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| The Story |
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Three months earlier a London school obtained thirteen new staff: a new Headmaster; seven new teachers; four dinner ladies and a nurse. The appointments coincided
with a UFO sighting in the area and everything about the School is odd - the pupils are well behaved or suddenly disappear and standards have risen sharply, but
the cause is very sinister indeed...
Mickey informs the Doctor and Rose that it's a case warranting their investigation, so they go undercover as a Teacher and Dinner lady respectively. The Doctor finds out that some of the kids are far too intelligent and Rose discovers a number of seemingly dangerous barrels in the kitchens. They are not alone in their investigation however – an old companion of the Doctor’s; Sarah Jane Smith is posing as a journalist reviewing the headmaster for a national newspaper and soon becomes reacquainted with the Doctor after a night spying inside the school. K9 is in tow. After his plans are rumbled, the headmaster, Mr Finch, begins the last stage of his plan. The teachers are eaten up and the children put to work at the computers - can the Doctor and his team save the day? |
| Memorable Quotes |
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Doctor: (To Mickey when he screams at the sight of dead Rats) Nine maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails; frilly skirt.
Mickey: (Talking about his role) I'm their man in the van. I'm their technical support. I'm... Oh my god: I'm the tin Dog! Mr Finch: Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence [laziness]. You seem to be something new. Sarah Jane: Well there was this one guy - I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow. |
| Editor's Review |
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School Reunion deserves top marks. Despite being initially hostile to the idea of bringing back K9 and Sarah Jane Smith, I was really happy at their inclusion because
it allowed us to see what happens after companions are left behind by the Doctor and led to an emotional farewell at the end of the episode. Mickey finally gets to time
travel (hooray!) and Anthony Head was superb as the Headmaster - turning the Giles type character into an effective Demon Headmaster.
The Demon Headmaster is how I’d describe this episode, because it was based on a children’s book and TV show of the 1990’s which used the power of computers in a similar way. I was also pleased to see the inclusion of some low-level science in the episode – something that was missing since the 1960s episodes of William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Congratulations to Toby Whithouse for penning a superb episode and I sincerely hope that he’s able to pen some more episodes in the future. (Dan Ludlow) |