Doctor Who 2.3: School Reunion
Apr. 30th, 2006 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayFirst, a very undignified SQUEEE!!
Ahem.
I had been looking forward to this episode so much that I was half afraid it wouldn't match up with my hopes. So it's a relief to report that it surpassed my hopes and it's already a hot contender for favourite episode of the season - at only the third episode so far. Hopefully they've got a lot of good stuff stored up for the later episodes so that this is just a slight peak in an excellent series.
Of course, the third episode in last year's series was a herald of how fantastic later episodes would be, so I'm not totally crazy in those hopes :-)
The opening scene signalled that this was going to be a tremendously fun episode. Mr Finch (Anthony Steward Head makes a terrific bad guy) finding a young student outside his office and perking up when he realised that the girl had no family, "No one to miss you". You just know that the girl won't have a happy ending when he takes the lonely, "thin" young girl into his office and mentions that it's almost lunch...
And then, of course, a classroom door opens and those familiar sneaker-clad feet enter, panning up to find the Doctor (complete with glasses *g*) standing there and asking the kids, "Are you sitting comfortably?"
The episode started well by plunging straight into the action without long build-ups to get the Doctor and Rose into place. A brief mention that Mickey had spotted something odd and called them in tells us everything we need to know, allowing more time for the meat of the story.
Of course, the really important part for devoted Doctor Who fans was the reappearance of Sarah-Jane Smith and I can't have been the only fan just waiting for that moment. They didn't force us to wait too long, bringing her in about ten minutes in, and they made the meeting between the Doctor and Sarah-Jane quite lovely without overdoing things. One of the things that I loved was that Sarah-Jane didn't immediately recognise him, although the Doctor immediately recognised her and that was beautifully played by David Tennant. They waited until Sarah-Jane found the TARDIS during her midnight excursion into the school and the reactions were just great.
I did like that reunion scene, seeing Sarah-Jane not quite daring to believe yet while the Doctor is just so happy to see her again. And the touch of anger at the Doctor never coming back for her was just right. It also raised a broad smile when the distant scream was what finally convinced Sarah-Jane that he really was there :-)
The overall theme of their relationship in this episode, the Doctor unable to understand why Sarah-Jane had never really managed to get her old life back and Sarah-Jane finally coming to realise why she couldn't stay with him forever, was beautifully played out and it had a lot of relevance to the Doctor's relationship with Rose. Of all the companions they could have brought back, I can see why they used Sarah-Jane - she was probably the one who got closest to the Doctor before Rose appeared and there are definite echoes of what could be Rose's fate one day.
That comment has to bring me to the conversation between Rose and the Doctor outside the cafe. It's obviously the first time that Rose has ever considered that things might one day end. Neither of them can quite manage to put into words how they feel about each other (whether you're a shipper or a firmly friendship only person, it's impossible to deny that they love each other deeply) and Rose has never had to think about the repercussions of that. She probably knows on some deep level that the Doctor is old, but the idea that he had lives before her has never impacted before - the folly of the young. The even more devastating fact that she's just a small part of his long life is completely new to her. He tells her that she'll die and he'll go on, which must have been a terrible thing to hear, but makes her really start to think about what is happening. One thing that did slightly surprise me was the Doctor saying that she could stay with him for the rest of her life - it's always been an unspoken fact that his companions are only there for a short time before returning to their lives but Rose is in some way different. I'm wondering where that will ultimately be taken.
After two episodes of fun and hi-jinks for them both, this was a more sobering look at what they're doing and how it could turn out. The scene at the end, where Rose isn't sure whether she should stay, reflects that and I liked that it was Sarah-Jane who told her to stay.
This, of course, brings me to the relationship between Sarah-Jane and Rose. It was something that I'd really been looking forward to seeing and I loved the way it was written. It's the first time we've really seen Rose being jealous and she's really quite catty about it :-) Mickey's comment that it's like the ex-wife and the new girlfriend meeting was spot on and exactly how Billie Piper and Elizabeth Sladen played it - I adored every minute of it. They had so much fun with the quietly polite bitchiness, the kind of thing you do when you're trying to pretend to be friends with the comptetion in front of the guy you both feel belongs to you. Their row when the Doctor sends them off to find out about the computers, trying to one-up each other on the monsters they've encountered, was just brilliant. When they finally realise how silly they're being and start comparing notes on the Doctor's annoying habits, you know they're going to end up thick as thieves. Obviously this was the perfect moment to bring the Doctor into the scene, who sees them giggling together and gets that slightly worried expression that any bloke would get when the ex-wife and the new girlfriend start to make friends ;-)
Throughout this episode, David Tennant, Billie Piper and Elizabeth Sladen are doing an absolutely fantastic acting job and they really were what made this episode so fantastic.
As well as all this cool relationship stuff, there is also a fun plot involving aliens using the brains of the school children to crack the code that would allow them to control everything - 'be gods'. Anthony Stewart Head is cold, calculating, cruel and dastardly - wonderful bad guy stuff. I particularly enjoyed his encounters with the Doctor. There was wonderful chemistry between ASH and DT in those scenes. Offering the Doctor the power to bring back his people, playing on the Doctor's loneliness, added just the right touch and the expressions on DT's face made me believe that the Doctor was genuinely tempted for a moment. But only for a moment before he went into full Doctor mode and destroyed the Krillitanes :-)
I can't end this without a few comments on K-9. Now, I have always been able to understand why kids like a robotic dog and also why actors hate the dratted thing. I wasn't entirely sure how they'd manage to put K-9 into an episode written now because, honestly, that idea didn't date well. The strange thing is that they actually managed it rather well. I think the fact that there weren't many 'running down corridor' scenes involving K-9 helped :-) The Doctor's pleasure at being reunited with this old friend was beautifully played by DT and I even felt a genuine moment of sadness as K-9 sacrificed himself to save everyone. The touches of humour were well-handled, too, particularly between K-9 and Mickey in the car *g* So they actually did a good job of adding in K-9 without awkwardness and there was even a bit of a grin on my face when K-9 mark IV appeared at the end to go home with Sarah-Jane.
Before I forget, a few Mickey-ish thoughts: hmmmmmm. I like what the writers have done with this character, gradually allowing him to grow from the cowardly comic relief of the early episodes into a character who wants to see what's out there even if it's scary. It will be interesting to see how he fits into the stories over the next few weeks - what his role will be in the adventures and how his presence changes the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. I'm cautiously pleased and slightly worried, so I'll see how it goes.
Probably forgotten dozens of bits that I wanted to highlight, but I think I got the important bits :-) And a final squeee! for good luck.
Ahem.
I had been looking forward to this episode so much that I was half afraid it wouldn't match up with my hopes. So it's a relief to report that it surpassed my hopes and it's already a hot contender for favourite episode of the season - at only the third episode so far. Hopefully they've got a lot of good stuff stored up for the later episodes so that this is just a slight peak in an excellent series.
Of course, the third episode in last year's series was a herald of how fantastic later episodes would be, so I'm not totally crazy in those hopes :-)
The opening scene signalled that this was going to be a tremendously fun episode. Mr Finch (Anthony Steward Head makes a terrific bad guy) finding a young student outside his office and perking up when he realised that the girl had no family, "No one to miss you". You just know that the girl won't have a happy ending when he takes the lonely, "thin" young girl into his office and mentions that it's almost lunch...
And then, of course, a classroom door opens and those familiar sneaker-clad feet enter, panning up to find the Doctor (complete with glasses *g*) standing there and asking the kids, "Are you sitting comfortably?"
The episode started well by plunging straight into the action without long build-ups to get the Doctor and Rose into place. A brief mention that Mickey had spotted something odd and called them in tells us everything we need to know, allowing more time for the meat of the story.
Of course, the really important part for devoted Doctor Who fans was the reappearance of Sarah-Jane Smith and I can't have been the only fan just waiting for that moment. They didn't force us to wait too long, bringing her in about ten minutes in, and they made the meeting between the Doctor and Sarah-Jane quite lovely without overdoing things. One of the things that I loved was that Sarah-Jane didn't immediately recognise him, although the Doctor immediately recognised her and that was beautifully played by David Tennant. They waited until Sarah-Jane found the TARDIS during her midnight excursion into the school and the reactions were just great.
I did like that reunion scene, seeing Sarah-Jane not quite daring to believe yet while the Doctor is just so happy to see her again. And the touch of anger at the Doctor never coming back for her was just right. It also raised a broad smile when the distant scream was what finally convinced Sarah-Jane that he really was there :-)
The overall theme of their relationship in this episode, the Doctor unable to understand why Sarah-Jane had never really managed to get her old life back and Sarah-Jane finally coming to realise why she couldn't stay with him forever, was beautifully played out and it had a lot of relevance to the Doctor's relationship with Rose. Of all the companions they could have brought back, I can see why they used Sarah-Jane - she was probably the one who got closest to the Doctor before Rose appeared and there are definite echoes of what could be Rose's fate one day.
That comment has to bring me to the conversation between Rose and the Doctor outside the cafe. It's obviously the first time that Rose has ever considered that things might one day end. Neither of them can quite manage to put into words how they feel about each other (whether you're a shipper or a firmly friendship only person, it's impossible to deny that they love each other deeply) and Rose has never had to think about the repercussions of that. She probably knows on some deep level that the Doctor is old, but the idea that he had lives before her has never impacted before - the folly of the young. The even more devastating fact that she's just a small part of his long life is completely new to her. He tells her that she'll die and he'll go on, which must have been a terrible thing to hear, but makes her really start to think about what is happening. One thing that did slightly surprise me was the Doctor saying that she could stay with him for the rest of her life - it's always been an unspoken fact that his companions are only there for a short time before returning to their lives but Rose is in some way different. I'm wondering where that will ultimately be taken.
After two episodes of fun and hi-jinks for them both, this was a more sobering look at what they're doing and how it could turn out. The scene at the end, where Rose isn't sure whether she should stay, reflects that and I liked that it was Sarah-Jane who told her to stay.
This, of course, brings me to the relationship between Sarah-Jane and Rose. It was something that I'd really been looking forward to seeing and I loved the way it was written. It's the first time we've really seen Rose being jealous and she's really quite catty about it :-) Mickey's comment that it's like the ex-wife and the new girlfriend meeting was spot on and exactly how Billie Piper and Elizabeth Sladen played it - I adored every minute of it. They had so much fun with the quietly polite bitchiness, the kind of thing you do when you're trying to pretend to be friends with the comptetion in front of the guy you both feel belongs to you. Their row when the Doctor sends them off to find out about the computers, trying to one-up each other on the monsters they've encountered, was just brilliant. When they finally realise how silly they're being and start comparing notes on the Doctor's annoying habits, you know they're going to end up thick as thieves. Obviously this was the perfect moment to bring the Doctor into the scene, who sees them giggling together and gets that slightly worried expression that any bloke would get when the ex-wife and the new girlfriend start to make friends ;-)
Throughout this episode, David Tennant, Billie Piper and Elizabeth Sladen are doing an absolutely fantastic acting job and they really were what made this episode so fantastic.
As well as all this cool relationship stuff, there is also a fun plot involving aliens using the brains of the school children to crack the code that would allow them to control everything - 'be gods'. Anthony Stewart Head is cold, calculating, cruel and dastardly - wonderful bad guy stuff. I particularly enjoyed his encounters with the Doctor. There was wonderful chemistry between ASH and DT in those scenes. Offering the Doctor the power to bring back his people, playing on the Doctor's loneliness, added just the right touch and the expressions on DT's face made me believe that the Doctor was genuinely tempted for a moment. But only for a moment before he went into full Doctor mode and destroyed the Krillitanes :-)
I can't end this without a few comments on K-9. Now, I have always been able to understand why kids like a robotic dog and also why actors hate the dratted thing. I wasn't entirely sure how they'd manage to put K-9 into an episode written now because, honestly, that idea didn't date well. The strange thing is that they actually managed it rather well. I think the fact that there weren't many 'running down corridor' scenes involving K-9 helped :-) The Doctor's pleasure at being reunited with this old friend was beautifully played by DT and I even felt a genuine moment of sadness as K-9 sacrificed himself to save everyone. The touches of humour were well-handled, too, particularly between K-9 and Mickey in the car *g* So they actually did a good job of adding in K-9 without awkwardness and there was even a bit of a grin on my face when K-9 mark IV appeared at the end to go home with Sarah-Jane.
Before I forget, a few Mickey-ish thoughts: hmmmmmm. I like what the writers have done with this character, gradually allowing him to grow from the cowardly comic relief of the early episodes into a character who wants to see what's out there even if it's scary. It will be interesting to see how he fits into the stories over the next few weeks - what his role will be in the adventures and how his presence changes the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. I'm cautiously pleased and slightly worried, so I'll see how it goes.
Probably forgotten dozens of bits that I wanted to highlight, but I think I got the important bits :-) And a final squeee! for good luck.
