From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: DEATH OF THE DOCTOR   
      
   2 episodes. Approx. 52 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies.   
   Directed by: Ashley Way. Produced by: Brian Minchin.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   UNIT Colonel Tia Karim (Laila Rouass) has bad news for Sarah Jane   
   Smith and her young charges: The Doctor is dead. His body was   
   recovered by the Shansheeth, a race devoted to recovering the bodies   
   of heroes and returning them home for funerals. Given that the   
   Doctor's home is long since gone, the Shansheeth have brought him to   
   his "second home" - Earth. He will be given a hero's farewell at a   
   ceremony at UNIT headquarters, and Sarah Jane, Clyde, and Rani are   
   invited to attend.   
      
   Sarah Jane is suspicious, even after Mr. Smith informs her that the   
   Shansheeth are exactly what they claim to be. At UNIT, she meets up   
   with one other mourner: Jo Jones (Katy Manning), the Doctor's   
   assistant immediately before her. The two hit it off very well, even   
   moreso once Sarah Jane realizes that Jo also doubts the Doctor's   
   "death." That's when Clyde ducks into a ventilation shaft and   
   discovers that the Shansheeth have created this whole scenario, as a   
   trap for Sarah Jane and Jo. Now only the Doctor can save them - but   
   how can he, when the Shansheeth already have his TARDIS?   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: During his tenth incarnation's protracted death, he didn't   
   just look in on the companions we saw. He apparently looked in on all   
   of his companions. When Sarah Jane asked if his tenth persona's death   
   "hurt" and if "he was all right in the end," he deflects the question.   
   "It always hurts," he tells Sarah Jane - and leaves the second half of   
   her question entirely unanswered, perhaps not wanting to admit just   
   how much he had not wanted to let go. Though the wound of his people's   
   death may not be as fresh as it was for his ninth or tenth   
   incarnations, he is still momentarily hurt when Jo makes an oblivious   
   remark about him getting "into trouble with the Time Lords."   
      
   Sarah Jane Smith: When informed of the Doctor's death, she goes into   
   immediate and complete denial. Part of that is her belief that if the   
   Doctor were to truly die, she would feel it. Her instincts are proved   
   right, of course - but that doesn't mean her reaction would have been   
   any different had his death been genuine. A brief but very smartly-   
   written scene has Rani talking with her father about people's   
   responses to death, with Rani's father telling her and Clyde that the   
   only thing to really do for Sarah Jane is to give her time to absorb   
   her loss.   
      
   Jo Jones: This story marks the return of Katy Manning's Jo - and she's   
   a delight. Her entrance at the midpoint of Episode One jerks the   
   serial to life and adds a whole new layer of enjoyment. I love her   
   reaction to Matt Smith's Doctor, aghast that the Doctor has   
   regenerated "into a baby!" She's hurt that the Doctor never came back   
   for her, much as Sarah Jane was in School Reunion, but she has kept   
   herself busy with a life constantly on the move, visiting basically   
   every country on Earth as an environmental protester. Katy Manning is   
   terrific, showing a Jo who's as scatterbrained, yet also as brave and   
   charming, in her older years as she was in her youth. She and   
   Elisabeth Sladen make a good team, Sladen's more grounded persona   
   acting as an anchor for Manning's eccentricity.   
      
   Clyde/Rani: With Tommy Knight stepping back to focus on exams, Luke's   
   presence is reduced to a prerecorded cameo. This leaves Clyde and Rani   
   as Sarah Jane's companions. I think this is actually a plus. Daniel   
   Anthony and Anjli Mohindra are stronger performers than Knight (he   
   says, ducking brickbats from Luke fans), and their characters have a   
   very easy interaction by this point in the series. They get a much   
   stronger role in Part One than in Part Two, with scenes such as Rani's   
   pushing Sarah Jane to let go of her denial enough to at least listen   
   and gather facts, or Clyde's trip into the ventilation shaft. Once the   
   Doctor joins the main action in Part Two, they are moved firmly to the   
   sidelines in favor of the Doctor/Sarah Jane/Jo dynamic.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   The Sarah Jane Adventures has always been more in the style of classic   
   Doctor Who than new Who. A CBBC budget has kept the stories largely   
   smaller-scale, with many (including this one) occurring in an enclosed   
   space that limits needed sets. Death of the Doctor carries on this   
   tradition, with an alien planet that is clearly a quarry and a monster   
   that wouldn't look at all out of place menacing Sylvester McCoy. Matt   
   Smith or no, this - like its entire series - is more spiritually a   
   part of classic Who than of the current model.   
      
   This is no bad thing, particularly in an episode which has been   
   deliberately crafted as a nostalgia piece for fans of 1970's Who. We   
   touch base with Jo, and get a wealth of clips courtesy of the   
   Shansheeth "memory weave" allowing us to see bits of Tom Baker and Jon   
   Pertwee and even - courtesy of The Three Doctors in Jo's memory - of   
   Hartnell and Troughton. The tag scene tells us how travel with the   
   Doctor impacted several past companions, from Ian and Barbara to Ben   
   and Polly to Tegan. Refreshingly, we are told that all of them saw   
   their lives made better by their travels.   
      
   The story's fairly thin, and probably a touch weaker than the previous   
   season's The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (in which David Tennant made   
   his guest shot). Still, it does its job in giving form and momentum to   
   the character bits, which are stronger than those in Wedding. The plot   
   is nonsense, but it's fun nonsense, with pace and energy. The   
   character scenes, both dealing with Sarah Jane's denial in Part One   
   and with the Doctor's reunion with Jo in Part Two, are quite splendid.   
      
   At a brisk 52 minutes total, all of it in the company of characters   
   who are effortlessly likable, this is definitely a worthwhile   
   addition, both to The Sarah Jane Adventures and to Doctor Who.   
      
      
   Rating: 7/10.   
      
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