NuWho Rewatch: School Reunion
Dec. 23rd, 2014 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatI think there must be a fannish gene of some kind. Even with limited knowledge of who Sarah Jane Smith is, NLSS Child absolutely bought into the fannishness of this whole story.
As I've mentioned before, the cousins had a liking for the Sarah Jane Adventures so NLSS Child had seen some of them, though her memory and understanding were somewhat hazy. However she knew enough to know that Sarah Jane was a former companion. What was interesting was to see how much she enjoyed all the fannish moments - their first meeting, the reveal of the TARDIS, Mickey comparing himself to K9, she thought there were all great even though this was her first real introduction to Sarah Jane, and certainly the first time she had been at all invested in the character.
This is the first story, I think, to really emphasise the "lonely god" characterisation of the Tenth Doctor. When Anthony Head's schoolmaster tempts the Doctor with the Skasis Paradigm he explicitly draws attention to the fact that it will, effectively, make the Doctor a god and that it will allow him to end his loneliness. It's an interesting scene. One's assumption is that it is a trap, but it is played in a away that allows the possibility that the offer is genuine. Of course, if one really could solve the Skasis Paradigm with a few dozen kids and magic chips one does rather wonder why it hadn't been cracked long ago - but then that is Who Science Logic for you.
The return of Sarah Jane is a lot of fun but I'm not keen on the "wife and the ex" analogy that the story uses. Sarah, in particular, should have had plenty of time to adjust to the idea that she is not the only companion the Doctor has ever had so the mutual initial animosity seems overdone. I really dislike the reconciliation scene. It feels like, in the plot outline, it said "Sarah and Rose bond over the ridiculousness of travelling with the Doctor" but in the event the writer couldn't actually think of anything particular to drive that and the scene falls a bit flat, at least for me.
However, mostly I like School Reunion. It was the first time the show explicitly signposted that it was genuinely continuing the classic series and that pleased my fannish heart, and much of the script is constructed to keep fans happy. I don't entirely like some of the way the companions were portrayed, but that is a minor niggle for a fun story.
As I've mentioned before, the cousins had a liking for the Sarah Jane Adventures so NLSS Child had seen some of them, though her memory and understanding were somewhat hazy. However she knew enough to know that Sarah Jane was a former companion. What was interesting was to see how much she enjoyed all the fannish moments - their first meeting, the reveal of the TARDIS, Mickey comparing himself to K9, she thought there were all great even though this was her first real introduction to Sarah Jane, and certainly the first time she had been at all invested in the character.
This is the first story, I think, to really emphasise the "lonely god" characterisation of the Tenth Doctor. When Anthony Head's schoolmaster tempts the Doctor with the Skasis Paradigm he explicitly draws attention to the fact that it will, effectively, make the Doctor a god and that it will allow him to end his loneliness. It's an interesting scene. One's assumption is that it is a trap, but it is played in a away that allows the possibility that the offer is genuine. Of course, if one really could solve the Skasis Paradigm with a few dozen kids and magic chips one does rather wonder why it hadn't been cracked long ago - but then that is Who Science Logic for you.
The return of Sarah Jane is a lot of fun but I'm not keen on the "wife and the ex" analogy that the story uses. Sarah, in particular, should have had plenty of time to adjust to the idea that she is not the only companion the Doctor has ever had so the mutual initial animosity seems overdone. I really dislike the reconciliation scene. It feels like, in the plot outline, it said "Sarah and Rose bond over the ridiculousness of travelling with the Doctor" but in the event the writer couldn't actually think of anything particular to drive that and the scene falls a bit flat, at least for me.
However, mostly I like School Reunion. It was the first time the show explicitly signposted that it was genuinely continuing the classic series and that pleased my fannish heart, and much of the script is constructed to keep fans happy. I don't entirely like some of the way the companions were portrayed, but that is a minor niggle for a fun story.