Alien landing confirmed (short story)
Alien landing confirmed was the fifth short story exclusively published on the Who is Doctor Who? website on 17 April 2005[source needed] by the BBC webteam to coincide with the broadcast of Aliens of London.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
The webmaster of Who is Doctor Who?, now going by Mx, writes on the website after what he feels like "ages since he last posted"; he is ecstatic that, as an alien craft crash landed in Central London, there is now irrefutable proof of aliens which the government cannot deny, and that everything that he and Clive said about the Ninth Doctor — that danger and death follow him — is the truth and they will finally be believed.
Furthermore, due to the efforts of one "squidbaby23", Mx is astounded at the picture she took of an alien creature, who was recovered from the craft, trying to evade capture. However, when Mx asked her how she obtained this picture, she refused to elaborate, leaving him to speculate at the true nature of the alien, if it had adapted to his world by using Earth genes or perhaps was something more sinister? Either way, Mx knew for certain that it wasn't a hoax.
Concluding with an editorial, Mx is relieved that he is now known to be innocent by everyone and that Rose can tell everyone about the Doctor, as despite Mx's best efforts he struggled to do so himself. Writing off, he welcomes Rose back and that he loves her.
Entries[[edit] | [edit source]]
The collection of entries is arranged in order, oldest first
# | Character | Summary |
---|---|---|
1 | Paul | Paul observes that when the ship was going down that it sounded like an old World War 2 fighter plane, suggesting that the aliens decided to dub corny sound fx over the top so it would be seen as a hoax. |
2 | Lennie Lemming (Australia) | Lennie saw it on TV and reckons it might be a hoax, ridiculing the notion of aliens that look like pigs. |
3 | Bill | Bill was on his first vacation in years when he saw the crash through his video camera. He tried to get closer but the British Army would not let him anywhere near and even took his camera. Bill wants to know who to contact to get it back and says that he was scared out of his mind on the flight home. |
4 | Emit Dorl | Emit was watching the alien crash on the television news as it seems to be all there is at the moment when he noticed what he thought to be the Doctor and Rose Tyler being escorted into 10 Downing Street. Emit asks if anyone else saw them in the footage so he knows he was not imagining it, lamenting that he was not taping it so he could send it in. |
5 | Chris Kay | Chris saw the ship fly over Kidderminster as an odd shadow passing over, causing the sky to go dark. He claims with panic that one of the fuel canisters dropped off and is in his house. |
6 | Connor | Connor was site seeing with his family when he heard a really loud humming. He did not have a clue what was happening when suddenly a huge ship flew straight over and crashed into Big Ben, recalling that the sound was immense and that he saw all the shards of Big Ben falling from the sky. He was really scared but told to evacuate the area. |
7 | Wolfgang Emilio | Wolfgang says that witnesses are so lucky and wishes he had been there to see the spaceship land in London even if it was flown by a pig, that it means people need to accept all life on Earth as capable of so much more. |
8 | JH | JH says that the Doctor is not involved as he has been in Glasgow for at least the last six months, claiming to see him regularly near the blue police box on Buchanan Street. |
9 | David Anton | An American who was visiting ondon at the time, David believes it is a government hoax as when the spaceship flew past his hotel window he distinctly heard the sound of an ordinary horn as would be on a large hauling truck, rhetorically asking if aliens would have installed such a horn and ridiculing claims of coincidence. |
10 | Mrs. Smith | Mrs. Smith was out visiting the London Eye for a trip organised by her son, a good boy named David. They were in the glass pod thing and had just reached the top of the wheel when she heard this almighty roaring sound and saw all this smoke, thinking it was the Blitz all over again. She saw this thing fall from the sky, taking the side right off Big Ben before crashing into the Thames. David went to pieces, which Mrs. Smith claims he gets from his father's side, but she just carried on with her knitting as at her age nothing phases her. |
11 | Andy H | Andy did not see the crash but was visiting his nan in Albion Hospital when all these army men turned up with guns and turfed everyone out as they apparently put the alien everywhere. Despite what was going on they kept saying there was nothing to see, which Andy disbelieves. |
12 | Bartholemew Anderson | Bartholemew observes that there are a lot more people walking around with bad flatulence problems. |
13 | D Cheddar | D Cheddar saw the crash on TV and believes it to be a clever hoax just like the moon landings, putting it down to CGI or models and claiming that the lighting and shadows were all wrong for the time of day. |
14 | Terrance Docks | Terrance insists that the aliens are fake, saying he has a friend that works for the government who says that it is all an elaborate insurance scam because the government is finding it difficult to meet the costs of maintaining Big Ben. He predicts that there will be another "alien attack" on the Millennium Dome sometime very soon, anything to distract from the election. |
15 | Gaz Man | Gaz Man was watching the BBC News 24 when the breaking news came on and a UFO crashed into Big Ben and his jaw dropped. He wonders if contact with aliens has finally been made. |
16 | Rabid Vegetarian | Rabid Vegetarian hopes that now people will all stop eating pork. |
17 | Ken L. | Ken L. asks if the so-called "spaceship" has paid the congestion charge. |
18 | Dale | Dale has been employed as Big Ben's time keeper for the past 40 years and had been working on the clock's timing mechanism, a stack of old pennies, just before the spacecraft hit the clock tower. He was about halfway down the stairs when he heard an enormous crash, finding that half of the clock room was gone when he re-entered it. Dale claims that he can be seen on the News 24 footage, standing in the ruins of the clock room look at what was his job. Annoyingly, his other job was a weekend cleaner at Henrik's. |
19 | Stuart Harris | Stuart thought aliens only invaded America, finding it nearly impossible to believe that the capital of England is the subject of an invasion. |
20 | blzeebub | blzeebub was up on the Millennium Eye with a perfect view. For a few minutes they were scared as they thought it was going to hit the Eye. They have seen some soldiers running about with U.N.I.T on their uniforms, and are unsure what it means. |
21 | Owen | Owen was out most of the day and only caught the news at about 7:05 on Sunday night. He has heard that it is Elvis coming back to Earth and asks if anyone can confirm it. |
22 | Steve G | Steve G recalls the Martian space-ship that appeared over Trafalgar Square back in 1997 and turned out to be a hoax. Noting word that the Doctor was involved with that as well, Steve suggests that he is some sort of professional fake like the guys who make crop circles. |
23 | James Thorpe-Woods | From right outside the Houses of Parliament, James saw the spaceship crash into Big Ben, finding it quite frightening. Everyone was running about screaming in panic and complete chaos. Soon afterwards the army and policemen arrived and would not let anyone near. There were lots of journalists and photographers pushing and trying to get in and this caused lots of riots. The riot police and army tried to control everything but it turned quite violent. The army seemed determined not to let anyone in and were shouting madly at journalists whilst the riot police seemed to go mad with rage, beginning to hit anyone going near the Houses of Parliament. The army had to fire shots in the air to get peoples' attention and scare them off if they got too near. James asks if the whole world is going crazy and is sure it has something to with the Doctor even though he did not see him. |
24 | King Rollo | King Rollo ridicules conspiracy nuts who believe in aliens who look like pigs and spaceships by the Thames. |
25 | Nigel | Nigel was in London on business when the UFO crashed into the Thames. He thought it was an aircraft at first but the noise was like nothing he had heard before. It took him 10 hours to get back to Manchester as there was chaos around the city. |
26 | Padrone | Padrone says a soldier told them it was just an experimental plane that crashed and the pilot was killed and the pilot has not been named yet as his family has yet to be told. Padrone concludes that the UFO story started because people panicked. |
27 | Kath | Though she lives in Scotland, Kath claims that the colossal ship passed over and she did not know which way it was heading. |
28 | Victor | Victor reports his horrifying experience of sitting in one of the pods on the London Eye when he saw the ship crash into Big Ben before flying straight into the Thames. |
29 | Mrs Cook | Mrs Cook saw it all on television and says it was just like a movie. She asks if anyone has the Blue Peter recipe for Space Ship Cake. |
30 | Danny | Danny was in Aberystwyth watching Football Focus when they stopped abruptly and went to the news along with all the other channels. He is sure it is very exciting but wants to know who Lawro thought would win between Fulham and Man City as he could use his prediction at the bookies. |
31 | R Smith | R Smith was on a boat trip across the Thames with their classmates at the time the UFO landed and heard a loud noise like a very low flying airplane. People on the boat were screaming and, as it was open top, struggling to get downstairs. The spaceship hit Big Ben just as they were going down the stairs and saw a big cloud of smoke and dust then no more. They believe strongly in aliens but asks for an explanation of how the Doctor is involved. |
32 | Rachel | Rachel asks if any of the aliens are single as she broke up with her boyfriend Robbie last week and it would be a good opportunity to get back at him, imagining his face if he saw her fly off with an alien. She says that going to the local cinema in a spaceship is a bit more impressive than being driven around in Robbie's dad's Mazda. Rachel ends by demanding Robbie give her her Cindy Crawford Workout DVD back if he is reading this. |
33 | Stephen | Stephen reflects that St Stephen's Tower has been destroyed by a flying pig after hundreds of years and two World Wars. |
34 | rewboss | rewboss saw the crash on the news and believes that the real conspiracy is the government who are quite happy to let everyone believe that what they are covering up is an alien landing. rewboss suggests that it was some top-secret prototype military plane that got out of control, recalling that the prototype Stealth Bomber was always being reported as a UFO. rewboss asks who is squidbaby23 and why will she not reveal where she got the pictures from. rewboss ends by ridiculing the notion of Pigs in Space, likening it to the Muppet Show. |
35 | Nigel Dawson | Nigel saw something crash into the Thames but is not convinced it is alien, suggesting that it is some experimental human craft that they do not want us to knew they have. He says to believe nothing, especially government statements. |
36 | Laura | Laura laments that she missed the crash, that it looked so cool. |
37 | Warren Cobb | Warren happened to be looking in the right direction through his telescope on the balcony when the ship came into view, coming in on a weird course going slowly enough for him to track it. Warren smells something fishy and it is not just the Thames. He wonders whether this is all just some sort of big publicity stunt, but concludes that the spaceship was definitely real enough. |
40 | OMGman | OMGman was glancing at the time and turned away when suddenly "BOOOOONG!!! SPPLOOOOOOOOSH!!" before turning back to see Big Ben obliterated and something in the water. |
41 | Rouge | Rouge says that one of their friends is a researcher for their local MP and she heard a couple of pretty high-up people discussing the planes for dealing with an alien invasion the day before the crash. Rouge reckons that there is more to this than meets the eye. |
42 | adz143 | adz143 reports that an ex-girlfriend phoned them when she saw it happened and she was so shocked that she threw her Lionel Blair slippers out the window. adz143 told her that they will be worth a fortune on eBay when he dies. |
43 | Kristen | Kristen was on the streets doing some shopping when the UFO came from the sky and hit Big Ben. She ran to follow it and heard it crash. |
44 | The unknown | The unknown was playing a game on their computer until they heard the noise which sounded like a helicopter; just as they looked out of the window they saw it and a few seconds later it was gone. |
45 | Oakster | Oakster was taking some photos on their visit to London when they saw it crash into Big Ben. Oakster was never a believer in extra-terrestrial life until then and is still quite stunned. |
46 | POV 99 | POV 99 is at their mate Louie's flat, looking right at Big Ben and sees there is still smoke emerging from it. They tried to get near but found it was quarantined. |
47 | Chris | Chris recalls the terrifying sight of the ship flying overhead from his home in Camberwell, claiming that a bit actually dropped off nearby but by the time he got to where it had landed someone else had nicked it. |
48 | Caleb Woodbridge | Caleb was visiting friends in London and they had gone to see some sites, at first thinking it was some aircraft out of control. His first reaction was one of fear that it might be a terrorist attack, especially when it hit Big Ben. But as it came down it became clear it was like nothing on Earth. Now Caleb can scarcely believe it has really happened, taking it as real proof of life on other worlds at least. He poses the questions of what happens now, who are the aliens, admitting that he still has not taken it in and it is incredible. Caleb recalls that it was a nightmare getting out of central London and that he came online as soon as he could. Though the news sites seem to be keeping it quiet, Caleb says the world has to hear about this. |
49 | Adrian | Adrian heard a loud noise outside that he thought was a low-flying aircraft. When he looked out he saw a strange vehicle heading in the direction of London. |
50 | laura e | laura e heard a loud noise which caused her to look up and see the UFO. She could not believe what she saw and she and sis were speechless. She ends by saying "PEACE ON EARTH". |
51 | glenn | Glenn was out sightseeing when the ship just chugged overhead, crashed into Big Ben and landed in the Thames. He says it was cool and that aliens rock. |
52 | David, from Canada | David heard about the crash while flipping through the channels. He thought it was just a promo for some science fiction show at first, but his UK friends would not shut up about it. He wonders if the Yanks are upset that it did not happen in their backyard. |
53 | Derek | Derek saw the crash into Big Ben and several people got injured by the debris but thankfully no one was hurt. David tried to help a bit before soldiers made everyone clear away. He kept his eye out for the Doctor but with no luck. Derek finds it freaky that the aliens look like pigs. |
54 | Matt | Matt was on his lunch break and at first thought that the ship was a helicopter before he looked upwards, reflecting that it just did not seem real. He notes that everyone was screaming. |
53 | Lolo | On their first visit to London, Lolo and their group were having their picture taken outside the Houses of Parliament when a massive shadow appeared and they looked up. Reflecting on the experience, Lolo still struggles to believe it. |
54 | ASH AND OLI (HE'S DEAD NOW OH WELL) | Ash was on the London Eye with his mate Oli when a strange craft landed in the water. Ash then ran to the sight and some guy with a gun ran over to the pair. When they refused to move Oli was shot in the head, Ash admitting that he did not care as Oli was annoying him. Ash claims that as he was escorted away he killed the guy with the gun by using his karate powers. Ash asks if this was a conspiracy or just a terorrist on a day of rest, adding "PS. I LOVE U." |
55 | carl | carl does not believe the aliens landed and reckons that it is just publicity for that new Tom Cruise film which must have cost a fortune in effects. |
56 | Markie, London | Markie was on the Millennium Wheel and saw all of the spaceship crash, reflecting that it just came out of nowhere with a roar. Everyone was screaming because they thought it was going to hit them but it just about missed, crashing into the side of Big Ben before plunging into the Thames. Markie does not know what is going to happen now, but did hear that the Doctor was back and may be involved. |
57 | Turlough | Turlough saw it fly over his bus. A few seconds later he heard the chime of Big Ben and everything came to a standstill, nothing that London traffic is bad enough as it is. |
58 | jim | jim was on the Tower Bridge in his car when he heard a sound like a giant American truck then looked behind and saw nothing. He then looked up into the sky and saw a giant spaceship flying across the sky and heading for the Thames before taking a sudden turn and smashed into Big Ben and hit the bell at exactly 10 o'clock as if the bell had actually rung for 10 o'clock before turning back and crash landing into the Thames. From then on, he could not go anywhere because of the traffic stop. |
59 | Ricky | Ricky claims that they and their friends were at Big Ben when the spaceship hit and their freind got killed by some debris, raging that they are going to kill the aliens. |
60 | Suspisios | Suspisios was walking past Big Ben when they saw the crash. |
61 | Michael | Michael reflects that the so-called UFO was enormous and is amazed that such a thing could actually fly, that it seemed bigger than the Houses of Parliament, which he saw a wing or outrigger clip as the behemoth descended towards the Thames. He suggests that this time there will be no cover-up. |
62 | Rachael | Rachael was on her way home from work when she suddenly heard people shouting and yelling before suddenly the sky went black as a huge spaceship sped past her car and eventually went straight into Big Ben. She can still hardly believe it now. |
63 | Walken | Walken was on London Bridge at the time when they saw it come smashing through, sending debris everywhere. They took pictures but their camera was forcibly confiscated by armed patrols. Reflecting on the incredible alien landing, Walken cannot wait to see where the Doctor comes into things, noting that he was on the news earlier going into Parliament with Rose. |
64 | John Barker | John Barker was coming out of Westminster Tube Station when the spaceship crashed into Big Ben. Minutes later, the army turned up and hurried everyone away from the scene, refusing to say us anything. John asks if anybody knows what is going on. |
65 | Rob | Rob reckons that it is all a hoax to sell the latest Spielberg film, believing that the pictures of the spacecraft looked fake and that the picture of the so-called alien looks like a pig rather than a little green man. He likens the event to the so-called Martians back in '97. |
66 | Jamie | Jamie was working in the House of Parliament writing up an important document when the roof started shaking. He thought it was an earthquake but before he knew it the military was raiding the place. He says that he knows as much as the reader knows right now and cannot believe this is happening. |
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
(In order of appearance, oldest first)
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more to be added
Referenced only[[edit] | [edit source]]
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to be added
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Tower Bridge is visible in the first image.
- Mx asks his readers for their stories of the crash.
- He also links the gallery of images of the Doctor created by Clive.
- There are pictures circulating of today's panic.
- tonka boy sent in a drawing of the alien spaceship.
- squidbaby23 also sent in a drawing of the alien creature.
- Mx refers to squidbaby23 as squiddy.
- Mx refers to the picture sent in by squidbaby23, seemingly accidentally, as "footage".
- Mx ponders to himself what the full story is behind the alien creature.
- Mx believes the pictures prove that the crash cannot be a hoax.
- This is a small disclaimer about the photographs on the site not necessarily being in the webmaster's copyright, although no infringement is intended.
- There is a small icon for Campaign for Real Aliens and the "website of the month" distinction from Conspiracy GOLD.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- As with the previous two stories, this page of the website had links to seemingly clips of the Dummy Massacre, likely recycled footage from Rose, but the Web Archive wasn't able to archive the individual pages that hosted the footage properly, given the way the BBC set up the website, so the footage is lost media.
- On some of the images, there is text specifying that they are copyright of "widw" followed by a date; some of these seem to have incorrectly have "2005" on them, a likely production error.
- "Everything" is misspelled as "eeverything".
- This story is presumably set just after Mickey ran off at the end of Aliens of London, as that was the only time after the space pig escaped the mortuary in Albion Hospital where Mickey could've been aware of it and had the time to write on his website, as preceding that he was still reconciling with Rose.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Mickey recalls his previous post, which was Rose sighting confirmed.
- Ironically, despite Mickey's insistence in this story that the crash wasn't a hoax, it would be in World War Three — the second part of the storyline set up by Aliens of London — where the Evening Standard ran the headline "Alien Hoax?" in the aftermath of the destruction of 10 Downing Street.
- This story has a link to the gallery of images from Have You Seen This Man?.
- Two of the user submitted entries mention the Martian Invasion of 1997 from the 1997 novel The Dying Days.
Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]
A photograph of the crash.
tonka boy's drawing of the alien craft.
squidbaby23's photograph of the alien creature.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ Aliens of London, the episode that this short story ties into, happens at the same time.
- ↑ While not revealed in this story, this character is later revealed to be Mickey Smith.
Sources[[edit] | [edit source]]
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