of the British government. As the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and their new friend Harriet Jones battle for their lives in 10 Downing Street, the Slitheen family set their plans for the destruction of Earth into motion. With the world changing around him, the Doctor’s powerless, and it seems only Mickey Smith can save the world.

Yes. Oh, Mickey. What I just said is absolutely true.

We don’t go too deep into running through the episode. Hopefully you’ve watched it. If you haven’t, what are you reading this for?

Two Rooms and a Phone Line

I wouldn’t call it a bottle episode, but a lot happens on very specific closed sets. They spend a lot of time in Downing Street and they spend a lot of time at Jackie’s place.

The episode starts with Mickey saving Jackie. At the end of last episode there was a Slitheen in a police officer’s outfit, like a police chief’s outfit, unzipping. Meanwhile the Doctor escapes the room where all the other alien experts were electrocuted with that green charge. He makes it out and goes to the police, and by then the Slitheen have already put their costumes back on. Their human costumes. Their human meat suits.

Mrs. Know-It-All can’t say the name, by the way. She says she’ll say Slytherin, and she knows that’s not it. But what got her is that they’re huge. They’re these huge aliens that somehow fit inside a person.

That’s something they explained in the first part and we glazed right over it, so forgive me. The Slitheen have to use a compression belt to put themselves into smaller spaces, and that’s why they fart. It’s venting pressure. The Doctor even gets a line out of it: “Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I’m saving the world?”

I thought it was potty humor when I watched the first part. But that’s got to be uncomfortable for any race, alien or human, to be that bloated.

Mickey Finally Gets Something to Do

I talked about this back in the first or second episode. Mickey’s given these hacker skills that never, I think, come in handy again this season. He doesn’t ever use them for anything else. It’s one of those things where you go, all right, they’re trying to give him a reason to be here.

He’s at least not being very whiny this episode, and Mrs. Know-It-All was very impressed. Her read is that maybe that’s what the whole thing with Mickey was all along. He was probably very jealous. Here comes the Doctor, and then there’s Mickey. Mickey seems like a little boy, and the Doctor’s more of a man. I get it.

So the Doctor talks Mickey through hacking UNIT through their website, and then shows him how to launch a missile at Downing Street. The Doctor holes up in the Cabinet Room, which is where the people who work with the Prime Minister in his cabinet meet, and it turns out the room has steel doors, or steel walls, or something. Which makes sense. I’m pretty sure we have bunkers in the United States.

Vinegar, Pickled Eggs and a Very Doctor Who Name

There’s a really cool scene where the Doctor’s going, tell me more, what do we know, what do we know, narrowing it down until he finally finds out where the family Slitheen is from. Raxacoricofallapatorius.

The reason I enjoy saying that is because it’s a very Doctor Who name. It took the two of us a few tries to get all the way through it, and don’t ask me in five seconds if I can say it again.

Once he knows where they’re from, he can warn Mickey and Jackie: you need vinegar. That’s what it takes to kill them. Acetic acid, anything that has acetic acid in it, which is vinegar, basically.

It’s hilarious. I love what they throw at him. Pickled onions, pickled eggs. Everyone’s got a bottle of something. I’ve got a jar of pickles downstairs, and Baby Know-It-All loves pickles, so between those and the banana peppers we’d be safe. We’re good.

A Fire Sale on Planet Earth

Knowing where they’re from is also where the Doctor begins to piece everything together. They faked an alien attack in order to get the UN to release the nuclear codes to them. Apparently they live in a world where the UN controls the nuclear codes for countries. Sure. I’m down, whatever.

The idea is they launch on everybody, create World War Three, get the whole place irradiated, and then sell the chunks of irradiated Earth as fuel to other species. The Doctor even notices there’s a signal they’re sending out, and it’s a commercial. It’s literally a commercial. Can you imagine? Come to Earth, we’re going to blow it up, it’s a fire sale, everything must go.

Mrs. Know-It-All said it reminded her of Beetlejuice. Come on down. She’s absolutely correct.

Harriet Jones

At the very end of it, when they do stick it out, the Doctor points out that there’s no prime minister left. Harriet Jones is the only person left with any semblance of authority, and he tells her maybe she could be prime minister. Then, as he and Rose are walking away, it comes to him. Harriet Jones. He remembers now, and it makes sense. She becomes prime minister and ushers in Britain’s golden age.

So there’s hope on the horizon for who Harriet Jones is and who she ends up becoming.

Why You Start Here

I liked the way it ended, and so did she. I’m really glad we’re doing this, because I tell you what, I’d forgotten these were really good episodes. You get wrapped up in who came next, and that’s how I ended up telling people the first season’s okay, start with the second.

Mrs. Know-It-All agrees you have to start here. She’s learning so much more about the whole Doctor Who universe and what it lives in. She says she says “a lot of fun” a lot, but she’s having a really great time, and I think that’s important.

I am too, and that’s one of the reasons the campiness doesn’t affect me as much. Even though you’re dealing with the Slitheen in their garbage rubber suits, and the effect is a little elongated and takes its time, it’s fun. I’m enjoying the entire ride.

She told me it’s been fun watching it with me, because I’m rediscovering it, and so it feels brand new to me all over again. Sometimes I’ll go, oh my gosh, you have to watch this part, and then it’s, oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that part. Her words: it’s been fun watching you watch it. I appreciate that.

The Verdict

Doctor Who’s World War Three lands at an 8 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.

Mrs. Know-It-All got there first. Eight, straight up. I’m going with her again, an eight for me also. I thought this was solid, a solid landing to a good first part, and they rolled you right through the two-parter.

The next episode coming up is going to be pretty darn good too. It’s Dalek, and I think you know what that one has. It was amazing, and I can’t wait to talk about it next week.

Let me know what you think. I’d love your predictions for next week, and anything Mrs. Know-It-All should be looking out for as we keep going. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.