Heck, I’m not going to lie – I weep at the drop of a hat when it comes down to films and TV shows with favourite characters. I still shed a tear when Spock or Kirk dies – in Star Trek II and VII, respectively. Waving goodbye to the crew of the Galactica was like attending a wake for lost friends. So, Sarah Janes involvement with the 10th Doctor has been a real Kleenex moment. Their first meeting, along with Rose, had tears rolling by the as Sarah Jane pontificated on the ups and downs of being a companion. When the Doctor ‘presented’ her with a rebuilt K9, shuddering recommenced, eyes wet and puffy.
Anyway… I should have known better than engaging in a Sarah Jane Adventures marathon yesterday. I knew the Doctor would appear in one of the stories – and he did in the Wedding of Sarah Jane. I enjoyed the story, though the villain of the piece was fairly obvious from the outset. The story actually took a little while to warm up, giving you the chance to see that Sarah Jane might actually be falling in love for real; but, by the end of the episode it clearly was not to be. The arrival of the TARDIS had reverberated through the episode, straining in the background, obviously blocked from materialising by some outside force. When the Doctor finally arrived, he did so with customary explosion of noise and action.
In the end, the villain failed and Sarah Jane was left without a groom… then the Doctor said goodbye. Having shown the kids around the TARDIS, Sarah Jane and he stand alone – and they say farewell, Sarah asking if she’ll see him again and the Doctor admitting that he doesn’t know. We know, of course, that he probably never will (except perhaps fleetingly in an end of year adventure), so it proves all the more emotional.
Boo-hoo. Poor me.
Update: Not really an update, as such – just testing that Renegade Time Lord’s integration with Twitter is up and running.
I love anything rooted in mythology or modern day artifacts. That’s why episodes like ‘Blink’ work, because you take something commonplace and give it a disturbing spin. Clowns don’t really need much work to make them disturbing. ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy‘ may not have been the height of the Seventh Doctor’s adventures, but the clowns made a real impact, because they’re naturally scary. Yes, sometimes they make you laugh, but you have this unsettling feeling somewhere in the back of your mind that they’d just as soon leap out on you and offer up a solid pant-wetting opportunity.
Here, Bradley Walsh (showing a quite reasonable grasp of accents) plays Spellman (and Odd Bob) with just the right measure of creepiness. Odd Bob has been trapped here for a long time and feeds on fear, and kidnapping children generates a lot of fear. When kids start disappearing, Sarah Jane gets involved… and with a little assistance from Floella Benjamin (as Professor Rivers) at the Pharos Institute (previously seen in the final episode of Series One) finds a way to put a stop to the nefarious Spellman’s plans.
Like the episodes in Series One, Series Two makes it hard for you not to like Sarah Jane. Tight, well thought out, exciting episodes, with all the running about you want from kids’ drama. The show builds up back story – Sarah Jane is scared of clowns, one of whom haunted her youth while living with her Aunt Lavinia – and gives plenty of screen time to the ensemble of child actors. There is a hint of Stephen King’s ‘It’ about Odd Bob, but in this instance the whole thing works pretty well (which is more than you can say for the movie version of the King story!).
On top of all that, the story provides a neat introduction to Rani and her family, a solid replacement for Maria.
While I won’t yet write-up my overall view of ‘Turn Left’ (because I still have a lot of catching up to do), I enjoyed the nod at continuity when the Doctor referred to the beetle as one of the Trickster’s lot. The Trickster was the excellent villain from the ‘Sarah Jane Adventures’ episode ‘Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?’ – and given the return of the Sonic Lipstick wielding journalist in the next two episodes, this made for a great touch.
In respect of the next two episodes, I can only imagine a hoard of fans will probably be truly spent for the Summer – exhausted with the exertion of almost two hours of copious fan-w**king. The Doctor, Donna, Martha, Rose, Captain Jack, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Sarah Jane, Luke, the Daleks and Dave… it beggars belief. On top of that, I could have sworn one of the Daleks in the trailer (the red one) looked like the style faced by the alternate first Doctor in the cinematic movies in which Bernard Cribbins played a part… another superlative fan pleaser if it’s true.
Watched this yesterday – and I’m still loving the series. Yes, all that Combat 3000 stuff wasn’t up to the previous standard, but this episode… Jane Asher seems like a bizarrely suitable fit for Sarah’s ‘replacement’ in the timeline – even though Jane is almost two years older. I definitely think Liz Sladen has weathered better…
The concept was an interesting one – though I think the story purposely underplayed the repercussions rather than handle the massive impact removing Sarah Jane Smith from the timeline really would have had. The Tricksters interest in the Doctor was also a worrying turn in the story; and it was entertaining to see some continuity from Who with the inclusion of the Graske.
I hope the intended teatime audience have kept tuning in and the series will have an ongoing future – it certainly works much better as a spin-off than Torchwood did in its first season.
And – was it just me, or was The Trickster’s cloak a recycled prop? Did the Adherents of the Repeated Meme from ‘The End of the World‘ wear something similar?
Marvelous to see the devious minds at work behind the scenes of The Sarah Jane Adventures, when making side references to Doctor Who mythology in yesterday’s episode. When Sarah Jane spoke to Bea (played by Phyllida Law), they discussed how Sontarans looked like potatoes – which neatly ties into this story about a forthcoming fourth Season Doctor Who story. Mind, I always thought the Rutans were the potato-a-likes – while the Sontarans looked like militaristic Weebles.
Should be a snip to realise the Sontarans – just recycling the Judoon armoured suits and stick different heads on top…
Oh, and I’ll review the Gorgon adventure soon!
Suddenly I want to be a child all over again, to really appreciate the fact that someone up at the BBC thinks kindly enough of me to create and broadcast ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures‘. I can’t help but applaud the effort of cast and crew on the first episode – ‘Revenge of the Slitheen’. I actually appreciated the Slitheen even more by the very fact we only had one splott of CGI – on the first reveal – and then nothing but rubbery suits. Personally, I feel it worked. Yes, CGI created a far more fluid hunting machine, but running around in costumes fitted the feel of a kids show.
The superb camp of the Slitheen in disguise made them delightful to watch and the kids were hardly irritating at all – and provide a nice spread from hyper-intelligent geek Luke to potato-for-a-brain Clyde. As a fan of ‘Doctor Who‘, the continuity of the Slitheen family continuing to seek revenge made for satisfying justification.
And… Sarah. I hope I’m not alone in feeling a special yearning whenever I see the lithe form of dear Miss Smith. I would dare to go so far as to describe Sarah Jane as a bit of a MILF… but must immediately apologise for descending to such grubby depths. She’s marvellous… absolutely wondrous. I can’t believe we’ve had to wait so long for this – and look forward to much more. I’m sure the tie-in with ‘Doctor Who’ and the essential quality of the show in its own right with make all the difference in giving it a long life. And I hope Sarah gets her wish to meet up with the Doctor again in the very near future…
With the imminent new series, the BBC has updated the Sarah Jane Adventures website. Currently contains a few teasers – like a couple of items of alien tech, a tour of the attic, some files on ‘School Reunion’ and the Bane affair and more besides (and to come). Having just rewatched the Bane episode from New Year, I’m really looking forward to this!
Noted the recent release of the Doctor Who: The Key to Time – Complete 7 Disc Box set)
and have every intention of getting it the moment I win the lottery (yes, that soon!). I can see it’s one of those shameless money-grabbing re-releases with a smattering of additional material – but, considering I don’t have any of those earlier releases, now seems as good a time as any.
I think I may be suffering with Who withdrawal symptoms and I haven’t a clue how to handle it. While I have Season One on DVD and a few scattered ‘classic’ stories, I don’t think this will suffice to quell the hunger. It would have been nice if they’d had Torchwood ready for the Autumn, but it definitely still feels very 2008 to me. So, I suppose the only hope will be recording episodes of the Sarah Jane Adventures when they finally air… which is no bad thing. I maintain warm and fuzzy memories of the pilot episode at Christmas and if they can maintain that level, I’ll be a very happy chappy indeed.
I keep intending to pull my roleplaying boxed sets out of the cupboard to continue my study of the differences between the FASA Doctor Who RPG editions. Yes, I can imagine people have been sitting on the edges of their seats waiting for me to get on with it and finish… so, sooner rather than later would be best to put you all out of your misery. I have to admit the sense of guilt that weighs on my shoulders over this makes it very hard to maintain good posture at the best of times.
Finally, I seem to have found a way to categorise this posting under five different headings… neat, huh? No? Hang on… Stop pointing that laser screwdriver at me in that threatening way!
Who had a good Christmas… and yes, I’m two months late saying that. I know, I know. We had the excellent The Runaway Bride – with one of the most memorable chase scenes ever, with the TARDIS chasing a taxi down a dual carriageway. Pure Christmas Who (yes, I know we have only really had two Christmas Who episodes like this up to now.. but, it’s setting a certain standard for itself).
To add to the mix, I thoroughly enjoyed the musical evening of Who televised over the Christmas period on BBCi. Great stuff. I ended up watching it three times on the same day. I still love the mournful theme from the end of Doomsday.
And then The Sarah Jane Adventures – the most brilliant spin-off from Who so far. Forget Torchwood – this thing has so much potential it hurts… and it’s for children. I mean – no fair. I don’t care how old Sarah Jane might be – she’s a fox! It could so easily have been really cheesy and bloody awful, but it worked brilliantly. Even the glimpse of K9 maintaining a vigilant watch upon a threatening blackhole in deep space. More, more, more!
