Alien space bats in a London school. What’s so special about the chips? 
“The missus and the ex – welcome to every man’s worst nightmare!”
Mickey got off a good one there.
A Cardiff-area school, more likely. First rule of Doctor Who - unless Big Ben or some other London landmark is in shot, you’re in South Wales.
Was Sarah Jane the same actress?
What about K-9?
Sorry, that my onscreen guide said London. Was the old Doctor Who made in Wales as well?
Yes, that was Elisabeth Sladen.
Yes, John Leeson voice K-9.
Excellent episode.
Yes, and yes.
Probably my favorite ep of the season so far, which admittedly isn’t saying much. I have a feeling, based on the tagging along of Icky Micky, that I’m not going to be very happy with upcoming eps.
So does this ep have any bearing on the canonicity of The Five Doctors? Sarah Jane was in that, and although she hung with the 3rd Doctor wasn’t she aware that there were five at that time? So why would she think that the Doctor was dead?
Don’t be sorry, the guide was right. The episode was filmed in Wales, but set in the fictional London borough of Deffry Vale (both the borough and school have websites.
Classic Who was produced from London (though they often had to travel a fair distance to find just the right quarry or gravel pit 
). It’s only the since the new series began that it’s been based in Cardiff.
Supposedly (in the Five Doctors) when everyone was put back in their proper timestreams their memories were erased. This new episode caused a big pissing match on a UK based Dr. Who forum based on this “inconsistency”. Fans can be so nitpicky.
Best line from the episode:
“You bad dog!”
“Affirmative!”
This episode reinforced the need for me to get ahold of Tom Baker episodes to show to my son. (He loves the current Dr. Who, but his only knowledge of the older stuff is what I’ve told him)
Whoa, anyone see this on imdb? http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0862620/
Looks promising. Hopefully it takes off and we actually get to see it here in the US.
I thought this was the best so far this year, and not just for the nostalgia factor. The bats were just OK, but the concept of Sarah Jane having regrets about leaving the doctor was great and played very nicely. And the jealousy between her and Rose was a wonderful touch. It’s an aspect of Doctor Who that had been pretty much been left unexplored: what happens to a companion after they leave.*
What was especially subtle and interesting was that Sarah Jane originally wanted to leave the Doctor – she said it was time to go home. The Doctor was oblivious and dropped her off because he couldn’t take her to Gallifrey. But he hadn’t said anything about coming back and, at the time, she didn’t want to stay with him. The fact that Sarah didn’t remember it that way was a nice touch: She evidently quickly regretted her choice and told herself that the Doctor was coming back for her.
*About the only in-depth look was the fate of the Brigidier in Mawydrin Undead, and that had far less emotional depth as this.
Without spoiling anything - it will get better and better up to an amazing finale.
Did you see the K-9 And Company special? It’s been ages since I’ve seen it, but that’s where she gets K-9 Mark 3. The Doctor has sent him to her. When she opens it, she sighs and says something like, “Oh, Doctor you don’t forget, do you?” to herself. Or something like that.
Anyway, I remember thinking that maybe that’s when she began to regret leaving the Doctor. Of course, he was being called back to Gallifrey, so she could not have gone with him at the point. I’m guessing it was when she received K-9 that she began to believe he would come back for her.
I forgot to add that I thought it was great that when the Doctor told Sarah Jane and Rose to go break the computers, he automatically without thinking about it hands the sonic screwdriver to Sarah Jane. And then I thought it was a nice touch that it had been upgraded and Rose had to show her how to use it.
I don’t really care too much for the near-romance that’s alway brewing between Rose and the Doctor. I don’t care that she has such a crush on him, but until this season, the Doctor has not had a romantic interest in any of his companions that I’m aware of. I wonder why they changed it now.
Oh, sure. But I liked the subtle selective memory: that Sarah Jane had forgotten that she was the one who initiated leaving (she had already decided to leave before the Doctor heard from Gallifrey).
As I recall the episode in question The Hand of Fear, Sarah Jane was venting because she’d just been hypnotized for the umpteenth time. She threatened to walk out, only the Doctor wasn’t paying any attention because he was distracted. When the Doctor told her she in fact had to go, she was instantly taken aback.
I have a hypothesis about the weird quasi-sexual relationship the Doctor has with his female companions. From a lot of fan speculation and never-explicitly-given backstory, the Doctor is presumed to be a widower. I would further presume that given how prevalent telepathy is among Timelords, that a telepathic link is part of the bond between married Timelords. If the Doctor’s mate is dead/gone/hopelessly lost, then maybe the Doctor suffers from a severed-but-never-healed telepathic linkage. Maybe unconciously or involuntarily, that link keeps seeking to be reestablished with someone. It’s notable how many of the Doctor’s female companions chose to leave him immediately after meeting the men they wanted to marry. In fact he had to leave his granddaughter Susan stranded behind because otherwise she would never have left him to seek a life of her own. Sara Jane and Rose are the two strongest examples, but it is clear that their relationship with the Doctor is as deeply emotional as can be without actual romance or sex.
Was it just me, or was Sarah Jane still quite hot?
I also liked Anthony Head as the headmaster. Having only seen him in Buffy and Manchild, I would have never have guessed he could be so creepy.