SJA: The Empty Planet

[clocketpatch]

I've only watched the first bit so far but found it genuinely creepy. I don't know about anyone else, but waking up to an empty world is the sort of thing I have bad dreams about from time to time. And well played with the mystery - I have absolutely no idea what it going on (but I was jumping at every little thing).

Also, Rani/Clyde. I think it's kind of impossible NOT to ship it after watching that. Clyde's constant Adam and Eve thing and Rani's constant "so changing the subject now" was funny right when you needed it. Ditto on the bike wars.

Their musings on whether they would have met without Sarah-Jane, on their place in the team, in the world, and on what kind of people they're turning into - especially on the Gavin subject - was very well handled. It never stops amazing me how deep SJA is for a kid's spin-off series.

Oh, and Clyde's line in the teaser "Okay, now it makes even less sense than it did without the robots" pure gold.
*

;D

[johne]

Spoilers for both parts.
] Clyde's getting so sharp he might cut himself, not to mention developing deductive skills that would give the current Sherlock a run for his money. And Clyde/Rani is pretty much as canon as it gets, what with all the hugging and kissing and the way Clyde's mind keeps heading in the direction of Adam and Eve. For that matter, the excuse the two of them give about where they'd been -- together, 'helping with homework' in some hiding place with no mobile telephone signal -- is almost tailored to make their parents think they sneaked off for an intimate assignation.

As for the story, I thought the ending was rushed; by introducing the device of the countdown and having them not find Gavin until the last couple of minutes, it meant there was hardly any time for him to go from 'frightened schoolboy' to 'prince accepting his destiny' -- and no time at all for anyone to consider the possibility that the robots might have other designs on the Son and Heir. I think it might have helped if he'd had a character arc, not a character cusp.

... And I'm ever so slightly annoyed that we didn't find out whether Clyde got away with his... unique... approach to reading Great Expectations.
[

[jjpor]

Of course he did - he's Clyde! ;D

Pt 1 + 2 spoilers:

*I'd agree about there being more questions than answers about the plot there - for all we know, those robots were acting on behalf of some usurper, killing off the remnants of the old royal family. Or something. Yeah, the ending did seem a little rushed, but overall I liked this one rather a lot.

In fact, heretical as it may be to say so ;D I think this story might have been my favourite of this season so far. Yes, even better than Eleven and Jo and the epic, epic fanw*nk! Apart from the questions about the ending mentioned above (and yeah, Gavin seemed to have very little trouble adjusting to the revelations about himself), it really worked for me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Clyde and Rani running round Omega Man London being awesome in their own way, and the hugging and the swapping bikes and leaving money in the till at the cafe and all that. And the line Clocket identifies about the situation being even stranger than it was before there were robots.

The eerie atmosphere in Pt 1 and the whole Clyde-Rani (and indeed Clyde/Rani) dynamic were the making off this. Not only did the characters shine (or rather shine even more than usual in Clyde's case! ;D), but their musings on life and alien fighting added a nice extra dimension to the whole thing. I didn't find myself missing any of the other characters at all.

And the goofy yet slightly menacing robots were a wheeze as well, clanking around etc. Even if their plan doesn't quite hold up to scrutiny.

Next week's one looks fun too - time travel to multiple eras - Tudors, Victorians and WW2 - and a bloke with a parrot. A bloke with a parrot in a fez! ;D*

[lynda]

*I was a bit sad to see the boy go; as the episode progressed I thought he was going to be a new regular, you know, to be around when Rani and Clyde finish sixth form. Are they going to get a new cast next year, or have them stay back while still going to uni somehow?

Sorry, that didn't have anything to do with the episode. Um, the blatant Clyde/Rani shipping was kind of fun (Clyde wants it a lot more than Rani does, apparently) *

[Starflower]

*This was an amazing episode. For once, RTD actually impressed me. The first part was very creepy and sureal and the second part was fanastic. I agree that the ending was rather abrupt but apart from that I have no complaints. I've been shipping Rani/Clyde since the begining of season 2 so this episode about made my brain explode! 5 stars. ^.^*

[jjpor]

*This very definitely remains my favourite story of this series of SJA so far (unless next week's can dramatically unseat it) - yes, shockingly, even moreso than the Eleven and Jo story! And I agree, Clyde very definitely seems more interested in the idea of Clyde/Rani than vice versa...although... ;D Can't those two crazy kids just get it together?? ;D*