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Original Transmission Date 29th Apr 2006
Cast
Crew
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The head master, Mr Finch, invites a pupil into his office, after she claims to have a headache. The door closes, there is a flap of wings, and the girl screams. The Doctor, under the alias "John Smith", is undercover as a science teacher in the school. After greeting the class, he asks a few simple questions about physics, which no-one can answer except a student called Milo. The Doctor asks increasingly difficult questions, which Milo also answers, including how to travel faster than the speed of light. Meanwhile, Rose is working undercover in the canteen. At lunch, she goes over and talks to the Doctor, complaining about the last two days. The Doctor mentions that it was Mickey who alerted them to the strange goings-on, and that he was right. Everyone at the school seems too well-behaved, and there is something odd about the taste of the chips. Rose eats a few, saying she likes them. The school menu has been designed by Mr Finch himself to improve concentration and performance.
Another teacher, Mr Wagner, approaches one of the students, Melissa, informing her that since Milo has failed him, she will advance to the top class. He also summons another pupil, Luke, but not Kenny, who is not allowed to eat chips. After observing all this quietly, the Doctor looks up and sees Finch gazing down on the canteen floor, watching everything. In the kitchen, Rose watches the other kitchen staff, all wearing gloves and face masks, bringing in a large barrel. Mrs Jackson, the head cook, warns them not to spill a drop. Mickey calls Rose on her mobile phone, telling her about the massive UFO activity he has discovered around the area. However, his investigations are being blocked by something called "Torchwood". Rose, in turn, tells him that the kitchen staff were all replaced three months ago. As they speak, the barrel slips, spilling something over one of the staff who starts to burn. The rest usher her into a side room. As Rose starts to phone for an ambulance, Mrs Jackson tells her not to worry — the woman is all right, even as Rose hears screams and sees lots of smoke appear. Rose glances down at the barrel, which is leaking a golden, oily substance. In the Maths room, Wagner tells the children at their computers to put their headphones on. The screens flicker on, and the monitors begin to display a rotating green cube with rapidly scrolling, alien-looking symbols. The children start to type on their keyboards with incredible speed. Finch escorts a journalist, Sarah Jane Smith, around the school. Sarah has been assigned to write a profile on him, and Finch explains to her one of his policy changes, which has been to make school dinners free, but compulsory. In the staff room, the Doctor is speaking to Mr Parsons, head of History, who tells him of the extraordinary knowledge of his students since Finch became Headmaster and that, since Finch's arrival, seven members of staff have caught the flu, and have been replaced by strange new teachers. The exception was that the teacher the Doctor replaced, who resigned when a winning lottery ticket was posted through her door at midnight.
The Doctor smiles when he sees Finch bring Sarah into the room. When he introduces himself as John Smith, Sarah remarks that she once knew a man who went by that name. When she finds that he is a new teacher, she starts asking him if he has noticed anything odd. The Doctor is delighted that she has not lost her inquisitive nature, although he does not reveal his identity to her. Kenny goes into the Maths room, and to his shock, he sees a bat-like creature beneath one of the desks, which transforms rapidly into Mr Wagner. The teacher tells Kenny to leave, and the boy retreats hastily. School ends for the day, and night falls. Sarah breaks into the school to investigate, as the Doctor, Rose and Mickey do the same. The Doctor sends Mickey to the Maths room and Rose to get a sample of the oil while he checks the headmaster's office. All three hear the sounds of flapping, and the occasional shriek, and see winged shadows flitting across walls. Sarah notices she is being watched, and enters a store room. To her shock she sees the TARDIS standing there. Backing out, she sees "John Smith", who calls her "Sarah Jane", and she realises it really is the Doctor. After a brief exchange, they hear a piercing scream and run towards the sound, meeting Rose along the way. The Doctor introduces the two women, and Rose is immediately jealous. The scream turns out to be Mickey, who opened a cupboard only to see vacuum-packed yellow rats tumble out. Sarah surmises that the rats are for dissection, but Rose retorts that rat dissection has not been done in schools for years, making a snide dig at Sarah's age. As they head for Finch's office, Mickey welcomes the Doctor to every man's worst nightmare — "the missus and the ex".
The Doctor suggests that the rats may be food for something, and when they enter Finch's office, they see thirteen large, bat-like creatures hanging from the ceiling, asleep. They back out hurriedly, but as they shut the door, one of the creatures wakes up and shrieks. They run outside, and the Doctor tells them they have to go back in so that he can use the TARDIS to analyse the oil sample Rose procured. Sarah tells the Doctor that she may have something that can help him, and takes him to her car, revealing an inactive and rusty K-9 Mark III, with one of his side panels missing. Sarah explains that one day the robot dog just stopped working, and that she could not repair the advanced technology inside it. Not knowing that they are being watched by Finch and another bat-creature, they go in Sarah's car to a nearby café, where the Doctor works on repairing K-9. Mickey teases Rose about her jealousy, while Sarah asks the Doctor why he never came back for her. The Doctor tries to brush it off, saying that she was getting on with her life. Sarah replies that he was her life. The hardest thing was adjusting back to mundane life after all she had seen. She asks him why he could not have come back, and the Doctor turns serious and does not answer. K-9 comes back to life, and recognises the Doctor as its master. He dips his finger in some of the oil and smears it on K-9's sensor. Analysing it, K-9 determines it is Krillitane oil. The creatures are Krillitanes, a composite species which take the best physical parts of other species they conquer. The Doctor did not recognise them because they looked like long-necked humans during his last encounter with them. He realises that the Krillitanes are doing something to the children. As they leave the café, Rose asks the Doctor if Sarah is her future; and whether she will be left behind like all his other companions. The Doctor tells her he did not go back for Sarah because it would have been too hard — while humans age and die, Time Lords are almost immortal. Rose can spend the rest of her life with him, but he cannot spend the rest of his life with her. Finch hears the phrase "Time Lord" and sends the other Krillitane towards them, but the Doctor raises his hand and strangely, the creature swoops away without harming anyone.
The next day they all return to the school. The Doctor sends Rose and Sarah to discover what is inside the computers, and tells Mickey to stay in the car with K-9 as surveillance — a task Mickey compares to being "sent to the back of the class with the safety scissors and glitter". The Doctor is going to have a word with Finch. The two confront each other at the swimming pool. Finch confirms that he is a Krillitane named Brother Lassar; the wings being a recent addition to their form, having been obtained from the invasion of Bessan ten generations ago. What the Doctor sees as human is just a morphic illusion. Surprised to see a Time Lord, Finch refers to them as a race of pompous, dusty senators, afraid of change and chaos, and now all but extinct. He can sense, however, that the Doctor is different, but still refuses to reveal his plans, challenging the Doctor to work it out. Finch says that they are not enemies, and asks if the Doctor would declare war on them. The Doctor quietly replies that he had much more mercy when he was younger, and this is their only warning. Finch promises, however, that the next time they meet, the Doctor will join with him. Working on the computers, Sarah and Rose begin to argue about who has had more experience travelling with the Doctor, yelling the names of the different monsters they have met. Both of them soon realise the argument is pointless and bond by comparing notes on the Doctor, bursting into laughter when he enters, much to his consternation. Finch tells the other Krillitanes that they are moving to the final phase. The school will be sealed, and they will become gods. Even though it is break time, the PA system calls all pupils to class and all staff to the staff room. The pupils all appear strangely happy that the break has ended early, except Kenny, who hesitates, eventually following the others inside. Meanwhile, the Krillitanes begin by devouring the rest of the staff.
In the Maths room, the Doctor finds the computers fixed with a deadlock seal, something which even the sonic screwdriver cannot breach. Finch seals all the school's exits while Wagner activates the computer programme which the children begin running again. Kenny finds himself unable to escape the school building, but attracts Mickey's attention. Mickey reactivates K-9, asking it if it has some way to get in the school, and K-9 reminds Mickey thrice that he is in a car, much to Mickey's annoyance. Finally, though, Mickey gets K-9's meaning, and tells Kenny to stand back. Meanwhile, Rose, Sarah and the Doctor watch the symbols flash on a large screen, and the Doctor works out what it is. The Krillitanes are trying to solve the Skasas Paradigm.
The Doctor explains that the Paradigm is the god-maker, the Universal Theory. Whoever solves it will be able to control the building blocks of the universe: all of time and space. The Krillitanes are boosting the children's intelligence with the oil, using them and their imaginations as a giant processing device. Finch appears at this point, asking the Doctor to join them, tempting the Doctor with the ability to change the universe, to save everyone, even restore the Time Lords. He also offers Sarah and Rose the chance to remain with the Doctor forever, never growing old, so he need never be lonely. For a moment the Doctor appears tempted, but Sarah tells him that pain and loss define them as much as happiness or love. Everything has its time, and everything ends, whether a world or a relationship. The Doctor picks up a chair and hurls it at the screen, smashing it. He tells Rose and Sarah to get out. Mickey crashes the car through the front doors of the school and he and Kenny run in towards the pupils. Finch shrieks, summoning the other Krillitanes, who transform into their bat-forms. Mickey and Kenny meet the others and run into the dinner hall, pursued by the bat creatures. Finch tells them he wants the Doctor alive, but to eat the others. As the Krillitanes attack, a laser bolt shoots one of them down. K-9 appears in the doorway, blaster at the ready. The Doctor tells K-9 to hold them off while they retreat.
However, K-9's battery is failing, and Finch tells the others to ignore "the shooty dog thing" and get the others. In the physics lab, the Doctor realises that the answer is to use the oil. The Krillitanes have changed their physiology so often that even their own oil is toxic to them now. The Krillitanes start bashing down the door. The Doctor tells Mickey to get the children unplugged and evacuated. Kenny triggers the fire alarm, the high pitched sound hurting the bat-like ears of the Krillitanes and stunning them long enough to get past to the kitchens. Mickey unplugs the computers and gets the children out of the school. In the kitchens, the Doctor discovers the barrels of oil are deadlock sealed. The Doctor gets the others out while he and K-9 stay behind. K-9 tells the Doctor that the barrels will not withstand a direct hit from its laser, but as its batteries are weak, it has to remain nearby. The Doctor protests, knowing that K-9 will be caught in the explosion, but the dog replies there is no alternative. Sadly, the Doctor bids K-9 good-bye, and calls it a good dog. The Doctor takes Sarah's hand and while she asks about K-9, drags her away from the school. Finch and his brethren enter the kitchen in human form, searching for the Doctor. Finch mocks K-9 when he sees it, but K-9 shoots a barrel, spilling the toxic oil over the aliens. Finch snarls that K-9 is a "bad dog"; it replies, "Affirmative." The explosion takes out a large chunk of the school. The pupils cheer the school's destruction, and hail Kenny as the hero who did it. Sarah weeps over K-9's sacrifice as the Doctor comforts her. Later, Sarah enters the TARDIS, which is standing in a park. Rose suggests that Sarah joins them, but Sarah declines, saying it is time she found a life of her own. Mickey asks if he could join them in the TARDIS. Sarah says they need a Smith aboard the TARDIS, and despite Rose mouthing "no", the Doctor agrees. Rose does not look pleased. Before she goes, Sarah tells Rose to stay with the Doctor, and that some things are worth getting a heart broken for. She adds that someday, if Rose needs to, she should find her. Outside, Sarah thanks the Doctor for her time with him. The Doctor asks if there had been anyone special, and Sarah tells him that there was this one man, who she travelled with for a while, but he was a tough act to follow. She asks him to say good-bye this time, and he does, hugging her tightly. Sarah watches the TARDIS disappear, and as it does so, K-9 is revealed. It informs Sarah that the Doctor rebuilt its systems. Sarah notes, smiling, that K-9 has been replaced by a brand-new model — something the Doctor tends to do. Happily, she orders K-9 home. They have work to do.
Analysis by Cuisle The Doctor has unresolved issues. That much was revealed in this
episode. When Sarah Jane Smith confronts him and asks him why he never
came back to her, and Rose asks if he will cast her aside the same
way, he almost admits that he has loved and lost. And we get an insight
into why he has always been so lonely and untouchable even before
his planet was destroyed. Because after all, we know he was, once,
a grandfather. And that means he must have been a father. Somebody, once, loved him. He loved them. But centuries
have passed since that time and he has wrapped himself up in his own
mystery. It began to unravel a little last season. This season a little
more. There are those who say that shouldn’t happen, who want
The Doctor to be a remote, mysterious figure, who think he should
be a father-figure, and uncle, a big brother, but never a lover. And
there are those who thought, even back in the days when Sarah Jane
cried every time Tom Baker’s Doctor was hurt that there was
more to him than that. Tonight’s episode implied that there
was more than just platonic love between Sarah and The Doctor, though
unrequited, of course. That will go against the grain for those fans
who stick to the ‘classic’ idea of the asexual Doctor,
but it seems as if THEY are the ones out of step, and perhaps they
always were.
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