TV Retrospective: The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 part 3 - Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane Smith/The Lost Boy

The next retrospective of Sarah Jane is here, as we conclude series 1.

Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane Smith

We open at a skate park, Clyde is showing off and falls off quickly and they begin reminiscing, Alan begins showing him some moves, without wearing a message. Maria takes some photos, when Sarah Jane feels a spine shiver as they leave a mysterious man in black comes out. When they get home, Mr Smith pinpoints a meteor heading straight to the earth through a radar blind-spot, Mr Smith will use a magnetic pulse to send it away. With Luke sent to make tea, Sarah Jane gives Maria a cube thing, she was told to give to the person she trusts the most.

That night the figure in black comes down the street and begins doing something. Maria manages to do something to the cube. As our villain continues the box begins to glow. The next morning, she sees flowers on the table and Alan tells her that Andrea dropped them off as a housewarming gift. Alan doesn’t recognise the name Luke. She goes over to Sarah Jane’s house and finds a woman she doesn’t recognise; her name is Andrea. After an odd discussion, Maria runs home, finding her dad is just as confusing. She shows the photos but they’ve been changed and it’s now Andrea with them. Also, Clyde is no longer with them either.

Maria finds that none of their numbers are on her phone, fortunately she remembers Clyde’s number (in a world of aliens and sonic screwdrivers, this is the least realistic thing I’ve seen so far) Clyde doesn’t have a clue who she is. Maria panics realising Sarah Jane was the person stopping the meteor, Clyde thinks she’s crazy. Maria confronts Andrea again and at this point I think the penny should be starting to drop, no duh the front room looks different and absolutely no duh that the attic is empty. Also, how are those other invasions coming along, is everyone on Bubbleshock yet, not that it matters much since the Slitheen have probably turned the earth to slag and the Gorgons have been released on the earth, suddenly in children in space seem more fortunate.

Alan shows some photos of them moving in and Andrea helping them, trying to convince her but Maria remembers Sarah Jane prominently, concluding that something happened last night and that she was protected. She does some research and found that Sarah Jane died in July 1964, she heads to the library to do further research. They find out that Andrea was on the scene when she died and was treated for shock. For a brief moment, Maria sees the names swapped over making it Andrea that died and Sarah Jane treated for shock. She hears Sarah Jane calling her. Alan naturally is beginning to think she’s a bit loopy.

Maria reassures him that she’s not crazy and allows her to return to Andrea. She doesn’t remember the name so Maria reminds her of Sarah Jane. More determined than ever, Maria is ejected from the house. Andrea begins to break down and finds her own box in the attic. A voice calls to her, she sees him in the mirror. She made a deal with this figure to stay alive, sacrificing Sarah in the process then used the box to make herself forget. He can’t change Maria’s memories but he can remove her from the equation entirely. She agrees to it, but Maria and her father must be separated.

Maria sees Sarah Jane in the mirror but can’t get anything out of her. Alan and Andrea head to her house, under the pretence of fixing something up as Maria realises the box protected her. Maria comes down and is confronted by the Graske, from an online Doctor Who episode, he forces her to drop the box and flee but Alan is the next to take it. Maria is cornered and taken out of the equation as Alan maintains his memories. Oh goody, Chrissie is here, she doesn’t know who Maria is.

Maria escapes the Graske and ends up on the pier in 1964, we can tell its older times because the camera filter is more yellow. Andrea and Sarah Jane are sneaking onto the pier and meet Maria

It’s a tense episode, full of confusion, it’s a bit awkward but what can you do with a scenario like this.

Rating 8/10

Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane Smith part 2

Maria realises that the other girl is Andrea and sees the date is the exact date of Sarah Jane’s supposed death. Once again this is incredibly awkward. Maria has no idea how to conduct herself in these scenarios but unless you’re with the Doctor, who would? She isn’t believed and she would cause even worse damage to time if she was. Maria is recaptured and they enter the pier anyway.

Maria wakes up in Limbo and finds Sarah Jane there, somehow. Alan tries more awkward convincing of Chrissie that Maria exists, the penny should drop any second now. He begins realising that Maria may have been right about Sarah Jane. Someone calls out to Sarah Jane and she heads to greet. Seems Clyde is among the guests and Andrea’s latest party.

Sarah Jane confronts the villain, look I’m just gonna name him the Trickster, he’s one of my favourite villains of the show. He lives, breathes and eats chaos and sees Sarah Jane as key to unleashing chaos upon the Earth. Apparently, the Bane never came to Earth and he turned other invaders away, he only needs the meteor since that is just blind luck and that is the purest source of chaos. Also, he plans to use Sarah Jane’s memories of the Doctor to do the same thing to him.

Alan and Chrissie enter the party, Alan really only stares at Angela. Clyde gets a call from a mate we never see alerting everyone to the fact a meteor is indeed heading to Earth. As Andrea goes off for more glasses, Alan confronts Angela. She explains what I explained in the last retrospective about how she made a deal with the Trickster. What was that gate doing there anyway? She explains what happened to Maria and agrees for the Trickster to take him away too. She throws his box away and the Graske comes to attack.

The military attempt to shoot down the missile but unfortunately fail. Alan manages to knock the Graske down and interrogate it. Alan manages to restore Maria but for Sarah Jane to be restored, Andrea needs to rescind her agreement. Andrea goes to talk to the Trickster but finds Sarah Jane in the mirror instead. Alan and Maria confront Andrea, begging her to go back on her deal. Sarah Jane tells her that her death inspired her to protect lives across the galaxy. Andrea rescinds her agreement in act of extraordinary bravery, she smashes the mirror with her cube, and everyone returns. With only seconds to impact, Mr Smith manages to redirect the meteor. Everything’s back to normal but now Alan knows enough to need to be brought into the fold.

It’s a great episode, the Trickster is Sarah Jane’s best and most powerful foe, and we’ll be seeing him again next season.

Rating 8.5/10

The Lost Boy part 1

We open with Maria explaining sh*t to her father, particularly the events of Revenge of the Slitheen which will come into play later on. He won’t tell Chrissie but he plans to put the house on the market and move. I’ll get back to this next time.

Maria tells Sarah Jane about everything but Alan teleports into the room as well. Sarah Jane, you need better locks! OK, can we cue the conflict about this week’s episode, I have a lot to say about it. Alan comes round for the time being, agreeing not to sell the house and there are some nice lights. Seriously, the conflict of this episode is something that needs a lengthy rant about.

Ah here we are, parents making a statement to the media about a missing boy named Ashley, they show a picture of someone who looks just like Luke. OK, let’s start with the immediate flaw here, I don’t know exactly how long it’s been since Invasion of the Bane, but I can imagine it’s been months, so the first question everyone should be asking is: WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THIS EARLIER?!

Panicked, Sarah Jane calls in Mr Smith, who says he needs to scan Luke to be certain what’s going on. Luke objects, he knows his origins. Mr Smith concludes that Luke and Ashley are the same person and soon Chrissie has the police at her door. And now, I have something to say. This may have sounded harmless but this is not something to joke about. 

This would’ve destroyed Sarah Jane, her reputation would be ruined, bad word would spread about her, it’s enough that people who know Luke would recognise Ashley’s photo and connect it to Sarah Jane. There is no going back from this. I think this was a bad move by the writers, if they wanted to keep the show going, this story is one that should end it. No child would be allowed near her after this. Even if it was found this was fake, and it is. It wasn’t exactly put out to the media that it was, even if it was, people would still be doubtful.

OK, that rant out of the way, let’s savour the rest of the episode. OK, we get confirmation it has been months since Sarah Jane met Luke, brilliant. The parents arrive and attack Sarah Jane, thinking they did something to him that made him forget. The police take Sarah Jane to the station. The Chief Inspector has had contact with Sarah Jane's friends in UNIT and is forced to let her go, under the proviso that she not go near Luke again.

You know these parents disgust me, this is the most horrific invasion plan I’ve ever seen. And yes, we find out pretty quickly that Luke’s so-called parents are aliens. Luke finds himself locked in his room. The aliens contact the Zylok, who laughs a very familiar sounding laugh. Maria comforts Sarah Jane but Sarah Jane pushes her away.

Sarah Jane talks to Mr Smith about purpose, there’s an experiment in telekinetic energy at the Pharos Institute, they’ve succeeded in making something, using alien technology. Sarah Jane goes to investigate. Again, these Slitheen, and yes they are Slitheen, disgust me. Clyde and Maria talk about Luke, Clyde plots to skip class to see Luke in Hammersmith, Maria goes with him but is caught out.

Sarah Jane heads to Pharos Institute and we see that they have indeed created a headset to move things telekinetically (MEITER), the projects is of the creation of Nathan Goss, yes he’s another Slitheen he’s the guy even the teachers bully from Revenge of the Slitheen. Clyde finds Luke’s new house, his mother is a pr*ck to Clyde, which totally isn’t suspicious. When Clyde accused them of not being Luke’s parents they show him a birthday picture, saying they got him a skateboard, and that he was good at it.

Luke tries to find a way out, Clyde calls Maria and says he thinks something’s amiss. Nathan Goss confronts the parents. Mr Smith rattles off Nathan’s obnoxious resume, but does conclude he couldn’t have designed it. It would help if he could analyse it and so Sarah Jane is sent to steal one. Luke escapes but doesn’t get far. And they’re Slitheen as I said earlier. Wearing a new variety of suit so we can dispense with the stupid fart jokes, thank goodness.

Clyde arrives at the Sarah Jane’s house and finds the key, he calls Mr Smith who admits he faked the photos, he is the Zylok. He digitises Clyde and laughs.

It’s a tense episode, but the fragility of that premise rather ruins it in hindsight.

Rating 6.5/10

The Lost Boy part 2

We open with Sarah Jane sneaking into Phraos using her sonic lipstick, this will not be the first season finale that involves Sarah Jane breaking into high security institutes. Just as she leaves the alarm triggers and she’s chased by morons on motorcylces. Maria tries to make contact with Clyde but isn’t having much luck.

Clyde is inside Mr Smith, just a room full of red numbers, most of which don’t exist in binary code. Mrs Langer calls Maria, worried. Maria and Alan head to the house to find Luke and quickly find a skin suit, they’re Slitheen. They’re taking Luke in a red van to Pharos. Sarah Jane takes the headset to Mr Smith whilst Clyde tries to come up with a plan to warn everyone. Chrissie decides to make another of her contractually obligated appearances. Just 3 more episodes of her and she can be gone the way of Kelsey!

Maria tells Sarah Jane about the Slitheen. Clyde has found a way of communicating with Mr Jackson’s computer… somehow. He warns him about Mr Smith and Alan heads straight over. With Mr Smith uncovered he unveils a laser cannon and causes them to evacuate. Mr Smith discovers what’s going on, and knocks Clyde out. Sarah Jane reveals she was gifted a crystal from a volcanic eruption, she concluded it was a memory cell from a spacecraft. It created Mr Smith as the technology on Earth was too limited.

Sarah Jane concludes what the Slitheen want, to harness and sell Luke's telekinetic energy. Speaking of which we get a cliché that’s going to keep cropping up in this show, it kind of did in the last Slitheen episode. Overloading the system. The child decides he’ll just kill Luke anyway. Luke manages to evade him and escapes the facility. Maria, Sarah Jane and Alan arrive in the aftermath, but are forced to drop their vinegar bottles.

It becomes clear that Mr Smith is playing a long game and knew Luke would escape and run back to Sarah Jane's house. He does exactly that and with Clyde used as bait he has to put on the headset. Mr Smith manages to harness the kinetic energy and move the moon out of orbit. It’s quite something when the science here is better than in Kill the Moon, I mean it’s still sh*t but there’s some evidence of gravitational disturbance. They have one chance to survive and it lies with Alan.

Alan’s job, which have never been mentioned before is blocking cyber threats, he managed to get a hold of a particularly dangerous one which he thinks may work against Mr Smith. Apparently, Mr Smith hopes to release more fragments of Zylok from beneath the Earth’s crust. He restores Clyde as one act of mercy but he trains his gun on them. Sarah Jane uses a Slitheen teleporter to head into the attic, then decides to unleash K9 upon him, fortunately K9 was available. Sarah Jane installs the virus, wiping the Zylok’s memory, making it forget it’s purpose, Sarah Jane reminds him it’s to save the Earth. And with the virus presumably dormant, the moon is restored. Oh, and Chrissie somehow has forgotten about the child abduction stuff now and we get our happy ending.

The premise is impossible for a series that hoped-for longevity to do right. They shouldn’t have done it at all. However, the rest of the episode is good.

Rating 7/10

Well, that ends season 1 of The Sarah Jane Adventures, but we’re not going anywhere yet, season 2 is on the horizon with new aliens, new characters and we finally get rid of Chrissie.