![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
locker_monsterThere was only one thing I wanted to watch yesterday. I kind of forgot about everything else (Sorry Stargate Universe). I’m sure everyone knows about who showed up on The Sarah Jane Adventures, but just in case…
It’s weird how SJA has been able to get the Doctor to cross over twice now, and Torchwood hasn’t. I guess SJA is a more natural extension of Doctor Who. They should make this an annual thing. They don’t necessarily need the Doctor to show up every season, but having an old character come back would be great fun. But the quick mentions were great, too (but more on that later).
This felt like a RTD script right off the bat and I normally don’t pay attention enough to notice. io9.com said death is very much a RTD theme, but I noticed his style in other places, too. The whole Graske/Groske thing, the sort of slap stick comedy (Clyde and the Doctor changing places in rapid succession, the shuffling backwards in the air duct), angst (!), the silly plot device, and not being able to open doors. Russell has a thing about walls and doors and people talking through them, doesn’t he? I haven’t watched any of the RTD era episodes in awhile, so maybe I just got used to Steven Moffat’s style. But Russell can come back and write for Doctor Who any day. His Eleven was great. There was never a moment where I thought, “Hmm, that could have been a Ten line.” I wonder if he asked Steven to take a look at his script.
And unlike last time, the Doctor actually got to interact with everyone. He had equal screen time with the kids and with Sarah and Jo. I was annoyed that Ten only had one meaty scene with Sarah last time. Here, they had a couple and a nice quiet moment to discuss the Doctor’s regeneration, too. Obviously Russell would make references to “The End of Time”, but it seemed only natural Sarah would ask the Doctor about his regeneration. “Did it hurt?” Has anyone asked that before? And Ten visited every Companion of his during his good-bye tour? Oh, Ten. :-) Just think of the fic that’s going to be written. I’m surprised the Doctor didn’t ask about Luke though, not even a quick, “So where’s Luke?” But why does the Doctor only show up for the bulk of part two? It wouldn’t kill them to have a plot where he gets to be around for both parts.
I think the thing that saved this episode, especially part one, from being like “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith” was having Jo around. We may not see the Doctor until the end of part one, but we do get Jo and we get to catch up with her after nearly 40 years away. Jo was never a favourite Companion of mine, so I wouldn’t have chosen her character to bring back, but it works here. As different as she is from Sarah, they’re also a lot alike. It’s that common bond that prevented them from being petty with each other, because really, Russell could have easily gone there. Sarah was basically Jo’s replacement, but there’s no resentment there. Jo left because she wanted to. It was nice to know she’s still married to Cliff, who she met all the way back in “The Green Death”. Seven kids and twelve grandkids, too! But at the same time, there is some angst from Jo. Angst about leaving to get married and now the Doctor’s travelling with a married couple. She never got to see the Doctor again until now. Meanwhile, Sarah’s run into him, what? Four times? Awkward. Okay, so Companions shouldn’t spend the rest of their lives pining for the Doctor, but the guy could drop in and say hi every now and then. At least the Doctor sort of acknowledges that while talking with Jo on the planet. I’ll never forget Three’s parting scene with Jo. He leaves behind the party and drives off into the night alone, all sad, because that is his life. He has to move forward; he can’t dwell in the past because that would leave him with even more heartache.
And we got to visit another planet! Okay, for only five minutes, but it was nice to switch things up for a little bit since SJA is so Earthbound, for necessary reasons. Plus you get a quick nostalgia trip from Sarah and Jo. Neither of them have visited another planet since they left the Doctor and they both take a moment to bask in the glory of it (Okay, yes, Sarah got to go to Gallifrey in “The Five Doctors”, but I don’t think she really remembers that story). It was all the little things like that that made the episode great. Lots of references and flashbacks. I’m amazed at how quickly people were able to recognize which episode all the clips came from. I only recognized one (“The Pyramids of Mars”). But kudos to Russell. He’s a fanboy and it clearly shines through.
Case in point: the last scene in part two. Thank you Russell for messing up my personal canon. :-D I loved it though, mentioning all the past Companions that made it back to Earth. Russell neatly mentions one set for each Doctor, except Six, though his two Companions never made it back home. There’s “Dorothy Something” with her charity, A Charitable Earth; someone kindly pointed out on the Doctor Who Wiki that the charity’s name spells out ACE. Tegan’s in Australia working with the aboriginals. We all know what Sarah’s been up to, and we finally hear about Harry. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Harry is the one only Sarah refers to in the past tense. So either Harry isn’t working on vaccines anymore or he’s passed away. Liz is working at UNIT’s moon base and the Brig’s in Peru (again). Ben and Polly are in India working at an orphanage; I like to assume they’re a couple. No word on Victoria, who ended up in the 1960s. And finally, the one that totally made my day, Ian and Barbara Chesterton. Yay, they got married! It’s canon! They’re professors in Cambridge. Oh, and they haven’t aged a day since the 60s. Wha? Oh man, I giggled. I never would have expected that. Fic writers, please write something about this. Ian and Barbara meeting Jack, yes? The immortal Companions.
Plus, confirmation that Amy and Rory are on their honeymoon. Seemed only natural that’s where they would be. And they’re literally on a honeymoon planet. Nice.
The only thing that bugged me was the whole reason for faking the Doctor’s death. They wanted the TARDIS key? If the Shansheeth could lure the Doctor into a trap and take away the TARDIS, they couldn’t steal the TARDIS key at the same time? They could have easily killed the Doctor for real and stolen everything they needed instead of using Sarah and Jo’s memories.
Randomly: hee, Smith and Jones! Total coincidence and not Russell being clever, but a nice little reference back to “Smith and Jones”. Rani and Clyde had their moments and they even had a tiny subplot with Santiago about family. I didn’t bother to read all the hubbub about the Doctor’s line saying he can regenerate 507 times. The Doctor jokes around and I don’t think even Russell would mess with the cardinal “12 regenerations only” rule. At least, not until we actually get to the last regeneration and then everyone will be clamouring to figure out how to keep the Doctor going past incarnation number 13. I do appreciate that they’re trying to keep Luke in the show even if he’s away in Oxford. I’m still not completely happy his character, and K-9, had to leave, but that’s life. At least they haven’t replaced him yet. And we got to see the Doctor’s new outfit. Really, they just changed his shirt and his trousers may be different, too. Funny how we see the outfit here first and not in the Christmas special.
I have to wonder if this episode has a lesser impact on people who aren’t overly familiar with Classic Who. Sarah mentioning the other Companions doesn’t have the same impact when you don’t know who these people are. Oh sure, you can read about them in a wiki, but it’s not the same as watching their episodes and experiencing their adventures. Same with all the stuff Jo mentions and all the little references like the Doctor’s line about air ducts. But I suppose that’s half the fun of a long running show like Doctor Who. You can have these call-backs and in-jokes that people can enjoy spotting.
And now we wait for Christmas.
It’s weird how SJA has been able to get the Doctor to cross over twice now, and Torchwood hasn’t. I guess SJA is a more natural extension of Doctor Who. They should make this an annual thing. They don’t necessarily need the Doctor to show up every season, but having an old character come back would be great fun. But the quick mentions were great, too (but more on that later).
This felt like a RTD script right off the bat and I normally don’t pay attention enough to notice. io9.com said death is very much a RTD theme, but I noticed his style in other places, too. The whole Graske/Groske thing, the sort of slap stick comedy (Clyde and the Doctor changing places in rapid succession, the shuffling backwards in the air duct), angst (!), the silly plot device, and not being able to open doors. Russell has a thing about walls and doors and people talking through them, doesn’t he? I haven’t watched any of the RTD era episodes in awhile, so maybe I just got used to Steven Moffat’s style. But Russell can come back and write for Doctor Who any day. His Eleven was great. There was never a moment where I thought, “Hmm, that could have been a Ten line.” I wonder if he asked Steven to take a look at his script.
And unlike last time, the Doctor actually got to interact with everyone. He had equal screen time with the kids and with Sarah and Jo. I was annoyed that Ten only had one meaty scene with Sarah last time. Here, they had a couple and a nice quiet moment to discuss the Doctor’s regeneration, too. Obviously Russell would make references to “The End of Time”, but it seemed only natural Sarah would ask the Doctor about his regeneration. “Did it hurt?” Has anyone asked that before? And Ten visited every Companion of his during his good-bye tour? Oh, Ten. :-) Just think of the fic that’s going to be written. I’m surprised the Doctor didn’t ask about Luke though, not even a quick, “So where’s Luke?” But why does the Doctor only show up for the bulk of part two? It wouldn’t kill them to have a plot where he gets to be around for both parts.
I think the thing that saved this episode, especially part one, from being like “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith” was having Jo around. We may not see the Doctor until the end of part one, but we do get Jo and we get to catch up with her after nearly 40 years away. Jo was never a favourite Companion of mine, so I wouldn’t have chosen her character to bring back, but it works here. As different as she is from Sarah, they’re also a lot alike. It’s that common bond that prevented them from being petty with each other, because really, Russell could have easily gone there. Sarah was basically Jo’s replacement, but there’s no resentment there. Jo left because she wanted to. It was nice to know she’s still married to Cliff, who she met all the way back in “The Green Death”. Seven kids and twelve grandkids, too! But at the same time, there is some angst from Jo. Angst about leaving to get married and now the Doctor’s travelling with a married couple. She never got to see the Doctor again until now. Meanwhile, Sarah’s run into him, what? Four times? Awkward. Okay, so Companions shouldn’t spend the rest of their lives pining for the Doctor, but the guy could drop in and say hi every now and then. At least the Doctor sort of acknowledges that while talking with Jo on the planet. I’ll never forget Three’s parting scene with Jo. He leaves behind the party and drives off into the night alone, all sad, because that is his life. He has to move forward; he can’t dwell in the past because that would leave him with even more heartache.
And we got to visit another planet! Okay, for only five minutes, but it was nice to switch things up for a little bit since SJA is so Earthbound, for necessary reasons. Plus you get a quick nostalgia trip from Sarah and Jo. Neither of them have visited another planet since they left the Doctor and they both take a moment to bask in the glory of it (Okay, yes, Sarah got to go to Gallifrey in “The Five Doctors”, but I don’t think she really remembers that story). It was all the little things like that that made the episode great. Lots of references and flashbacks. I’m amazed at how quickly people were able to recognize which episode all the clips came from. I only recognized one (“The Pyramids of Mars”). But kudos to Russell. He’s a fanboy and it clearly shines through.
Case in point: the last scene in part two. Thank you Russell for messing up my personal canon. :-D I loved it though, mentioning all the past Companions that made it back to Earth. Russell neatly mentions one set for each Doctor, except Six, though his two Companions never made it back home. There’s “Dorothy Something” with her charity, A Charitable Earth; someone kindly pointed out on the Doctor Who Wiki that the charity’s name spells out ACE. Tegan’s in Australia working with the aboriginals. We all know what Sarah’s been up to, and we finally hear about Harry. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Harry is the one only Sarah refers to in the past tense. So either Harry isn’t working on vaccines anymore or he’s passed away. Liz is working at UNIT’s moon base and the Brig’s in Peru (again). Ben and Polly are in India working at an orphanage; I like to assume they’re a couple. No word on Victoria, who ended up in the 1960s. And finally, the one that totally made my day, Ian and Barbara Chesterton. Yay, they got married! It’s canon! They’re professors in Cambridge. Oh, and they haven’t aged a day since the 60s. Wha? Oh man, I giggled. I never would have expected that. Fic writers, please write something about this. Ian and Barbara meeting Jack, yes? The immortal Companions.
Plus, confirmation that Amy and Rory are on their honeymoon. Seemed only natural that’s where they would be. And they’re literally on a honeymoon planet. Nice.
The only thing that bugged me was the whole reason for faking the Doctor’s death. They wanted the TARDIS key? If the Shansheeth could lure the Doctor into a trap and take away the TARDIS, they couldn’t steal the TARDIS key at the same time? They could have easily killed the Doctor for real and stolen everything they needed instead of using Sarah and Jo’s memories.
Randomly: hee, Smith and Jones! Total coincidence and not Russell being clever, but a nice little reference back to “Smith and Jones”. Rani and Clyde had their moments and they even had a tiny subplot with Santiago about family. I didn’t bother to read all the hubbub about the Doctor’s line saying he can regenerate 507 times. The Doctor jokes around and I don’t think even Russell would mess with the cardinal “12 regenerations only” rule. At least, not until we actually get to the last regeneration and then everyone will be clamouring to figure out how to keep the Doctor going past incarnation number 13. I do appreciate that they’re trying to keep Luke in the show even if he’s away in Oxford. I’m still not completely happy his character, and K-9, had to leave, but that’s life. At least they haven’t replaced him yet. And we got to see the Doctor’s new outfit. Really, they just changed his shirt and his trousers may be different, too. Funny how we see the outfit here first and not in the Christmas special.
I have to wonder if this episode has a lesser impact on people who aren’t overly familiar with Classic Who. Sarah mentioning the other Companions doesn’t have the same impact when you don’t know who these people are. Oh sure, you can read about them in a wiki, but it’s not the same as watching their episodes and experiencing their adventures. Same with all the stuff Jo mentions and all the little references like the Doctor’s line about air ducts. But I suppose that’s half the fun of a long running show like Doctor Who. You can have these call-backs and in-jokes that people can enjoy spotting.
And now we wait for Christmas.
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-10-28 12:25 am (UTC)Oh, I didn't think of this... yes, they ought to meet Jack! But Sarah did say it was a rumor they'd not aged. And given they are still actively teaching, and were older than Jo and Sarah, it seems likely.
I only wish the doctor had a line about them, so we could have heard him say "Chesterton" :D (or not) :D
The regen line was funny-- and it's even funnier to see folks online going on about that scene. Nothing was changed (though it *could* be). The doctor said he could be "anything" in response to "any color" - so it's not as if he could regenerate as a slug. He's always time lord in appearance (which is similar to human in appearance) but Time Lords have different races and colors- we've seen that (possibly more than we do-- Romana was momentarily blue when she was regenerating). And the "507" struck me as a flippant line that probably meant something else.. that is, it *could* indicate something changed the limit, but the "507" sounded like a flippant answer which could mean anything from "lots" to "i have no idea what will happen now that the time lords are gone" to "shut up, kid, I'm trying to crawl backwards thru a ventilation shaft."
no subject
Date: 2010-10-30 02:19 am (UTC)but the "507" sounded like a flippant answer which could mean anything from "lots" to "i have no idea what will happen now that the time lords are gone" to "shut up, kid, I'm trying to crawl backwards thru a ventilation shaft."
That sums it up perfectly. It could mean anything. But I like the "I'm crawling through a vent" suggestion best. :-)