School Reunion
by Toby Whithouse
One of the most annoying things about the new Doctor Who series (last year and this) is the incessant return to Rose’s life on Earth. Russell T. Davies has repeatedly said that he likes to explore the world of those left behind and that it grounds the show in emotional reality for the audience.
Personally, I think it’s a interesting theme, but one that only needed to be explored once. Similarly, and more interesting, is the theme of what happens to a companion when they leave the TARDIS. Over the years, how many have their been? Sometimes they’re left on alien worlds, fall in love, find a new purpose and calling in life, get feed up with the carnage and, yes, sometimes they die.
But how could any life follow the one they led with the Doctor?
And so we come to Miss Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative reporter who once thought she’d identified a mysterious character as a spy and entered into his mysterious Police Box only to find herself in the Middle Ages fighting a Sontaran warrior. Sarah Jane subsequently spent 3 more years traveling with the Doctor spanning the transition between Jon Pertwee’s Doctor to Tom Baker’s. She was the companion in what were arguably the three best years of the series’ history.
Unlike most of the other characters, Sarah Jane did not leave voluntarily. The Doctor received a call to Gallifrey and left her behind, never to return. (Unless you count that time they met up again in The Five Doctors)
In School Reunion, she’s back, looking a lot like the “Ghost of Rose Future” Sad, alone and living a life that has been a letdown since the Doctor left her. For us it’s great to see Sarah Jane again, but for Rose it’s a wake-up call. How long can you live with someone who, for all practical purposes, is immortal? What follows is a lot of soul searching, cat fights, regrets and finally some female bonding.
The estrogen is so high in this episode if it weren’t for the vampires, it would have to be shown on the Lifetime Network.
Vampires? Oh, that’s right, there was an adventure story going on behind the scenes, too.
Seems these alien vampires, who adopt the characteristics of the races they conquer, have taken possession of a school in London. Good old Micky Smith calls Rose and the Doctor back to Earth to investigate. Here they meet Sarah Jane, whose investigative reporter instincts have also led her to the school.
The aliens are using human children brains to unlock a secret formula to allow them to restructure the universe in any form they want. Well, let’s not worry too much about their motivations, they’re nasty and they eat people. I suppose that’s not good enough anymore, they have to threatening the whole fabric of the universe – by using English school children. Like I said, let’s not analyze the motivations too closely.
Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t enough, K9, the tin dog, was in the episode, too. (…and Micky, too, the human tin dog.)
Even though this episode wasn’t written by Russell T. Davies, it still had some real logic clinkers in it. For example:
- If K9 is irreparable, why does Sarah Jane carry him around in the back of the car? What possible use could he be?
- This god formula thing… I’m sorry, why were the aliens here again?
- Why did the writer feel the need to give the aliens the ability to absorb characteristics from other races? It has no bearing on the story whatsoever, yet the Doctor wastes a fair amount of dialogue explaining what they used to look like. Why do we care?
- Vacuum packed rats? Was that just to make Micky scream like a girl?
- Where’s Milo?
- Why did the oil blow up? I suppose if it was flammable that made sense, but it sprayed all over everybody and gave them time for dialog before suddenly igniting. Wouldn’t it have just caused a fire after having been released from the drum?
- Must we be beaten over the head with Torchwood every episode? Advanced publicity is one thing, but surely UNIT is well established in the Doctor Who universe as the alien investigation organization.
Despite all that, I still enjoyed the episode and Tennant’s Doctor goes from strength to strength. Sarah Jane was, in my opinion, the best companion the Doctor ever had and it was good to see her again, even if it was only to say goodbye.
Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith.
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