Rate "School Reunion"

What did you think of the story that saw the return of both Sarah Jane Smith and K9?

Poll open for two weeks as usual.

Putting aside Sarah and K9 for a moment, there's some great stuff here. The idea of the Skasis Paradigm, the Krillitanes and Anthony Head having a lovely old time being an evil chap. Plenty of memorable dialogue too, such as the Doctor expressing what it's like to go on as his friends grow old and die. Add on top of that two of my favorite companions from days gone by? Well, it's a 5/5 for me, an episode I love to revisit.

Everything has its time. And everything ends. But this felt like a whole new beginning for Sarah Jane. And luckily, it was.

great stuff. i rewatched it after hearing lis had died and blubbed.

THE standout episode of Series 2. Brilliant ideas, superbly executed. 5/5.

I too gave it 5.

Gave it 5. I blubber every time I watch this.

Bit lacking in plot, but no matter, the rest makes up for it. 5/5.

4/5 - because of the offensively bad way of resolving the plot.

Krillitane oil. Eating it makes you smarter, and it's basically rendered monsters. Fine, but monsters that have mutated so far from their original state that they are explosively allergic to the oil. Which is them, which they are allergic to...

so we have a couple of problems.

First, where is the oil coming from?
Secondly, if they're eating all these kids they're naturally going to pork up a bit - at which point they ought to go bang. So isn't the best solution for the Doctor to lock them in the hall with a lot of kids, chuck in a bottle or two of reggae reggae sauce and wait for the explosions to die down?

Other than this, the episode is excellent stuff. And would have been completely redeemed by the inclusion of some kung-fu monks or a gun wielding Monarch.

I think Liz 2 probably dual wields sawn-off Purdeys, m'self.

I'm torn between the nostalgia angle on this story (which completely drew me in) and the obvious plot hole Dave explained above. So I'm going strictly on emotion with this one, which means depositing the plot hole somewhere I'll never actually look.

How great was it to see Sarah Jane? And K9- the first time I heard that John Leeson voice, I felt like I had a TARDIS, and had been taken back to my youth. How can you not love the series first reach-out to its past in the RTD years?

5/5 for me.

What I love about this story, especially compared with the likes of the one that immediately followed it, is that the emotion is natural and unforced. Indeed it comes as much as anything else from us, the viewer, rather than being delivered with a sledgehammer by the writer and director.

And the humour is simply top drawer!

4/5 from me - it's good fun, but suffers from the problems Dave outlined, and I'd also argue that the opening robs it of some tension. Once you know that Mr Finch eats children, there's not really any moral dilemma for the Doctor in the eyes of the audience as we all know he's not going to side with the Krillitanes and their plan.

*shuts mouth about moral dilemma and does not make any bad jokes about the doctor being a teacher and in favour of the devouring of children*

Seriously, though, this episode is beautifully crafted.

It's a wonderful gift to us old-timers, but it introduces youngsters to Sarah-Jane and invites them to explore classic Who. It allows children the pleasure of seeing the Doctor in a setting familiar to them, gives them the fun of seeing the nasty teachers being defeated/killed and a school being blown up and allows a schoolkid to be the hero of the day.

Wonderful.

Sorry to be the unhappy one but the return of SJ and K-9 does nothing for me, maybe as I didn't grow up watching her (She was/is one of my least faves) don't get the whole blubby "Hello-goodbye" scenes. The story itself is okay love the krillataines as a monster and an idea (You could have them back and look completely different) and Anthony Head is wonderful. So overall a 3/5.

4/5

I cried, I laughed, I didn't really notice the plot...