2nd Season Dr. Who - School Reunion - 5 star poll

"School Reunion"
10-13-06 Dr. Who

pv+usenet...

4.0. With the exception of the multi-doctor episodes, is this the first
time ever a past companion was brought back? I certainly can't think of any
others. *

5 stars (Stanford University, any year)

0-1 stars (University of Michigan, classes of 1996 through 2003)

Mark Nobles...

4 stars.

lraszewski...

I rather think that Sarah Jane's character helps -- rather than

markr1000...

Though given the continuity problems, maybe the less said about The Two
Doctors the better.

pv+usenet...

Did you see the part where I said "with the exception of the multi-doctor
episodes?" *

markr1000...

Apparently not.

This might be the first time the Doctor has run into a previous actual
companion in their natural home of 'contemporary' London.

Elvis Gump...

Didn't he pick Tegan back up on Earth technically? I can't remember how
many episodes she was gone if it was even one really.

It was certainly the first episode to prove absolutely to me that this
is not a rebooted Doctor but the one and only nearing the end of his
regenerations. There was a brief mention of UNIT that I had to have

John Schilling...

He's not nearing the end of his regenerations; tbat part of the old
continuity pretty clearly *has* been retconned away. The doctor gets
unlimited regenerations.

Anim8rFSK...

have they actually addressed that?

Either that, or he was just plain lying when he told Rose that she
could spend the rest of her life with him, but he couldn't spend the
rest of his life with her. The doctor, once he started adventuring,

Anim8rFSK...

Rose? Didn't he say that to Sarah Jane?

The doctor, once he started adventuring,

averaged a regeneration every three years or so. Companions, mostly

The Face of Po...

That's a regeneration every three years or so of televised time. He
still ages a lot over the course of the whole series:

seem to live a normal human lifespan. If he really is down to his
last few regenerations, she will almost certainly outlive him.

And while the Doctor has been known to be less than completely honest
at times, I don't see any basis for him to so passionately lie about
that. He's effectively immortal, and not sure how to handle that.

pointed out to me.

markr1000...

Then I must not have seen any of the relaunch publicity. I've just
watched the episodes. Terribly old-fashioned of me.

John Duncan Yoyo...

There's a point where he looks in a mirror and says something about
regenerations.

Elvis Gump...

The Prime Minister's office knew who he was too.

hinders the point here. Rose, we can look at and we can say "How sad
she would be once she's left the Doctor; her life was so empty before,
how could she ever go back to a dull boring 9-to-5 life?"

But that's not what we get with Sarah. Her life before the doctor
wasn't mundane, it wasn't dissatisfactory. She was an exciting
jetsetting person with a career and adventure and excitement.

People have repeatedly responded to this by saying "Then why should
she be so sad and broken?" But that's *the point*. The reason one
would be sad to leave the doctor isn';t that your pre-Doctor life was
unpleasant or anything to be sad about. The point is that even the
most exciting and wonderful and pleasant standard earthbound human
life is *still pretty lame compared to travelling with the Doctor*.

And while I am sad that Sarah's life could have taken such a turn, I
don't think it's any kind of character assassination to show her as a
woman who has had such an amazing, extraordinary experience that *even
her own exciting adventurous normal life* is no longer enough to
satisfy her.

doctor...

Keep up to date at rec.arts.drwho , uk.media.tv.sf.drwho,
rec.arts.drwho.moderated and http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/ .

I had never seen Sarah Jane before. I loved the way she got along with
Rose.

kilroybass...

netflix carries the tom baker era doctor who, which features her.

ark in space
pyramid of mars

Jack Bohn...

I'll have to rewatch some with the idea that it was an unrequited
romance. (It certainly wasn't as blatant as it has been with the
new Who.) She lasted through a regeneration, too.

Will the Krillitanes evolve into the Borg in 500 years or so?

Tim Bruening...

How was it that the Krillitanes became allergic to their own oil? Why
don't they genetically engineer themselves to be able to tolerate their own
oil so that they can benefit directly from its intelligence enhancing
properties?

Jack Bohn...

This was only 13 of them. Does the whole race share what each
small group gets, or are they a bunch of small sub-races? I
would guess they lose attributes as they gain others, such as
their original oil is now corrosive to them. Possibly a bunch of
different aliens 500 years in the future used to be Krillitanes
and lost the ability to evolve.

What if the race as a whole doesn't want a change from a small
bunch? As this is the second season's Slitheen episode, this
group seems a bit mad.

I never got it before, but the constant theme throughout Dr. Who is
"Everyone dies". Not just at the end of an adventure, but always.
That's what makes it an adult program, not a kids' show.

Jack Bohn...

Interesting thought.

Giles said that appearing human was a standard morphing illusion. If it
was an illusion, why all the bone-crunching noises when one of them put
on the human disguise?

Jack Bohn...

That "noise" was their incantation for casting the illusion! :>

Dano...

My favorite line...the Doctor to Mickey..."Keep the windows cracked open..."

Mickey..."He's made of metal..."

The Doctor..."Not for him, for you!"

Elvis Gump...

It's a great line. The pity is when they finally wrote some stuff for
the actor who played Mickey that was really good they've written him out
at the end of season two.

Buzz Beep...

Yup... I'm sure these here Merkins will love you for posting spoilers.

Elvis Gump...

The header is "SPOILERS AHOY".
Let the pubic wigs read at their own peril...

Tim Bruening...

I had thought that the spoilers referred specifically to "School Reunion", not
to later episodes! After all, the thread title says "School Reunion", not "End
of Season 2"!

Lizard...

Eh. We pays our money and we takes our chances. Besides, we get
"Galactica" first.

pbowles...

I really liked what they did with K-9 - they were careful to allude to
pretty much every aspect of the character and his past storylines -
flat batteries, needing repair, coming to life when he gets whacked on
the head (a wonderful touch that really showed attention to detail),
treating him both as a computer and as a dog (loved the tail-wagging
when the Doctor tells him "You good dog", and his last scene was
brilliant). K-9 is not, admittedly, the hardest character in the world
to script as he was never exactly fleshed-out, but nonetheless this is
very clearly the character we know and love from past stories to an
extent that Sarah and the Doctor aren't.

Michael Bowker...

3.0 Sarah Jane, K-9, and ASH as a evil villain.

mvp...

Was that a great "Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal
"The Cannibal" Lecter" impression or what!

Tim Bruening...

What happened at the University of Michigan during 1996-2003?

David B...

4.0, nice to see Sarah Jane and K-9 again. Mickey's still a doofus and
Rose is still hot.

erilar...

We agree 8-) Nostalgia gets me. 4.5

Ken from Chicago...

"The real Loch Ness monster!"

2nd Season Dr. Who - School Reunion - 5 star poll - SPOILERS AHOY !