TW #21 : A Day in the Death

"My name is Doctor Owen Harper, and this is my life. A life that is full of action. And violence. And work and wonder. Secrets. And sex. And love. And heartbreak. Death. My death. The death I survived. The death I'm now living through. Except.... this isn't living. Every day is the same. I get up. Get ready for work. Same as everyone else. The thing is, I'm not the same. I get to work and everyone is doing the same old thing. Babbling away about aliens, weddings. I'm not real. Three days ago I died. And they think I'm fine. But they're wrong."

Episode 21 :            A Day in the Death.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 27th February 2008.

Owen Harper chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

I thoroughly enjoy this episode of Torchwood despite having elements that say I shouldn't. Firstly, there is no threat. No villain. No apocalypse on the horizon. It is simply Owen sitting on a rooftop with a young woman who is thinking of committing suicide. He tells her what has happened to him and that he can't die, and runs her through the day he has just had. A Day in the Death is about Owen coming to terms with what he has for his humanity and realizing that sometimes the universe throws something at you that just makes you understand that there is more out there and it isn't all bug eyed monsters.

A Day in the Death is the sort of episode that shouldn't work but does really well. It is a breath of fresh air for a show that is routinely dark and gritty to show us the same wonder that we normally experience through the eyes of the Doctor. For all the negativity in the show at this time, this episode has a great upbeat ending that I didn't see coming. I give this a big thumbs up.

Unfortunately this is the last we see of Martha. After three busy days with Torchwood she is off back to UNIT. Don't worry, she'll make another appearance soon enough.

TW #20 : Dead Man Walking

"There was a light, a tiny speck of light and I was rushing towards it, like down a corridor, and it got brighter, and brighter, then suddenly there were these gates... these big,pearly gates and there was this old geezer and he said, "You've been a very naughty boy!"

Episode 20 :            Dead Man Walking.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 20th February 2008.

Owen has died. Jack decides to return him to life for a few minutes. No one could have guessed the consequences.

Owen has been shot dead. Jack decides to seek the aid of a psychic girl who guides him to the location of the second resurrection glove whilst hinting that it would be unwise (use shows us the tarot card Death). Jack has to enter an abandoned church now used by a large number of Weevils to recover it. When used on Owen it brings him back but keeps him around, a walking talking corpse. Unfortunately this has allowed the entity Death to enter the mortal world and begin a killing spree to allow it to remain.

This story is a bit of a strange departure but I kind of like it anyway. I find it odd that the entity of Death is a real thing. It doesn't quite fit the Whoniverse but at the same time it does. Death appears as a skeletal figure sheathed in a black fog and drains the life out of it's victims leaving them looking like they died of old age. It is hinted at this is the shape moving in the dark that has been mentioned before when someone has been killed and revived. Maybe it was this and not Abaddon? It also implies strongly that there is an afterlife even though throughout Doctor Who we are told (admittedly by the Doctor who may not know any different) that there is no such thing. If there is then it sheds a dark light over the whole universe when you consider how many people have died during the Doctor's adventures. And do Daleks and the like go there too?

Ultimately Death is defeated as it can't use Owen and he keeps the entity at bay until it is forced to return whence it came. But at the end Owen is still very much undead and walking around. This version of immortality is very different to Jack's. Owen doesn't degenerate but he retains any injuries now caused to him and suffers the problem of not being able to eat, drink, sleep, have sex or use the bathroom. It is more a living hell really than immortality. At this point I am beginning to reconsider the show somewhat. We are told that Torchwood is about protecting mankind and preparing them for the future when in fact, as you look back, the underlying theme of nearly everything in the show (past and future) is death. 

TW #19 : Reset

"I'd rely on Martha if the world was ending. It fact... I did."

Episode 19 :            Reset.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Qwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Martha Jones.
Air Date:                 13th February 2008.

Martha Jones arrives at Torchwood after reports of numerous deaths. A medical researcher has been injected with "Mayflies". The "Mayflies" cure all illnesses before killing the patient, and Martha has got one...

Reset is the start of a trilogy focusing on Owen Harper and the return of Martha Jones, now a UNIT doctor. This episode has Jack call Martha in to help investigate a series of bizarre murders. Ultimately the investigation leads them an unscrupulous medical research firm which is using aliens to perfect medical cures  and not caring that one or two attempts have gone awry. When Martha is captured and implanted the team have to go in and rescue her. Unfortunately Owen is shot and killed during the extraction.

This is the sort of stories that Torchwood should be doing. It fits well with the premise of the show and much better than some of the episodes, and they are plausible within the confines of the Whoniverse. Thankfully that is what Reset gives us and it makes it a great episode to watch.

It is nice to see the return of Martha Jones, tying the two shows together. We get some nice references to Doctor Who as well. Torchwood should be it's own show but one thing it has lacked has been a real sense of being part of the same universe.

The episode ends with Owne getting shot, doing perhaps the one selfless act of his (on screen) life, protecting Martha. A bit of a shock at the time as I rather like Owen and his dark persona. But this won't be the last we see of him.

Reset is the sort of episode that  we should have seen more of each season and it has been a nice breath of fresh air to see it again doing these reviews.

TW #18 : Adam

Adam: You always remember what you killed, don't you, Jack?

Episode 18 :            Adam.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Qwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:                 13th February 2008.

An alien with the power to change memories infiltrates the team. With Captain Jack caught up in the memories of his lost family and Gwen struggling to remember Rhys, it takes Jack's love of Ianto to reveal the truth. Yet there's always a price to pay.

The premise of this story is another typical and over used science fiction trope, the addition of a new team member who everyone knows but is in reality a psychic extraterrestrial with the power to insert his existence into the memories of others. It has been done so many times before in shows like Star Trek and while Adam is no different it isn't bad either. Some care has been made to make this work. Adam is inserted into the opening credits just like the rest of the team members, giving pause to the regular viewer.

The episode itself is typical of Torchwood in that despite being an entertaining forty five minutes nothing actually happens. There is no real plot other than Jack slowly coming to notice that something is wrong and then fixing it. Fixing it in such a way that this episode only happens for us the viewer. Every member of Torchwood has it retconned at the end.

What does make the episode is Adam reviving the memories of the younger Jack losing his little brother, Gray -  whom Captain John Hart mentioned having found at the end of the first episode of this season. We learn that Jack's home isn't Earth but another colony and that they were attacked by some terrible race who may have taken his brother. Finally after all this time we are getting something on Jack's back story. Enough to pique the interest but not too much. The rest of the team get sort of personalty switched by what Adam does to them but their interactions aren't as interesting as the experiences Jack has.

The problem with Adam is that it simply feels like a filler episode with no real addition to the story other than the flashback to Jack's past. I would have just preferred something more tangible out of it.

TW #17: Meat

"Have you never seen something so mad, so extraordinary... That just for one second, you think there might be more out there?"

Episode 17:     Sleeper.
Companions:   Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:         6th February 2008. 

Gwen is forced to reveal Torchwood's true nature to Rhys after he follows her to work and accidentilly uncovers the truth behind the mysterious alien meat. Is there a price to pay for Rhys, Gwen, or Torchwood?

Meat is a fairly interesting story. Again nothing original but played just right so that it works. The story follows the team as they investigate a new source of meat that is coming onto the market in Cardiff. Some strange whale-like creature has washed up through the rift and been taken by some men who are looking at making money from it. The creature regenerates any flesh taken from it and grows as a result. The meat is packaged as something like beef and sold on with no one any the wiser. When Rhys becomes involved he has to infiltrate the gang so that the Torchwood team can close the operation down for good.

At last we are getting Rhys into the story more rather than being a background character as he was throughout the first season. He really is the center to this one and it is nice so see a character who isn't one of the Torchwood team get the spot light in the show. Although I didn't remember Rhys being so up himself as much previously even when you consider that he's having to deal with Gwen having a secretive new job.

Although different in appearance and design, the poor creature reminds me of the star whale from one of the early 11th Doctor stories, The Beast Below. They reused the sound for that so is it a juvenille or similar species? Probably not but nice to think that we can link them together. Both episodes also focus on human abuse of an alien animal.

There is more sense of the surreal in this episode. I can watch Doctor Who and see strange aliens, mysterious worlds and the like, and it never or rarely causes me to ponder it. Meat is a good Torchwood story but it feels out of place when you drop something like this in although that is maybe the point of the show. Doctor Who is science fantasy while Torchwood perhaps shows us how bizarre such events might be if you see them from an everyday person's point of view.

TW #16 : To The Last Man

Jack: [draws a line on a piece of paper] Linear time. [balls the piece of paper up] Screwed up time. Imagine your life is a straight line, from birth to death. Now, try drawing that line on the paper without flattening it out.

Gwen: It's impossible.

Jack: That's why we gotta stop it.

Episode 16:     To The Last Man.
Companions:   Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:         23rd January 2008. 

Once a year, for a single day, Tommy Brockless is defrosted in the Torchwood hub to make sure he's still working. He is kept alive until the day he is needed, when ghosts appear at a hospital and it is clear that the time has come.

Much like Greeks Bearing Gifts in season one, To The Last Man focuses on Toshiko above all other regular characters. She has fallen in love with Tommy Brockless, a soldier from the first world war but must deal with the fact that he must return to the past and die so that the present and the future can be saved. As a science fiction troupe it is nothing new but the episode is well written and perfectly acted out to carry the emotional resonance that it needs. The only issue with this particular story is that it doesn't explain the how and why of Tommy's initial crossing over which makes the loop a paradox. But hey, this the Whoniverse and such events seem to be common place.

The ghosts that are sighted are phantom images of the nurses and patients at the soldier's hospital in 1918 where Tommy was taken from by early Torchwood team members. There is some interaction but I really felt that the "ghostly" encounters could have carried a more frightening countenance than what they did. Although it is a love story for the most part, a hint of the horror of the Great War via the "ghosts" would have improved the story immensely much like they did in Ghost Machine.

To The Last Man is one of the more interesting episodes of this season and worth a watch.

TW #15 : Sleeper

Tosh: You said we weren't allowed to use that again.

Jack: It's just a mind probe.

Ianto: Remember what happened last time you used it?

Jack: That was different. And that species has extremely high blood pressure.

Ianto: Oh, right, their heads must explode all the time.

Episode 15:     Sleeper.
Companions:   Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:         23rd January 2008. 

A burglary turns into a slaughter and Torchwood suspect alien involvement. When the investigation escalates into a city-wide assault, Jack realizes the whole world is in danger.

Sleeper is a story about alien invasion but not the sort that we normally see. In this story we have an infiltration by aliens referred to by Jack as Cell 114. They come to Earth disguised as humans but with their true identities locked away until triggered. At which point they show certain shape-shifting qualities and try to disrupt Earth's defences. The team have found one who they help retain their human identity and try to thwart the invasion.

When this story first aired I figured that the invasion by Cell 114 was going to be the overarching plot for this season. It sets itself up perfectly for that but alas no, Sleep is simply a one off episode with no connection to anything else. The events are never referred to ever again. In hindsight this does spoil the episode for me because by itself the story doesn't do anything. You can't drop something major like this down and then just walk away in my opinion.

Sleeper isn't a great episode anyway. There is nothing to drive the main characters forward either with their own stories or the show in general. Already season two shows that it isn't going to be as good as season one. We know that as the show goes along it gets weaker and weaker each season. I do wonder whether Torchwood should have been left with just the one season?

TW #14 : Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang

Jack: So, how was rehab?

John: Rehabs. Plural.

Jack: Drink, drugs, sex and ...?

John: Murder.

Jack: [laughs] You went to murder rehab?

John: I know. Ridiculous. The odd kill, who does it hurt?

Captain John Hart, an old friend of Jack's, appears through the Rift, and causes problems for the Torchwood team.

Episode 14:   Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang..
Companions: Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:       16th January 2008.

Torchwood kicks off it's second season with an interesting start. The Torchwood team are visited by an old associate and lover of Jack's, a former time agent known as Captain John Hart. The new arrival is a violent amoral individual with as big a sense of overt sexuality as Jack's. After committing murder for no real reason, he lures the Torchwood team out with stories of hidden radiation bombs and then tries to bump them off without knowing that Jack cannot die. Ultimately he is found out and sent back through the Rift although he drops hints of something to Jack - "By the way, I found Gray" - before disappearing.

Captain Jack has returned from his sojourn with the Doctor and Martha, and must try to fit back in with his team who are understandably upset about being ditched. There is no indication just how long he was gone but it must have been many months or maybe up to a year but the feel of things. Without the friction of his return I don't think the season would have kicked off as well.

Captain John Hart is played by James Marsters who is more known for playing the vampire Spike in the Buffy: the Vampire Slayer show. I'm quite a fan of that particular role although I do feel Spike is channeled a bit too much in his role as John Hart. Marsters was a great choice for the role though in my opinion. I can't think of many other actors who could pull off that role quite as well.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang is a good start to the season but suffers from a definitive lack of plot. The episode feels more like a filler designed to set up events later in the series rather than a full season opener. It also continues the elements of silliness appearing more and more in the modern Whoniverse. For example it starts up with the Torchwood team chasing a fish-headed alien in a sports car through the streets of Cardiff, stopping briefly to let an old lady cross the road. Really? It doesn't even look very good and the scene is just silly.

Episode #194 : Voyage of the Damned

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"

Episode #193:           Voyage of the Damned.
Companions:            10th Doctor.
Air Date:                  25th December 2007.

A spacecraft set on an apocalyptic collision course with Earth, a host of killer robot angels and an evil severed-headed mastermind — it's just another Christmas for the Tenth Doctor.

Voyage of the Damned was the Christmas special for 2007. While the Christmas is the setting for the episode the story is more relevant to old disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure. This is good for me as quite frankly I am sick to death of the Christmas special's being so firmly entrenched in Christmas. How many times can the Doctor be caught in seasonal adventures?

So, the story is simple. After leaving Martha being and a brief encounter with his 5th self, the Doctor's TARDIS is struck by a spaceship designed to look like an old Earth cruise line and appropriately called the Titanic. Things start to go wrong when the Captain turns off the shields and she is struck by flaming meteorites and starts to go down. The Doctor and a handful of survivors must try to save the ship, protect the Earth and find out the cause of all what has happened.

The story to Voyage of the Damned is really rather good. I like the old 60's and 70's disaster movies so it is right up my street. The effects look good especially the design of the star ship Titanic. In these elements the BBC were spot on. Shame that sometimes the same level of detail isn't applied to the regular episodes.

The special guest star is no other than Austrialia's queen of pop, Kylie Minogue! That must have been quite the coup to get someone as famous as her to make an appearance, even on such a popular show. She plays a doomed waitress named Astrid Peth who might have been a companion had she not given her life to save the Doctor. 

We also get a brief meeting with Wilfred Mott before his introduction in the following season. I don't know whether it was the intention at this time to add his character to show or not however. Wilfred is played by veteran actor Bernard Cribbins who already has a connection to Doctor Who as he played a companion in the cinematic adaptation of Dalek Invasion of Earth.

If I like this episode so much what lets it down and reduces it to a average 3 rating? Well, to start with I dislike the elements involving the Queen. As the ship plummets to its doom over London, it is heading straight for Buckingham Palace and the Doctor rings up the Queen to have her evacuate. As he saves the ship she is seen waving and calling out "thank you Doctor". It is played for laughs but it feels so out of touch and it spoils the ending. There is also an scene where the Doctor snaps his fingers, summons a pair of robot angels and has them carry him aloft. The scene once more smacks of the godhood element that has been relevant of late. In fact that scene received many complaints from the Catholic viewers because of the connotation. It is the little elements that spoil an otherwise good episode. If they had been handled better or not included at all I would have been more generous with the rating.

Even so, Voyage of the Damned is one of the best Christmas specials so far.

Episode #193-A : Time Crash

"Hey, I'm the Doctor. I can save the universe using a kettle and some string. And look at me, I'm wearing a vegetable!"

Episode #193-A:       Time Crash.
Companions:            10th Doctor and 5th Doctor.
Air Date:                  16th November 2007.

After saying his goodbyes to Martha Jones at the end of Last of the Time Lords, the Tenth Doctor accidentally pilots his TARDIS into the path of... the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS! As the current Doctor muses over aspects of the Fifth, the Fifth Doctor becomes increasingly worried as their combined TARDISes threaten to rip a hole in space and time the size of Belgium! 

This was a short sketch shown during the November 2007 Children in Need night on the BBC. It fits in exactly between Last of the Time Lords and Voyage of the Damned. Time Crash was the first incidence in new Who where we had a crossover between the old and new shows, as well as being the first new multi-Doctor story. Largely played for laughs, Time Crash is however, considered canonical.

The interaction between the 5th and 10th Doctors is extremely clever with plenty of references thrown in such as LINDA (from Love and Monsters), as well as references back to the adventures of the 5th Doctor. This was Steven Moffat writing at some of his best. I always get a giggle out of it. There's a nice sense of nostalgia too once the 5th Doctor recognizes his older self. 

If you haven't seen it, here is the short clip. 

SJA #6 : The Lost Boy

"The Xylok are a crystalline lifeform. We crashed here as what you would call a meteorite, beneath the Earth our crystals have regrown and become strong again, but nevertheless remain trapped. The release of the Xylok is my purpose. You gave me the chance to fulfill it, the chance to plan."

Episode #6:       The Lost Boy.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, K9 and Mr Smith.
Air Date:            12th to 19th November 2007.

A missing child turns out to be, both visually and genetically, Luke. Sarah Jane is forced to hand him over to the "parents". Heartbroken, Sarah Jane rejects Maria and Clyde, and with Maria's dad threatening to sell the house to keep his daughter out of danger, it seems the gang's adventures have come to an end, whilst Luke discovers his new "parents" are not all they seem — an old enemy has returned, and this time, they are in league with a member of Sarah Jane's faithful team in a plot to bring the moon crashing to Earth.

Although not the best episode The Lost Boy is a fitting end to the first series of the Sarah Jane Adventures. The plot itself isn't much but it is more the revelation that the genius super computer in Sarah Jane's attic, Mr Smith, is in fact an evil computer seeking to free a malevolent crystalline race, the Xylok, from their confinement within the Earth makes up for it.

Unfortunately the story continues the irritating family issues from the Jackson family. Now that Maria's father knows about aliens and what the team get up to he steps in to a both save the day and wanting to move away to protect his daughter. We'll get that in the start of the next season.

We do get the return of the Slitheen from the start of the season. The youngest is seeking revenge for the death of his father but has been manipulated by Mr Smith. This time they seem to have solved the farting problem in their skin suits.

The Lost Boy isn't a terrible story but it just didn't grab my interest at all. Uninteresting story and the addition of the Slitheen really didn't serve any purpose. At least we get a cameo from K9 again.

SJA #5 : Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?

"You were never forgotten, never! What I saw that day, it changed me forever. I saw how precious life is, and it made me fight to defend it across all these years, because of you, Andrea! It was all because of you! My best friend."

Episode #5:       Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer and Mr Smith.
Air Date:            29th October to 5th November 2007.

One day, Sarah Jane Smith exists. The next, only Maria Jackson knows of her. Andrea Yates takes her place, but Maria knows that Andrea has done something to remove Sarah Jane from the space/time continuum. It is up to Maria to uncover the identity of the "Trickster" if the human race is to survive. But with Sarah Jane and Luke wiped from existence and Clyde having lost all knowledge of his former adventures, Maria must save the world single-handedly. But she finds it may be time to tell her father about her secret life with Sarah Jane if the whole world is to survive.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It was, for children's television a little darker than expected which made it much better in my eyes. Essentially some strange alien device protects Maria from alterations in the time line when a mysterious figure called the Trickster decides to alter the past so that thirteen year old Sarah Jane is killed and her best friend, who should have died, survives in her place. Maria has to resolve things in time to prevent an asteroid from striking the Earth and killing everyone.

It is a good story but suffers from the usual time alteration story line issue... ignoring what went before. The Trickster removes Sarah Jane so she wasn't around to help the Doctor and UNIT during the 1970's defeat all those alien invasions.We know the Doctor is good but there doesn't appear to be any real changes to the time line and since Sarah Jane was important to those events, surely something should have been referenced? However, there is a nice reference where the Trickster decides to see what things would have been like without the Doctor about to stop them, which leads into the upcoming Turn Left story.

The Trickster is an interesting villain though I can't help feeling that he is superfluous when you have an almost identical figure in the Black Guardian. Perhaps it was decided that it would require too much of an introduction for children? Either way, it gives the show it's own nasty otherworldly recurring villain so I can't complain. Alongside the Trickster the episode introduces a creature called a Grask which serves the Trickster in some way. I'm sure he'll make an appearance as well in the future.

SJA #4 : Warriors of Kudlak

"Oh, please don’t be offended, but this isn’t the first time I’ve had a gun pointed at me. And guns from other planets – ooh, afraid I’ve rather lost count!"

Episode #4:       Warriors of Kudlak.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer and Mr Smith.
Air Date:            15th to 22nd October 2007.

Children have gone missing, but how? Will Luke and Clyde win Combat 3000? And who is the mysterious Mr. Kudlak?

Not an original story but entertaining all the same. While trying to teach Luke the hows and whys of being human, they decide to play a game of laser tag at a nearby venue called Combat 3000. This laser tag outfit is a cover for an alien general, Kudlak, who is looking for worthy would-be soldiers to fight in his people's war against someone called Malakh. Children with the right skills are abducted, crated and sent off to fight in the war. Unfortunately the war ended ten years ago and his battle computer fearing having nothing to do in peace time doesn't bother informing him. Kudlak turns out to be not such a bad individual after all and vows to find the children and return them home.

The story focuses more on Luke and Clyde than Sarah Jane. It is nice to see the companions getting their own story so soon into the show. Already Clyde is becoming more likeable than when he first appeared but the "learning humanity" elements of Luke's story are already a bit annoying.

The effects aren't bad and I especially like how well the production team managed to pull off a fully insectoid face and mask for Kudlak. Worthy of proper Doctor Who if you ask me. What I like most about this particular villain is that at the end of the day he isn't the villain. The human minion, Mr Grantham, on Earth is far worse in my opinion than the alien. Kudlak was doing what he thought he needed to but when the truth of the situation comes out he realises the error of things and sets out to correct them. Not something that you normally see in science fiction shows like this.

SJA #3: Eye of the Gorgon

"Sarah Jane was right, wasn’t she? I thought meetin’ creatures from other planets was gonna be excitin’ and cool, but she told me, she said it wasn’t anythin’ like that. In the end it just messes you up. Your whole life, and the people you love…. That’s why Sarah Jane’s always been on her own. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it, Bea? With no one in the world who really knows you or cares. This is how we all end up, isn’t it?"

Episode #3:       Eye of the Gorgon.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer and Mr Smith.
Air Date:            1st to 8th October 2007.

A haunted nursing home leads Sarah Jane to a mysterious order of nuns with an ancient - and alien - secret.

Eye of the Gorgon is a story revolving around the existence of a secret order of women who protect, serve and host, a monstrous alien entity called in Earth lore as a Gorgon. In order to allow the Gorgon race to invade the Earth they need an alien talisman which has been hidden from them for three thousand years. When the team investigate supposed haunting of an old peoples home by a phantom nun they sent in motion events that could end the world.

If this was a Doctor Who episode it would fit nicely in during the early Tom Baker years when there was more of a horror element. Although written with children in mind this adventure has some nice creepy story elements. It may seem strange to say this, but it is nice to see horror featuring in children's television rather than the usual nicey nicey programming that normally appears. 

This time we see more of the interaction around the Jackson family, Maria's mother and father having split up before the start of the series but still irritating one another. You do need a family element, again, because of it being children's television but only two episodes in and I hate the pair of them. The family element doesn't add anything interesting except to play the secondary plot lines. At this time I haven't seen all the SJA episodes but already I am hoping that the family elements, which have been awkward in Doctor Who, drop to the wayside a little bit more.

Eye of the Gorgon is a nice episode but I'm hoping for better as the show goes along.

SJA #2 : Revenge of the Slitheen

"Let’s have a High School Musical moment! A group hug will sort everything out."

Episode #2:       Revenge of the Slitheen.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer and Mr Smith.
Air Date:            24th September to 1st October 2007.

First days at school are always difficult. For Maria Jackson and Luke Smith, the task of blending in is made all the more difficult when their teachers turn out to be aliens from outer space, back for revenge!

The Sarah Jane Adventures kicks off properly with this entertaining adventure. Luke Smith has to start school for the first time and with his friends he uncovers a plot by members of the Slitheen family to destroy the Earth in revenge for the loss of their family during Aliens of London/World War Three. First off, it is nice to see that they are including events from Doctor Who into the show. This doesn't happen enough between the three shows in my opinion. Secondly, it is still just as silly as that first Slitheen episode was what with farting and appropriate childish humour. Given that SJA is a children's show, it does work well here.

Thankfully the writers dropped the character of Kelsey Hooper in favour of a new one, Clyde Langer. Clyde is a typical teenager boy who thinks he's better than he is and has his world turned around when he learns that aliens are real - despite Earth and London in particular, being invaded quite clearly in recent years. Now that he has seen aliens he becomes apart of the regular gang and becomes more likable as the show goes along.

This adventure features a young Slitheen boy of about 12 years old which adds a nice dilemma as to whether he should be left to die with the rest of his kind. Obviously with this being child friendly the Slitheen boy escapes perhaps to come back and bother the team in the future? 

Revenge of the Slitheen is a good start to the show and a lot better than the awful Invasion of the Bane. Reusing a well liked monster race, making references to those Doctor Who episodes and maintaining a hint of a dark plot with some fun moments makes it watchable. Plus it has Sarah Jane too.