Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 5 - School Reunion

 5. School Reunion

A friend is a friend for life. Just don't leave them stranded in Aberdeen... 

"My Sarah Jane!" 

This is my favourite new series episode. After this the top four are classic series stories. After the success of the first series of the modern era, Russell T Davies announced the return of the legendary Sarah Jane Smith. Of all the companions to bring back, she seemed the obvious choice as she was the one everyone remembered and her time in the series coincided with what is regarded as the golden era in the show's history. Her chemistry with Tom Baker in particular was fondly remembered and not just by me. 

For the second series, it seemed that RTD was spreading the series' wings in terms of acknowledging the series' past. In Series One, you got the TARDIS, the Daleks, the Autons and a brief reference to UNIT and that was it. That first run was deliberately designed as a starting point for a whole new generation and those with a passing acquaintance with the series who'd need to be attracted to the show without the baggage of Time Lords, Gallifrey, Artron energy and all that paraphernalia. 

Sarah Jane's reintroduction was in an episode showing her journalistic talents, investigating a school. There are distinct Buffy vibes to this episode, not least because of the casting of Anthony Head as the villainous headmaster Mr Finch. But it's fair to say that the Krillitane plot takes second fiddle to the return of Sarah Jane, or at least it does in my book. It's certainly the more interesting of the two plots. And the look on David Tennant's face after the Doctor met Sarah Jane again, is art imitating real life. the Doctor overjoyed at seeing his friend again and David Tennant overjoyed at working with his childhood hero, Elisabeth Sladen! 

The success of Sarah Jane is down to Elisabeth Sladen, who said in interviews her first script simply said "Sarah Jane enters" and how she'd built a backstory of the character herself written on the back of the script. She cared for the character and would be unhappy if she felt she had to act out of character. Or in the case of the Five Doctors she felt the house didn't look right and wasn't what Sarah Jane would have chosen. 

Sarah here is older and wiser, cynical perhaps and hurting after her friend never came back to her. Some fans didn't approve of the idea that Sarah has always wondered about the Doctor and missed him, hinting at a romantic attachment. Personally, I don't agree and it gives a bit more substance to Sarah's original friendship with the Doctor who described her as his "best friend". The Tenth Doctor's excuse was that he couldn't bear to watch her grow old and he wouldn't grow older with her. 

It gives Elisabeth Sladen the best speech she'd ever had on the sgow: "You were my life. You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that?"

It also brings an extra dimension to the character of Rose. We see age has a jealous nature, something that was hinted at when she gave Lynda with a Y a side glance during the Parting of the Ways. "A man's worst nightmare - the missus and the ex!" as Mickey puts it. While Sarah Jane is with the Doctor in the cafe telling him of what happened after he dropped her off (never has the name Aberdeen been used to such great comic effect!) Rose is left in the background, guzzling chips, much to Mickey's amusement. Later we have the comedy argument of oneupmanship between Sarah Jane and Rose, as they compete over who had faced the bigger menace. "THE Loch Ness Monster!"

This episode seeds Rose's departure at the end of the series, we knew that Billie Piper was going to leave at the end of the series and this hinted that the parting was not going to be one of choice. 

Another parting that hurt was the sudden death of Elisabeth Sladen in April 2011. Elisabeth had become a household name again thanks to the success of spin-off series, the Sarah Jane Adventures which had been rather wonderful. I remember buying the DVD of Planet of the Spiders (with that iconic image of Sarah with the spider on her back!) after work and it was on the journey home a friend of mine had texted me with the news she had passed away.

I couldn't believe it and the dvd was left on the side as I scanned the news channels to find out sickeningly, that it was true. Like many fans of my generation, Sarah was the first female character I could remember. There had been no word of Lis being ill and it was such a shock. A day or so later I watched School Reunion, and bawled my eyes out. Her autobiography, published posthumously is highly recommended, especially as she was rather candid about her time in the series as well as surprised at having such a success late in her life with the return of Sarah Jane in her own series. 

It was her triumphant return in School Reunion that to led to that success. We were do lucky she came back - our Sarah Jane! 

Next Time: You can't always trust a man in a fez and that isn't my Mummy...