Welcome back to school!
So today we get introduced to a character whom was the Doctor’s (or one of them) previous assistant. This means that she was with the Doctor until he so-called “abandons” her, and through this a very interesting point gets brought up by Rose. What happens when the Doctor decides to leave her? Of course the Doc said that, that won’t happen… but I’m not so sure. He made it abundantly clear that he finds it painful to see his apprentices grow old.
But apart from this, the episode was pretty benign and systematic in general. I did like that they jumped right into the plot, having it explained as the episode progresses. We find out that Micky was the one who called them to check out this school… and we soon figure out there are these strange alien-things that are making the students geniuses and using them to crack some code that apparently controls the universe.
None of this is explained too well however, why is there this code? Why does there even need to be one? Why use students? And these aliens were a bit disappointing for the fantastic concept that they are surrounded by. They quite literally morph and evolve as they conquer, meaning that they gain the best aspects of the race they take over… this.was.not.utilized. I was thoroughly disappointed that they just looked like some random bats that have to just claw at a door to get it open… this could have been one of the coolest monsters the Doctor interacted with, but nope… just bat things.
Just like the previous episodes case-of-the-week, this one seemed pretty out of the blue and not following through on some bigger plot thread. But then again, last seasons connected episodes seemed completely out of the blue before they were all tied together within the final two episodes (which I thought was a great way to do things).
The previous assistant had a few cringe-worthy moments with Rose, as they fought over the Doctor like a bunch of schoolgirls, however, this was fixed rather quickly so I was OK with it. We also got to see Micky again, and I must say, he’s starting to grow on me. So I am surprisingly alright with him sticking around for the upcoming adventures (if he decides too).
In the end, it was an episode that wasn’t too memorable, however, it provided a decent story and an interesting plot point that kept its somewhat tedious pace in check. I am just glad that Dr.Who seems to have a decent pace going in general, as in that there are no rapid jumps in quality like there was last season.
Grade: B
awkwardreviews 
Wait… did you skip S2ep1 “New Earth” ? If not, I don’t find it on your page, if yes then you should watch it really fast cause it references S1ep2 and gets also referenced several times in seasons 2 and 3.
Sarah Jane was the third and fourth Doctor’s companion and got her own spin-off series after this (Sarah Jane Adventures) in which K-9 comes back and so does the Doctor in one or two times. (Note that it could be interresting to wtach the spin-off series (SJA and TW) as they get crossovered at some point in DW but shhh… I’ve already said too much
Why use students? It is actually explained at some point by the Doctor, it’s because children have more imagination than adults and then gets better to crack such things as ultra difficult codes.
btw did you already find the plot line of the season ? Each has some easter eggs in the background or in the random speeches of the characters (like Bad Wolf was written in a lot of episodes, you can actually easily find them if you rewatch) and the explanation is given in the season Finale.
So let’s see if you manage to find season 2 plotline =)
I haven’t found it yet!
dunno if you’re streaming or downoading but here it is (Download link available below the video)
http://www.tubeplus.me/movie/867663/Doctor_Who/season_2/episode_1/New_Earth/
It’s alright, i’ve seen New Earth, just forgot to make a review of it. I’ll do that shortly.
ALso, I forgot to say that thare was an in-between episode special that take place between Parting of Ways and Christmas Invasion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKoSbpSdx1U
(there’s actually plenty of these special episodes, you should check Wikipedia if you want to get them all, mainly because they explain some things that weren’t explained before)