Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time an oft-forgotten adventure without the Doctor, featuring the Doctor's best friend and his actual best friend!
This is A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND, aka THE FORGOTTEN SPIN-OFF!
Those opening titles are so typically 80s that they're simultaneously charming and a bit awkward.
The story is fairly detached from Doctor Who, and other than Sarah Jane and K9, there aren't any obvious elements here that would tie it into its parent show. The tone and style are slightly different, so it might as well be a completely unrelated show. Most of the episodes attempt to set up the premise of the show, but it doesn’t leave me much wiser by the end; there are many characters and many conversational scenes that don’t really move the plot forward much and don’t even make me feel anything for the characters.
The mysterious dark cult preparing a human sacrifice is the mystery that drives the narrative, but it’s pretty lightly touched upon through most of the runtime and isn’t particularly engaging. Once the episode turns its focus onto the cult stuff, it never does anything interesting with it, so there’s normal tension or excitement here. The villains are very one-note and forgettable.
Elisabeth Sladen is magnetic as Sarah Jane as always, and this episode truly allows her to use her charm to carry the story as the main character. Jon Leeson is the same old voice as K9, of course. The supporting cast doesn’t leave much of an impression, and the performances are pretty standard, except for Sarah’s "companion,” Brendan, a young, eager, and brilliant-minded geek.
There’s not a lot of K9 in this, despite the show being named after him. It should be “Sarah-Jane and Company” instead.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParentSpoilers2024-03-25T12:10:47Z
:pray_tone2:60/100 = Okay!
Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time an oft-forgotten adventure without the Doctor, featuring the Doctor's best friend and his actual best friend!
This is A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND, aka THE FORGOTTEN SPIN-OFF!
Those opening titles are so typically 80s that they're simultaneously charming and a bit awkward.
The story is fairly detached from Doctor Who, and other than Sarah Jane and K9, there aren't any obvious elements here that would tie it into its parent show. The tone and style are slightly different, so it might as well be a completely unrelated show. Most of the episodes attempt to set up the premise of the show, but it doesn’t leave me much wiser by the end; there are many characters and many conversational scenes that don’t really move the plot forward much and don’t even make me feel anything for the characters.
The mysterious dark cult preparing a human sacrifice is the mystery that drives the narrative, but it’s pretty lightly touched upon through most of the runtime and isn’t particularly engaging. Once the episode turns its focus onto the cult stuff, it never does anything interesting with it, so there’s normal tension or excitement here. The villains are very one-note and forgettable.
Elisabeth Sladen is magnetic as Sarah Jane as always, and this episode truly allows her to use her charm to carry the story as the main character. Jon Leeson is the same old voice as K9, of course. The supporting cast doesn’t leave much of an impression, and the performances are pretty standard, except for Sarah’s "companion,” Brendan, a young, eager, and brilliant-minded geek.
There’s not a lot of K9 in this, despite the show being named after him. It should be “Sarah-Jane and Company” instead.
Writing: 5.7
Population: 6.8
Production: 6.3
Atmosphere: 6.0
Enjoyment: 5.2