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SARAH JANE ADVENTURES SARAH JANE ADVENTURES OMG.
- I think this story would have been a lot better off without the framing device, actually. It was certainly attention-getting, and the woman playing Future Rani was very good (and looked so much like Anjili Mohindra that I initially thought she was her under a lot of makeup), but it complicated the story unnecessarily and gave both Eve and Ship vast and wildly discordant powers. Controlling people's minds, plausible. Matter manipulation, okay. Reading timelines, sure, I'm with you. But erasing people from time seems a little...much. Also, since only Ship seemed to have that kind of power, it didn't make sense to me how Adam had the power to restore the timeline. Unless Sam, Eve, and Ship all had a hand in making Tiembabbies. Which is certainly possible, I mean, there's nothing to say they didn't.
- Okay I'll admit it the clips from the Third and Fourth Doctor episodes made me squee right good. "Don't you forget about me, Sarah Jane Smith." *wibble*
Though I do wonder what that does for continuity if Sarah actually remembers The Five Doctors, but trying to contemplate that for any length of time gives me headaches and anyway probably makes me a damn anorak.
- I'm not all that familiar with Season 2 of SJA, but a story about Rani's jealousy and feeling new to the team would have been better served earlier in her tenure. It did feel a little out of nowhere here, and didn't flesh her out as much as I think it was supposed to.
I did like that Rani came across as a human being here, though, flitting between regretful, scared, angry, stubborn, and hurt. This was a really good performance from her, and it was nice to see Rani take center stage. I especially loved her cautiously reaching out to Eve and cornering the caretaker.
- It was really lovely to have an alien who wasn't evil or homicidal for once. I quite liked Eve's design and her relationships with Sam and the caretaker, and thought she worked really well as an alien character. Her unintentionally dangerous powers were played as something she really thought of as a good thing, not as "power corrupting" like it very often is. And her enthusiasm and eagerness to show off to Rani were cute.
- Is it very very wrong of me to ship Sarah/Clyde? Because their banter was leaning towards the shippy for me. It's like Sarah's the Doctor back when the Doctor was still allowed to flirt with his companions and Clyde's her companion and they forgot to write out the shippiness. The chummy back-slapping, the self-congratulations on how rather magnificent they are...I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.
- The caretaker was so sweet. I'm glad he got to go off in space.
- I also love how the entire Ship plotline was a plot hook to bring back K9. Because K9 ZOMG I didn't realize I'd missed him until he came back. I'm glad he's not stuck out in a black hole limbo anymore.
Normally I would wait until tomorrow when The Whole Plot was revealed to post a review of this episode but I am ever so excited I must post about it RIGHT NOW OMG. That and I may not get a chance to watch on Friday, sad.
- Oh, I do hope Peter Dalton isn't evil. He is very sweet and very nice-looking and I don't want him to be evil even though I suppose he has to be, one non-evil alien per season is really all one can hope for. Though his referring to the Trickster as an "angel" leads me to believe that he's an unwitting pawn rather than truly evil, which would be nice. Even if I suppose a spinoff series can't do anything so bold as give a previous companion a long-term partner or love interest even though TV canon would really be the best place to do it, ahem.
- K-9 and Mr. Smith's little rivalry makes me so happy like you don't even know. I can't explain why Mr. Smith getting all shirty with the robot dog delights me so, but it does.
- Speaking of which K9 K9 K9 OMG. "Do not look at me. Everything is normal." Peter is right to want one. And it was very smart of Clyde to bring him to the wedding. Also I love how Clyde has adopted him and I want to watch them bond every week and Clyde can try to teach him tricks and ask about his adventures flying around a black hole.
- OH CLYDE YOU ARE SO JEALOUS DO NOT DENY. I know, I know, he's worried about Sarah and all, but I'm shipping them now and I'll call it jealousy if I like. I do love that he and Rani were a Crack Spy Team and all, and I honestly laughed out loud at them desperately trying to keep the space slug out of Peter's sight. And at them hiding behind the shrubbery - I love that they were actually waiting there for who knows how long. Also Clyde's not at all subtle hints to Peter that he is on to him. Though I do not love that he and Luke got in a fight but clearly they will make up next week and that will only make their love stronger and anyway it shows Clyde's deep concern for Luke's safety. Yes.
- Luke's interactions with Sarah and laughing at trying to be normal made me go aww. :D Even if I was less than well pleased that SJA did not politely ignore School Reunion's retcon that Sarah had cut herself off from people and been all alone after she left the Doctor, because I hate that fanon so hard and I can't believe that she wouldn't at least keep in touch with some of the people she knew at UNIT and really it says horrible things about what New Who thinks life without the Doctor is like, but I've already exhausted myself raging about that back when they first rolled it out in School Reunion and it does me much better to ignore it and refuse to acknowledge it in fic. Anyway, point was, I love the relationship between Sarah and Luke, and I love their strange little family, and their uneasiness and humor in the face of a potentially big change was candid and sweet.
- Rani imperiously pointing Clyde back inside! Rani trying to act like she's not at all curious about Peter! Oh, Rani, there should be more of you.
- Also more Gita. And I also want fic about her and Haresh's honeymoon in Brussels, which apparently has nothing in it. (It's her indignant tone that gets me.)
- NO BRIG AT HER WEDDING I HAS A SAD. Yeah, I know, then they would have had to coordinate a guest appearance and they would have had to write the Brig into the plot, but it's like the last opportunityI we get for Ten to meet him and that would warm my wee heart. Also what the hell is he even still doing in Peru, there were really other ways he could have been written out. I choose to believe that Jo and Cliff have dragged him off to go save the rainforests or something.
- You know, this is the first time since...way back, back before Journey's End, even, that I've honestly been excited to see Ten. And I AM and it's such a good feeling and I missed it. Oh show, you are a sweet balm to my wounded squee.
Okay, really must stop arsing around and do some homework now. Ahem. *
- I think this story would have been a lot better off without the framing device, actually. It was certainly attention-getting, and the woman playing Future Rani was very good (and looked so much like Anjili Mohindra that I initially thought she was her under a lot of makeup), but it complicated the story unnecessarily and gave both Eve and Ship vast and wildly discordant powers. Controlling people's minds, plausible. Matter manipulation, okay. Reading timelines, sure, I'm with you. But erasing people from time seems a little...much. Also, since only Ship seemed to have that kind of power, it didn't make sense to me how Adam had the power to restore the timeline. Unless Sam, Eve, and Ship all had a hand in making Tiembabbies. Which is certainly possible, I mean, there's nothing to say they didn't.
- Okay I'll admit it the clips from the Third and Fourth Doctor episodes made me squee right good. "Don't you forget about me, Sarah Jane Smith." *wibble*
Though I do wonder what that does for continuity if Sarah actually remembers The Five Doctors, but trying to contemplate that for any length of time gives me headaches and anyway probably makes me a damn anorak.
- I'm not all that familiar with Season 2 of SJA, but a story about Rani's jealousy and feeling new to the team would have been better served earlier in her tenure. It did feel a little out of nowhere here, and didn't flesh her out as much as I think it was supposed to.
I did like that Rani came across as a human being here, though, flitting between regretful, scared, angry, stubborn, and hurt. This was a really good performance from her, and it was nice to see Rani take center stage. I especially loved her cautiously reaching out to Eve and cornering the caretaker.
- It was really lovely to have an alien who wasn't evil or homicidal for once. I quite liked Eve's design and her relationships with Sam and the caretaker, and thought she worked really well as an alien character. Her unintentionally dangerous powers were played as something she really thought of as a good thing, not as "power corrupting" like it very often is. And her enthusiasm and eagerness to show off to Rani were cute.
- Is it very very wrong of me to ship Sarah/Clyde? Because their banter was leaning towards the shippy for me. It's like Sarah's the Doctor back when the Doctor was still allowed to flirt with his companions and Clyde's her companion and they forgot to write out the shippiness. The chummy back-slapping, the self-congratulations on how rather magnificent they are...I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.
- The caretaker was so sweet. I'm glad he got to go off in space.
- I also love how the entire Ship plotline was a plot hook to bring back K9. Because K9 ZOMG I didn't realize I'd missed him until he came back. I'm glad he's not stuck out in a black hole limbo anymore.
Normally I would wait until tomorrow when The Whole Plot was revealed to post a review of this episode but I am ever so excited I must post about it RIGHT NOW OMG. That and I may not get a chance to watch on Friday, sad.
- Oh, I do hope Peter Dalton isn't evil. He is very sweet and very nice-looking and I don't want him to be evil even though I suppose he has to be, one non-evil alien per season is really all one can hope for. Though his referring to the Trickster as an "angel" leads me to believe that he's an unwitting pawn rather than truly evil, which would be nice. Even if I suppose a spinoff series can't do anything so bold as give a previous companion a long-term partner or love interest even though TV canon would really be the best place to do it, ahem.
- K-9 and Mr. Smith's little rivalry makes me so happy like you don't even know. I can't explain why Mr. Smith getting all shirty with the robot dog delights me so, but it does.
- Speaking of which K9 K9 K9 OMG. "Do not look at me. Everything is normal." Peter is right to want one. And it was very smart of Clyde to bring him to the wedding. Also I love how Clyde has adopted him and I want to watch them bond every week and Clyde can try to teach him tricks and ask about his adventures flying around a black hole.
- OH CLYDE YOU ARE SO JEALOUS DO NOT DENY. I know, I know, he's worried about Sarah and all, but I'm shipping them now and I'll call it jealousy if I like. I do love that he and Rani were a Crack Spy Team and all, and I honestly laughed out loud at them desperately trying to keep the space slug out of Peter's sight. And at them hiding behind the shrubbery - I love that they were actually waiting there for who knows how long. Also Clyde's not at all subtle hints to Peter that he is on to him. Though I do not love that he and Luke got in a fight but clearly they will make up next week and that will only make their love stronger and anyway it shows Clyde's deep concern for Luke's safety. Yes.
- Luke's interactions with Sarah and laughing at trying to be normal made me go aww. :D Even if I was less than well pleased that SJA did not politely ignore School Reunion's retcon that Sarah had cut herself off from people and been all alone after she left the Doctor, because I hate that fanon so hard and I can't believe that she wouldn't at least keep in touch with some of the people she knew at UNIT and really it says horrible things about what New Who thinks life without the Doctor is like, but I've already exhausted myself raging about that back when they first rolled it out in School Reunion and it does me much better to ignore it and refuse to acknowledge it in fic. Anyway, point was, I love the relationship between Sarah and Luke, and I love their strange little family, and their uneasiness and humor in the face of a potentially big change was candid and sweet.
- Rani imperiously pointing Clyde back inside! Rani trying to act like she's not at all curious about Peter! Oh, Rani, there should be more of you.
- Also more Gita. And I also want fic about her and Haresh's honeymoon in Brussels, which apparently has nothing in it. (It's her indignant tone that gets me.)
- NO BRIG AT HER WEDDING I HAS A SAD. Yeah, I know, then they would have had to coordinate a guest appearance and they would have had to write the Brig into the plot, but it's like the last opportunity
- You know, this is the first time since...way back, back before Journey's End, even, that I've honestly been excited to see Ten. And I AM and it's such a good feeling and I missed it. Oh show, you are a sweet balm to my wounded squee.
Okay, really must stop arsing around and do some homework now. Ahem. *
jubilant
TWO MONTH LATE COMMENT!
-See, I think what made Madwoman in the Attic's story work was because it wasn't set at the beginning. She's well integrated into the team, yet even so, sometimes there's still this little twinge that she wasn't part of the *original* group. I totally believe that, as generally kick-ass and cool as she can be, that from time to time - such as when everyone's fawning around the computer - it must feel like living in Legendary Maria Jackson's shadow (actually living in her old house can't help matters).
-I agree that it was really nice to see a friendly/non-evil alien. I had...sort of forgotten those existed? Sure, she still nearly wrecked a small corner of the world, but it wasn't on purpose! And everybody got to fly off into space, with an adventurer who doesn't get themselves killed every couple of years and lose their best friends even more frequently. To me, that was the most exciting part of all.
-I am just...not even going to touch the shipping comments. I have one show, gosh darn it, one show where everything is rosy and platonic and generally asexual/otherwise free of my shipping dilemmas. Not getting involved! The writers thoughtfully kicked Maria across the ocean so that I couldn't get involved!
But yes, Sarah Jane & Clyde's interaction has gotten crazy-delightful this season. They seem to be working overboard to fit in snark and banter. I love it.
-I would have liked to have seen the Brigadier again too, despite my much shallower attachment. It's not as if he did that much last time; surely it could have worked? Somehow? It's also not as if there was all that much for Tennant to do in part 1.
Holy crap, must shut up.