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  1. #1
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    Default 5.3 The Man Who Never Was

    It's time for the final adventure. has Sarah Jane met her match this time or is this just a glitch?

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    I got a nice warm feeling from this episode. Lis seemed to be really relishing her part in the story as a reporter par excellence. And what a revelation James Dreyfus was - playing the part with some menace I thought. Would have made a good Master (and I never thought I'd say that about him!!)

    Clearly a more light-hearted story than the last one, but I enjoyed it just as much. It's going to be so hard watching the last episode

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    I thought it was an oddly lacklustre episode for a Gareth Roberts season finale. It didn't feel epic or special at all (would this originally have gone out mid-season I wonder?). It felt like the writer had had a "man in a gasometer playing a trombone" type image (a man being worked by lots of hooded goblins) and spun out an episode from it. Stranger still, a lot of the characterisation felt odd, and a lot of this was thin, jokey stuff that didn't seem to sit easily. And those bloody comedy 'harp' strings playing throughout the ENTIRE episode to remind us when a comedy scene came along... Geez, enough already.

    Si.

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    Apparently it wasn't the finale, they'd recorded the first three stories of the season.

    We really liked the comedy scenes with Lis and James Dreyfuss and the hologram. It was silly but we were laughing all the way through them.

    Nice to see Peter Bowles- he's always a welcome presence and should have been in Doctor Who by now too.

  5. #5
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    I adored this episode!

    The hooded men pulling the levers were great! (although it's a shame that DW did the Tessalecta which was a similar premise this year) And Peter Bowles was just magnificent. Lovely to see him flirting with Sarah and the way he delivered the line 'It's so easy to use!' was spot on.

    But this was Sladen's episode, albeit a comedy one. She was simply brilliant in her interrogation of the hologram.

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    I haven't had time to check the credits or look elsewhere but that cleaner girl looked familiar?
    Certainly the dialogue reference that passed between Clyde and Rani about Ellie suggests this only takes place a short time after last week's story although Luke's references to Clani as if they're somehow a couple now made me wonder if I'd missed something but I guess he's only teasing.

    And surely not a coincidence that Dreyfuss' character's surname is Harrison.

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    And Clyde refers to visiting Luke which made us wonder if there was a missing one between. Were ever due to see Cylde and Luke, snuggled up in his Oxford dorm? I'll bet hands wandered.

    Si.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Si Hunt View Post
    And Clyde refers to visiting Luke which made us wonder if there was a missing one between. Were ever due to see Cylde and Luke, snuggled up in his Oxford dorm? I'll bet hands wandered.

    Si.
    Honestly!

    And there was me feeling guilty about posting about Todd and Josh last night!

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    Really enjoyed that. Loved the final montage and the '... forever' at the end. The one thing I still can't get over is that Elisabeth Sladen at no point looks like someone who was so sick she died before the filming of the series could be completed.

    For a show deprived of a proper final episode, that one was not a bad one to go out on.

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    Awww. That was a lovely way to end it.

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    I thought it was the perfect way to bow out - a crazy, fun adventure that gave everyone the chance to shine. The fact that they managed to crowbar in Rani and Clyde's growing relationship, the brother/sister relationship between Luke and Sky, an I-Phone parody, Peter Bowles (!), a cleaner and a bunch of alien slaves operating a hologram and STILL had room for Sladen to shine was amazing.

    In purely technical terms of tying storylines together, that was Gareth Roberts' best story.

    And the final montage was simply beautiful. She really was a very special lady.

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    A lovely story and a very fitting tribute to Lis Sladen. Again, really impressed by James Dreyfus in this episode - a thoroughly nasty character. Who'd have thought? Loved the pen joke too I want to be a kid again and watch all the SJAs throughout my half term. Kids don't know how good they've got it these days!

  13. #13

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    It was a nice, fun episode to bow out with. The montage at the end was a nice tribute. It's sad that there won't be any more adventures. From what I've heard, one of the remaining stories would have involved the Trickster and we would have learnt more about the Shopkeeper. It's a shame we won't get to see them.

    Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith.

  14. #14
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    Kids don't know how good they've got it these days!
    It does sound like the best half-term ever... could only be improved if they started with 'The Time Warriror' and showed ALL of Sarah-Jane's adventures!

    one of the remaining stories would have involved the Trickster and we would have learnt more about the Shopkeeper
    It's so sad that they had to leave that last season unfinished.

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    I really enjoyed this one. James Dreyfus was indeed excellent in a Master kind of way. I don't think there has been a story out of these last 3 that was poor, a brilliant way to finish a season & indeed the entire series on.

    Sarah Jane will always be remembered as one of the best companions of the Doctor & undoubtedly the most successful of them all.
    She was 1 in a million & will live on forever in my DVD collection, righting wrongs & beating the bad guys.





    Miss you Sarah Jane...Liz.

  16. #16

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    I'm not a regular SJA watcher I must admit, but catch enough episodes to know who's who etc. Clearly not intended as a season (or indeed whole series) finale but it was an enjoyable couple of episodes.

    As Jason says, you would never assume that Elizabeth Sladen was so ill at the time.

    Lovely little montage at the end to bring it to a close "...forever".

    Whilst it was a nice touch and seemed right to have the Brigadier's death cannonised by the main series, I can't imagine they'd do the same with Sarah Jane and hope they don't.
    A pot of coffee, 12 jammie dodgers and a fez...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Curnow View Post
    Whilst it was a nice touch and seemed right to have the Brigadier's death cannonised by the main series, I can't imagine they'd do the same with Sarah Jane and hope they don't.
    God no! I hope they leave it as Sarah Jane is still fighting for Earth even though we don't get to see what she is doing. Hopefully they can continue her adventures in books even if there isn't a TV series.

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    Wouldn't it be wonderful to every so often get a little mention of something Sarah Jane and the others have done, perhaps like those in Turn Left. What a wonderful thing that would be.

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    Yes, it'd be one of those warm knowing moments. Like the Brig being mentioned now & again.

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    That was a much better second episode. There was more action, and the plotlines came together well. James Dreyfus gave an extraordinary performance.

    Two complaints - it's a New Who staple that all but one of the aliens has a mask on, but when they were on the roof and not one of the other hooded folk took off their suspicious welding mask, it got beyond a joke! Secondly, I thought the montage at the end seemed rushed. It was like they hurriedly edited in a trailer from an old series and then tacked a caption on the end. "The Story goes on...". It just didn't cut it for me. Look at "Survival" for how it should be done.

    Si.

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    ...so we had a Luke and a Sky. Pity there wasn't a Mr or Mrs Walker on the scene too

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    Did anyone else spot the very rude gag in this episode?

    Si.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Si Hunt View Post
    Did anyone else spot the very rude gag in this episode?

    Si.
    I think someone did allude to it in an earlier post. Suffice to say Clyde wasn't the only person relieved to see a full stop in that sentence.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Si Hunt View Post
    Secondly, I thought the montage at the end seemed rushed. It was like they hurriedly edited in a trailer from an old series and then tacked a caption on the end. "The Story goes on...". It just didn't cut it for me. Look at "Survival" for how it should be done.
    Presumably they sadly didn't have the chance to get Lis to record anything else in time and did what they could with what they had.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Si Hunt View Post
    Look at "Survival" for how it should be done.
    A bit harder to get the lead actor to come back and do a monologue when she's dead, though. What else could they have done other than use some old clips and mix together some of the old voiceovers?