Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Countdown - School Reunion


To celebrate the fact that 2013 is the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, we'll be taking a look back at all of the episodes of the show which featured David Tennant as the Doctor. At the end of our look back we'll be asking you, the fans, to vote for what you think is the ultimate David Tennant episode of Doctor Who....
We continue with the next David Tennant episode ... School Reuinon
Read our previous Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Countdown posts here.

4. School Reunion
First Broadcast on 29th April 2006. Running Time: 45 Minutes. Viewing Figures: 8.31 million.
Written By Toby Whithouse.
Directed By James Hawes.
Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner.
David-Tennant.com Rating: 8/10



Synopsis: 
The Doctor investigates a London school which is haunted by bat-like creatures.The Doctor finds his old friend already working undercover and both have old scores to settle. Rose discovers the true legacy of being a Time Lord's companion.

Extras: Promotional Photos | On Set Photos | Screen Caps | Articles | Videos | MP3 Commentary


Production Notes:
Working titles for this story included Old Friends and Black Ops.
The scenes in Deffry Vale High were filmed in two schools in Wales, Fitzalan High School in Cardiff and Duffryn High School in Newport.
The rusty and aged version of the Doctor's faithful friend K9 was a new prop created by Nick Kool and Alan Brannan, but the 'younger shinier' K9 was the original model. 


The Foes:
The Krillitanes take on the genetic traits of the races that they choose. They are bat like and have wings but they make people think that they look human by using a morphic generator.
However Brother Lasser, who is posing as Mr Finch, the Headmaster has actually totally taken on a human form. 
The Krillitanes are feeding the school children Krillitane oil which is making the children super intelligent.
When the Doctor confronts Mr Finch, he confirms they are Krillitanes and attempts to subvert the Doctor, although he is unsuccessful.
Upon further investigation it's discovered that the computers in the school are being fed by the children's new level of genius and are part of a Krillitane effort to solve the Skasis Paradigm, theory of everything. If solved it will allow the Krillitanes full control over time and space.



The Friends:
Sarah Jane Smith returns to the Doctor's life in this episode. Sarah meets the Doctor when she turns up at Deffry Vale High to investigate the sinister Headmaster and finds the Doctor is already working there as a teacher and his latest companion Rose is impersonating a dinner lady!
Sarah reveals to the Doctor that she has waited years for him to return for her, she has never married nor had children, and you wonder if her life has been totally altered by her previous travels by him. 
She also tells him that she assumed he was dead, but began to wonder if he was still alive after she witnessed the Sycorax spaceship hovering over London (The Christmas Invasion).
Meeting Sarah Jane gives Rose food for thought and causes her to contemplate her own life with the Doctor and more importantly after the Doctor.
Sarah Jane is one of the longest serving companions that the Doctor has had.
She first met the Doctor when she was a young journalist investigating the disappearance of scientists in the 1973 episode "The Time Warrior".
Sarah Jane meets up with the Tenth Doctor again in The Stolen Earth, Journey's End, The End Of Time Part II and the Sarah Janes Adventures episode The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith.

With Sarah comes her loyal friend K-9, a robot dog, who had previously travelled with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane.
The K-9 that the Tenth Doctor meets is K-9 Mark III, after K-9 bravely sacrifices himself to save The Doctor and Sarah, the Doctor gives Sarah a K-9 Mark IV, as a parting gift.
The Doctor also takes Sarah's advice and asks Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith to travel with himself and Rose in the TARDIS.

The success of this episode, School Reunion, secured a spin off series The Sarah Jane Adventures which was produced by BBC Wales for CBBC and ran until the sad passing of Sarah Jane actress Elisabeth Sladen in 2011.



Quotes:

  • Rose Tyler: (talking about K-9) Why does it looked so... disco? 
  • The Doctor: Oi! Listen, in the year 5000 this was cutting edge!
  • The Doctor: They're Krillitanes! 
  • Rose Tyler: And is that bad? 
  • The Doctor: Very. Think how bad things could possibly be, then add another suitcase of bad. 
  • Rose Tyler: I've been to the year five million, but this, this is really seeing the future- you just leave us behind! Is that what you're going to do to me? 
  • The Doctor: No. Not you. 
  • Rose Tyler: But, Sarah Jane...you were that close to her once, and now... you never even mention her. Why not? 
  • The Doctor: I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you... 
  • Rose Tyler: What... Doctor? 
  • The Doctor: You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on, alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords. 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: I had NO trouble with space-stuff. I've seen things you wouldn't believe! 
  • Rose Tyler: Try me! 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: Mummies! 
  • Rose Tyler: I've met ghosts. 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: Robots, lots of robots! 
  • Rose Tyler: Slitheen, IN Downing Street! 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: Daleks! 
  • Rose Tyler: Met the Emperor. 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: Anti Matter Monsters! 
  • Rose Tyler: Gas Mask Zombies! 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: Real life Dinosaurs! 
  • Rose Tyler: Real life Werewolf! 
  • Sarah Jane Smith: THE LOCH NESS MONSTER! 
  • Rose Tyler: Seriously? 

Facts:

  • Anthony Head has also appeared in two of the BBC's animated Doctor Who adventures - Death Comes To Time and The Infinite Quest. He auditioned for the part of the Eighth Doctor and also narrates Doctor Who Confidential.
  • Sarah Jane was not given K9 in a Doctor Who adventure, but the one and only episode of its first spin-off, K9 And Company.
  • You probably recognise which stories Rose is referring to in her bragging match with Sarah Jane, but how about the ones Sarah Jane mentions? Death To The Daleks (1974) and Genesis Of The Daleks (1975) for the Daleks, Robot, The Sontaran Experiment and The Android Invasion (all 1975) for "lots of robots", Planet Of Evil (1975) for anti-matter monsters, Pyramids Of Mars (1975) for mummies, Invasion Of The Dinosaurs (1974) for dinosaurs, and Terror Of The Zygons (1975) for the Loch Ness Monster.
  • Actress Elisabeth Sladen initially turned down the chance to resurrect Sarah Jane, mistakenly thinking that she was only being offered a cameo role, rather than a major one.
  • The aged K9 prop is based on an original lightweight body shell used in the 1970s and 1980s, when he had to be carried by actors. The rebuilt version is the proper radio controlled version last seen in Dimensions in Time and owned by former BBC Special Effects designer Mat Irvine.
  • The Krillitanes were originally called Krillians, until it was discovered that the name was trademarked.
  • Writer Toby Whithouse went on to pen the Torchwood episode Greeks Bearing Gifts.

Cast:
  • David Tennant - The Doctor
  • Billie Piper - Rose Tyler
  • Noel Clarke - Mickey Smith
  • Elisabeth Sladen - Sarah Jane Smith
  • Anthony Head – Mr Finch
  • Rod Arthur – Mr Parsons
  • Eugene Washington – Mr Wagner
  • Heather Cameron – Nina
  • Joe Pickley – Kenny
  • Benjamin Smith – Luke
  • Clem Tibber – Milo
  • Lucinda Dryzek – Melissa
  • Caroline Berry – Dinner Lady
  • John Leeson – Voice of K-9
Videos:



What did you think of School Reunion? 
Leave us your comments below!

Comments

  1. This is one of my ALL TIME favorite DOCTOR WHO episodes EVER. In TIMECRASH when David says to Peter "You were MY Doctor" an inside reference that PETER WAS really David's Doctor. I related to that, cause MY Doctor was TOM BAKER. When I first discovered Doctor Who back in the 80's on WTTW Chicago's late night Brit-a-thons that included Benny Hill, Monty Python and David Allen at Large, the FIRST episode I ever saw was with Sarah Jane Smith (the Late Elisabeth Sladen) and I had my first on screen CRUSH. When I re-discovered the NEW WHO with Eccelston and then Tennant I was hooked once again and THEY became my NEW DOCTORS. But when SCHOOL REUNION premiered and I first saw Sarah Jane again I felt the same butterflies and thought "NOOOO.....is it?" Then she introduces herself and I screamed like a school girl and my CRUSH had returned! I had the good fortune of meeting Elisabeth Sladen in Chicago the FALL before she passed away. She was as elegant and beautiful in person as she was onscreen. There is the FANBOY inside me that hoped after her passing that the Doctor would find out, like he did with the BRIG that she was gone...BUT then I realized that with the Sarah Jane Adventures it was BEST that they NEVER addressed it. So in hearts and minds of Sarah Jane fans everywhere, she will live on FOREVER...like the DOCTOR.

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