April 11: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith Parts One & Two (SJA)

So we finally get a spin-off episode with the Doctor in it, and they treat him like an old-school monster in that he doesn't actually appear until the part one cliffhanger (although they keep tantalizing the audience with the sound of the TARDIS trying to materialize through the episode).

Fortunately Gareth Roberts is keenly aware of the fact that this is still The Sarah Jane Adventures, and thus we get a fun story about Sarah Jane getting married.  The first half definitely is fun; the espionage stuff at the beginning, where Luke, Rani, and Clyde are spying on Sarah Jane only to see that she's been going on dates, is rather wonderful, and the scenes with Rani and Clyde dealing with the alien that Sarah Jane bought on eBay (yes, really) while trying not to let Sarah Jane's beau Peter see what's going on are a good silly time.  Roberts keeps the sense of goodwill that these moments engender going for quite some time, but he also adds in the bit about the engagement ring causing Sarah Jane to change her mind, just to make sure that we haven't tuned in to the soap opera version of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The Doctor exhorts K-9 to locate Sarah Jane while Rani, Luke, and
Clyde look on. (The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith Part Two) ©BBC

But the thing that everyone is really waiting for is the appearance of the Doctor (and as the series 3 DVD cover notes, this story was filmed after Tennant's swansong in The End of Time), and he doesn't disappoint.  It's really wonderful to see Tennant take on the guest role here, as he tries to track down Sarah Jane and defeat the Trickster, who's back for a third time to try and get rid of Sarah Jane.  Roberts manages the trick of making the Doctor important in this episode but not the main focus (as it should be), which means that while we get some great scenes with the Doctor -- including a sly reference to Sarah Jane's name change ("Sarah Jane.  She doesn't like being called Sarah," Rani corrects the Doctor at one point.  "She does by me," the Doctor blithely replies) and some extra information about the Trickster ("The Trickster is a creature from beyond the universe," the Doctor tells the others.  "Forever trying to break in to our reality, manifest himself.  He's one of the Pantheon of Discord. ... He's an eternal exile, who exists to wreak havoc") -- the resolution of the events comes from Clyde and from Peter Dalton, who decides to give up his life in exchange for allowing Sarah Jane to live the life she wants to live, even though she still loves Peter.  "But I chose you because you didn't have the strength," the Trickster cries.  "You really don't know my Sarah Jane, do you?  She gave me the strength," Peter replies.

It is occasionally slightly odd to see the Doctor used in this manner, though; the styles of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures aren't wildly different, but they're far enough apart that there are occasional moments where the Doctor's presence feels awkward -- it's as if we need to be reminded that this is still The Sarah Jane Adventures, and so the Doctor ends up praising Luke, Clyde, and Rani quite a bit, but in a way that rings slightly false.  Still, it doesn't happen often, and while there's the other oddity of the Doctor not being the focus of the story, that's easy enough to excuse after a moment or so.

So.  Gareth Roberts pulls off the difficult task of putting the Doctor in a spin-off show and not immediately unbalancing the story as a result, and he also gives us another diabolical plot from the Trickster and a resolution that pleasingly hinges on Sarah Jane's effect on people, rather than on the Doctor's presence.  The result is a fan-pleasing, high-quality tale that hits all the right notes and manages to make this more than just "the one with the Doctor in it" (even if that likely is how most people will remember it).  If only they'd managed to get Nicholas Courtney in as they'd originally hoped, this would have been almost perfect.  As it is, we'll have to settle for very good indeed.