Episode 3

[Hobbit]

[macfadyan]

it was a lil robot doggy!!!!


heh, enjoyed that a lot...a few misty eyed moments, but I wonder what the not-we thought of it? The doc certainly seems to be setting himself up as a moral force - but I speak from experience when I say it'll all end in tears....Bang! And the Planets dead!, as one of the Barry Scotts might say....

oh, and loved the 'Ignore the shooty dog thing' line, lol - as you'll see.......

[Adam J Purcell]

I had no idea robot dogs turned you on so much!

Anyway... That was an excellent episode.

I though New Earth was good - I was going in expecting a jokey lightweight episode and it was that. Good fun, don't ask too many questions, just enjoy the laughs and Billie Piper's cleavage. Okay, it was very good.

I was, actually, a little disappointed with Tooth and Claw, however. If I hadn't gone in with fairly high expectations I would probably say it was better than New Earth. The 'Fear Factor' of 5 immediately associated it with The Empty Child for me (my favourite of last season, perhaps ever). Tooth and Claw was no match for it, sadly. Yes, I too thought the monks Xena-esque fighting looked, well, rubbish. The trailers made it look good but the final scene did look rather sloppy. If they were under my command they'd be out in the training ground until they got their act together!
Another episode of corridor running. Hadn't we had enough with the dashing about being chased by zombies last week? Again, there didn't feel like all that much threat. It lacked... bite (sorry!!) The effects were great but the suspense was lacking.

Perhaps Tooth and Claw had brought my expectations down a bit but I was very impressed with School Reunion. I have no idea what the Totally Doctor Who kids of today would have made of it - not much I suspect. It felt like a grown up Doctor Who. Yes, the plot was paper thin and the Head 'Master' had criminally little screen time but the whole school scenario was little more than backdrop to the real story - the Doctor and Rose running into Sarah Jane. Excellent, truly excellent stuff. Real drama that I can't imagine the original series ever managing to pull off - yes, it tried but I never felt the conviction and truth they managed to capture here. Poor Sarah Jane, left friendless and alone for most of the rest of her life, wondering what she had done to deserve her empty purgatory, left with only memories of the good times.
Powerful stuff, though completely going over the head of most 8 year olds, I suspect.
It was also interesting to see the Doctor's perspective. A distinct fear of emtional attachment, understandably. Not quite as convincing as Sarah Jane's feelings as, well, the Doctor is rarely the one doing the break up (at least overtly). It would be interesting to see his regret that his friends are forever leaving him, his fear that he won't watch them age and die but rather the more likely occurrence that they will meet a tragic end if they stay with him too long. He's a man steeped in death and his greatest fear must be that someday he won't beat the odds (a fear we saw a lot in the Eccleston months, such as WW3 and Parting of the Ways).
Anyway, enough rambling. Excellent episode, by no mean perfect but one that really put Sarah Jane and the audience through the wringer.

[lordsummerisle]

I wouldn't go as far as excellent, I preferred Tooth and Claw myself. It's true the plot was as paper thin as ...... ooooh, say a certain Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror episode where the teachers cannibalise the kids, but it had great humour and some superb interplay between the Doc and Sarah Jane. Christ, I even found myself beginning to like Mickey the Idiot

Entertaining stuff alright but I'm not going to be happy until the Cyberman two-parter begins the weekend after next. I'm preparing a space behind the sofa already.