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THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES |
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Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen Luke Smith - Thomas Knight Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony Maria Jackson - Yasmin Paige Rani - Anjli Mohindra 
OTHER SARAH JANE ADVENTURES SERIES Series 1 Series 3 Series 4 Series 5 DOCTOR WHO The Sarah Jane Smith Years The Tom Baker Years The Christopher Ecclestone Year The David Tennant Years Torchwood 
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THE LAST SONTARAN Part 1Originally transmitted September 29th 2008A radio telescope in a remote country village is plagued by lights in the sky and then something in the woods. Sarah Jane's journalist mind can't resist the story and she takes the kids down to the telescope where they discover that there is a Sontaran left over from an invasion fleet that failed and that plans to destroy the Earth in revenge for the destruction of his comrades. This is a direct sequel to the DOCTOR WHO story told in The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky, continuing the show's tradition of crossing over some of the parent show's favourite aliens. Of course, where the Doctor could deal with a whole fleet of Sontarans a single Sontaran warrior is enough to give Sarah Jane and the gang serious problems. The plot is simple enough and borrows from all over the place. Humans controlled by aliens is a staple of science fiction shows and films whilst the cloaking device that the Sontaran uses for his ship and himeself is straight out of PREDATOR. This development does beg the question why the Sontarans have never used this technology before as it would clearly have given them a huge advantage in previous encounters, not least the most recent one with the Doctor. One line stating that the Sontaran is a behind enemy lines specialist won't cut it I'm afraid. Nor will the fact that the whole radio telescope station is run by one man and his daughter. Or that a highly trained Sontaran warrior can't hit a single child with its high-tech weaponry. Apart from the whole alien problem, there is some angst over Maria's father being offered a job in America and possibility that she might be leaving. The acting by the youngsters remains questionable, but there is more than enough running around for that not to matter, not to mention the fact that Elisabeth Sladen's experience in this sort of thing can carry the show easily. It's still bright and cheerful and that's enough for now. Written by Phil FordDirected by Joss Agnew Top THE LAST SONTARAN Part 2Originally transmitted September 29th 2008With the Sontaran warrior distracted, the gang run around looking for a way to disable the signal that will bring satellites crashing down onto humanity's nuclear power stations destroying the whole planet. They come up with several but the alien always seems to be one step ahead. Until, that is, Maria's mother gets involved. As usual, all of the narrative work was done in the first episode and there is a lot of running around, very little of which actually makes much sense. Sarah Jane's technical skills have come along a bit as she is able to construct a signal jamming device in no time at all from some electronic bits and pieces. It's not believable, but it gets by on youthful energy and a few good lines. Maria and her family leave, though the door is left open for her amusingly annoying mother to crop up again. Written by Phil FordDirected by Joss Agnew Top THE DAY OF THE CLOWN PART 1Originally transmitted October 6th 2008Children from the local area are going missing. The police are clueless. Clyde sees a clown wandering around the school, a clown that nobody else can see, not even Luke. Sarah Jane starts to investigate and tracks down a museum of the circus that is owned by a very unusual man. Luke tries to protect new neighbour Rani, but finds himself dragged along by her curious nature into the same danger. Some people don't like clowns, find them scary as anything. That makes them perfect for monsters in shows like this. There is something innately creepy about the painted smile and innane behaviour. Coupling that with the horrific crime of child kidnap makes for unsettling ground, but then that's what this show is about and it makes the most of the build up, showing the clown in glimpses and spending a lot of its time not revealing anything until the trip to the museum brings in the fairytale of the Pied Piper. There's still his ultimate purpose for the stolen chldren to be revealed, of course, so if you suffer from coulrophobia (fear of clowns, who says children's TV can't teach you anything) then you might want to stay away from this two parter. Maria's gone and so her replacement arrives in the shape of Anjli Mohindra as Rani. She's not so far removed from Maria and her mother is very reminiscent of Maria's. Her father is the head of the school and therefore more authoritarian than Maria's father was, but I doubt that too much rewriting was needed to fit in these new characters to plots that were already built. Written by Phil FordDirected by Michael Kerrigan Top THE DAY OF THE CLOWN PART 2Originally transmitted October 13th 2008Escaping from the clown museum thanks to a mobile phone, Sarah Jane and the gang discover that this is none other than the Pied Piper of Hamelin and that he possibly came to earth in a meteorite. Whilst Sarah gets a chunk of the meteorite to test, Luke, Clyde and Rani have to try and stop all the children in the school marching off under the piper's influence. Then he takes Luke and Sarah Jane must face her worst fear, the loss of her son. Energy beings that live on fear are ten a penny in science fiction shows and it is a big disappointment when the truth is revealed. Stitching it together with the Pied Piper myth and clowns down the ages works quite well, but the manner in which Clyde deals with the threat is both hackneyed and not very impressive as the jokes he uses are neither original nor very funny. A natural comedian he is not. Still, there's some back story about Sarah Jane losing her parents young that we have a feeling will come back somehow in the future and Elisabeth Sladen does well convincing that she is terrified of clowns. A nice performance from Bradley Walsh as all the incarnations of the clown gives her something to be convincingly afraid of, making the most of the inherent scariness of the circus funnymen. Written by Phil FordDirected by Michael Kerrigan Top THE SECRETS OF THE STARS PART 1Originally transmitted October 20th 2008A fake astrologer is hit by ancient energy and suddenly becomes able to tell all a persons secrets. An instant sensation, his stage show becomes popular enough to interest Sarah Jane and the gang. They learn that Phil Trueman has tapped into a power that predates the universe itself and one that has plans all of its own. The plotting behind this show continues to belie its place on children's television. The way in which Trueman dangles Sarah Jane and tortures her with memories of the Doctor and her journeys with the Time Lord is subtle and powerful and nicely played by Elisabeth Sladen, tapping into the humanity of the character. By comparison, son Luke's angst over not having a birthday is dismissed with barely a thought. The main problem here is the performance by Russ Abbott as Trueman. The opening scene in which he recants his con artist ways and refuses to take a woman's mortgage money is quite good, but the moment the alien energy infects him he turns into a villain so pantomime that all he's missing is a long black moustache to twirl. Written by Gareth RobertsDirected by Michael Kerrigan Top THE SECRETS OF THE STARS PART 2Originally transmitted October 27th 2008The ancient lights that have survived from the universe before the Big Bang set about their plan, bringing the humans of the earth under their influence star sign by star sign. Clyde is freed from their power, but not knowing quite how they did it, Sarah Jane decides that the only way to save the planet is to reach out to the humanity within Trueman. Unfortunately, that humanity is revelling in his newfound power and he's not about to give it up. The Pied Piper massed the kids all together through the use of balloons and museum tickets (see The Day of the Clown Part 2) and now Russ Abbott is massing all the people together through the power of star signs. There's a real sense of deja vu that is unfortunate because the plot is strong enough to stand on its own. Russ Abbott's performance remains the weak link to all this, a truly pantomime showing that robs his character of any real threat or, having been defeated, any real pathos. That said, it's fast and exciting and all comes together at the end. Written by Gareth RobertsDirected by Michael Kerrigan Top MARK OF THE BERSERKER PART 1Originally transmitted November 3rd 2008Whilst Sarah Jane is away, Rani encounters a pendant that makes people do whatever the wearer tells them to. This starts out as fun until she realises the potential for danger, so she leaves it in Sarah Jane's loft. Clyde's dad appears out of nowhere wanting to get to know his son again. Trying to impress, Clyde takes him to Sarah's loft where he takes the pendant and tells Clyde that he must forget his friends completely. Clyde isn't having a good time of it lately. In the last adventure he was taken over by the astrological powers and here he is taken over by his father. Fathers haven't been getting a good press at all in DOCTOR WHO and its spin-offs since the Time Lord came back and now it's time for THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES to follow the trend, coming up with an absentee father who is also a bit of wideboy and certainly not to be trusted. Sure he is manipulated into taking the pendant by its power, but only because he was of that kind of mind in the first place. And whilst the kids all do well enough with the story, Elisabeth Sladen's absence is sorely regretted. Let's hope that she's back next week. Written by Joseph LidsterDirected by Joss Agnew Top MARK OF THE BERSERKER PART 2Originally transmitted November 10th 2008With Sarah Jane still away chasing as nasty infection in hospital, Rani and Luke enlist Maria's help from America to try and bring Clyde back to his senses before his father makes him forget everything and turns into a Berserker under the influence of the locket. The first part of this episode is an orgy of wish fulfilment (cars, leather jackets forgetting all pain etc), but the threat posed by having everything you want fulfilled remains in the background throughout, not least by Rani's father continuously doing press ups until he is likely to die. The way in which everything is resolved is trite, obvious and predictable, but it does tie everything up nicely. Maria's cameo appearance is a bit artificially forced in, but it doesn't matter and Sarah Jane's climactic appearance is excellently staged, as is her little reminiscence about her own family that sets up next week's encouter with some old 'friends'. Written by Joseph LidsterDirected by Joss Agnew Top THE TEMPTATION OF SARAH JANE PART 1Originally transmitted November 17th 2008Investigating a rift in time, Sarah Jane learns that it leads back to a time and place just before her parents died leaving her an orphan. It's an obvious trap set for her by someone, but she is unable to resist the lure and goes through, back to 1951 and the actual date of her parents death. She meets them and sees how much they loved her as a baby and finally can't resist trying to save them. In the present, protected by an alien artefact, Clyde and Rani see London transformed into a desolate wasteland. The very best story of Season 1 was Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane? in which Sarah Jane was replaced by a girl who died at a pivotal moment in Sarah Jane's life. The alien enemy in that story, the Trickster, is behind the plot in this one, but this story, as in that one, is about Sarah Jane and her past. The fact that the trap is so obvious, even to her, is overridden by the temptation of seeing her parents, meeting her parents, learning what they were like and finally saving them. The danger is obvious, but the audience knows in their heart that they would fall just as Sarah Jane does. It's a big call on Elisabeth Sladen to carry the emotional weight of the story, but she does pretty well with it, walking the edge of sentimentality without ever falling in. The plot set up is dangerously like that of Father's Day in DOCTOR WHO (child goes back in time to save parent and ends up putting whole world in peril), so fans will get a sense of deja vu, but the story just about overcomes this by the sweetness of the time that Sarah Jane spends with her parents. It makes up for the stupid little troll that is the Trickster's right hand man and is still the silliest creature the show has yet come up with. Written by Gareth RobertsDirected by Graeme Harper Top THE TEMPTATION OF SARAH JANE PART 2Originally transmitted November 24th 2008Clyde and Rani find Rani's mother amongst the slave survivors that are being used to dig for minerals in the Trickster's alternative timeline. Sarah Jane goes back to 1951 to try and repair the damage that she has done, but hasn't got the strength of purpose to kill her own parents. One thing that neither she nor the Trickster counted on, however, was that the parents of Sarah Jane Smith would be remarkable. And so the story is concluded in the only way that it could be. Time is restored and Sarah Jane loses her parents again. It would be a hard heart that doesn't goes through the parting scene without breaking just a little bit. Nicely (under)written and well played all around. It's nice to see a DOCTOR WHO franchise show back in the traditional quarry setting and the moment when Sarah believes that she has found the Tardis only to find it really is a police box is funny and melancholic all at the same time. THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES continues to outstrip its more adult fellow franchise shows for heart and entertainment quality. Written by Gareth RobertsDirected by Graeme Harper Top ENEMY OF THE BANE PART 1Originally transmitted December 1st 2008Rani's mother is kidnapped by Mrs Wormwood, the Bane who created Luke, as a way of gaining Sarah Jane's help. A unstoppable force is being reassembled by the Bane and Mrs Wormwood is out to stop it. To do this she needs Sarah Jane to break into UNIT's alien archives and steal a particular item. Fortunately, Sarah Jane has old friends. Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge Stewart is back! The head of UNIT during Sarah Jane's original travels with DOCTOR WHO is still an ambassador for the organisation and therefore Sarah's passport to the archives. Nicholas Courtney is older, but has lost none of his bluster and irritability. Samantha Bond is full of villainy, but it's pantomime villainy. If she had a moustache she would certainly be twirling it at times. There are plenty of issues with the episode, however. The ease with which UNIT is both penetrated and escaped from beggars belief. When the alarm goes off nobody, it seems, thinks to close the main gate. The Bane are very poorly realised and the arrival of a surprise villain at the end just underlines how bad they are. The link with the original Pilot episode is shown through too many flashbacks, hammering home the fact that this is a sequel and trying to hide the fact that the story is pretty thin. Following the remarkable The Temptation of Sarah Jane Part 1, this was always likely to be a disappointment and so it proves to be.
Written by Gareth Roberts
ENEMY OF THE BANE PART 2Originally transmitted December 8th 2008Mrs Wormwood takes Luke with her when she leaves to find the power that will allow her to rule the universe and tries to turn him against Sarah Jane and to be the child that she never had. Sarah Jane's attempts to get him back are hampered by the arrival of one of UNIT's head men, who turns out to be Bane. A stone circle in the middle of nowhere will be the battleground for one child's soul and the future of mankind. What a shame that the second season on THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES should end on such a disappointing episode. The duel for Luke's love between Mrs Wormwood and Sarah Jane never convinces that it could go anything but one way, so there are no surprises there. The scroll of Horvath is utilised and opens a portal that goes nowhere and does nothing, just hangs around conveniently until the baddies can be pushed into it (not dead, just out of the way and always available for a return in a later series). Nicholas Courtney is sidelined and all but ignored for much of the episode, which makes you wonder why they bothered to bring him back at all if they weren't going to use him. And everything is then topped off with a final voiceover that does no favours for the show at all. The second season of THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES has wandered around in quality from the start, but has certainly had enough good moments for us to be already looking forward to Season 3. Written by Gareth RobertsDirected by Graeme Harper Top |
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