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| Sarah Jane and Jo (Katy Manning) meet the 11th Doctor. |
THE PLOT
UNIT Colonel Tia Karim (Laila Rouass) has bad news for Sarah Jane Smith and her young charges: The Doctor is dead. His body was recovered by the Shansheeth, a race devoted to recovering the bodies of heroes and returning them home for funerals. Given that the Doctor's home is long since gone, the Shansheeth have brought him to his "second home" - Earth. He will be given a hero's farewell at a ceremony at UNIT headquarters, and Sarah Jane, Clyde, and Rani are invited to attend.
Sarah Jane is suspicious, even after Mr. Smith informs her that the Shansheeth are exactly what they claim to be. At UNIT, she meets up with one other mourner: Jo Jones (Katy Manning), the Doctor's assistant immediately before her. The two hit it off very well, even moreso once Sarah Jane realizes that Jo also doubts the Doctor's "death." That's when Clyde ducks into a ventilation shaft and discovers that the Shansheeth have created this whole scenario, as a trap for Sarah Jane and Jo. Now only the Doctor can save them - but how can he, when the Shansheeth already have his TARDIS?
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: During his tenth incarnation's protracted death, he didn't just look in on the companions we saw. He apparently looked in on all of his companions. When Sarah Jane asked if his tenth persona's death "hurt" and if "he was all right in the end," he deflects the question. "It always hurts," he tells Sarah Jane - and leaves the second half of her question entirely unanswered, perhaps not wanting to admit just how much he had not wanted to let go. Though the wound of his people's death may not be as fresh as it was for his ninth or tenth incarnations, he is still momentarily hurt when Jo makes an oblivious remark about him getting "into trouble with the Time Lords."
Sarah Jane Smith: When informed of the Doctor's death, she goes into immediate and complete denial. Part of that is her belief that if the Doctor were to truly die, she would feel it. Her instincts are proved right, of course - but that doesn't mean her reaction would have been any different had his death been genuine. A brief but very smartly-written scene has Rani talking with her father about people's responses to death, with Rani's father telling her and Clyde that the only thing to really do for Sarah Jane is to give her time to absorb her loss.
Jo Jones: This story marks the return of Katy Manning's Jo - and she's a delight. Her entrance at the midpoint of Episode One jerks the serial to life and adds a whole new layer of enjoyment. I love her reaction to Matt Smith's Doctor, aghast that the Doctor has regenerated "into a baby!" She's hurt that the Doctor never came back for her, much as Sarah Jane was in School Reunion, but she has kept herself busy with a life constantly on the move, visiting basically every country on Earth as an environmental protester. Katy Manning is terrific, showing a Jo who's as scatterbrained, yet also as brave and charming, in her older years as she was in her youth. She and Elisabeth Sladen make a good team, Sladen's more grounded persona acting as an anchor for Manning's eccentricity.
Clyde/Rani: With Tommy Knight stepping back to focus on exams, Luke's presence is reduced to a prerecorded cameo. This leaves Clyde and Rani as Sarah Jane's companions. I think this is actually a plus. Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra are stronger performers than Knight (he says, ducking brickbats from Luke fans), and their characters have a very easy interaction by this point in the series. They get a much stronger role in Part One than in Part Two, with scenes such as Rani's pushing Sarah Jane to let go of her denial enough to at least listen and gather facts, or Clyde's trip into the ventilation shaft. Once the Doctor joins the main action in Part Two, they are moved firmly to the sidelines in favor of the Doctor/Sarah Jane/Jo dynamic.
THOUGHTS
The Sarah Jane Adventures has always been more in the style of classic Doctor Who than new Who. A CBBC budget has kept the stories largely smaller-scale, with many (including this one) occurring in an enclosed space that limits needed sets. Death of the Doctor carries on this tradition, with an alien planet that is clearly a quarry and a monster that wouldn't look at all out of place menacing Sylvester McCoy. Matt Smith or no, this - like its entire series - is more spiritually a part of classic Who than of the current model.
This is no bad thing, particularly in an episode which has been deliberately crafted as a nostalgia piece for fans of 1970's Who. We touch base with Jo, and get a wealth of clips courtesy of the Shansheeth "memory weave" allowing us to see bits of Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee and even - courtesy of The Three Doctors in Jo's memory - of Hartnell and Troughton. The tag scene tells us how travel with the Doctor impacted several past companions, from Ian and Barbara to Ben and Polly to Tegan. Refreshingly, we are told that all of them saw their lives made better by their travels.
The story's fairly thin, and probably a touch weaker than the previous season's The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (in which David Tennant made his guest shot). Still, it does its job in giving form and momentum to the character bits, which are stronger than those in Wedding. The plot is nonsense, but it's fun nonsense, with pace and energy. The character scenes, both dealing with Sarah Jane's denial in Part One and with the Doctor's reunion with Jo in Part Two, are quite splendid.
At a brisk 52 minutes total, all of it in the company of characters who are effortlessly likable, this is definitely a worthwhile addition, both to The Sarah Jane Adventures and to Doctor Who.
Rating: 7/10.
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