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dbskylerI want to continue on in my retrospective look back at my 10 favorite Tenth Doctor episodes, especially since I just realized I better hurry up if I'm going to get these all in before the Eleventh Doctor gets here! Although we have to wait two extra weeks for it to show up on this side of the pond . . . Anyway, here's my second entry (I'm going in broadcast order, FYI) and it's . . . School Reunion!
I love this episode. Absolutely love and adore it. It was the episode that got me into watching New Who, and it's also the episode that sparked my first-ever Doctor Who fanfic. But the first time I saw it, I hated it so much, I turned off the TV right in the middle of it.
Yes indeedy.
Okay, a little background first. I was a Doctor Who fan from waaaaaay back (otherwise known as the 70's), and when I heard they were finally bringing back the show I was very excited. Nothing like this had happened since the TV Movie (which I still had -- still do have -- on taped-off-the-TV videotape). I sat down and watched "Rose" -- and didn't like it. Oh, the disappointment. However, I wanted to give the new show a chance, so I watched "End of the World" -- but I didn't really like that, either. "Unquiet Dead" -- not so much. "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" -- I absolutely hated the Slitheen. (Still do, by the way.) And so I gave up on New Who, sadly concluding that it wasn't for me.
But then one day I was channel-surfing, and I happened to come across a broadcast of "School Reunion." It had been so long since I'd last seen the show, I didn't even realize that the Doctor had regenerated -- I assumed David Tennant was the actor I'd seen from the beginning. The episode had already started, and I don't remember at what point it was at, but it must have been somewhere towards the end of the cafe scene and what caught my attention right away was OMG IT'S SARAH JANE SMITH!!!!!!! What's she doing in this episode? My favorite companion from the olden days, and there she was, and right away my eyes were glued to the set. And then came that little speech from the Doctor about how he wouldn't leave Rose behind the way he left Sarah, and wow, I have rarely gotten so angry at a TV show in my life. I mean, I was furious! How dare they bring back Sarah just to say how much more special Rose is? I turned off the TV, fuming.
But, well, my curiosity can be even stronger than my anger, and I do love Sarah, and as this was my first chance to revisit the character in decades, I decided to find out when the episode was being aired again and watch it, this time from the beginning. How bad could it be? And at least this time I had some warning about the Sarah-bashing, so I would go into it prepared and braced for the worst. So I found a re-run, and watched it from the beginning, and lo and behold, there was no Sarah-bashing at all! In context, even that one line of the Doctor's wasn't actually all that bad. (It still bugs me, though.) And then there was the steady stream of all those wonderful, lovely moments: When the Doctor first sees Sarah in the staffroom. When she sees the TARDIS and knows it's him. When she confronts him about not coming back for her. (That gave me the closure denied me by "The Five Doctors," closure I had waited 30 years for, ever since I first saw "Hand of Fear." THIRTY. YEARS. Yes.) When we find out that Sarah was left in Aberdeen. (The long-awaited punchline to a 30-year-old "Hand of Fear" joke! Kisses to writer Toby Whithouse for that.) When Rose and Sarah have their confrontation, and Sarah references all those Third and Fourth Doctor episodes (ah, the memories) and then wins with the Loch Ness Monster. When the Doctor goes back for Sarah and forces her away from the soon-to-explode school. When they run, holding hands. (Awwwww.) When he comforts her over the loss of K-9. (Awwww x 2). When he asks her to travel with him again, and she turns him down, and the look on his face --! (My heart broke a little, there.) Then came what was to become my favorite, favorite part: when he walks her out of the TARDIS, and she insists that this time he say goodbye (another call-back to "Hand of Fear," thank you Toby) and he does, and then calls her "my Sarah Jane" and gives her that hug -- well, I was a big puddle on the floor. I couldn't believe that I had actually turned this off the first time.
When the episode ended, I thought about how much I had liked it, but figured that I probably still didn't like New Who that much and it was really just Sarah's presence that had made the episode for me. But then there was a trailer for the next episode -- "Girl in the Fireplace" -- and, well, it looked pretty awesome. So I decided to try watching it, too . . .
Next up in my 10 favorites list: Girl in the Fireplace.
[By the way, in case you're wondering, I've since figured out that part of why I didn't like "Rose," etc. is because I don't really like the Ninth Doctor that much. But I've grown to appreciate his episodes a lot more now that I've gotten used to the other New Who changes, which I think were also throwing me off at first.]
I love this episode. Absolutely love and adore it. It was the episode that got me into watching New Who, and it's also the episode that sparked my first-ever Doctor Who fanfic. But the first time I saw it, I hated it so much, I turned off the TV right in the middle of it.
Yes indeedy.
Okay, a little background first. I was a Doctor Who fan from waaaaaay back (otherwise known as the 70's), and when I heard they were finally bringing back the show I was very excited. Nothing like this had happened since the TV Movie (which I still had -- still do have -- on taped-off-the-TV videotape). I sat down and watched "Rose" -- and didn't like it. Oh, the disappointment. However, I wanted to give the new show a chance, so I watched "End of the World" -- but I didn't really like that, either. "Unquiet Dead" -- not so much. "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" -- I absolutely hated the Slitheen. (Still do, by the way.) And so I gave up on New Who, sadly concluding that it wasn't for me.
But then one day I was channel-surfing, and I happened to come across a broadcast of "School Reunion." It had been so long since I'd last seen the show, I didn't even realize that the Doctor had regenerated -- I assumed David Tennant was the actor I'd seen from the beginning. The episode had already started, and I don't remember at what point it was at, but it must have been somewhere towards the end of the cafe scene and what caught my attention right away was OMG IT'S SARAH JANE SMITH!!!!!!! What's she doing in this episode? My favorite companion from the olden days, and there she was, and right away my eyes were glued to the set. And then came that little speech from the Doctor about how he wouldn't leave Rose behind the way he left Sarah, and wow, I have rarely gotten so angry at a TV show in my life. I mean, I was furious! How dare they bring back Sarah just to say how much more special Rose is? I turned off the TV, fuming.
But, well, my curiosity can be even stronger than my anger, and I do love Sarah, and as this was my first chance to revisit the character in decades, I decided to find out when the episode was being aired again and watch it, this time from the beginning. How bad could it be? And at least this time I had some warning about the Sarah-bashing, so I would go into it prepared and braced for the worst. So I found a re-run, and watched it from the beginning, and lo and behold, there was no Sarah-bashing at all! In context, even that one line of the Doctor's wasn't actually all that bad. (It still bugs me, though.) And then there was the steady stream of all those wonderful, lovely moments: When the Doctor first sees Sarah in the staffroom. When she sees the TARDIS and knows it's him. When she confronts him about not coming back for her. (That gave me the closure denied me by "The Five Doctors," closure I had waited 30 years for, ever since I first saw "Hand of Fear." THIRTY. YEARS. Yes.) When we find out that Sarah was left in Aberdeen. (The long-awaited punchline to a 30-year-old "Hand of Fear" joke! Kisses to writer Toby Whithouse for that.) When Rose and Sarah have their confrontation, and Sarah references all those Third and Fourth Doctor episodes (ah, the memories) and then wins with the Loch Ness Monster. When the Doctor goes back for Sarah and forces her away from the soon-to-explode school. When they run, holding hands. (Awwwww.) When he comforts her over the loss of K-9. (Awwww x 2). When he asks her to travel with him again, and she turns him down, and the look on his face --! (My heart broke a little, there.) Then came what was to become my favorite, favorite part: when he walks her out of the TARDIS, and she insists that this time he say goodbye (another call-back to "Hand of Fear," thank you Toby) and he does, and then calls her "my Sarah Jane" and gives her that hug -- well, I was a big puddle on the floor. I couldn't believe that I had actually turned this off the first time.
When the episode ended, I thought about how much I had liked it, but figured that I probably still didn't like New Who that much and it was really just Sarah's presence that had made the episode for me. But then there was a trailer for the next episode -- "Girl in the Fireplace" -- and, well, it looked pretty awesome. So I decided to try watching it, too . . .
Next up in my 10 favorites list: Girl in the Fireplace.
[By the way, in case you're wondering, I've since figured out that part of why I didn't like "Rose," etc. is because I don't really like the Ninth Doctor that much. But I've grown to appreciate his episodes a lot more now that I've gotten used to the other New Who changes, which I think were also throwing me off at first.]