History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS1E4AliensOfLondon

** Not to mention the trailer for this episode on "The Unquiet Dead", which spoils which characters are actually the Slitheen.

-->'''Jackie Tyler:''' The hours I've sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own! I thought you were dead! And where were you ''travelling''?! What the hell does that mean, travelling?! That's no sort of answer! ''[turns to the police officer in the room with them]'' You ask her! She won't tell me. That's all she says, "Travelling!"

* {{Deconstruction}}: The Doctor takes a young girl up into space, as usual. She leaves her loved ones behind without saying goodbye, as usual. The TARDIS doesn't listen to the Doctor and vworps to the wrong time, as usual... and suddenly, we get to see what happens when all three of those things combine. Rose's mum is deeply traumatised, Mickey was arrested for murder and the Doctor has to explain to the cops that his relationship with Rose is not sexual.

But then the Doctor spies a peculiar missing person bulletin on a telephone pole and turns aghast. He rips it down, and discovers the person in the photograph... is ''Rose.'' Meanwhile, Rose runs in to her mom's flat, thinking she hasn't been missed, only to watch Jackie shatter a coffee mug in shock at the return of her daughter and fall apart in her arms. Rose then spots an enormous pile of posters in the flat, all saying Rose has been gone since 2005...

Jackie goes all MamaBear on the Doctor, Mickey sulks in the background, and an enormous spaceship clips Big Ben and crashes into the Thames. The Doctor, hearing that the spaceship's pilot has been taken to Albion Hospital, sneaks off to investigate. But the only strange life form he encounters there is [[Characters/{{Torchwood}} Tosh]], working for Torchwood. [[note]]Also, covering for Owen, who was hung over that day.[[/note]]

The British government is in full crisis mode, here defined as "a bunch of people running around, not sure what to do". Harriet Jones (MP, Flydale North) displays a crackerjack sense of timing as she decides that the middle of an alien invasion is the perfect time to advance her pet project (hospital standards of excellence, in case you're wondering). Everyone fends her off, on the grounds that there's an ''alien invasion'' on, so she sneaks into the Secret Meeting Room and puts her project briefing folder inside the official alien invasion briefcase. Approaching footsteps warn her to hide in a convenient closet, so she's the first to discover that the acting heads of the British government have been taken over by aliens! Dun duh DUUUUN!

The Doctor goes back to pick up Rose, freaking out Jackie but acquiring the invaluable help of Mickey -- who's kept himself busy with research in the past year and knows that the Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace was officially a UNIT employee a few decades back]]. Jackie runs upstairs and reports an alien sighting of a ''specific'' alien, namely the Doctor, which makes the British government go even ''more'' apeshit. UNIT immediately sends their black helicopters after the Doctor and Rose, and pretty soon they're on their way to 10 Downing Street for a conference on aliens. The Doctor is able to join in as the UK's resident alien expert.

Rose isn't allowed in, so Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North) takes her aside and confides to her about the alien thing. The Doctor comes to roughly the same conclusion a few minutes later, when he realizes that the conference on aliens is an excuse to gather all the most knowledgeable about aliens in one room, and then kill them.

* AlienNonInterferenceClause: The Doctor decides that if this really is first contact, then it's something humans have to work out for themselves. Once he confirms it's a trap, it's back to business as usual.

* BavarianFireDrill: The Doctor manages to get out of being held at gunpoint by a room full of soldiers by shouting "[[AttackPatternAlpha Defense Plan Delta]]! Come on!" after a scream is heard. He didn't even flash his psychic paper!

-->'''Jackie Tyler:''' What, for a year? You forgot for a year?! And I am left sitting here! I just don't believe you! Why won't you tell me where you've ''been''?
-->'''The Doctor:''' Actually, it's my fault. I sort of er, employed Rose as my companion.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The Doctor takes a young girl up into space, as usual. She leaves her loved ones behind without saying goodbye, as usual. The TARDIS doesn't listen to the Doctor and vworps to the wrong time, as usual... and suddenly, we get to see what happens when all three of those things combine. Rose's mum is deeply traumatised, Mickey was arrested for murder, and the Doctor has to explain to the cops that his relationship with Rose is not sexual.

* [[InvisiblePresident Invisible Prime Minister]]: The episode was broadcast close to the General Election - when the Doctor asks Rose who the PM is, she points out that she missed a year. [[spoiler: When they find the PM's corpse, we never see his face in detail.]]

* StealthHiBye: The Doctor pulls one on Dr. Sato at Albion Hospital.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The "Next Time" trailer for the following episode began ''immediately'' after the cliffhanger, and showed that [[spoiler:all the characters (including minor ones who the viewers might have thought were going to die) would survive]]. Needless to say, many fans (and even casual viewers) were pissed at the first ''Doctor Who'' cliffhanger in sixteen years being utterly ruined, and future episodes of the series would have the "Next Time" trailer moved to being after the end credits, giving viewers enough time to turn the channel.

-->'''Jackie Tyler:''' ''[gets in the Doctor's face]'' Then what is it?! Because you, you ''waltz' in here all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? Forty? Forty five? What, did you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and ''pretend'' you're a doctor?
-->'''The Doctor:''' I am a Doctor!

* BoardToDeath: The aliens posing as Joseph Green, Margaret Blaine and Oliver Charles (later General Asquith) conveniently discuss their plan in the room where Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North) is hiding.

* MonumentalDamage: An invoked trope on the Slitheen's part, as we learn the following episode.

* PuppeteerParasite: The Slitheen.

* StealthHiBye: The Doctor pulls one on the coroner.
* [[StuffedInTheFridge Stuffed in the Cupboard]]: [[spoiler: The Prime Minister.]]

* ToiletHumour: The Slitheen.

* BoardToDeath: The aliens posing as Joseph Green, Margaret Blaine and Oliver Charles (later General Asquith) conveniently discuss their plan in the room where Harriet Jones is hiding.

Make that twelve ''months'' after she left. Oops. Jackie's life has been hell, [[{{Deconstruction}} Mickey has been under police investigation for Rose's murder and is severely traumatised]], the police question the Doctor on whether his relationship with Rose is sexual, and Rose now has to cope with everyone thinking she went mad and ran off with a random middle-aged northern bloke in a leather jacket.

Rose isn't allowed in, so Harriet Jones (MP, Flydale North) takes her aside and confides to her about the alien thing. The Doctor comes to roughly the same conclusion a few minutes later, when he realizes that the conference on aliens is an excuse to gather all the most knowledgeable about aliens in one room, and then kill them.

* ArcWords: A kid spray-paints "BAD WOLF" on the side of the TARDIS.

* BoardToDeath: The Slitheen conveniently discuss their plan in the room where Harriet Jones is hiding.

'''The Doctor:''' Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic\\

* TakeMeToYourLeader

One trip to the past, one trip to the future, and now the Doctor brings Rose home, safe and sound, twelve hours after she left.

The Doctor goes back to pick up Rose, freaking out Jackie but acquiring the invaluable help of Mickey -- who's kept himself busy with research in the past year and knows that the Doctor was officially a UNIT employee a few decades back. Jackie runs upstairs and reports an alien sighting of a ''specific'' alien, namely the Doctor, which makes the British government go even ''more'' apeshit. UNIT immediately sends their black helicopters after the Doctor and Rose, and pretty soon they're on their way to 10 Downing Street for a conference on aliens. The Doctor is able to join in as the UK's resident alien expert.

* {{Troll}}: Russell T. Davies deliberately inserted a line of dialogue for Rose where she said to the Doctor, "You're so gay!" to set off a heated discussion about homosexuality. For the record, Davies himself is also a homosexual.

* StuffedInTheFridge: [[spoiler: The Prime Minister.]]

* {{Troll}} Russell T. Davies inserted a line of dialogue for Rose where she said to the Doctor, "You're so gay!" Some fans believed it was a slur at homosexuals, and Davies, believe it or not, is also one of them. It turns out he was trying to provoke a discussion for his own amusement- and some bemusement.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: The Doctor insists on calling Mickey "Ricky". When first corrected, the Doctor jabs that how should Mickey know his own name? He's much too stupid for that.

* BavarianFireDrill: The Doctor manages to get out of being held at gunpoint by a room full of soldiers by shouting "Defense Plan Delta! Come on!" after a scream is heard. He didn't even flash his psychic paper!

** This was even given a ContinuityNod. [[spoiler:Too bad she's about to die when it actually comes up.]]

Make that twelve ''months'' after she left. Oops. Jackie's life has been hell, [[{{Deconstruction}} Mickey has been under police investigation for Rose's murder and is severely traumatised]], and Rose now has to cope with everyone thinking she went mad and ran off with a random middle-aged northern bloke in a leather jacket.

The Doctor goes back to pick up Rose, freaking out Jackie but acquiring the invaluable help of Mickey. Jackie runs upstairs and reports an alien sighting of a ''specific'' alien, namely the Doctor, which makes the British government go even ''more'' apeshit. They send the black helicopters after the Doctor and Rose, and pretty soon they're on their way to 10 Downing Street, for a conference on aliens. It turns out that the UNIT files on the Doctor are still quite positive, because he's able to join in as the UK's resident alien expert.

Jackie goes all MamaBear on the Doctor, Mickey sulks in the background, and an enormous spaceship clips Big Ben and crashes into the Thames. The Doctor, hearing that the spaceship's pilot has been taken to Albion Hospital, sneaks off to investigate. But the only strange life form he encounters there is [[Characters/{{Torchwood}} Tosh]] (who's only been with Torchwood for two weeks and is generally a bit confused). [[hottip:*: Also, covering for Owen, who was hung over that day.]]

* RetCon: Naoko Mori's character actually being Tosh. It fits rather perfectly, and ''{{Torchwood}}'' was able to effortlessly retcon her from "random girl who happened to appear in ''DoctorWho''" to "Tosh covering for Owen that day".

Make that twelve ''months'' after she left. Oopsie! Jackie goes all MamaBear on the Doctor, Mickey sulks in the background, and an enormous spaceship clips Big Ben and crashes into the Thames. The Doctor, hearing that the spaceship's pilot has been taken to Albion Hospital, sneaks off to investigate. But the only strange life form he encounters there is [[Characters/{{Torchwood}} Tosh]] (who's only been with Torchwood for two weeks and is generally a bit confused). [[hottip:*: Also, covering for Owen, who was hung over that day.]]

Make that twelve ''months'' after she left. Oopsie! Jackie goes all MamaBear on the Doctor, Mickey sulks in the background, and an enormous spaceship clips Big Ben and crashes into the Thames. The Doctor, hearing that the spaceship's pilot has been taken to Albion Hospital, sneaks off to investigate, but the only strange life form he encounters there is [[Characters/{{Torchwood}} Tosh]] (who's only been with Torchwood for two weeks and is generally a bit confused). [[hottip:*: Also, covering for Owen, who was hung over that day.]]