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Post by matsee on Oct 13, 2009 18:48:00 GMT
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Post by matsee on Oct 16, 2009 6:47:11 GMT
3 x 1 - Prisoner of the Judoon Part 1: Gita and Haresh's roles in this episode was quite fun. Quite funny when Rani told Captain Tybo of being like Jack Bauer (from 24). Also funny when Sarah Jane told Clyde to leave the gun just as he picked it up. Clyde made a mangled allusion to ET come home. Quite a shocker when the Androvax came out of that girl. Lis Sladen was very good as the possessed Sarah Jane. What a good cliffhanger with a bomb in the house being detonated which is somewhat reminiscent of the explosion of the Hub in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
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Post by matsee on Oct 17, 2009 6:50:03 GMT
3 x 2 - Prisoner of the Judoon Part 2: I am going to have to retract what I said before in Part 1 about Lis being very good as the possessed Sarah Jane. She was not very good, she was deliciously good at it. So funny Captain Tybo telling Luke, Clyde and Rani to do what every sign says. As with Part 1, Gita and Haresh was very fun with what they had to do here including seeing the Judoon and the Androvax while being oblivious of Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Rani being nearby. A very good conclusion to a very enjoyable story.
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Post by fenris on Oct 18, 2009 14:56:05 GMT
As I commented previously in this thread, Season Two of The Sarah-Jane Adventures failed to fire on all cylinders, clearly because the departure of the actress who played Maria caught the writers by surprise, and pre-existing scripts has to be hastily re-written, with Maria's role simply transfered over to new addition Rani. As a result, Rani and her parents were never adequately introduced or fleshed out as characters, and this unbalanced the entire season.
Thankfully, the third season has gotten off to a cracking start. Of all the new alien species that have debuted since Doctor Who was revived, the wonderfully single-minded Judoon are by far my favourites, and unsurprisingly they fitted comfortably into Sarah-Jane's annex of the Who-verse. I loved Tybo's insistance in keeping to the speed limit, even when chasing a highly dangerous criminal, though his obeying the laboratory's 'Authorised Personnel Only' signs perhaps took the joke a little too far. And after their use of marker pens in their introductory New Who episode 'Smith & Jones', watching Tybo wake Clyde from his trance by simply spraying him in the face with water was a reminder that the Judoon are fond of straight-forward, low-tech solutions to complex problems. Androvax made a highly effective villain, and Liz Sladen was clearly having the time of her life playing the scenes in which he possessed Sarah-Jane, right down to her slinky body language. I was slightly disappointed that only four Judoon beamed down to assist Tybo (I was hoping to see at least a dozen stomping about in formation), but Tybo punishing Clyde, Luke and Rani by permanently grounding them on Earth made up for it.
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Post by matsee on Oct 23, 2009 6:57:34 GMT
3 x 3 - The Mad Woman In The Attic Part 1: 811th Whoniverse episode. As a result of the trailer at the end of the previous episode Prisoner of the Judoon Part 2, I already knew that the Mad Woman in the title referred to old Rani in the future. Rani in the present feels very neglected from the others especially when they got their latest correspondence from Maria and Anjli Mohindra as Rani plays this out very well. The music is very haunting including when Rani was talking with the red skin woman. Very eerie cliffhanger as Rani sees her future self.
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Post by matsee on Oct 24, 2009 2:34:49 GMT
3 x 4 - The Mad Woman In The Attic Part 2: 812th Whoniverse episode and the story as a whole is the 242nd Whoniverse story. A slight dip in quality from Part 1. Surprised to see the flashbacks to the Third and Fourth Doctors. This plus a cameo from the Tenth. Three Doctors in SJA, that's amazing. Noticed the sign"Just What The Doctor Ordered". A sly reference to the Doctor perhaps. Very funny Mr Smith's reaction to K9 coming back. Rani's future was caused by a wish that young Rani made by mistake. Hence the saying of being careful what you wish for. Adam turned out to be Eve's son, Adam being the son of Eve is not something I was expecting. Adam resetting Rani's future is similar to the Doctor erasing the events of the Master's year long rule in Last of the Time Lords. Just as we saw Rani's terrible future for much of this story it is only right that it ends with a much pleasant one.
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Post by matsee on Oct 30, 2009 1:37:34 GMT
3 x 5 - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith Part 1: 813th Whoniverse episode. Doctor Who had The Runaway Bride and Torchwood had Something Borrowed so SJA gets to have a wedding with this story. Plenty of fun with Luke, Clyde and Rani trying to find out what Sarah Jane has been up to lately as well as their first meeting with Peter. Enjoyed the little verbal fight between K9 and Mr Smith. The Brigadier gets a mention after all he would have been at the wedding if he was in the country. Didn't realise until looking at the end credits that the registar was played by Zienia Merton. Zienia Merton had played Ping-cho in the First Doctor serial Marco Polo in 1964. In 2006 David Tennant had pointed out that Pauline Collins (The Faceless Ones, Tooth and Claw) and Margaret John (Fury From The Deep, The Idiot's Lantern) had the longest gaps between their appearances in Doctor Who. In terms of all Doctor Who-related episodes Zienia Merton's gap is the longest with 45 years. As expected the Doctor appears but not until the end of the episode. Not a surprise the Trickster is here since he was in the two previous stories with Sarah's name in the story title and it was written by Gareth Roberts. A very good cliffhanger.
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Post by matsee on Oct 31, 2009 4:09:45 GMT
3 x 6 - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith Part 2: 814th Whoniverse episode and this story overall is the 843rd Whoniverse story. When meeting Rani I thought the Doctor would make a little in-joke to another Rani that he knows but he didn't. Oh well. Funny when Clyde says about the Doctor explaining things later and that later is now. Finally someone addresses that gag. The Doctor finally meets the Trickster and as a treat to long time Who fans we hear reference of the Key to Time. Amusing with the music when Clyde says the he is going to fight the Trickster. Very sad the sacrifice that was made in order to defeat the Trickster. The Doctor's appearance including his interaction with Luke, Clyde and Rani was a lot of fun. Very funny when the Doctor seems to be reacting angrily with Luke, Clyde and Rani being in the TARDIS befoe saying it is OK. It is a pity that Sarah forbade Luke, Clyde and Rani having a ride in the TARDIS as I think it would have been very fun for them. I think the right balance was made in the handling of the Doctor's appearance without him being the one to save the day at the end. After all it is Sarah's show not the Doctor's.
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Post by fenris on Oct 31, 2009 16:29:02 GMT
Have to confess that I've missed the last two weeks' worth of The Sarah-Jane Adventures. I've either completely forgotten that it's on (that'll be middle age creeping up on me) or I've unexpectedly had to work late, and didn't get home in time to watch it.
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Post by matsee on Nov 6, 2009 1:23:22 GMT
3 x 7 - The Eternity Trap Part 1: Quite a spooky story which begs the question why this wasn't shown last week close to Halloween. Good to see Callum Blue (Dead Like Me; Billie Piper's boyfriend in Secret Diary of a Call Girl) here in the Whoniverse but so far he has not much to do. Perhaps his role would be more substantial in Part 2. Funny when Clyde walked through the spider web and Rani calling him Spiderman. Quite a spooky cliffhanger.
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Post by matsee on Nov 8, 2009 4:50:29 GMT
3 x 8 - The Eternity Trap Part 2: 817th Whoniverse episode and the story overall if the 245th Whoniverse story. Very good conclusion. Funny allusion to The Sixth Sense. Pretty good showdown between Marshwood and Darkening. The story does not seem to make clear what has happened to all the trapped people after Darkening's defeat but other than that The Eternity Trap has been a very good spooky story.
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Post by matsee on Nov 13, 2009 2:50:02 GMT
3 x 9 - Mona Lisa's Revenge Part 1: 818th Whoniverse episode. With Mona Lisa being the focus of this story I had wondered whether this has any story link to City of Death. Other than the Mona Lisa, the only reference to the aforementioned Doctor Who story is the Chinese puzzle box as one was also owned by the Scarlianonis. Who knows maybe it is the same one. A little Star Trek reference here with Clyde saying "Spocky". Who would have thought Mona Lisa as a villain and with a gun here. Mona Lisa switching places with Phyllis is similar to what happened in the Warehouse 13 episode Duped which I saw recently. With Mr Smith scanning the picture formerly occupied by Mona Lisa and now that of Phyllis, surprised he did not detect "This Is A Fake" written on the canvas by the Doctor in City of Death. Real life BBC reporter Lizo Mzimba makes a cameo as himself. Mzimba had reported for the BBC the casting of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. Overall not a bad episode but down in quality from the previous episodes of the season.
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Post by matsee on Nov 14, 2009 2:56:01 GMT
3 x 10 - Mona Lisa's Revenge Part 2: 819th Whoniverse episode and the story overall is the 246th Whoniverse story. Much better than Part 1. This is a Sarah-lite episode with her being trapped in a painting for almost all of the episode. This is somewhat like her Doctor, the Fourth being taken out of the action when he got trapped in the Time Vortex in The Five Doctors. Thrilling when the highwayman chased Luke, Clyde and Rani at the beginning of the episode. Amusing when Clyde told the curator that Mona Lisa is nuts in her very presence. The Abomination was scary. Quite unusual on the way K9 makes an appearance here.
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Post by fenris on Nov 14, 2009 9:48:43 GMT
With Mona Lisa being the focus of this story I had wondered whether this has any story link to City of Death. Other than the Mona Lisa, the only reference to the aforementioned Doctor Who story is the Chinese puzzle box as one was also owned by the Scarlianonis. Who knows maybe it is the same one. With Mr Smith scanning the picture formerly occupied by Mona Lisa and now that of Phyllis, surprised he did not detect "This Is A Fake" written on the canvas by the Doctor in City of Death. I'm not surprised that the makers of New Who and it's spin-offs aren't referring back very often to the continuity of the original series. One of the reasons why Original Who's audience figures started to slide in the Eighties was because the show became too self-referential. Some stories - the Davidson era 'Arc of Infinity' and the Colin Baker era 'Attack of the Cybermen' being prime examples - were practically impossible to understand if you weren't extremely familiar with Who's history. Which is fine if you're a die-hard fan, but some casual, mainstream viewers found it too confusing and drifted away.
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Post by matsee on Nov 20, 2009 1:19:43 GMT
3 x 11 - The Gift Part 1: 821st Whoniverse episode. Written by Rupert Laight. Even though this is Rupert Laight's first time writing for SJA it is however not the first time that he has written a Sarah Jane story. Laight had written for Big Finish, the Sarah Jane Smith episode Ghost Town. He is the only person to have written for both Sarah Jane's Big Finish audio and BBC TV adventures. The Gift features the Blathereen from the same race as the Slitheen. Although this is their first appearance on-screen, the Blathereen made their first appearance in the Ninth Doctor/Rose novel The Monsters Inside. The Monsters Inside took place in the Justicia System and Justicia just happened to get a mention on-screen in the Margaret Slitheen episode Boom Town. The Gift is also the name of a FlashForward episode which was shown not long before this SJA story. The less said about the Blathereens' table manners the better. Very funny Mr Smith being happy with Clyde taking away K9. The Gift is an allusion to greeks bearing gift. The production team could not use Greeks Bearing Gift as the story's title as that was already used for an episode of Torchwood. Knew there was something dodgy about the gift. Nice try by Rani when she unsuccessfully tried to stay with a sick Luke in order to miss a test. Clyde sarcastically said about the world needing more salad. I guess he wasn't serious about becoming vegetarian in Enemy of the Bane. In fact he did make Shepherd's Pie here. Noticed in the credits that the Blathereen were voiced by Miriam Margolyes and Simon Callow. For Simon Callow this is his first role in the Whoniverse since playing Charles Dickens in The Unquiet Dead. I actually had low expectations about The Gift but it has turned out to be way better than I expected. Very good cliffhanger with spores heading again to Luke.
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