SJA #23 : Lost in Time

"The tapestry of time is a fragile thing. Apply the slightest pressure, and the threads of history can unravel. But you understand that, don't you, Sarah Jane?"

Episode #23:        Lost in Time.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:              8th to 9th November 2010.

A harmless investigation turns into an epic quest across time and space. Sarah Jane and the gang are separated by the enigmatic Shopkeeper to find themselves in three different time-zones throughout history – doing battle against ghost hunters, Nazis, Tudors and a mysterious parrot called Captain!

Along comes another Sarah Jane Adventures episode that I thoroughly enjoyed. Recruited my a mysterious shopkeeper and his parent, the adventurers are split up and sent into different time zones to recover pieces of a temporal artifact, the chronosteel. Clyde arrives during the second world war, and helps thwart a Nazi invasion. Rani finds herself in service to Lady Jane Gray in her last hours and Sarah Jane helps a 19th century ghost hunter save the lives of two children in the 21st century.

I like this story because it brings home the time traveling historical stories of the early days of Doctor Who. Although I wasn't a fan of them the modern stories can be done so much better even in just a brief hours worth of television. In particular the life and death of Lady Jane Gray, an historical figure I had never heard of prior to watching this episode when televised. Having watched it, I was moved to read up on the actual events.

As for the mysterious shopkeeper we never learn who he or his parrot companion are but according to The Brilliant Book 2012, and a blog post from Neil Gaiman, Gaiman and Russell T Davies were both of the personal opinion that the Shopkeeper was in fact the Corsair, a swashbuckling Time Lord friend of the Doctor's mentioned in the television story The Doctor's Wife.

I do like this particular adventure a lot and it shows what the show could do when the writers put their minds to it. More like this would have been preferable to the overly basic children's stories.

SJA #22 : The Empty Planet

"Weird alien noise, terrified kid and what do we do? Run to the window and start talking all Star Trek. We must have looked really normal."

Episode #22:        The Empty Planet.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, Rani Chandra, Clyde Langer, and Mr Smith.
Air Date:              1st to 2nd November 2010.

Clyde and Rani are apparently the only survivors of the human race. The whole of Earth is empty – even Sarah Jane has vanished. A deserted London holds terrors of its own, mainly in the form of two mysterious and menacing robots.

The Empty Planet is a Sarah Jane lite story. In fact she only appears at the start and the very end. The story instead focuses upon Rani and Clyde stuck in a world where everyone else has vanished, except for a young school boy. They find themselves pursued by two robots with a mysterious mission. The story itself is nothing special and is simply a hunt for a missing individual. The same sort of story we have seen before in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

For an episode where really, nothing actually happens, this is still a rather good story. Rani and Clyde by themselves make for an excellent pair of adventurers, and it is a refreshing change to have the show focus on just two characters rather than the whole gang. A bigger threat than what is presented might have made it a better story though.

SJA #21: Death of the Doctor

"Because your memories are more powerful than anything else on this planet. Just think of it. Remember it. But properly. Properly. Give the Memory Weave everything. Every planet, every face, every madman, every loss, every sunset, every scent, every terror, every joy, every Doctor. Every me."

Episode #21:        Death of the Doctor.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, Rani Chandra, Clyde Langer, Mr Smith, the 11th Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:              25th to 26th October 2010.

When the Doctor is declared dead, old companions Sarah Jane and Jo Grant meet for the first time and join forces to discover the truth. As an interstellar conspiracy gathers around UNIT HQ, Clyde finds he holds the fate of the Time Lord in his hand – quite literally!

They are not many adventures among the Sarah Jane Adventures that get me as excited as many Doctor Who ones do, but Death of the Doctor hits nearly all my buttons. Any story that brings in so many references, and a former companion, from the classic show is bound to do it. Throw in the Doctor and we're away! This story unites Sarah Jane with the 11th Doctor and her predecessor Jo Grant, and together this adventure works so well for both younger fans and us grognards who remember the good old days.

The story itself revolves around a group of renegade aliens, the Shansheeth, a sort of space vultures who also serve as the galaxy's undertakers (I guess Necros puts them out of business one day?) who come up with a plan to stop death all together and for that they need the TARDIS. Stealing the time machine and trying to use his former companions to create a psychic version of the key kicks things off. The bannerman road gang are joined by Jo Grant and the 11th Doctor to stop them and recover the TARDIS. It is a simple enough plot hook but as I have mentioned it is the frequent references both in dialogue and in screen snippets to the classic show that really make it so enjoyable.

However, it isn't all just fun and games. Although used perhaps as a throwaway filler section of dialogue there is some wonderful exposition between Clyde, Rani and Rani's father about how people handle the death of a loved one which is really quite moving.

CLYDE: Luke says Sarah Jane's gone mad. 
HARESH: Don't be so rude. He wouldn't say mad about his own mother. 
CLYDE: No. He said, nutty, fruity, loop the loop, tonto, barmy, bonkers. Be fair, though, sir, he's worried. 
HARESH: It's like your mum. Remember when Grandad died? 
RANI: She washed everything. Curtains, furniture, me. She even washed the walls. Who washes walls? It went on for days, and then she just started crying. 
HARESH: It takes time, because when someone dies it's so massive, it's like you can't fit it all inside your head. That's what Sarah Jane's doing. She's denying it. 
CLYDE: So, what do we do? 
HARESH: Wait. That's all you can do. Friends just wait. 

Death of the Doctor was written by Russel T Davis and oddly I find that he does a better job in this episode of writing the 11th Doctor than was done for the 10th Doctor in The Wedding of Sarah Jane. Maybe that's just me though but it certainly sounded a lot better.

This adventure is one I certainly would consider watching if you want the best of the Doctor's adventures.

SJA #20 : The Vault of Secrets

"But we're going to save your mum now, so if it's the Universe against Clyde Langer, then the Universe had better bring some mates!"

Episode #20:        The Vault of Secrets.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:              18th to 19th October 2010.

When an old enemy, Androvax the Veil, returns to Earth asking for help, the gang face a dilemma — should they trust him? Or does the legendary Vault hold an even greater terror? A second threat arises, when android guardians threaten to destroy anyone who uncovers their secrets. As the battle between Sarah Jane, Androvax and the androids reaches its climax, Rani has to save her mother from being caught in the crossfire. The Vault opens and the destiny of the entire Veil species is at stake. Is it too late to save them?

A rather typical Sarah Jane adventure but one that fits squarely where I expect the show's target stories should go. Androvax returns but not necessarily as the villain. Sometimes while being the bad guy a recurring character can have a bit more depth and this time Androvax feels more like an individual who has a goal and reasons for doing what he does. SJA doesn't always accomplish this very well but this time they do. We also have the return of the mysterious Men in Black who we last saw in the animated adventure Dreamland, including the lead MiB Dr Dread although different actor unfortunately. Nice to see some cross jumping between shows here.

In this story we get more background on the mysterious Men in Black. It turns out that they are androids tasked in the 20th century (up until the early 70's) with preventing the human race from learning about aliens and their technology. They served something called the Alliance of Shades, an alien organisation that wanted to either protect humanity from alien influence or keep them clueless. Since the Men in Black were retired in 1972 does that mean the Alliance of Shades decided to leave things in the hands of UNIT and/or Torchwood? We may never know although I'd like to see them make an appearance in Doctor Who some time.

Like many Sarah Jane adventures this one suffers from being directed too much at a child audience but also at being dragged out over two episodes when one might have sufficed. The more SJA that I watch the more I come to that latter conclusion. Some work just fine but others not so much and in this story that shows all too well in the later half.

SJA #19 : The Nightmare Man

"Our world has always been full of nightmares. Creatures and aliens who want to destroy us. But we've always been protected. The Doctor. His friends. My mum. But tonight... Tonight I don't think anyone can save us. The world's going to end, and it's my fault, because he's coming for me, you see? He's been waiting for me for years."

Episode #19:        The Nightmare Man.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:              11th to 12th October 2010.

Luke faces life-changing events, and Bannerman Road will never be the same again. But when Sarah Jane's son has his first nightmare, he's haunted by a dark figure from his dreams: the Nightmare Man. A strange entity is reaching out to our world through Luke, with terrible consequences for the whole human race. With Luke, Clyde and Rani trapped in a bizarre dreamscape, Sarah Jane must fight alone. As the Nightmare Man grows stronger, only K9 might hold the key. But can Luke summon the courage to face his adult life before the whole world is trapped in an endless nightmare?

The new season of the Sarah Jane Adventures starts with a fairly bland adventure. It exists simply to serve as a vehicle for Tommy Knight (Luke Smith) to depart the series while he focuses on his real life school studies. The story itself, like so many under the SJA banner it seems, is just uninspired and doesn't really go anywhere. It is a story where nothing really happens, the villain is two dimensional (barely) and the whole thing feels like a bore to watch.

At the culmination Luke leaves to go to Oxford and takes K9 with him. He makes occasional webcam appearances throughout the rest of the season but for now isn't a major character. Shame about K9 about his creator was (as I understand it) more interested in an unofficial K9 spin off made in Australia and didn't want to continue with the Sarah Jane Adventures.

Frankly this adventure could have been so much better with a more interesting villain and less time wasted on the angst of Luke Smith and the others.

Episode #219 : The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

"The universe is big, it's vast and complicated, and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. And that's the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet, but this would do me."

Episode #219:      The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
Air Date:              19th to 26th June 2010.

A Van Gogh painting ferried across thousands of years offering a terrifying prophecy, a message on the oldest cliff-face in the universe and a love that lasts a thousand years: in 102 AD England, Romans receive a surprise visit from Cleopatra. Nearby, Stonehenge hides a legendary prison-box. As it slowly unlocks from the inside, terrible forces gather in the heavens. The fates are closing around the TARDIS. The Pandorica, which contains the most dangerous threat in the Universe, is opening. Only one thing is certain: "The Pandorica will open... Silence will fall".

The season ends with a fantastic culmination. We learn that everything we have experienced since the start of this season has been orchestrated by an alien coalition who fear the Doctor and blame him for the destruction of the universe. The full explanation won't become apparent for some time though. This two parter is a complete edge of your seat type entertainment with surprises and enough cool moments to be hugely memorable.

We have the unexpected return of Rory William although at this stage as a plastic Auton facsimile of a Roman soldier. He somehow manages to retain his personality even as the other Auton's revert to their "evil" selves. Rory always struck me as a bit of an odd character but has grown on me as his time on the show went along. Strange how that happens.

The first half of the story focuses on the Doctor's discovery and investigation of Stonehenge and the Pandorica. Once entrapped and the universe changes we have our companions struggling in a shrinking universe to reset things, hence the title The Big Bang. Now is this new big bang the thing that alters history to erase events such as the giant Cyber King?

The end of the adventure is rather cool as well. The Doctor slides back along his own timeline through his adventures with Amy before he ceases to exist, and we see certain scenes from previous stories this season which now make more sense. A well written and ingenuous plot element. The final scene of Amy and Rory's wedding where Amy restores the Doctor's existence sends a chill up my spin.

All in all a fantastic piece of Doctor Who in the modern era.

Episode #218 : The Lodger.

Craig: Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?
The Doctor: They never really stop.

Episode #218:      The Lodger.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Amy Pond.
Air Date:              12th June 2010.

A mysterious force blocks the TARDIS — with Amy inside it — from landing, keeping it stuck in a materialisation loop. It's up to the Eleventh Doctor to work out what that force is, lest Amy be lost forever along with his home. As he investigates, he learns of a house on Aickman Road, with a staircase which people walk up but never come back down. To solve this mystery, the Doctor must pass himself off as a normal human and share a flat with Craig Owens.

The Lodger is a fantastic story, not because of some cool science fiction or big battles, but because it is just funny. This adventure is companion lite as Amy is trapped aboard the TARDIS and the Doctor does all the hard work. The Doctor having to live as a normal everyday human just makes for some classic laugh out loud moments. Sometimes it just has to be as simple as that to make a good episode.

Ultimately though this is just another filler episode before the big end of season story. The only real element of this one that fits the rest of the story arc is that the source of the mystery appears to have a dead body that resembles a Silence from the next season. Coincidence or setting up? Who knows.

There isn't much more to this one so just enjoy this story for the comedy value and for James Corden in the role of Craig Owens.