Talk:Aliens of London

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Contents 1 First contact 2 "Email to an acquaintance" re "you're so gay" 3 Electricity 4 Caption 5 Aliens of London/Christmas Invasion same week?

[edit] First contact

>(First contact is a science fiction term long before Star Trek. Clive's website says he's dead.)

I had never come across the term first contact in any SF books, TV or film before STTNG, but if you can quote me a reference I'd be glad to know. Clive's website isn't part of the television series, so we still don't know he's dead.User:DavidFarmbrough 11:23, 18Apr2005(BST)

Have a look at First contact (anthropology) which makes reference to the concept in SF predating Star Trek. It's an anthropological term, not even one that originated in science fiction - for example, there was a film called "First Conact" in 1984, 3 years before TNG Season 1 began, that talked about the cultural confrontation in Papua New Guinea. If you look on Google I think you'll find a page where there is a list of SF stories with first contact themes.

As for the website: it's debatable - Clive's website URL was visible when Rose first searched, and we saw his website as well. It's also been updated over the last couple of weeks as the series as progressed. We're not necessarily limited to television sources, as well. If it helps, we can mention that the info that Clive is dead is based on his website. --khaosworks 20:10, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

According to Science Fiction Citations, "first contact" has citations back to 1935. -- Avaragado 18:44, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Email to an acquaintance" re "you're so gay"

Both the alleged controversy over the dialogue, and the alleged email response, need sources IMHO. -- Avaragado 20:20, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Here's two; [1] [2]

[edit] Electricity

sends a deadly dose of electricity jolting through the experts' ID cards

Is it explicitly stated in the episode that the ID cards produce electricity? I don't recall such. --DudeGalea 16:28, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

It isn't, but it certainly looks like crackling electricity, not your generic sci-fi energy. It's a visual cue more than a verbal one. --khaosworks 16:38, July 17, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Caption

In all the other episodes of the 2005 season, the screenshot's caption is a quote from one of the characters. Yet, on this page it just says First contact or something more sinister?. I can't think of a quote that we should put there. Any ideas? Thelb⁴ 13:49, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Aliens of London/Christmas Invasion same week?

A recent edit said that the dates provided by the UNIT website would put this story and The Christmas Invasion in the same week. But The Christmas Invasion took place over... well, Christmas, surely? How does June=December? Or am I missing something obvious? —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 04:22, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

No, no, June means that Boom Town (six months later than AoL) would have to take place in December. And so would The Parting of the Ways, since that takes place between Boom Town and The Christmas Invasion. So it can't be right. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 04:34, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh, right. I misread the note — my bad.

But is it possible that Boom Town and The Parting of the Ways take place in or around December 2006, and The Christmas Invasion takes place in December 2007? Does anything in TCI indicate a year? —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 04:50, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Answering myself — IIRC, nothing in The Christmas Invasion as broadcast indicates a year, but the Guinevere One website suggested it was Christmas 2006. I think the websites are contradictory, but the series isn't necessarily. I'll try to reword the note accordingly. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 05:02, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the logical conclusion that the note leads to is that the websites are contradictory. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 05:14, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Wait, wait — I just did a bit of checking and I can't find the June 28 date on the UNIT website. Instead, I find this page, which seems to suggest a May 26 date for AoL/WW3. May 26, 2006 would place Boom Town in late November, so The Parting of the Ways could be early December and The Christmas Invasion on Christmas Eve/Day. No problem.

So the question is, did the site formerly have a June date which was changed so that the timeline wouldn't be messed up? —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 05:16, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

The dates on the site are a mess. The June 28 date comes from an exchange in the secure section under "Operation London". Although the header read 26/03/05 (cut and pasted from "Operation Mannequin", i.e. Rose), the IM log that follows is all dated 28/06/06 and contemporaneous with the crash in the Thames. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 05:21, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Ah, right. But if the UNIT site gives two dates (May or June 2006) for the same events, and only one of them is problematic, isn't the obvious answer to go with the one that isn't? —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 05:26, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, my legal and historical training tells me that the one with the larger amount of documentation that cannot be easily explained away is the one that's "correct", so my gut's pointing me towards the June 28 date suggested by the website as the one that was intended. But the point is, the website's wrong, or at best inconsistent with the series. AoL, as far as I'm concerned (and Lance agrees in AHistory), takes place in March 2006, 12 months from the established date of Rose's disappearance. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 05:29, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Fair enough. I still think I'll try to reword the note a little bit to indicate that the UNIT website isn't even consistent with itself, let alone the series. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 05:32, 7 April 2006 (UTC)