20th January, 2013

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 episode 6 "Death of the Doctor" Part 2

     The body hopping continues as the gang escapes from the Shansheeth after the cliffhanger resolution. Clyde and the Doctor change places several times during the chase, conveniently between cuts in the scenes after the first couple of swaps. The frantic chase ends with the Doctor taking Sarah Jane and Jo on his final planet swap, and leaving the kids to be "rescued" by the Groske. The conversation on the alien world between the Doctor and his former companions is just wonderful. The fondness for these women is very well expressed in the acting of Matt Smith. We learn that the 10th Doctor's regeneration involved him looking in on all of his former companions, not just the ones we saw on screen. Boy, and I thought it was long as presented!
     The Doctor perfects his transportation machine so he can return to Earth without sending Clyde back to the penalty box. He helps the gang escape from the Groske's pizza party, allowing for an amusing scene between the 11th Doctor and Clyde where the Doctor claims he has 507 regenerations left. Before any classic series fans get there noses out of whack, he seems to be joking, and RTD has admitted that in interviews.
     The former companions get captured and hooked up to some sort of memory extraction machine. We learn that the Shansheeth are trying to use the machine to build a copy of the key to the TARDIS, which they have captured. Why then were they trying to get the ladies to remember in the first episode when they weren't hooked up to the machine? The Shansheeth are trying to use the time machine to prevent any further deaths. They need to be shown "Miracle Day" to see how that is likely to turn out. Even if they don't get the message, watching "Miracle Day" will be punishment enough for their actions. We don't really learn much about the motivations of Colonel Karim, however. She's helping them in order to be able to travel space, since she feels that she has nothing else left for her on Earth. This implies that she's suffered some sort of tragedy recently, although none are specified.
     The Doctor encourages Jo and Sarah to confuse the memory machine, since as we all know from watching Star Trek, when you confuse a computer, it explodes. The women survive the explosion by invading each other's personal space and squeezing into the Doctor's coffin, conveniently located in the same room as the TARDIS and the memory extracting machine. Everyone jumps into the TARDIS to return to Bannerman road where the Doctor says his goodbyes to the gang. Jo puts her foot in her mouth by telling the Doctor to say hello to the Time Lords, whom she doesn't know are dead. The Doctor has enough class to not point this out, but there is a well acted pause and wistful look given by Matt Smith in the scene.
     Jo and her grandson grab a cab to the airport to meet the rest of the Jones' clan in Norway. After having whined this episode about living life as a greenpeace hobo, Santiago does the unexpected thing and not ask to stay here where he can have a real home and replace Luke in the cast. Sarah updates Jo about the whereabouts of other former companions since Jo has no access to Facebook, not having a home or a computer or other such modern convenience. All kidding aside, this scene does really touch all of my geek g-spots, and leaves me wanting to learn more about what's happened with these companions. On to the expanded universe!

     While the plot of this adventure is probably the weakest of the seasons' three so far, everyone knows that's really not why this is here. I find it interesting that a show that's aimed for children who weren't born when the classic series ended would do such a great job of mining nostalgia for that show. The references confirm some information provided by spin off novels, audios, etc. , but also contradicts some other info as well. Of course, this series is canon, so what's said here goes (except for the bit about Ian and Barbara not ageing. Sarah did say this was merely a rumor, after all). I only touched the surface in mentioning the classic series references in this recap, but each and every one were welcome and warmed this old-fogie's heart. The most enjoyable story of the season, perhaps of the entire series, even if the plot is laughable.