The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 5 Review

Posted on May 24, 2022 by guardion

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 5

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 5

The Sarah Jane Adventures sadly comes to a sudden conclusion, but gives us some final memorable moments.

The Review

Here’s the scores for the stories:

The Curse of Clyde Langer: 10/10

Sky: 8.5/10

The Man Who Never Was: 8/10

The Sarah Jane Adventures has been gone for over a decade now, but the legacy still remains with one of the most popular children’s shows in UK history. The reason is clear: exciting adventure, and great characters. This season introduced us to Sky, a new younger character who sadly didn’t get the chance to anchor the show for seasons to come. Still, she gets to meet her older brother Luke in the final story, so we are not denied that moment. Anjli Mohindra continues to show the skills that have her continuing to pursue a successful acting career, and one of my only regrets is we don’t see more of Rani’s family. The standout character for me though will be Clyde Langer, played with such depth by Daniel Anthony, who has truly grown over the course of the series. The Curse of Clyde Langer is thankfully one last opportunity to show his great work. As for Elisabeth Sladen, I’ll admit: I have always found something just a bit mis-calibrated with her Sarah Jane performances in this show. I know why though. Sladen is simply so sincere that it overrides everything else, and I could never help but be charmed by her. The fact that she got to headline this show is just such an incredible gift, and she continues to inspire. Thanks for being the hero Elisabeth.

8.833/10 The journey continues…forever

The Man Who Never Was Review

Posted on May 24, 2022 by guardion

The Man Who Never Was

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 5 Episodes 5-6

It’s a standard story to end The Sarah Jane Adventures, but Luke gets to join for one last outing and meet his sister.

The Review

So, it has come to this, the final time Elisabeth Sladen performed as Sarah Jane before her death in early 2011. There’s nothing special about this story, but I think it’s exactly how she would’ve wanted it: one last outing with her SJA family. Luke is back for this story, and a subplot is Sky’s nervousness around meeting him in person for the first time (especially over the fact that she took his bedroom). Of course, everything is worked out and Luke and Sky make an excellent brother/sister team. On the other side, we have the Clyde and Rani relationship further pursued as Luke has an official ship name for them (‘Clani’) and they have to pose as married journalists. If you want to imagine years more adventures of Sarah Jane and her gang saving the world, it’s hard to think of a better point to leave things ambiguous.

The actual plot involves the launch of the ‘Serf Board’ by a reclusive billionaire, who it turns out is just a hologram hilariously controlled by alien Skullions who have to operate different body parts all in sync. Their rule by the tyrannical and remorseless Harrison who punishes them with shock collars makes Harrison one of the most hatable villains in all of Doctor Who. There is also an ambiguously Polish cleaning lady who sympathizes with the ‘little people’ and is happy to see them rescued. Again, there’s nothing special going on here, but it does make me marvel at how high-quality the show managed to be. Creating a children’s show that could inspire and still teach valuable life lessons and be enjoyable for all ages? Elisabeth Sladen’s legacy isn’t going anywhere. She does get one last ‘pretending to be ditzy to gain information’ scene, and it’s a delight. Long live Sarah Jane.

It’s nothing special, but all the gang reunites for one last adventure doing what they do best: saving people from a monster.

8/10 Sarah Jane, we salute you

The Curse of Clyde Langer Review

Posted on May 24, 2022 by guardion

The Curse of Clyde Langer

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 5 Episodes 3-4

One final Clyde-focused story gives us another classic as we learn the power of having a support system.

The Review

The best character in The Sarah Jane Adventures has always been Clyde: Daniel Anthony’s portrayal of a kid pretending to be cocky to get over his anxiety and secretly wanting to be an artist has provided the best moments of emotional depth. Here, we get one more as Clyde is cursed by an ancient Native American god/alien to where anyone who hears his name immediately viciously turns on him. It’s happened before in visions, but seeing Sarah Jane rudely cast him out is tough to watch, even worse when she calls the police on him (an even more biting commentary in the 2020s). A few seasons ago, Clyde would’ve crumbled under his own anxieties, but this time he knows something is wrong and correctly deduces his curse. It’s a shame of the big three child actors that Daniel Anthony doesn’t act anymore, because it’s a great performance as Clyde.

Sarah Jane and Rani (and Clyde’s mom) both feel like they’ve lost someone, but hate Clyde the moment they hear his name. It falls to sweet young Sky who is unaffected by the curse to appeal to them and eventually breaks the hold. The totem pole is banished, but then the real heartbreak sets in. Clyde met Ellie, a homeless girl his age, who kept him safe and introduced him to the life. They quickly fall in love, with Ellie potentially even giving Clyde his first kiss. She leaves to get coffee right as Sarah Jane finds him again, and after he goes back to search for her finds she took a truck somewhere else in Europe and he’ll never see her again. It’s a bit on the nose, but Sarah Jane says the most alien world is that of the homeless: if we cared to look. It’s a sad ending, but with a great message.

Daniel Anthony gets one final hurrah as Clyde, the best character of this show who has provided the biggest emotional moments.

10/10 I have a week spot for kids struggling with their place in the world, okay?

The ‘Museum of Culture’ was hilariously cheap-looking

Sky Review

Posted on May 21, 2022 by guardion

Sky

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 5 Episodes 1-2

The fifth season of The Sarah Jane Adventures starts with Sarah Jane getting a daughter!

The Review

With Luke off at college, and Clyde and Rani getting older, it was clear that the show was going to need a new generation of kids. The story opens with a mysterious baby being dropped at Sarah Jane’s doorstep, and when she cries it takes out the power grid in the neighborhood. Babies are cute, especially when Clyde is trying to entertain one while Rani and Sarah Jane are off investigating a meteor landing on the planet. When she grows up, she becomes adorably played by Sinead Michael as about a 12-year old girl who doesn’t even know what ‘girl’ means. Showing a young girl being inspired by Sarah Jane warms the heart, especially thinking about how much this likely happened in real life.

Sky was bred as a bomb by Miss Myers of ‘flesh kind’ to attack her enemies ‘machine kind’, two twin planets having produced very different forms of life. The amusingly high stakes taking place in a nuclear power station are paired with some more great Chandra comedy, Haresh getting frustrated at the frequent power outages. Clyde and Rani defuse a reactor, and Sky gets her destructive energy sucked out of her, and she pledges to stay with Sarah Jane. It’s a pretty straightforward story, but Michael is immediately lovable as Sky who is certainly going to freshen up the dynamic. Heartbreakingly, we know we won’t get to see much more of her, but she makes a good showing here.

Sarah Jane gains a daughter as we see how more grown-up Clyde and Rani are now. Oh, and that shopkeeper guy is back too.

8.5/10 A nice opening for the season