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.
EPISODE STATS:
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
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, a 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.
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.
"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...."
