I said it last week with “Tooth and Claw,” and I’ll say it again this week. I’m not a fan of the ‘spooky’ childish horror. I don’t care for the taking camp episodes seriously, and the supernatural can get right in the bin. That makes it kind of awkward given the next three episodes (over two weeks) are great, fun, and/or sci-fi filled, followed by Mark Gatiss’ “The Idiot’s Lantern.” Then of course we have meek sci-fi again for a double-bill, “Love & Monsters” which is ace! “Fear her” which is stinkiest of poos with a little poo hat, followed by a double-bill of sci-fi I’m always torn on.

While we’re on my rants about future episodes I’m not happy with: “The Runaway Bride” is just fine, that’s it, fine. What followed it, “Smith and Jones,” was one of the best episodes of television ever written and I will die on that hill! Anyway, we’re here to talk about Toby Whithouse, or rather something he’s written. He is another writer with a fantasy of horror in Who. Believe it or not, but following that rant about horror and supernatural I’m about to say something horrible: I liked the supernatural comedy-horror-drama Being Human that he created. Then again it does have Lenora Crichlow of series 3’s “Gridlock” and Russell Tovey of series 4’s Christmas special with Kylie, “Voyage of the Damned.”

Nonetheless, in 2006 there once was an episode of Doctor Who called “School Reunion,” and it starred this woman who would go on to be in a show called The Sarah Jane Adventures. Her name is Elisabeth Sladen, a wonderful and lovely human that some git left alone in Aberdeen in the 70s. Who needs him and his ever-changing face! Also, the episode has the world’s most sinister teacher since Miss Teresa died after that “accident”. The teacher also enjoys eating children. When I said the episode was horror, I meant nightmare fuel for stupid children so they wouldn’t go to school over something that looks timid by today’s standards.

Being serious for a moment instead of joking about being distracted by every little thing, “School Reunion” isn’t a great episode. It is sci-fi enough, it is Who enough, it is supernatural in some way, and it is just another filler episode. If you like it, you like it because it brought Sarah Jane back with K-9. Given Tennant is known for his classic-Who love, you can see the joy this episode brought him. That, and that alone is why it is a special episode. You can see the actors having fun with this moment of bringing back someone beloved within the franchise. It would be like somehow resurrecting Carrie Fisher one last time, it’s that level of nostalgic joy we’re talking.

To be honest, that is practically the episode as a whole. It is strange to have “superfoods” boosting intelligence, and it turns out to be nothing more than some chip. Not chips as Americans would know them, but deep-fried chips, proper chips known to Americans as “fries”. This was also in the time that the BBC and others would yell that obesity would kill everyone before the sun expanded. The entire plan by Mr. Finch is to use children as supercomputers powered on nothing but chips dipped in nuclear waste. Mr. Finch is played by Anthony Head, best known for his role as one half of the Gold Blend couple, an ad for instant coffee that burns easily. You might also know him as Rupert Giles in that TV show that if you were a young man watching, you were watching Sarah Michelle Gellar over a 40-year old man.

The episode plays with dark moments such as The Doctor running into “an old flame,” Rose being jealous, and Micky being the third wheel. Oh, and the teachers are vampire bat-like aliens that are eating the super-intelligent children. That’s the problem with the episode I think. The adventure side is overshadowed by Sarah Jane just being there. To this day, watching that moment  of their first reconnection, it brings the same special feel-good moment you get with the train scene in Spider-Man 2. It is happiness, but happiness on a special level that is quite hard to describe, at least without swearing, pumping your fist in the air, and shouting “Woo!” like you were a wrestler.

The same could be said of the moment she finds the TARDIS, though that is undercut by sniping with Rose moments later. The whole episode is undercut with this sinister tone as the bottom piece of bread, happy reunions in the middle, and on top Rose and Sarah Jane taking potshots at each other. Having K-9 back is nice, though he doesn’t bring as much of the good feeling that Sarah Jane does.

I said it, I don’t love the episode for itself. I don’t think it is adding anything new, it is by nature proving its own point within the episode. The aliens want to mold the universe by playing with the master code of the universe, a theoretical physics hypothesis that we as humans throw everything at in the attempt to solve the TOE (theory of everything). The Krillitane (aliens) look for the answer by using children, while The Doctor dislikes the idea of playing with the universe in favor of saving or killing everyone. It is his own problem with Sarah Jane, trying to save a companion from dying at his hands.

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Doctor Who "School Reunion"

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Sarah Jane Smith.
• David Tennant's reaction to Sarah Jane.

Cons

• The krillitane design is crap, even for the time.
• It feels like a filler episode
• It isn't very scary