I am willing to wait. Since this is a two-part episode, I am willing to wait and see if this manipulative, muddled mess was just a very slow lead-up to a grand adventure.

After the wildly imaginative GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE, the bar was set high for the return of the DoctorВ’s number two nemesis. What we received was a rehashing of old and new clichГ©s.

First of all, Rose and her father. Rose received a beautiful and sincerely touching second chance to establish some sort of relationship with her dead father in FATHERВ’S DAY. That episode gave us a real chance to explore why Rose is Rose and why she formed such an instant attachment to her father.

If you think about it, Peter Tyler and the Doctor are not that much different. They both hatch В“impossible schemesВ” and (at least in the end) are willing to sacrifice themselves for the people close to them. Of course, the DoctorВ’s plans always succeed. ThatВ’s why he gets his own show and Peter Tyler died in a car accident in 1987.

Peter Tyler should have remained just that, a sweet and satisfying memory. To dredge him up again in the context of an В“alternateВ” world seems like a cheap rehashing of that episode from the first series. It plays unnecessarily upon the character mythology of the new show. For Rose to go blindly after her В“third chanceВ” to be with her dad seems selfish and a little masochistic.

But itВ’s merely a setup so that we can learn more about the В“alternate universeВ”. The universe itself has some imaginative touches, but really doesnВ’t engage you as a completely different dimension. It seems that pretty much everything is the same except for the zeppelins, the earrings and the curfew.

Even the alternate Mickey, or Ricky, just grimaces more. I love the character of Mickey, and I really enjoy Noel Clarke, but we did we really need to learn his backstory? To add that on top of RoseВ’s baggage seems unnecessary В– and really defines why this episode is so sluggish. His past is so similar to RoseВ’s that it doesnВ’t add any differentiation or emotional depth.

And whatВ’s with Mickey going from competing with the Doctor for RoseВ’s attention to suddenly acting like a scorned boyfriend (В“You can only chase after one of us.В”)? It seems very contrived. Are we being prepared for Mickey dying heroically?

With so little action and so much emotional angst, you are ticking away the minutes until something really interesting happens. When the Cybermen finally appear, itВ’s visually interesting and they do look scary. But therein lies a bigger problem.

The Cybermen will always look like robots. They will always look like a human creation. The thing that has made the Daleks so gripping and wildly frightening was that they looked so alien. Nothing had looked remotely like them before. Their weird voices and flailing pokers form an instant odd dread of being near them.

The new Cybermen look updated. They pound across the screen and big booming bass music tells us they are scary. But when they speak, you crank up the volume. And when they emit their new catchphrase В“you are deletedВ”, you groan. It comes across as a pathetic attempt to put them on par with Daleks screaming, В“Exterminate!В”. And it just doesnВ’t work.

It seems obvious that the real Cybermen are using Lumic as an agent to further their long-standing hatred of the planet Earth. Whether Lumic knows this or not is an interesting question, but really not that interesting. One hopes this is the case and that this isnВ’t an В“alternateВ” genesis story for the Cybermen. The Dalek mythology remains intact (blessedly without Davros, so far), so letВ’s hope the Cybermen are the same.

There is still time to pull this mess around with a boffo second episode, but this first episode В– viewed on its own В– does not merit much excitement or praise. Even if it is a lead-up to bigger things, it did little to generate enthusiasm for what is to come.

Having almost wet myself at the trailers for this weekВ’s who-fest, I had a lot of expectation of the episode in hand, entitled В‘Rise of the CybermenВ’. And it did not disappoint. Right from the chilling beginning to the thrilling end, every minute of this episode was one to savour. Wonderful acting from everyone, especially Roger Lloyd-Pack as John Lumic, the creator bent on survival. Anyway, to the episode itself. It begins with a nervy scientist being electrocuted by the prototype Cyberman, after a В‘debateВ’ with John Lumic. The episode then switches to the TARDIS, which crash lands after it came flying out of the time/space vortex and into nothing, or so we think. Mickey, (Unfairly ignored by the Doctor and Rose, but a wonderful, 10В…20 minutes. 29В… scene) then discover it to be a parallel Earth, and the TARDIS trio wander off for a while. The Doctor then discovers one small piece is clinging on for dear life, and gives away ten years of his life to charge it.

Rose then receives a mysterious text on her phone, regarding the reported ill health off John Lumic, who dismisses the speculation in the clip. She then spots above her head one of the marvellous zeppelins, which is quickly halted due to the DoctorВ’s arrival. This is a cue for more of unsung hero Noel ClarkeВ’s great performance of Mickey, who becomes upset as being regarded as the spare part. While he wanders off ready for an emotional appearance of his Gran, Rose does a runner into town, with the Doctor following swift. The following scenes are a bit dull, with the exception of the В‘Rose the Yorkshire terrierВ’ joke, which has you chuckling away at PeteВ’s В‘here we go againВ’ expression.

And then it reaches the interesting В‘child catcherВ’ scene, with the tramps being rounded up for experiments. They all go but for one, Jake Simmons, played by the former Byker Grove actor Andrew Hayden-Smith, who seems somewhat quiet in this episode. Anyway the tramps are rounded up into the van, screams of terror etcВ… And then for the nice little scene with The President and John Lumic. The debate is well executed, and you can see the true madness on LumicВ’ face when he is denied permission to carry out the upgrade. You feel a slight twinge of moral decline with Pete TylerВ’s optimism for Lumic, making it feel В‘Oh well you canВ’t destroy BritainВ’s population but thereВ’s always (New) GermanyВ’. The В‘New GermanyВ’ line as well as the technology used on the parallel world feels too much like В‘New EarthВ’, as if humanity has whizzed too far forward than the present. But as itВ’s a parallel world in a different dimension you can sort off let them go a bit, plus itВ’s the Cybermen.

Next comes the upgrade scene with the rounded up tramps, which sends a rare and welcome chill down the spine, with the pop music sounding strangely sinister along with the screaming and images of sharp pointy objects diving into the bodies of human beings. This is a rare scare, which disappointingly doesnВ’t occur too often in Series 2, but you can let them off given children are watching. Still, there maybe should have been blood on the medical objects.

And then for the ending, which can be summed up conveniently in six words. And no, they arenВ’t В‘DoesnВ’t the script look tiredВ’ (Ok, thatВ’s five, but itВ’s good enough for BBC Wales! HopefullyВ…) instead, it would be В‘I dub thee Sir Tom MacRaeВ’. Just when everything is chilled, calm, settled, relaxedВ…chilled turns to the other meaning. Crunch, Crunch, Crunch, Crunch And the silhouettes of an old enemy returns to haunt the Doctor once more. Out of the gloom comes the Cybermen, who return with a bang by smashing the windows into microscopic pieces. Obviously no one told them there was a door. They surround the Doc and co. until one of them finally decides to break the silence by killing the President of Great Britain. Not the easiest way to get power but there you go. Everyone starts screaming and legging it everywhere possible just to get away from the C3-PO look-a-likes, and the Doctor, Rose and parallel Pete run through a window just to escape from the party-gone-wrong. One corner- Cybermen! Another- Cybermen! Try another- Cybermen! They are finally trapped by the steel nemesis, and after the drastic and unsuccessful attempts to escape by volunteering for the upgrade, the all-too familiar stings rings out, leaving us with another long week of waiting and waiting. A great episode in all respects and could be wrapped up by a classic. Bring on The Age Of Steel. 8/10.

This is probably the closest that the new series gets to evoking the nature of the original series, particularly the pacing. I thought this was deliciously paced. Most have complained it was too slow but I'd describe it as a slow burn, a building up to the inevitable. This is probably Graeme Harper, wanting to slow it down and get the maximum benefit by doing so.

There were so many interesting elements in this one, all juxtaposing with each other and there have been many comments that the feel of the episode was disjointed. I think that was deliberate and many of the sequences in the episode are designed to create this feeling.

From the top, let's get the death of the TARDIS thing out of the way - because it's simply the MacGuffin to get them into the parallel Earth situation. Some have been irritated by the way this element was so casually resolved. For me, it’s just a device to get the characters into this alternative Earth and keep them there until the events play out.

The vital things in this story, besides the triumphant return of the Cybermen, is the development of the Rose/Doctor/Mickey dynamic and the alternate take of the Rose/Pete/Jackie family unit from an altogether less attractive viewpoint. A number of scenes were very important for me. The scene with Rose and Jackie outside the country house where Rose is stupid enough to think that because she's again found that spark of recognition in her father then she's on to a winner trying it with Jackie and can rekindle some kind of surrogate family in this alternate world. The repellent attack from Jackie is such an emotional wallop and it also echoes the de-humanising of people by Lumic via his application of corporate technologies - to the extent of turning individuals into Cybermen and the literal raising of the rich elite over the dispossessed (the zeppelins and Pete's millionaire salesman schtick). Jackie’s heart and soul belong to Lumic and this version of Rose’s mother really does highlight the clever way Camille Coduri has made the character actually rather ‘lovable’ on the other Earth. Rose is looking for unconditional love from a very different version of her mother and she's suddenly made aware that love comes at a price and it has to be earned.

The other crucial scene is when Mickey visits his Gran. It’s a wonderfully sensitive scene that’s redolent of lost lives, things that should have been said and done in Mickey’s own world. Noel Clarke...what a revelation. He was so very good in the scene and much of his back story was also finally revealed and gave us great insight into a character that at the start of Series One was a bit of a no-hoper. This adds depth to the character and builds upon the series themes of sacrifice and redemption. This story will certainly be about how Mickey 'makes a difference' in contrast to a now very unlikeable version of Rose. A quietly clever juxtaposition that's been taking place over the last few episodes and since The Christmas Invasion.

This is also feeding into the confused and somewhat insensitive nature of Rose that we are now being shown. Witness the horrible baiting of Mickey from Rose and the Doctor. We're all aware this is going to come to a distressing conclusion - much of it in next week's episode, I think - and Rose and the Doctor will be changed by it.

There are key elements of Greek Tragedy running through this episode – themes about lives being torn apart by outward suffering or inner conflicts (literall, for the creation of the Cybermen), The sacrificing of a society, the losing of individuality in order to form groups – both the Cybermen and the Preachers. And there’s the lovely symbolism of Heaven with its Angels ( the zeppelins, the rich elite ) and Hell with its Demons ( the Cybermen, the dispossessed, the conversion factory). Evokes cleverly in the visuals - we’re always looking up at the zeppelins overhead or down from the machines as they fly over London.

The Cybermen...great. The last fifteen minutes of the siege on the house were note perfect in terms of visuals, lighting, editing. A tour de force from Harper and what the intended pacing has been leading up to do.

John Lumic - I'm still wavering over Lloyd Pack. He was a bit up and down for me and I think if you take him in the spirit of a Bond like villain it just about works and I can see how some people are criticising him for being a poor man's Davros. But there are enough sparks in the performance to relish even if it occassionally gets hammy. Doctor Who has always had it's fair share of OTT performances and it always will have.

For me, he isn’t Davros or Frankenstein. He’s Prometheus – symbolising the suffering and sacrifice involved in spiritual or artistic striving in trying to transform the human condition into something more refined, more exquisite, more God-like. Naturally, here it’s all for the wrong reasons and he projects his suffering onto people who can’t fight back.

Visually - lots of greys, browns and references to Art Deco, Orwell, Verne, Metropolis, Weimar Germany, the steam-punk aesthetic. Echoes of Invasion, Dalek Invasion Of Earth.

Music - some lovely nods to Father's Day from Murray. A nice touch as this epsiode shows the disintegration of a family unit with Rose as bystander rather than Father's Day where it was about re-integration of the family unit with Rose as an active force.

Finally, I must conclude with the factory conversion scene. One of the most unsettling scenes in the series so far, the scene’s use of music (The Lion Sleeps Tonight – how very ironic!) can be compared with how Reservoir Dogs used ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ on the soundtrack. Granted, it's no comparison in terms of the violence but the 'dread' that both scenes evoke with the juxtaposition of music was highly effective in both cases.

A treat of an episode, perhaps unfairly seen as a disappointment, but where the pay-off in ‘Age Of Steel’ will I’m sure elevate its reputation.

Sifting through the line-up for Series 2 before it began, two stories stood out for me as likely high spots В– the impending Cybermen two-parter and School Reunion, and I was really excited about seeing both. The problem with such great expectations В– in my experience anyway В– is that the event itself rarely lives up to the anticipation. However, there are always exceptions and, IВ’m happy to report, School Reunion was one great exception!

There were so many memorable moments crammed into 45 minutes, itВ’s difficult to know where to start. How about the beginning, thatВ’s a very good place to start . . .

As I noted in a previous review, В“New WhoВ” (for want of a better expression) doesnВ’t mess around with foreplay В– and, in School Reunion, this was never better illustrated. Before the opening titles have rolled, we find ourselves in a school, have encountered a wonderfully-malevolent headteacher played by Anthony Head, of whom more superlatives В– though I wonВ’t have nearly enough В– later. Plus weВ’ve witnessed a schoolgirl meeting with an audibly-horrible end. And a bespectacled Doctor already on the scene as a teacher.

Another promising start, and the episode built on that encouraging opening. RoseВ’s appearance as a reluctant dinnerlady (Billie Piper does В“sulkyВ” particularly well!) and the suggestion that there were strange goings-on in the school (and in the chips) would certainly have grabbed any floating viewersВ’ attention.

And then there was a trio of reunions in the school (incidentally, although this was an obvious episode title, it was no less a brilliant one). Mickey Smith was back В– OK, heВ’d only been away for a couple of episodes, so weВ’d barely had time to miss him. But it had been considerably longer away for Miss Sarah Jane Smith and K9 В– although youВ’d never have guessed, so smoothly did they fit into their roles.

SarahВ’s story В– of what happens to a companion post-TARDIS В– was a fascinating subtext to the main tale of schoolkids being cultivated by a shape-shifting alien race for lunch В– and for control of Creation! With a new В“dream teamВ” of Doctor, K9, Mickey, Rose and Sarah, there was no doubt they were going to be a match for the Krillitanes and, of course, they were. There was something in the chips В– the oil В– and that, together with a sacrificial robot dog, made it another successful episode for the good guys!

So that was School Reunion in a nutshell В– but just why was it so good?

Firstly, the setting. Perhaps because the very first episode of the original series in 1963 began in a school, the series is synonymous with the classroom? Whatever, it all tied into the theme of reunions В– and it just В“feltВ” so right.

As did the return of Sarah Jane Smith. She may have В“got oldВ”, but nothing like 30 years older В– Lis Sladen still looks terrific, those wide eyes and trademark lip quiver which are SO Sarah Jane were still there, and the script contained everything fans could have hoped for В– and more.

The tension between Sarah and Rose (La Piper does jealousy really well, as we saw in Boom Town and The Parting Of The Ways) is something which wouldnВ’t have been expanded upon too much in years gone by, but this sort of emotional byplay is an important ingredient of 21st-century Doctor Who.

В“The missus and the exВ” were essentially fighting over who loved The Doctor В– and who The Doctor loved В– more. Their В“my monsters were bigger than your monstersВ” scene was superb, but it was pleasing that they found common ground by the end, and wouldnВ’t it have been fun if Sarah had stayed aboard the TARDIS?

The scenes between Sarah and The Doctor were FatherВ’s Day-esque in their intensity. SarahВ’s bitterness at being so unceremoniously dumped was evident В– and it was nice to see David Tennant run through a range of emotions, including his desperate loneliness, which linked him to his predecessor more than in previous episodes.

There may have been a pedantic continuity issue with the old series В– Sarah did meet several Doctors in The Five Doctors and did, in theory, get a chance to vent her emotions then. But I prefer to explain that away by suggesting that her memory of that adventure was wiped when she was returned to her time stream. Russell T Davies obviously likes his continuity, though В– SarahВ’s line about В“the spaceship flying overhead at ChristmasВ” was a nice touch.

And, this time, Sarah did get her В“closureВ” at the end of the episode В– a really emotional goodbye and hug - and a new, shiny, pet robot dog!

It was fun to see K9 again, too В– complete with rust, which was an amusing twist, as was Rose and MickeyВ’s dismissal of him as rather low-tech. He does seem rather low-tech compared to the The MillВ’s creations В– what would they have made of K9 from scratch? - but he did save the Universe, so there! And, of course, it was no great shock that The Doctor was able to produce a Mark 4 (albeit very quickly!).

Great as everyone else in the cast was, maybe just top of the class was Anthony Head as Mr Finch. If there is such a thing as quiet malevolence, he delivered it superbly. A wonderful two-hander between Finch and The Doctor over the swimming pool was a high-scoring draw between the two protagonists. Perhaps the most-terrifying thing about Finch wasnВ’t so much that he had designs on shaping the Universe in his image, it was that he would nonchalantly eat you for lunch afterwards!

The Krillitanes themselves were Reaper-like in appearance, but equally effective. Obviously, they couldnВ’t be shown to be devouring small children В– but the clear inference was enough to earn them a high fear-factor rating. Yet another visual-effects triumph.

And then there was Mickey Smith. A character who has grown enormously in stature since his introduction in Rose. Then, he was basically a one-dimensional wimp who was little more than a bit-part player В– now, after improving steadily throughout last season, we have a rounded character full of humour and plenty of depth. If not quite an all-action superhero in his own right, MickeyВ’s certainly a welcome addition to the TARDIS crew. ItВ’s an added dimension which can only increase the fun . . .

Noel Clarke actually had the pick of the one-liners here, which was quite an achievement in a sparkling script peppered with sharp, witty dialogue (as one might expect of Toby Whithouse, the principal writer of the excellent No Angels) and he delivered them with aplomb.

The gleeful observation to The Doctor about В“the missus and the exВ” is likely to go down in Doctor Who folklore, but his witty aside to Rose about В“watching the chipsВ” when comparing her to Sarah was a laugh-out-loud moment. MickeyВ’s realisation that В“IВ’m the tin dogВ” also brought a hearty chuckle.

And whoВ’d have thought it would be The Doctor rather than Rose who was the happier to have Mickey join the crew? Another nice twist. After meeting Sarah, Rose now has extra insecurities about what her relationship with The Doctor is, and this can only make for more tensions as the series progresses.

Great story, wonderful script (what a Doctor Who debut from Whitehouse), terrific performances from the cast, stunning visual effects and, for me, the best score Murray Gold has delivered В– I often wish background music was just that, rather than an in-yer-ears full operatic performance. However, the music here just accentuated the script perfectly.

Series 2 may have started slowly with New Earth, but it gathered pace with Tooth and Claw, and is now into full stride with School Reunion. Hard to believe it gets much better than this, but what a treat if it does.

Before my review proper of the latest episode, IВ’d just like to take this opportunity to say that after a second viewing of Tooth and Claw, I think I might have been a little bit stingy in my rating (6/10); it is one of the only RTD episodes which stands up to re-visiting (bar perhaps The Long Game, Boom Town and Parting of the Ways), but for its vast improvement on all his former efforts, indeed for the fact that it stands head and shoulders overall of them, and is a generally well-conceived and directed story with a script and atmosphere likely to endure, it deserves a more impressive 8/10 in my books (and thatВ’s a rating in the classic series sense; it ranks alongside FatherВ’s Day, Dalek, The Unquiet Dead and parts of The Empty Child as a virtual classic in the old vein, and I sincerely hope is a pointer to the shape of things to come).

Comparatively I felt that School Reunion was something of a come down from the gothic heights of the Victorian highlands story. However, it is still an episode far superior to the callow New Earth and the one-dimensional Christmas Invasion.

Essentially School Reunion has many of the traditional ingredients of classic Who, the most notable being its extra-terrestrial subversion of a mundane, familiar setting, in this case being a comprehensive school in contemporary England. ItВ’s a far cry from the public school Boys Own Paper-style scenario of Mawdryn Undead (another big nostalgia story with the BrigadierВ’s return after a seven year absence), in which the then-Doctor Peter Davison indulged his school prefect-style persona; it is on the other hand not a far cry from the shenanigans of Remembrance of the Daleks, also set in a state school and involving juveniles taken over by alien technology, and as with McCoyВ’s story, shares a similarly implausible tempo and comic strip pace, equally laced with palpable nostalgia and continuity. School Reunion has the excuse of being limited to only 45 minutes and considering this, it works reasonably well, at least, on all surface levels.

Sarah JaneВ’s return aside (for the moment), the storyline is very traditional Who, and in that sense is well-structured, exudes В‘backgroundВ’, and has its loose ends tied up at the end by the Doctor; the computerized labours of the hypnotized school children (by far the best directed scenes in the episode, replete with a suitably distinctive score) and the purposes and nature of the Krillitanes is well-substantiated and rather tantalizing: this is a new alien race who take on the physical appearances of the races they infiltrate, which leaves the door open for limitlessly manifest returns in the future (not too unlike the plastic-manipulating Autons). What a pity then that this race is depicted as one uncannily similar in look to the Reapers of FatherВ’s Day. They are well realized (considering its CGI again) as were the Reapers, but for me they just resembled them too much, and one wonders whether the current production team are running out of ideas for new alien races. I also felt the CGI grizzlies, filmic incidental music and school setting, replete with В– portly В– bespectacled pupil, was all very Harry Potter, not a good thing in my books; and I still donВ’t like this type of misty, American-style camera thatВ’s used, notably inferior to Tooth and ClawВ’s grainer tones. The shot of the Krillitanes hanging upside down like bats in a darkened school room was a nice, vampiric touch, and well shot, but I couldnВ’t help being reminded of the В– admittedly infinitely inferior В– Tetraps of the horrific Time and the Rani; at least, it is the same principle of physiology anyway. There are also shades of Survival with the contemporary Earth setting, Mr FinchВ’s rather Anthony Ainley-esque vampiric performance and spates of electric guitar incidental music.

The initial scene of the Doctor posing as a Physics Teacher was a nice idea, and I suppose a fairly logical one if he needs to infiltrate a secondary school В– but the comical repetition of the word В‘physicsВ’ was a bit over-done I thought and one does sometimes feel Tennant is a repressed comedian in many ways, as these sorts of scenes feel ad-libbed a little bit from comic instinct. Nevertheless, this scene finally proved pivotal as he quizzed a pupil on highly complicated physics theory and received rapid, correct answers from a disturbingly astute young man (reminiscent of the subtly affecting childrenВ’s series of the 80s, Chocky, in which an alien possesses a young school boy, transforming him into a prodigy). This was a strongly realized emphasis for the DoctorВ’s undercover presence at the school. Having the companion posing undercover also was quite a good stroke and gave Ms Piper an opportunity to wear something other than the Peacock teen range.

ItВ’s ironic but in many ways I think TennantВ’s Doctor looks like an investigative journalist, particularly when donning his square glasses. I suppose this is at least a fresh interpretation of the character. And talking of journalists, well, of course it was genuinely really good to see Elizabeth Sladen reprise her role again (after a whopping 23 years), and I have to admit in a fairly convincing sense: rumours of an alien visitation at a state school is bound to lure in an investigative journalist after all (I was initially worried that she might have hit on hard times and ended up working as a dinner lady!). Sladen acts with the same grounded subtlety of her original days and plays her part convincingly and evenly, still very much the same Sarah Jane of old, albeit older and wiser. Her performance is first rate, and although she has some affecting passages of dialogue, she also manages to get through the slacker and more canonically intrusive sections of script in a way that makes them palatable and not seriously injurious to the legacy of her character, even if these elements on paper threaten as much.

Toby Whithouse said in the Radio Times this week when talking of how he approached writing for the programme and the central, traditionally asexual character: В‘You always have to reduce it to a human level, and that situation for the Doctor, itВ’s the current girlfriend meeting the ex-wife. Once you start thinking like that, it becomes easier to writeВ’. Well now, this is very telling. Surely to write for Who is a challenge a writer should embrace? Instead Mr Whithouse clearly admits that heВ’d rather take the easier option, completely ignore the seriesВ’ stylistic cannon of the sexually indifferent alien wanderer, rip up the foundations laid painstakingly before him for 26 years and rapidly and clumsily inject some terrestrial testosterone into the Timelord in order to slot his script into the mould of his usual projects such as the deplorably crass soap No Angels (which has about as much to do with nursing as The Royal). I know it is RTD who has allowed this sexualisation (or В‘sexing upВ’) of the central alien character and his human companion, but in this episode particularly Whithouse distils this recurring solecism at potential detriment to the enduring uniqueness of the programme. ItВ’s tantamount to implying that Sherlock Holmes slept with Dr Watson (and bar Billy WilderВ’s funny but rather pointless The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, consciously intended as a pastiche and not part of the cannon, this was never pursued in any other interpretation of that literary format).

Firstly, why does Whithouse assume one has to reduce Who to a human level when the the central character is an alien? This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and suggests he is a writer lacking imagination, who cannot stretch beyond the format of his usual projects. Why on earth then was he commissioned at all? Well, who knows? Suffice to say the В– arguably inevitable В– juxtaposition of the old fatherly Doctor and daughterly assistant mould of old into something of an ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend scenario is the one really jarring В– and sadly pivotal В– element to this otherwise reasonably good episode.

Of course itВ’s perfectly understandable that a young girl whisked off in the Tardis by a charismatic Timelord might have in some sense become В‘infatuatedВ’ with her cerebral knight in shining armour, but this В‘attractionВ’ was always previously portrayed in a purely platonic way, as if the companion idolised the Doctor on an intellectual and moral level. This is understandable and not necessarily in contradiction of the style of the original series. Where it does begin to get a bit worrying is when somehow the Doctor himself seems to be reciprocating this sentiment in the context continually referred to throughout this episode as В‘a relationshipВ’. Well maybe it is a relationship of sorts, but whatВ’s wrong with just В‘friendshipВ’? Why the obsession with intensifying these semantics to imply something more romantic than platonic?

What is most annoying though is not so much the obvious torch-carrying of Sarah for the most memorable man in her life, but the now palpably romantic attachment that Rose has for the Doctor. Whithouse has managed to go even further than RTD in showing quite clearly that Rose is in love with the Doctor, not to mention fancies him. How else can one interpret her blatant jealousy regarding SarahВ’s former В‘relationshipВ’ with him and the fact that she is just one in a long line of В‘companionsВ’ В– cue such crass soap-opera lines such as В‘why didnВ’t you mention her before?В’ and В‘I thought we wereВ…?В’ The only consolation for the latter line is that it prompts the Doctor to, albeit ambiguously, explode into an almost McCoy-esque tirade of existential isolationism, by far the best piece of script in the episode, with brutal lines such as В‘you will wither and you will dieВ…В’ For this speech alone I genuinely applaud Whithouse for re-emphasizing the solitary, unattached nature of the Doctor, ironic in that for the most of the episode around this he seems to do his level best to imply the opposite. Mr FinchВ’s observation of the DoctorВ’s timeless, bereavement-afflicted existence is also very well scripted and reminds the viewer of the necessarily solipsistic element to the central characterВ’s emotional makeup. Nevertheless, the manipulation of SarahВ’s return as personifying an ex- to threaten RoseВ’s current В‘relationshipВ’ with the Doctor was an easy, cop-out gimmick, but one which ultimately and thankfully Tennant and Sladen managed to somehow skirt around, providing us with a genuinely touching and platonic goodbye scene.

Talking of Anthony Head, he puts in a solid performance and delivers his lines with resonant aplomb. Even his vampiric hissing in the Krillitane scenes is passable, though slightly hammy. All said this is a convincing new enemy, at least conceptually, and the revelation about the cooking oil as a conductor is a nice, cod-scientific touch to the plot reminiscent of the neo-science of the old days.

K-9 was nicely utilised and made a heroic last stand. It was great to have John Leeson providing the voice again (remember those terrible days in Season Seventeen when K-9 sounded like he had congenital laryngitis, courtesy of a stand-in voice?). And it was nice to see Sarah reunited with K-9 Mark IV at the end. ThatВ’s just it though, it was nice. This episode certainly panders to the old fans, which is refreshing in a way amid a re-vamping which generally undermines much of the seriesВ’ history; and it is, for this very reason, seemingly necessary as well, more so than the nostalgia-loaded Season Twenty, which sat oddly with its returning companions and enemies as scripturally and conceptually it was one of the most imaginative and innovative seasons ever (Snakedance, Enlightenment and the uniquely dissected character of companion Turlough).

Inevitably in only 45 minutes, with the return of probably the two most iconic companions of the seriesВ’ history, the actual storyline will suffer. Considering the restraints imposed on this story by its heavily nostalgic ingredients, its plot does come off quite well with, as I mentioned earlier, a conceptually unusual enemy and all the loose ends neatly tied up. Quite why Micky was present however remains a quandary as he was frankly superfluous to everything. And heВ’s certainly no tin dog В– the tin dog has more intellect for a start!

This is a fairly respectable episode, slightly ludicrous in places though thankfully any humour present is generally underplayed; one might even read in to it some element of В‘satireВ’ in this schoolВ’s emphasis on IT В– that Blairite infatuation. It would be interesting to know if this is one of these new-fangled grant-maintained schools.

TennantВ’s portrayal is strong in places, especially regarding the В‘wither and dieВ’ speech В– this is a classic moment in the series. However, I am still not completely convinced by his incarnation. He has the eccentricity, the quirkiness, the unpredictability В– but I want more gravitas, of the kind epitomised by Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker. I have to say I preferred Tennant the Scot in Tooth and Claw. How ironic that inexplicably Eccleston was directed to speak in his Salford accent, which continually jarred with the role, and yet equally inexplicably, Tennant is directed to impersonate a slightly wishy-washy English accent, instead of his native Scottish. Considering Tennant has a slightly high-pitched voice, I think the more rugged, windswept injection of the rolling Scottish intonation adds gravitas to his delivery; something I wouldnВ’t really have thought about had it not been for the less impressive regional accent of his predecessor (an actor perfectly capable of the old RP as shown in films such as 28 Days Later and Shallow Grave, appalling thought they are as films).

The less said for Rose the better, again. Piper is obviously quite a good actress, I donВ’t doubt that, but her character is getting on my nerves and has been for some time. And unfortunately, IВ’m not convinced that Micky will compensate for this; another reasonable actor, but sadly again, a dull and rather pointless character.

School Reunion is, largely thanks to Elizabeth Sladen, a good episode, thought nothing more than good. A couple of rungs down from Tooth and Claw, it nestles at a fair 6/10 in my books. Whithouse shows some potential as a Who writer, but he needs to realise that writing for Who is not about putting the В‘humanВ’ in, but the В‘alienВ’.

In thinking of the story of "School Reunion," I am imagining a garden theme park that is populated with the most amazing and beautifully grown varieties of roses and chrysanthemums and tulips and daisies and carnations that you've ever laid eyes on, and being pushed to run through it all at breakneck speed by a relentless tour guide. I would gladly have stopped to smell any of these ideas or to study how well they bloomed, but no, there's too much to see and too little time to see it.

It's as though we've got two really good episodes trying to be told on top of each other. One of these is about companionship with the Doctor, and what that did to Sarah, what it is doing to Rose, and what not doing it is doing to Mickey and what he should do about that. The other story is about Anthony Head as the leader of a horde of bat aliens that have taken over a school to harness the imaginative powers of the children there to crack the computer code that runs the universe. Either one of these is perfect for an episode all by itself. The two at once leaves too little time for either to fully develop the way I would've liked to have seen. This is not to say that "School Reunion" should have been a two-parter. I'd rather think the ideas should have been decoupled entirely and told in two different stories.

An example of the "not enough time" problem I have is in the scene where Rose and Sarah Jane are at first one-upping each other about what monsters they've seen and then that degenerates into them talking about annoying things that the Doctor does... a grand total of two annoying things (one said by each of them) that then somehow makes them laugh hysterically when the Doctor enters the room. This really needs a laundry list to sell just how hysterical they get, and two items does not a full load make. On the other side, we are given two scenes of the Doctor and Mr. Finch sparring with each other, and_ very_ good those are too, but there's only two! It's _Anthony_flippin'_Head_ you've got here to go against David Tennant, and they only really lock horns in two scenes! And then we have Mickey making the big leap from being the guy who last season (and very wisely if you ask me) knew he couldn't deal with the Doctor's lifestyle what with all the fear there is in it to the guy who's going to bite the bullet and stay in that dangerous time-ship and travel with Rose and the Doctor... because of one moment he shares with K9 in Sarah's car. That's all it takes for him? Apparently so, because meanwhile the mathematical code that runs the entire universe is being cracked by a school full of kids with PCs and we really need to get back to them and the fruit-bat people that are running them, people who absorb physical bits of the alien cultures they conquer... except we don't ever get to see them actually doing any of that... because now we need to get back to K9 saving the day and sacrificing himself... and I would say "and so on" except that the episode ends shortly after this because it's out of time.

This has the smell about it of a script that was drafted and redrafted at least five too many times, and pared not just to the bone but actually well into the bone, and some of the marrow leaks out in the form of some plot holes that go unexplained. For example, why, when she had no reason to think that teacher John Smith was actually the Doctor (yet) did Sarah bring a totally non-functional K9 with her in her car to the school when she returned that night? Why were there vacuum-packed rats in that one closet? (presumably they were something to do with the aliens' eating habits, but we never are actually told) Why is Mr. Finch seemingly unaffected by the oil that's sprayed on him and the other Krillitane at the end? Why is there a time delay between when K9 shot the oil barrel and when it blew up the school? Why did the Krillitane pick a human school to run this hacking-the-universe experiment of theirs, and why that school in particular? Why, when after they hear the Doctor say he's a Time Lord, does that one swoop down at him from the roof, almost shout "boo," and then fly well away again when it could've just grabbed him and saved itself the whole getting-defeated-by-the-Doctor bit later on? OK, so they wanted him to join them at first, but still, it could've grabbed him there and got on with the convincing right then. And if it thought that wasn't the best way to try to convince him, I return to my original question and ask why did it swoop at him in the first place?

I will say it was nice to see that some of the more well thought-out "what it means to be a companion" material that we've seen all throughout the wilderness years in the books and the audios be mined and used here with Rose being forced to realize that she isn't his first and won't be his last (assuming he's not killed), and the reverse of that where the Doctor tells her why he's always dumping people after a time, since she can "spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you." Dumping humans like he does and moving on to the next one is the only way he can cope. It's not done to hurt the people he travelled with but rather to protect his own hearts. As Chris Eccleston once said, "the Doctor has two hearts. Does that mean he cares twice as much?"

On the production side of things, I can't find any faults at all, and in fact I really did quite like (cough-sorry-choking-a-bit-here) Murray Gold's score this week, particularly his "kids computing" music, and his callback to the theme he used for Rose when she was first discovering the Doctor and the TARDIS back in "Rose" (the episode) for the scene where Sarah goes to visit them in that park at the end. The Krillitane were all very well realized, and I liked the detail of the darker-skinned (and very well-dressed) man turning into a similarly darker-skinned Krillitane. It was also great to hear the sound designers using all of K9's old sound effects, and they even brought back some of the older sonic screwdriver sound effects when Sarah was around it. That was cute. And it was of course great to have John Leeson back as the voice of the old mutt. He couldn't have come back any other way.

On the acting front, the regulars were on their usual top form... I think I've already sung Anthony Head's praises a bit, but I'll sing them some more. I love the way he moves his body and can almost seem to glide as he walks and darts his eyes around and squeezes the fingers in his right hand and so on, and I especially love the little moves he does with looking out of the door in the opening scene when he takes the little girl into his office for "lunch". Elisabeth Sladen seemed to step back into Sarah Jane Smith like she's never been away (and in fact, she's never been away for very long what with all the parts sent Sarah's way during the wilderness years both on video and on audio), and it was really quite moving at times to see her back in the swing of things. At other times, she seemed just a _bit_ off, but I think that's because she's not got that never-bettered chemistry that she developed with Tom Baker going here. In the little time she has here, that just wasn't going to happen with the Tenth Doctor. I'm not even going to call this a complaint, since there's nothing anyone could've done about it. Come to think of it, it was more like seeing her with the Third Doctor, as their chemistry was never as good as it became with the Fourth.

And while I'm thinking of numbers, there seems to have been an inadvertent mistake made in the dialogue which will have fans speculating for years whether or not David Tennant is playing the Tenth Doctor, or if in fact he's actually the _Eleventh_. This is because in the scene where Sarah meets the Doctor in the school and realizes it's the Doctor for the first time, he tells her he's regenerated "half a dozen times since we last met," which would be the right number if the last time he's met her from his point of view was "The Hand of Fear" (when he had to leave her back on Earth), but in fact the last time he did meet her was in his Fifth body in "The Five Doctors," which would mean he's now in his eleventh body. Oops. And they thought they were being clever in avoiding the whole UNIT dating continuity fiasco... hah!

All in all then, there's too much material here competing for the attention of the 44 minutes the episode had. As enjoyable as this is as it is, it could have and should have been twice as much better. I'll say 5 out of 10 for "School Reunion."