The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 11 & 12 - Enemy of the Bane

The second series of the SJA comes to an end with ‘Enemy of the Bane’, which has some rather interesting guest stars!

With Luke having nightmares about The Bane, who created him, his fears are realised when Rani’s mother is kidnapped and Sarah is left a message. It turns out to be from none other than Mrs Wormwood (played by Samantha Bond), last seen in the first SJA episode – ‘Invasion of the Bane’.

It turns out that Wormwood needs Sarah’s help to track down a mythical device, which would open a portal to another dimension. All this and she’s also being hunted down by her own kind.

Sarah needs help and there’s only one man to call upon, no not The Doctor – THE BRIGADIER! Now retried, the Brig is still UNIT’s special envoy and is in the middle of a meeting with a UNIT major before Sarah walks in. The Brig can’t wait to assist her and he helps Sarah and Rani get into UNIT’s high-security storage warehouse. But I don’t understand why they just had a card reader on the door, if it was so high-security!

It’s not long before they are caught, as the UNIT major is on the prowl but thanks to the Sonic Lipstick (Ahhh!) they get away and head back to the house. Unfortunately, Mrs Wormwood has been doing her best to er worm her way into Luke’s life and saves him and Clyde when they are infiltrated by a Bane.

For no reason at all, Kaagh (Anthony O'Donnell), the Sontaran from the first episode of the series, pops up and assists Wormwood. We learn that Kaagh is now a mercenary and is trying to steal the artefact for Wormwood. The pair make their escape with Luke, while the others are tracked down by the UNIT major – who happens to a Bane! But thanks to the Brig’s walking stick-cum-gun, he’s quickly dispatched. I won’t look at old people in the same way again!

With the Brig staying behind to clean up the mess, the others go off and try to find Luke, who has been taken to an ancient monument in which the artefact, The Tunguska Scroll, fits into and opens the portal. Luke, being the only human there, has to insert it and he does. The portal opens and after Luke runs to Sarah, Wormwood is furious but after being attacked by her earlier, Kaagh does the honorable thing and pulls her into the portal.

It was a so-so story with the only highlights being the Brig and Kaagh. It was great to see Nicholas Courtney reprise his role and I hope he still has something left in the tank to make an appearance in Doctor Who, I’m sure he has!

The plot of Luke/Wormwood played on the whole children’s problems with adoptive parents and I thought that was done well, as many children would be able to identify with that. But I just felt that story lacked that ‘killer punch’ that previous episodes had. Even a mention of The Doctor between the Brig and Sarah would have been welcome!

7/10

Overall, this series has been a massive improvement on series 1 and many elements of the stories could even stand up to those in Doctor Who! For a children’s programme, the production values are excellent and you have just got to look at the calibre of the guest stars to see why this series is so excellent – not many children’s programmes can boast that!

Next Time: No more Sarah Jane Adventures this year but don’t worry series 3 is on its way in 2009!

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 9 & 10 - The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

The Sarah Jane Adventures continue to deify children and make the adults enjoy it even more, in this latest story - ‘The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith’.

Okay I still have the odd gripe, but you can’t deny that this series has been the most groundbreaking CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME for a long while. That’s what it’s supposed to be – a programme for kids! I wish I had something so spectacular when I was a lad! The ITV series ‘Knightmare’ was considered cutting-edge when I was young – it looks like an absolute joke now!

This story continued the high standard that this series has already set. As always, Daniel Antony (Clyde) was great and stole every scene he was in. Young Rani is looking every inch ‘a Maria’ and even Luke is looking - quite normal!

Even the writing on this series doesn’t ‘dumb it down’ to kids. We even have a returning character, created in the SJA universe – The Trickster, to deal with! The ugly one (as he’s known among kids – I think!), has to create a world of chaos, so he could feed upon it – but the only way to do that is to take Sarah out of time – again!

So that gives us the opportunity to browse, once again, into Sarah’s back-story. Orphaned as a child, we never really learned a lot about Sarah’s past life before The Doctor. We do here, as Sarah ‘gives in to temptation’ and goes through a ‘time fisher’ (created, of course by the Trickster) and tries to prevent her parents deaths.

When she does, the future changes but thanks to the ‘box’ which featured in the Series 1 story, ‘Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane’, Clyde and Rani where protected from The Trickster’s changing of history. Thankfully all is put back in the correct path, as Sarah’s parents – who quite quickly realised who the old Sarah was – corrected history.

This episode wasn’t without its great moments. For one, the appearance of the TARDIS, ‘The Doctor’s Theme’ in the background and Sarah’s running towards it – only for it to be an actual 50’s Police Box! Then there was her scenes with her parents – surely too much good acting for a kids show?

But here comes my main gripe – why does Sarah, a very experience time-traveller, who told The Doctor in the episode ‘School Reunion’ that ‘everything has its time and everything must end’ so quickly become very naive? I found it quite strange that she decided, so quickly, to break the rules of time-travel. Yes I understand the need to see her parents but Luke already warned it that it could have been a trap and she just dismissed it! I just found it very out of character.

Overall though, it was a good episode that I thoroughly enjoyed.

8/10

Next Time: I HAVE ONE THING TO SAY: BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG!

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 7 & 8 - The Mark of the Berserker

When I first saw the actual ‘Mark of the Berserker’, I immediately thought - ‘Mark of the Rani’! I’m not sure what game the writers are playing but I’m sure they're having a good laugh!

As for this story - I quite enjoyed it! Gary Beadle, most famous for playing Paul Trueman in EastEnders, pops up as Clyde’s Dad, also named Paul, in this Sarah-lite story. Pressumably she was away filming the Doctor Who episodes ‘The Stolen Earth’/’Journey’s End’, when this was being filmed.

Considering the SJA is a kids show, they don’t half go into the relationships of kids and their parents quite a lot! I think its something kids, in this day and age, can relate to. Apart from all the alien stuff of course!

The story starts in the school, as a young lad is being picked on by some other lad’s. But he produces something out of pocket - a pedant, which apart from leaving a strange mark on his hand, also makes people do whatever he says! It may sound good but the lad is being taken over by something and he just about gets rid of it, just as a nosey Rani (not the one mentioned earlier!) finds him in the cleanest gents I have ever seen!

Rani takes it home and quickly realises its powers. But she also realises that it’s very dangerous, so she drops it off at Sarah Jane’s, who is away, undercover at a hospital.

Meanwhile is Luke sleeping over at Clyde’s. The next morning however, Clyde’s Dad turns up out of blue and asks to spend some time with his son. His mum is reluctant but Clyde goes along with him and his Dad tries to win his son round. But Clyde, in a vain hope of trying to impress him, tells him about all his work with the aliens and even takes him round to Sarah Jane’s attic to show him all the artefacts they had collected. Paul is impressed but he hears something - the pendant is calling him. He unconsciously takes it and he proceeds to take his son away to ‘have a nice time’.

It seems that the pendant is quickly taking him over and Paul makes his son forget about Luke, Rani and his Mum and takes him on a ‘shopping’ trip. So after a free Ferrari and nice clothes later, Paul wants more for his son and intends to find them both a yacht! And they’ll get one – as the pendant can make people do whatever the person wearing it, wants!

Luke and Rani are stuck and there is only two people who can help them – Maria and her Dad! It’s nice seeing the pair back and it was a nice surprise, to be honest! Maria’s Dad hacks into UNIT to get some info about the mark and we learn that it is ‘The Mark of Berserker’ and if Paul didn’t recover – then he would turn into a Berserker, who would be hell-bent on taking over the world.

Together with Clyde’s mum, they follow Clyde and Paul, thanks to a bit of hacking and tracking a mobile phone signal! Of course, when they find and try to stop them, Clyde doesn’t know who they are and they try to plead with Paul to remember who he is. It all looks bleak, as Paul is turning into a Berserker but then – Sarah Jane arrives!

Although it was quite ante-climatic, Sarah helps to save the day, along with Clyde, who remembers her. Paul is made to remember who he is by his son and the Berserker is gone.

Clyde spends a moment with his Dad, who realises that he hasn’t been a great Dad and he and his son part on good terms. Clyde makes his mum forget what happened, thanks to the pedant, before throwing the device into the water. Do you think that’s a great idea Clyde? What if someone fishes it out?

It was a good story, without doing anything spectacular. There were some touching scenes, especially at the end with Sarah Jane and I think the kids would have enjoyed this!

8/10

Next Time: A boy comes through a time fisher but why is Sarah Jane tempted to go back in time, once again?

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes - 5 & 6 - Secrets of the Stars

Russ Abbott continues the trend of ‘this year’s most bizarre casting in a children’s television show’, in this story - ‘Secrets of the Stars’.

The comedian, best known for his sketch show in the late 80’s, plays a fake astrologer, Martin Trueman, who is given ‘the gift’ of the stars, after he is hit by a unknown force. Trueman can now perform a number of correct predictions, which creep out Sarah and the gang when they go and see one of his shows.

Before the show everyone fills out a card, with their name and date of birth. Luke gets a little upset, as he doesn’t have a birthday, as he was ‘activated’ in ‘Invasion of the Bane’.

It makes for a very interesting plot, as Trueman’s plan is to make everyone in the world to obey his will – by using their star signs to control them. Apparently astrology exists on almost every planet and was once a real thing – in a universe that was here before our own. Not sure if many kids could understand that!

There are some nice nods to classic Doctor Who characters, the Draconians and there’s even a flashback scene with The Doctor, using clips from the episodes ‘School Reunion’ and ‘Journey’s End’.

Later, Clyde is possessed by Trueman and intends to kill Sarah – but doesn’t, after Luke tries to persuade him. Meanwhile everyone on the planet is being possessed, star-sign by star-sign.

The team head down to Trueman’s theatre and try to stop him. It looks bleak but Luke realises he is the only one who can stop it. He is able to discharge the energy generated by ‘the Ancient Lights’ as he was never born – so he doesn’t have a star-sign. They try and save Trueman but he instead ‘joins the stars’ rather than being put in jail, after his plan involved taking over every broadcast signal, to get his message through.

The first part built up really well but I was a little surprised to see that an adult relationship provided a bit of dynamic, when Trueman’s client was taken over and her husband was a bit peeved. Considering this is a children’s program, I feel that the writers don’t dumb down the stories too much and that is to their credit.

I was a little bit disappointed with part two, I just didn’t buy the whole star-sign stuff, controlling everyone on the planet. Russ Abbott was great though and it was nice to see him back on television, apparently he’s going to join the cast of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ soon and at 61, he’s probably one of the youngest members of that cast – ever!

7.5/10

Next Time: Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, who is banned from television, guest stars as Sarah’s estranged husband. Fat bastard!

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 3 & 4 - The Day of the Clown

Bradley Walsh steals the show as the villain in ‘The Day of The Clown’. For those who don’t know, he is a well-known entertainer-turned actor on British TV and perhaps one of the last people you’d expect to be in a children’s show!

This story also sees the introduction of Rani (played by Anjli Mohindra) and you know what? I was impressed! However, I do think there's something sinister going on with her though, not because her name's Rani (no not at all!) it just seemed like there was more to her than meets the eye. Apparently she wants to ‘be a journalist’, like Sarah* so expect her to be shadowing and coping all her traits. Hope she doesn’t get annoying!

Another surprise was the pace of the story. It felt more like a ‘classic’ episode of Doctor Who, as the tension was built up, little by little. I suspect it was a case of trying to do the introduction of Rani character that took up most of the time.

She arrives in Bannerman Road with her Mum and Dad (who just happens to be the new Headmaster at Luke and Clyde’s school and immediately builds up a love-hate rapport with the former!) and befriends the lads. Meanwhile, children are going missing and only Clyde and Rani can see the sinister clown’s that seem to be hanging around the place. They learn that the missing kids took tickets from a clown and disappeared not long after.

The team (is that the right word?) are lead to Elijah Spellman’s museum of ‘fun’, thanks to a ticket that Clyde had (which is why he could see the clown). They learn that Spellman isn’t what he seems to be – he’s an alien that feeds on fear! It’s also revealed that he is also the fabled ‘Pied Piper of Hamlin’, which is a well known fairytale about how a travelling entertainer took all the town’s children away after they refused to pay him for his ‘rat removal’ service. Seeing as having your children taken away is any parent’s greatest fear, it’s a rather good idea for a creepy tale, which could have worked just as well in Doctor Who!

After getting over the shock (and giggling!) of seeing Bradley Walsh playing three roles (Spellmen, The Pied Piper and ‘Oddbob The Clown'), I quite enjoyed the story! It was creepy and funny in all the right places and the kids must lap it up! Not sure about Sarah Jane’s fear of clown’s but it didn’t put me off.

The three kids work well together and Maria wasn’t really that missed, expect by poor Luke! Although I did enjoy him admitting he found out that Johnny Depp was scared of clowns – by reading Heat!**

Here’s looking forward the next story, where I believe another bizarre but brilliant piece of casting has taken place!

9/10

Next Time: Luke is (not for the first time) mistaken for Eastenders character Martin Fowler and bricks are thrown. It won’t be a pretty sight!

* I quite enjoyed Sarah insisting her name was Sarah-Jane to Rani’s mother. But if ‘Sarah’ is what the late great Jon Pertwee's Doctor (and Tom Baker) called you, that’s what I’m calling you!

** For those who don’t know, Heat is a very abysmal ‘celebrity’ gossip magazine for Women.

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 1 & 2 - The Last Sontaran

Well what a start for series two of the Sarah Jane Adventures! Thankfully no Slitheen this time, instead we have a Sontaran milling about in show woods. It’s like ‘Time Warrior’ all over again!

Sadly though, this episode she the departure of Maria Jackson, as Yasmin Paige (who plays her) was studying for her GCSE’s at the time. Don’t understand how this would be a problem – a young Cyber Colin used to get drunk off Morrison’s knock-off Scrumpy, at the shops, every night after each exam and I did okay!

After some ‘strange lights’ are shown in the sky, next to a radio tower, the team investigate. When they get there however, they find that the tower’s head man has disappeared in the woods and his daughter is left holding the fort.

As Luke and Clyde snoop around near the woods, they stumble upon an invisible space ship, which turns out to be Commander Kaagh’s. The Sontaran wants revenge on planet earth after his fleet’s defeat during the events of the Doctor Who episodes The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky.

It’s a well written two-parter and the cliffhanger leaves those without the CBBC channel hanging! With everything set up, part two is the ‘run around and catch me’ episode, with Clyde and Kaagh exchanging some great banter. It is worth watching the episode just for that!

In fact I’ve been really impressed by young Clyde (Daniel Anthony), he’s the only one out of the teenagers that acts like a teenager and I think that’s great! It seems with Maria leaving, he will take a much bigger role this year, as his parents are due to be introduced.

Maria’s mum, Chrissie, stumbles upon the problems as she follows Alan into Sarah’s attic. She would be the one to save the day – hitting Kaagh with the heal of her shoe! Apparently that scene was originally written for the two Doctor Who episodes but Catherine Tate refused to wear anything but trainers!

So with Kaagh sent back to Sontar with his tail between his legs, Maria and father Alan leave for America. Hopefully she can return to the series one day, as her performances during series one really helped those episodes to be watchable!

8/10

Next Time – In ‘Day of the Clown’, we are introduced to Maria’s replacement – Rani. No not THE Rani, at least I hope not!