Day of the Clown/Secret of the Stars
The Sarah Jane Adventures...
The Day of the Clown Part Two
Sarah was channelling Alex Drake just a little bit in this one. Has it always been that scary clowns are symbolic of dead parents, or is just an SJA and Ashes to Ashes thing? Loved the flashback to Sarah's childhood and the mention of Aunt Lavinia.
Is it me or has the music vastly improved his series? Not that it was bad last series, but I seem to be noticing it and liking it a lot more this series. There was only one point last season where I really noticed it last season, when The Doctor Forever started playing in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane when Maria was doing a speech about Sarah (I loved that little bit).
No 'nobody understands' from Rani this week, so I could really like her. And she stopped asking questions when she should be running (first rule of companioning: run). I don't feel we know her very well yet though, beyond her obvious passion for journalism and all things weird. I fear that she's going to wind up like Clyde last season. There but not all that developed, since the character was something of a late edition.
Less of Rani's father this week, which is a bit of a shame. I still really really like him.
Now that the writers seem to be giving Clyde some well needed attention, he's really starting to eclipse the other kids as my favourite. I thought last season that he'd probably end up working for Torchwood when he grows up, but he really seems to be taking after Sarah this series, which is a lovely bit of character development since it's only natural he's move away from the military solves everything attitude he had when he first showed up after spending a great deal of time hanging around Sarah.
There's actually been some wonderful development of Luke as well. He's much less socially awkward than he was last season, passing as just a little more dorky than normal kid. He's still perpetually in peril (how may times has he been kidnapped now? My count is five) which I actually enjoy.
Lis Sladen has this smile that appears in a every now and again on this show, and it's the Old School Sarah smile because it's the exact same one that would be used when travelling with Four. In those moments it really hits it home that it's the same character from those mid-1970s serials, and I think that's absolutely wonderful. Anyway, there was one of those moments when she was talking about the universe with Rani.
The "Perhaps I should phone a friend" moment was quite awesome. I wasn't expecting the hypnotised children problem to be solved so quickly and simply. Overall the story was alright. To be honest, I got more creeps from reading the wikipiedia article on the Pied Piper than from the episode.
Secrets of the Stars Part One
The other episodes were good, but this was more like it. I was expecting it to be a bit lame based on the promo, but its my favourite episode of series two so far. I'm not particularly sold on the 'before the universe' stuff or any storyline about astrology since I loathe astrology (and while the characters are going on about how rubbish it is, but if it's burning holes in fabric, it clearly isn't rubbish in the Whoniverse). However, the character moments in this episode are fantastic and just the way they were all interacting, totally made this episode.
The bit which had the ability to be the worst bit of the episode - Luke's grown by aliens angst - turned out to be my favourite. It is not easy to do teen angst without it being wangsty, but the show is managing it brilliantly. Sarah seems to be much more comfortable with being a mother this series.
I officially love Rani's Mum, nearly entirely because she's decided to make it a mission to drag Sarah out to be amongst adults. Haresh is still fabulous. This show creates the best dads.
Well, we got the Doctor, although only in flashback form. (Dear show, if you could find it in you to have Three and Four show up in flashback form, I shall love you forever.) Poor Sarah having all this history aired to the world. I love that bit of course. 'Much much more' than a romance is an excellent way to put it, since that's the way I see Sarah and the Doctor's relationship, and it neatly avoids coming out on any side of the shipper debate so you can interpret it any way you want. (My problem with School Reunion is that it tries to define what Sarah and the Doctor's relationship was, rather than leaving it to the audience's interpretation, and while I am a Sarah/Four shipper, School Reunion saw the relationship different from the way I did).
Loved the asking if Rani was Sarah's Companion and protégé, and Rani inviting herself along. The relationship is different than it was with Maria, since it does seem to be much more about Sarah teaching Rani and Rani wanting to learn and I'm loving the mentoring. Anjli Mohindra seems to never stand up straight. I wonder if they're trying to draw attention away from her being the tallest in the cast. It's not working.
Moment of Clyde love this episode: him announcing that if you sit in the middle your trapped and then proceeding to make everyone sit in the middle but him. Besides that, not much for Clyde to do this episode other than getting mind-controlled.
Sometimes it's nice to know your watching a kids show since I found the villain pre-possession by the alien whatever to be very sympathetic and I'd hate for him or his assistant to die. SJA being so hopeful, I don't think it'd go there.
The Day of the Clown Part Two
Sarah was channelling Alex Drake just a little bit in this one. Has it always been that scary clowns are symbolic of dead parents, or is just an SJA and Ashes to Ashes thing? Loved the flashback to Sarah's childhood and the mention of Aunt Lavinia.
Is it me or has the music vastly improved his series? Not that it was bad last series, but I seem to be noticing it and liking it a lot more this series. There was only one point last season where I really noticed it last season, when The Doctor Forever started playing in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane when Maria was doing a speech about Sarah (I loved that little bit).
No 'nobody understands' from Rani this week, so I could really like her. And she stopped asking questions when she should be running (first rule of companioning: run). I don't feel we know her very well yet though, beyond her obvious passion for journalism and all things weird. I fear that she's going to wind up like Clyde last season. There but not all that developed, since the character was something of a late edition.
Less of Rani's father this week, which is a bit of a shame. I still really really like him.
Now that the writers seem to be giving Clyde some well needed attention, he's really starting to eclipse the other kids as my favourite. I thought last season that he'd probably end up working for Torchwood when he grows up, but he really seems to be taking after Sarah this series, which is a lovely bit of character development since it's only natural he's move away from the military solves everything attitude he had when he first showed up after spending a great deal of time hanging around Sarah.
There's actually been some wonderful development of Luke as well. He's much less socially awkward than he was last season, passing as just a little more dorky than normal kid. He's still perpetually in peril (how may times has he been kidnapped now? My count is five) which I actually enjoy.
Lis Sladen has this smile that appears in a every now and again on this show, and it's the Old School Sarah smile because it's the exact same one that would be used when travelling with Four. In those moments it really hits it home that it's the same character from those mid-1970s serials, and I think that's absolutely wonderful. Anyway, there was one of those moments when she was talking about the universe with Rani.
The "Perhaps I should phone a friend" moment was quite awesome. I wasn't expecting the hypnotised children problem to be solved so quickly and simply. Overall the story was alright. To be honest, I got more creeps from reading the wikipiedia article on the Pied Piper than from the episode.
Secrets of the Stars Part One
The other episodes were good, but this was more like it. I was expecting it to be a bit lame based on the promo, but its my favourite episode of series two so far. I'm not particularly sold on the 'before the universe' stuff or any storyline about astrology since I loathe astrology (and while the characters are going on about how rubbish it is, but if it's burning holes in fabric, it clearly isn't rubbish in the Whoniverse). However, the character moments in this episode are fantastic and just the way they were all interacting, totally made this episode.
The bit which had the ability to be the worst bit of the episode - Luke's grown by aliens angst - turned out to be my favourite. It is not easy to do teen angst without it being wangsty, but the show is managing it brilliantly. Sarah seems to be much more comfortable with being a mother this series.
I officially love Rani's Mum, nearly entirely because she's decided to make it a mission to drag Sarah out to be amongst adults. Haresh is still fabulous. This show creates the best dads.
Well, we got the Doctor, although only in flashback form. (Dear show, if you could find it in you to have Three and Four show up in flashback form, I shall love you forever.) Poor Sarah having all this history aired to the world. I love that bit of course. 'Much much more' than a romance is an excellent way to put it, since that's the way I see Sarah and the Doctor's relationship, and it neatly avoids coming out on any side of the shipper debate so you can interpret it any way you want. (My problem with School Reunion is that it tries to define what Sarah and the Doctor's relationship was, rather than leaving it to the audience's interpretation, and while I am a Sarah/Four shipper, School Reunion saw the relationship different from the way I did).
Loved the asking if Rani was Sarah's Companion and protégé, and Rani inviting herself along. The relationship is different than it was with Maria, since it does seem to be much more about Sarah teaching Rani and Rani wanting to learn and I'm loving the mentoring. Anjli Mohindra seems to never stand up straight. I wonder if they're trying to draw attention away from her being the tallest in the cast. It's not working.
Moment of Clyde love this episode: him announcing that if you sit in the middle your trapped and then proceeding to make everyone sit in the middle but him. Besides that, not much for Clyde to do this episode other than getting mind-controlled.
Sometimes it's nice to know your watching a kids show since I found the villain pre-possession by the alien whatever to be very sympathetic and I'd hate for him or his assistant to die. SJA being so hopeful, I don't think it'd go there.