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 Mickey (re The Doctor/Sarah Jane): “I have
this little dance prepared”
Rose: “Do it quick, mate”.
If ever there was an episode of Doctor Who
that focused on old versus new, primitive versus modern, then it would be this
and boy, wasn’t there a lot riding on this particular instalment.
It wasn’t for the fact that favourite to
become a Doctor, Anthony Stewart Head had bagged himself a role as a main
baddie in this episode. No it was simply for the return of two former
assistants – Sarah Jane Smith and K9, and suffices to say, the pressure cooker
was certainly on.
Last seen back in “The Five Doctors”, both
Sarah Jane and K9 haven’t been forgotten over the thirty years that they’ve
been off-screen. After all, there was a spin off, K9 and Company and Elisabeth
Sladen contributing to the ongoing audio books but even the most easy to
satisfy viewer will attest that a return of an iconic character can’t be just
be for the sake of it but that there has to be an important enough reason for
them to reappear and luckily enough, there was one here for both former
assistants.
Our episode opened up with The Doctor, Rose
and Mickey (in what is probably his most pivotal appearance to date)
investigating a strict comprehensive school with super smart children and a
creepier than thou staff, most notably Headmaster Finch. Well, let’s be honest,
a school where the kids are more interested in trying to decipher an ancient
code instead of lunch is always going to be suspect but funnily enough, our
TARDIS team aren’t the only ones who are curious about this particular as The
Doctor meets an old ally in quite a reunion.
Okay first of all, The Doctor actually
meets Sarah Jane in the staff room during a break but she doesn’t seem to
recognise him, despite The Doctor throwing a rather vital clue about who he is
during their brief little encounter. Maybe she’s playing hard to get or is
genuinely unaware, you decide.
However she more than recognises him later
that night when she spots the TARDIS in the scary school and bumps into her old
pal, along with Rose and Mickey before the four of them face one of Finch’s bat
like cohorts and flee but it’s really from here that this episode gains huge
momentum.
Dealing with new versus old, the face off
between Rose and Sarah Jane is easily an episodic highlight and the pithy
antics between Billie Piper and Elisabeth Sladen are a joy to watch. Even as a
newcomer to the Who universe, it’s very easy to see Sarah Jane’s perspective every
bit as much as it’s easy to see Rose’s. From her standpoint, it feels like The
Doctor abandoned her and replaced with the younger and perky Rose. In fact
there’s something of a marriage analogy that is made between the hostilities
and introductions with The Doctor/Sarah Jane/Rose that even Mickey makes a
rather perceptive comment on it too.
Also having two strong minded women meet up
and having them find out that they’ve both shared an intimate relationship with
The Doctor and having seen so many things through him, it wasn’t an entire
shock that they would clash over it. I loved the scene with both of them trying
to compare the extent of their relationship with the Time Lord before they
busted into a fit of giggles and bonded over The Doctor’s more eccentric
manner.
As for Sarah Jane and The Doctor, well
thirty years is a long time to go without maintaining some kind of contact and
Sarah Jane was right on how she broached The Doctor about leaving her behind.
David Tennant played well amongst Sladen during several character turning
moments but I did find it strange that The Doctor didn’t articulate a real
reason for his decision not to get in touch. Sarah would’ve understood about
the Time War if he had told her.
But however much she wants to be with The
Doctor (and she wasn’t exactly shy about that during the first half, given her
initial hostility to Rose), she did acknowledge during an important moment that
all things must move on, even if it painful to feel.
Sarah Jane’s appearance threw Rose into a
sense of doubt about her relationship with The Doctor and now she’s got a new
dilemma to ponder over. Instead of the fear of being killed or seeing people
such as her Mum and Mickey suffering or dying, she now feels worried about
being abandoned and sent home by The Doctor. Is she right to? Yes, she
definitely is and even though The Doctor said/promised Rose that the same thing
wouldn’t happen to her with him that it did with Sarah Jane, realistically we
all know that this isn’t a promise he can ultimately keep.
Then there’s Mickey. Tired of feeling like
a spare part, thanks to his interactions with both Sarah Jane and K9, he
decides to become an assistant and surprisingly enough, The Doctor actually
says yes. Rose doesn’t look particularly delighted with that prospect though,
does she? Still though, time travelling with Mickey in tow should be an
interesting if unlikely a permanent experience.
However the real highlight for me in this
reunion special was of course, K9, the coolest robotic pooch in existence and
wasn’t he a delight in stopping Finch and the Krillitaines from getting The
Doctor to open up and be able to control time, space and matter? He valiantly
sacrificed himself to save our heroes and the kids and wiped out Finch and his
lackeys. So it was nice at the end when The Doctor gave Sarah Jane an updated
version of K9. Despite her willingness to move, you could tell that she
appreciated this particular parting gift as well as the deserved proper goodbye
she got from The Doctor this time around.
As villains go, the Krillitaines were
certainly an interesting bunch. Did they really want to unlock that code for
the purposes of good? I doubt it but ex-Buffy actor Anthony Stewart Head
certainly played well against David Tennant (who showed us his dark side again)
and they also seem likely to make an appearance again. After all they nearly
seduced The Doctor with the promise of keeping Sarah Jane young and saving the
Time Lords. It’s like there was something really pivotal about their presence
and mission or am I reading into things too much. Still though, their defeat at
the hands of a robotic dog is beyond sweet.
Also in “School Reunion”...
Was it me or was it an incredibly audacious
opening scene with Finch and that little girl at the start of the episode. Did
he kill that girl because she was from a children’s home?
Sarah Jane: “Nice to meet you”
The Doctor: “Very nice, more than nice”.
The name The Doctor used when he first met
Sarah Jane was John Smith. She made a funny crack at the end of adding a Smith
to the TARDIS team with Mickey.
Sarah Jane: “You look incredible”
The Doctor: “So do you”.
What happened to Miles in this episode? He
only appeared for like ten minutes and why didn’t that teacher kill Kenny when
he morphed into his natural form? Were the kids aware on a subconscious level
of what was really happening?
Sarah Jane (to The Doctor): “You didn’t
mention me once?”
Mickey: “Oh mate, the missus and the
ex-girlfriend. Welcome to every man’s worst nightmare”.
Finch: “Show me how clever you are, work it
out”
The Doctor: “If I don’t like it, I’ll stop
it”.
Finch described The Doctor’s race as
pompous and The Doctor came out with the “one warning” statement again. We
learned that Finch’s species take the best from various other species but have
become allergic to their own oil.
Sarah Jane: “The Loch Ness monster”
Rose: “Really?”
Monsters the girls have seen included the
Daleks, their emperor, gas mask people, dinosaurs, ghosts, mummies, Slitheen
and werewolves. Rose has to win with the Dalek emperor bit though.
The Doctor: “I can stop the war”
Sarah Jane: “No the universe has to move
forward, even through pain and loss”.
Finch (to K9): “Little dog with a nasty
bite. Not so powerful now are you?”
K9 was called “tin dog” by Rose and Mickey,
“shooty dog thing” by Finch and “old friend” by The Doctor. It was a smart move
not to modernise K9’s look.
Sarah Jane (re The Doctor): “More than a
match for him”
Rose: “You and me both”.
There was a nice reference to “The
Christmas Invasion” here with Sarah Jane and The Doctor discussing the
Sycorax’s space ship. How far in 2006/2007 are we time wise?
Another pivotal reminder of the old series,
“School Reunion” may be partly nostalgic but it was certainly a lively and
discussion worthy romp on the nature of The Doctor’s relationship with his
assistants and beyond their sell by date. Add superb guests like Sladen and
Anthony Stewart Head and you’ve got the best episode this season so far.
Rating: 
» Review by Shawn Lunn, Copyright 2007.
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