Ignore my old review. I was young and nervous, yes the review was tragic. But anyway regardless of that, this is the best spin-off from Doctor who. It has a lot of heart, is very Entertaining. And has some great stories throughout its run. Aired in 2006-2011 so the pilot Invasion of the Bane is the first review. So let's get into it.
The Cons,
Will start of with the negatives, not that there is much. The acting throughout the episode is a mix of good and okay. It can sometimes be a little over the top, especially Elizabeth Sladen, who usually has a cheesy grin. And her acting isn't all that great, but it's a kids show. On the whole it's not terrible, but it's not her best performance. The directing is awful at times, there's a wide shot, and then seemingly gets closer as the Bane screams 'Sarah Jane Smith'. And there's some other shots that feel like they could of been taken for longer, but it's like they run out of time and just cut out randomly. This however happens twice, so overall it doesn't happen too much, but the few times it does happen is rather strange and bizarre. Although, maybe they didn't quite have the technology to quite pull off what they wanted to in the episode. And for me it doesn't work, it feels clunky and cuts out and feels rushed, because they needed to hang onto these moments for longer. Although time for the pros.
Pros,
The story, albeit sort of outdated for today's standards is an impressive start to the siries. Maria played by (Yasmin Page) has just moved in with her dad, after her Mum and dad split up. It's a good introduction and develops her character well, as we already know something about her past life. And it's a great introduction for her into Siries 1. Sarah Jane, Mostly being frosty and turning out to be colder then ice. And turns out to be rather rude, and not very welcoming as a person. At the start she seems unlikeable. I think for me this works, because this gives her some base level development. The Factory, with an irresistible well-made drink contains Bane. The Banes design for it's time is pretty impressive. It's a layered suit, and the layers work, as it gives them a bit more character growth, and some much needed depth. Kelsie is a stuck up, self centured person, that thinks she's hard. When in reality she's about as hard as pancakes. And consistently screams in this episode, she's a pretty disposable character, with not much character growth. That's where her character suffers off, with the lack of development. She's also as flat as pancakes. However, the design of the building bubleshock is big. Has lots of colours, making the tension better, and has some funny moments. Like the toilet scene. And I like the archatype, that is made from the Bane. Yep, there's plenty to talk about, in this episode. And the Bane controlling the world, where almost every human has drunken there drink. But I like how the episode is centured around the factory, that all builds up, and sets the groundwork for the rest of the siries progressing forward. It's a good starting place, the characters don't have so many locations to go through. Which is a good thing, because if they were, then it would be pretty messy. And would make the story even more clunky. How all the Characters got a chance to save the world, was also brilliantly done. As it hinges on this moment, thus making it more meaningful to us as a viewer and them as the characters. The Factory blowing up, yes they could of done it in a different way. But it works with the overall story, as they show it blowing up there's a great character moment along side that when Maria, Sarah and Luke cheer when they realise they have saved the world. And I like I said it's a good moment, because the unlikeable Sarah Jane is now a hero. It's a bit of an underdog story in that sense. And the Long scene where Sarah and Maria are thinking of naming the archetype, and then they come up with Luke. It's a nice character moment, it builds up to this cool moment, where Sarah then gets to tell us about her ALWAYS wanted to name her son Luke. And then mentions a man, who's also mysterious. And that man is the Doctor. So this scene connects better with the overall world of Doctor who. Which is why for me, it's a good moment. And overall a fun Entertaining episode, that is well paced. And the Music for the siries, is great. It's very catchy and memorable. And the rest of the music for the episode is pretty spot on to. It's catchy, and isn't over bloated or overly loud. It's slow, but works effectively. And I can't put my finger onto why it works, it just is great. Murray Gold has always been great. Now time for my verdict.
Verdict,
7/10 Great Introduction to the siries, highly Entertaining! And definitely recommend.
The Cons,
Will start of with the negatives, not that there is much. The acting throughout the episode is a mix of good and okay. It can sometimes be a little over the top, especially Elizabeth Sladen, who usually has a cheesy grin. And her acting isn't all that great, but it's a kids show. On the whole it's not terrible, but it's not her best performance. The directing is awful at times, there's a wide shot, and then seemingly gets closer as the Bane screams 'Sarah Jane Smith'. And there's some other shots that feel like they could of been taken for longer, but it's like they run out of time and just cut out randomly. This however happens twice, so overall it doesn't happen too much, but the few times it does happen is rather strange and bizarre. Although, maybe they didn't quite have the technology to quite pull off what they wanted to in the episode. And for me it doesn't work, it feels clunky and cuts out and feels rushed, because they needed to hang onto these moments for longer. Although time for the pros.
Pros,
The story, albeit sort of outdated for today's standards is an impressive start to the siries. Maria played by (Yasmin Page) has just moved in with her dad, after her Mum and dad split up. It's a good introduction and develops her character well, as we already know something about her past life. And it's a great introduction for her into Siries 1. Sarah Jane, Mostly being frosty and turning out to be colder then ice. And turns out to be rather rude, and not very welcoming as a person. At the start she seems unlikeable. I think for me this works, because this gives her some base level development. The Factory, with an irresistible well-made drink contains Bane. The Banes design for it's time is pretty impressive. It's a layered suit, and the layers work, as it gives them a bit more character growth, and some much needed depth. Kelsie is a stuck up, self centured person, that thinks she's hard. When in reality she's about as hard as pancakes. And consistently screams in this episode, she's a pretty disposable character, with not much character growth. That's where her character suffers off, with the lack of development. She's also as flat as pancakes. However, the design of the building bubleshock is big. Has lots of colours, making the tension better, and has some funny moments. Like the toilet scene. And I like the archatype, that is made from the Bane. Yep, there's plenty to talk about, in this episode. And the Bane controlling the world, where almost every human has drunken there drink. But I like how the episode is centured around the factory, that all builds up, and sets the groundwork for the rest of the siries progressing forward. It's a good starting place, the characters don't have so many locations to go through. Which is a good thing, because if they were, then it would be pretty messy. And would make the story even more clunky. How all the Characters got a chance to save the world, was also brilliantly done. As it hinges on this moment, thus making it more meaningful to us as a viewer and them as the characters. The Factory blowing up, yes they could of done it in a different way. But it works with the overall story, as they show it blowing up there's a great character moment along side that when Maria, Sarah and Luke cheer when they realise they have saved the world. And I like I said it's a good moment, because the unlikeable Sarah Jane is now a hero. It's a bit of an underdog story in that sense. And the Long scene where Sarah and Maria are thinking of naming the archetype, and then they come up with Luke. It's a nice character moment, it builds up to this cool moment, where Sarah then gets to tell us about her ALWAYS wanted to name her son Luke. And then mentions a man, who's also mysterious. And that man is the Doctor. So this scene connects better with the overall world of Doctor who. Which is why for me, it's a good moment. And overall a fun Entertaining episode, that is well paced. And the Music for the siries, is great. It's very catchy and memorable. And the rest of the music for the episode is pretty spot on to. It's catchy, and isn't over bloated or overly loud. It's slow, but works effectively. And I can't put my finger onto why it works, it just is great. Murray Gold has always been great. Now time for my verdict.
Verdict,
7/10 Great Introduction to the siries, highly Entertaining! And definitely recommend.