Smithies of the world unite! She’s back!

Of all the companions that have come and gone on Doctor Who Sarah Jane is one of the most popular and most missed, if there was ever going to be a companion that would have come back, and have good reason too, it would have been Sarah Jane, she is one of the few companions who’s departure was left open ended [if you don’t count K9 and company] and one who had such a strong relationship with the doctor that it would make a great storyline by bringing her back.

So what’s the story this time then, well there’s strangeness afoot at Deffry Vale high school where the children are too well behaved and the teachers are all acting very strange and behind all this is the new headmaster Hector Finch who’s about as creepy as they come.

So in comes the Doctor posing as a physics teacher and Rose as a dinner lady to investigate the strange goings on at the school, meanwhile who else is investigating the school? Yes it’s Sarah Jane Smith!

There’s a brilliant scene in this episode where Sarah unknowingly meets the doctor again, both Elisabeth Sladen and Dave Tennant are perfect in this scene, particularly Tennant, it’s not overplayed or downplayed and he has the right amount of emotion for the character who’s trying to contain his excitement over meeting his old friend but not blowing his cover, later when she does realise who he is it’s all about Sladen though; her acting is superb in that scene, the emotions come out steadily, it’s not a sudden burst and there’s just the right amount of tension too.

Major props have to go to Anthony Head as well for this one; before Doctor Who came back into our lives in 2005 my big thing was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so when I heard Anthony Stewart Head was going to be in an episode I thought that was ace.

I wasn’t disappointed, he was awesome in this, incredibly creepy and evil and his standoff between him and the Doctor in the pool room was awesome, one of the best bits of the entire series, it’s good to see Anthony Head play the bad guy, we got glimpses of his dark side occasionally in Buffy, but in this he completely blew me away.

I found it hard to like Rose in this episode, I felt that she showed a really ugly side of herself, ok sure it’s understandable, here’s this woman who’s honing in on the Doctor and clearly they must have had some relationship in the past, I think it’s understandable that she would be a bit annoyed.

Possibly one of the best scenes in this episode is Rose and Sarah having a bitch fight and then laughing about the weirdness of the doctor, I’ve often wondered what would happen if certain companions met each other and that was just ace! No offence to any Rose fans out there though but Sarah could kick Rose’s ass any day!

I can’t help but imagine all my friends over on live journal typing up Rose/Sarah slash-fiction as soon as this episode aired though.

Let’s not forget the minor characters either, of course it wasn’t just the return of Sarah in this episode, K9 came back too! Awwww, how can anyone not love the little robot doggie, he was the hero of this piece, sacrificing himself to save everyone else, poor little guy, I actually had tears in my eyes the first time I saw this episode.

The other characters who were great were the school kids, especially Kenny who in the end turns out to be a bit of a hero, I’m not sure I agree with the kids reaction to the school blowing up though, strangely enough this episode aired the day after newsround did a piece on arson attacks on schools, I don’t think it’s funny to blow up a school, and I don’t think those kids will be laughing when young Kenny gets carted off to juvenile hall for Arson will they!

Still, apart from that School Reunion was definitely the highlight of season 2, not just for being another story in the saga of Sarah Jane Smith, but for being an exciting, sad funny episode that brought elements of classic Doctor Who into the new series.

By Brandon Tempany/Leather Tuscadero