SJA S3 brief musings -- and a continuity question

[snorkackcatcher]

Brief thoughts on the new series, and a question for the floor.



Prisoner of the Judoon

Good season opener -- having presumably spent lots of money on alien costumes for Doctor Who, I guess it makes sense to get some more use out of them! (See also: Slitheen, Sontarans.) Nice balance of action, danger, and comedy (the Judoon insisting they pay and display? -- priceless). Liz Sladen was clearly having a ball strutting around scenery-chewing as alien-controlled!Sarah (ah, nostalgia). Androvax and Veil lifeforms in general were worthwhile additions, and it marked the start of a definite theme this season of Clyde and Rani teaming up to excellent effect. Basically, simply a fine romp to start things off.

The Mad Woman in the Attic

And the scriptwriters get ... er, Rani gets the chance to tackle head-on the problem of replacing an original team member. You could sense a definite tension on the videoconference in Mark of the Berserker! Necessary, I think, and effective, because in the subsequent two episodes Rani seems a lot more confident in her role in the team. It was nice to see aliens who actually weren't bad guys, just doing their own thing -- about time, and a good thing for the series. Like everyone else says, it was a great moment when I realised Eve was referring to the Time War (anyone think her species might turn up in the DW specials?), it was good to finally see flashbacks with some Classic Who clips of Sarah Jane and the Doctor, and a huge bonus for me that Maria was described as tackling aliens in Washington. :D

Flashforwards are always an interesting way to set things up, even when you can expect the timeline they're in to be erased because the main characters suffered some horrible fate in it (and of course are prepared to ignore any timey-wimey ethical questions involved in doing so, simply in order to bring them back from whatever fate they suffered -- c.f. Trek's The Visitor from DS9 and Timeless from Voyager for example?) The whole episode had rather an unusual feel, with the main sequence with Eve becoming increasingly fluffier and contrasting with the presumed darker ending -- an intriguing way of setting things up. FWIW, I thought it mostly worked, although the time between Ship disappearing Sarah Jane & Co and Adam pressing the reset button was a bit too short for it to really hit home.

The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith

Great to see the Doctor appear in a spin-off, of course, and about time -- one of the impressive features of this season has been the way it links up with the wider Whoniverse. I thought they judged this one well -- the danger was always that this would become an extra episode of Doctor Who, so he needed to do something important for the plot but still have the main cast dominate the action, and that's how it worked out. Especially effective to have him not actually appear until the end of part 1 but have the Tardis sound as a reference to make it clear they weren't trying to pretend he wasn't about to turn up. I suspect that some of this stuff will make its way into DW proper eventually -- the Trickster already has, of course, although that plot theme's been used enough now that it could do with a break.

Ten himself was doing his 'I'm the only one who can fix this even if I do claim to need your help!' routine half the time, which is frankly a bit annoying (it does seem to be a way he behaves most obviously when there isn't a regular companion there -- e.g. Voyage of the Damned, Midnight, Planet of the Dead). Loved the reference to the Key to Time, of course (even if I actually kind of wish they hadn't gone with that whole arc in the first place, but it was thirty years ago so it's moot now). And it was also nice to see that they referenced the Sarah/Sarah Jane distinction. :)

Good treatment of Sarah Jane's (lack of) a love life which avoided showing her romantically pining for the Doctor -- because yes, as pasts go she would have one hell of a job trying to explain hers in a way that wouldn't have prospective boyfriends either running for the hills or calling a good psychiatrist! The scriptwriters seem to be learning. Unfortunately you could tell before the episode started that it wasn't going to work out with a new permanent character, mostly because casting someone like Nigel Havers pretty much screamed 'special guest star'. Excellent bond between Sarah Jane and Luke still -- parent/child relationships were a big theme of the last series, and this one is particularly effective given that it's actually not biological. Clyde has been terrific this series, and was particularly awesome here, taking charge at various points, getting very protective of his friends, and coming out with temporal theories; he's clearly been learning well young Padawan since his misgivings in Prisoner of the Judoon. (For the continuity question, see below.)

The Eternity Trap

I was rather expecting a filler episode here, and perhaps that was what it was, but it moved along nicely -- albeit with free use of haunted house ghost story clichés that were basically most of the plot. The Pharos Institute just can't catch a break, can they? Also, the BBC Country House is evidently the new BBC Quarry. (BTW, after Sarah Jane started exploring the library, was anyone familiar with Terror of the Zygons surprised by the way Rani accidentally found the secret passage? Didn't think so.) Donald Sumpter was especially creepy as Erasmus Darkening. Clyde was rather less confident here (although I suspect that this is simply due to different scriptwriters not comparing notes). Luke's absence was especially obvious, mind you, the more so for no real reference being made to it in-show (Apparently Thomas Knight was away doing his GCSEs, which would explain Luke's downplaying throughout much of the series so far and Clyde getting extra screentime, although this is a good thing as Daniel Anthony nails the role. I didn't realise until I looked it up that he's actually a very young-looking 22, which must help for this!)

Teh Shipping

Generally, I'm happy to wait and see if and how canon ships develop rather than going all-in for some OTP, and SJA is no exception. It's always fun to see what the scriptwriters might be putting in as hints though. There was a definite 'our little boy is growing up' moment with Luke impressed by Rani in her magenta bridemaid's dress -- with very good reason, of course, since Anjli Mohindra is seriously cute. (What? She's nineteen. :D You can keep your David Tennants.) You could read the end of The Mad Woman in the Attic as future Luke/Rani or just friendship, although it did seem to leave Luke/Maria looking unlikely (and also makes Maria returning for a regular spot sound less likely too). Pity, those two always seemed to work well together, but eh, fifteen-year-olds -- we're not talking Ron/Hermione here. Really, the end of that episode suggested more Rani/Love Interest Character She Hasn't Met Yet than anything else to me. Then again, Clyde and Rani were grabbing each other in The Eternity Trap and have had good chemistry this season, so that's very ficcable ... er, possible.

And finally ...

OK, that continuity question. In The Stolen Earth there's a reference to Maria and Alan being on holiday in Cornwall, suggesting that it's still the original Team Bannerman Road at that point in the Whoniverse timeline (as does the fact that in RL this was before season 2 of SJA anyway, so pre-The Last Sontaran). Part 2 of The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith says that the Doctor hasn't met Luke personally before, and apparently hasn't met Sarah since Journey's End. But when he introduces himself he says "... and you must be Rani!" So when did he learn about her? I suspect a production staff lapse of memory, but in-show I suppose we have to conclude that he keeps an eye out for Sarah Jane's future timeline -- but it obviously can't be too close a watch if he doesn't know if he'll meet her again. (Of course he could be lying, but then he very rarely seems to have any knowledge of his own future activities, even though he crosses his own timeline over and over again.)

Comments

[jesspallas.livejournal.com]

I have been enjoying this series so far. For one I've actually been remembering to tape it! ;p

Re the continuity question - didn't the Doctor make a comment about the things they've done but "oh, the things you're going to do..." or something like that? Probably he's heard Rani's name in relation to some future world saving event but as you say, without looking too closely for fear of "spoilers". That was my theory anyway since the thought crossed my mind too that he's also got no reason to have heard of Clyde either since he and Sarah Jane saw each other only briefly in DW and then she rushed off so hardly much time to catch up!

[snorkackcatcher]

Um ... he did say something like that but I can't remember exactly what, although I thought it referred to an ongoing thing. Pity it's not a written canon, it's always easier to look things up in that case rather than go back and forth through the video. :)

[cavgirl.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Sarah Jane's mobile has been fixed so that it's like the ones Martha and Rose have - can call across the universe and umpteen dimensions! Naturally in that case SJ would keep in touch and tell all about her new 'companions'...

I'm really hoping that this week and next we see more Luke. I understand why Tommy hasn't had much screen time this season, and you never have too much Clyde, but still...!

[hekateselene.livejournal.com]

Huh? Why hasnt he that much screen time? I just figured it was because he was in every episode before that one.

[cavgirl.livejournal.com]

'Cos he was doing his GCSEs. I think he was about halfway through for 'Wedding' and presumably that's why he wasn't in 'Eternity Trap' at all - although to give credit where it's due, he's remarkably blase about the whole thing!

[snorkackcatcher]

Yeah, it's the GCSEs thing -- and while they could write Maria out without too much disruption, Luke's too central. I suppose if all else failed they could send him off travelling with the Doctor for a bit and then when he gets back "Look how you've grown! ... you look like somebody completely different." :)

[snorkackcatcher]

It would make sense that it had been enhanced, yeah -- but maybe not, because she hasn't ever tried to call him up. (Same thing for Jack!) Donna had one too IIRC, so perhaps it's a 'Tardis traveller only' thing? (Although come to think of it the Brig had something similar in Four's day, but that seems to have gone by the wayside too.)