Doctor Who Watchathon: Season 2x4 "School Reunion"

As an effort to justify our somewhat obsessive T.V watching Meghan (Of Coffee and Wizards and @MegTao on Twitter) and myself have decided to undertake a Doctor Who Watch-a-long. We'll be starting with the beginning of the 2005 relaunch and will be posting about one episode every Wednesday and Friday, on our respective blogs. We hope you'll join in – whether as a re-watch or to discover the Doctor for the first time!

*just a heads up each post may contain spoilers for that episode and then ones before it*

This is the last Doctor Who Watch a Thon Post I will be posting on Bibliophile's Guide. From now on the posts will be found on Hooked on Books. One blog is much more easy to keep up with than two! Now onto the episode!

Episode Summary

 Mickey Smith alerts the Doctor and Rose Tyler to a comprehensive school where strange things are happening, such as UFO sightings. At the school, the Doctor encounters his former companion Sarah Jane Smith and the robotic dog, K-9 Mark III, he sent her, who likewise were interested by the current events. Together, they discover the force behind the events, a race known as the Krillitanes, and work to prevent them gaining control of the universe.


Thoughts on the Episode


IT"S UTHER PENDRAGON!!!!

Back when I was just a casual, every now and then Doctor Who watcher (instead of the crazy fangirl I am now) I was an avid Merlin watcher. I'm talking 3-4 episodes a day. So anyway, it should be no surprise that I was instantly in love with this episode when he arrived on screen.

Buy anyways, onto the episode itself. 

The Doctor and Rose are back in present day England (surprise surprise) at the request of Mickey. He's noticed something weird and asked them to come back and investigate. Now they're undercover in a local highschool. David Tennant as a teacher (god he's sexy in those glasses) and Rose as a cafeteria lady (Jamie Oliver would have a field day in this place!). Strange crazy things begin to happen - like Uther eating somebody! - and then Sarah Jane shows up!

I loved the return of Sarah Jane and K-9. Not only because K-9 is the coolest robot dog ever, but because this definitely mixes things up between the Doctor and Rose. Rose is forced to confront the fact that the Doctor will live forever (and she won't) and that she's not his first companion. I think these revelations bring their relationship to an interesting place - but once again I wish that Rose would stop stringing Mickey along. If he doesn't have a chance with you tell him! It's just mean otherwise. 

There are some dark and human moments for the Doctor in this episode - particularly when Uther (sorry I can't refer to him as anything else) asks to join forces so they can bring back the Time Lords. You can't blame him for being tempted - it has to be lonely being the last of your people.

But all seriousness aside I loved to see the interactions between the various characters in this episode. There's a lot of great relationships and they all experience their ups and downs but for the most part I think all their relationships are built on love and that makes me happy (sorry for the sappiness).

Favourite Moment


When K-9 volunteers to sacrifice himself and save the day. Best dog ever. I definitely teared up during that part - and cheered wildly when he was ok!

Doctor Who Watch a Thon Season 2 Episode 3 "Tooth and Claw"

As an effort to justify our somewhat obsessive T.V watching Meghan (Of Coffee and Wizards and @MegTao on Twitter) and myself have decided to undertake a Doctor Who Watch-a-long. We'll be starting with the beginning of the 2005 relaunch and will be posting about one episode every Wednesday and Friday, on our respective blogs. We hope you'll join in – whether as a re-watch or to discover the Doctor for the first time!

*just a heads up each post may contain spoilers for that episode and then ones before it*

Episode Summary

Written by: Russel T Davies

Directed by: Euros Lyn

The Doctor attempts to take Rose to Sheffield in 1979 to see Ian Dury in concert, but ends up in the Scottish moors in 1879. They encounter a carriage carrying Queen Victoria, who has been forced to travel by roads to Balmoral Castle as a fallen tree has blocked the train line to Aberdeen, feared to be a potential assassination attempt. The Doctor poses as Dr. James McCrimmon using his psychic paper, and the Queen invites him and Rose to join her as she travels to the Torchwood Estate, a favourite of her late consort Prince Albert, to spend the night. The royal party is unaware that the Torchwood Estate has been captured by a group of monks from a monastery in St. Catherine's Glen led by Father Angelo, forcing its owner, Sir Robert MacLeish, to play into their ruse as they take the place of the house's servants and guards. The monks, having arranged for the fallen tree to force the Queen to the estate, have brought a man infected with a form of lycanthropy, hoping to pass its nature to the Queen and create a new "Empire of the Wolf".

Thoughts on the Episode
The beginning of this episode - when the monks invade Torchwood is like Merlin meets The Last Airbender. I love it! I was instantly paying attention. Although come to think of it those monks were freaky. Between this episode and Fringe I'm developing an irrational fear of bald men.

Queen Victoria is a significant character in this episode. There are a lot of references to her late husband, and other royal matters - which made me realize how little I know about British history. You think I would be better informed since we have a whole holiday dedicated to Queen Victoria but turns out I'm more than a little clueless. That being said when Queen Victoria pulled that gun out of her purse she became my favourite royal

Much of the episode seemed way over the top to me and I just couldn't get into like I do other Doctor Who episodes.  It was still fun and entertaining but there were a lot of quickly given explanations that I didn't quite catch and I think I need to rewatch it a couple times to really understand everything that was going on.

 However, despite the drawbacks "Tooth and Claw" is still amazing because of one moment in the library. The owner of Torchwood protests the Doctor's new plan by stating that they have no weapons. Then the Doctor whips out this line: "You want weapons? We're in a library! Books!" and then he puts on the glasses and they read. Amazing! This is truly the man for me.

SWOON!

Favourite Moment
At the beginning when The Doctor and Rose first emerge from the Tardis they are stopped by the Queen's men as she's traveling through Scotland. Upon hearing that they're no longer in England the Doctor quickly adapts his accent.

I love that this is David Tennant's real voice. I'm not usually one for Scottish accents but on him  <3

I also love when Rose finally gets the Queen to say "I am not amused"

Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 2 "New Earth"

As an effort to justify our somewhat obsessive T.V watching Meghan (Of Coffee and Wizards and @MegTao on Twitter) and myself have decided to undertake a Doctor Who Watch-a-long. We'll be starting with the beginning of the 2005 relaunch and will be posting about one episode every Wednesday and Friday, on our respective blogs. We hope you'll join in – whether as a re-watch or to discover the Doctor for the first time!

*just a heads up each post may contain spoilers for that episode and then ones before it*

Episode Summary

Written by: Russel T Davies

Directed by: James Hawes

The Doctor uses the TARDIS to take Rose to the farthest point he's ever taken her, to the year five billion and twenty-three in the M87 galaxy. Humanity, after the destruction of the Earth, settled onto a very Earth-like world, called "New Earth", and Rose admires its beauty. The Doctor is summoned to "Ward 26" in a hospital in New New York through his psychic paper, and while he travels to the Ward, gets separated from Rose. In the Ward, the Doctor meets several humanoid feline nuns of the Sisters of Plenitude who are overseeing the patients, all who have incurable maladies but are somehow being cured by the Sisters.

Thoughts on the Episode
Rose and the Doctor have travelled all the way to "New Earth". I have mixed feelings about the so called New Earth right off the start. First I thought it was kind of morbid, like stuffing your dead dog. Then I thought it was inspiring the way humanity rallied together and put aside  to create a New Earth. And then the pessimism kicked in and I figured future humanity would probably mess this one up too. What can I say? I'm complex.

Anyway once they're on the planet they make their way to a hospital run by cat nuns. Yes cat nuns. These cat nuns decided the Hippocratic oath was not going to be a part of New Earth and infected an entire warehouse of people with EVERY DISEASE. And I don't mean one person for each disease. I mean each person has ALL THE DISEASES! All of this just reaffirmed my belief that cats are not to be trusted.

This episode also see's the return of Cassandra (The Last Human from Season 1). Her return and subsequent taking over the bodies of Rose and the Doctor adds some fantastic humour to this episode. Like her attempt to speak with a Cockney accent. , or David Tennant pretending to be a woman living in a man's body. David Tennant you are foxy - even when your mind has been taken over by an evil crazy lady.

All craziness aside this is a good episode. It asks some good ethical questions. Like when does medical research serve the greatest good and when is it harmful? And how long should life last? And is it any wonder the Doctor has a god complex when he created an entire sub species of humans?

And the most important question of all - why can't I pull a Cassandra and put myself in this situation

Favourite Moment
It's a toss up between when the cat nuns realize they're caught and they whip out the line "who needs arms when we have claws!" and when the Doctor straps the antibiotics for every disease (?) to his chest and slides down the elevator shaft.

The Doctor is my superhero.