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

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 Review

Posted on December 1, 2021 by guardion

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4

The Sarah Jane Adventures focuses on Clyde and Rani, to excellent results.

The Review

Here’s the scores for the stories:

The Empty Planet: 10/10

Death of the Doctor: 9/10

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith: 9/10

The Vault of Secrets: 8/10

Lost in Time: 8/10

The Nightmare Man: 7/10

For a season of The Sarah Jane Adventures, there honestly wasn’t terribly much Sarah Jane, and I think that worked to the show’s advantage. Luke leaves in the first serial and doesn’t come back until the last one, taking K9 with him. This leaves us with Clyde and Rani, and their developing relationship which is wonderful. The two of them work so well together as a team, and the show shines when the two of them get to work together to save the world like in The Empty Planet. The stakes on the show continue to be hilariously high, but in the premise of children’s tv it doesn’t seem to matter much. I think kids can understand ‘save the world from destruction!’ more than emotional stakes. Still, there are those, especially in the final episode where Clyde and Sarah Jane come close to death. It’s a shame this was the final full season of this show, because who knows where it could’ve gone from here.

8.5/10 It was a standard affair

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith Review

Posted on December 1, 2021 by guardion

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 Episodes 9-10

A serial that hits the emotions far harder than expected, Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith introduces a new rival investigator.

The Review

Elisabeth Sladen died on cancer in early 2011, and this was the last Sarah Jane Adventures story broadcast before she died. In it, Sarah Jane’s health starts deteriorating, which she reasons must be due to her age and she gives up her life hunting aliens. It’s tragic knowing that Sladen’s health would actually start declining, and also hard to watch what is essentially dementia. The cause is ‘Ruby White’ supposedly a new younger woman doing exactly Sarah Jane’s job, but turns out she’s a Qetesh, a race that feeds off energy and excitement…and has an out of body stomach. Julie Graham as Ruby provides an excellent foil to Sarah Jane, and even has ‘Mr. White’, a Nintendo DS sized super computer.

Once again, saving the Earth falls to the kids. Clyde and Rani quickly realize Sarah Jane wouldn’t vanish, and Clyde gets sent to Ruby’s ship and orbit to suffocate. Luke drives down and is mad at Rani, but K9 sorts things out and they manage to break up the scheme. The story is still chaotic, but does a lot of things successfully: defeating an evil version of Sarah Jane was a perfect idea. Also, boy if Clyde and Rani aren’t incredibly heroic. Luke’s alright, but his awkwardness hinders the character some while Clyde and Rani are just fantastic. Now I want them to lead a sequel series.

Sarah Jane’s plight reminded me of my grandmother’s dementia, and it was heartbreaking to watch. It’s even worse knowing the world did have to say goodbye to Sarah Jane Smith.

9/10 A fitting finale that is much more meaningful now

Lost in Time Review

Posted on December 1, 2021 by guardion

Lost in Time

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 Episodes 8-9

In one of the most ambitious stories, The Sarah Jane Adventures tackles some seriously dark topics with decent results.

The Review

The stakes in each story of The Sarah Jane Adventures are usually colossal: the Earth is doomed! Here, it’s still true, but things get personal quick in the series’ most mature episode. The set-up is kind of unsuccessful, a mysterious man called the Shopkeeper sends the three to three different places after three different MacGuffins that if not retrieved will destroy Earth. Sarah Jane is sent to an old house in 1889 with a woman named Emily hunting ghosts, and it turns out the house is connected with its 21st century counterpart where two young kids die in a house fire. I think I’m liking Clyde and Rani more than Sarah Jane this series, so this was my least favorite of the three. I did like the twist when Sarah actually doesn’t get the magic key, but a guilty Emily has her descendant deliver it.

Rani is sent to 1553 and the ill-fated teenager Queen Jane who is promptly overthrown and later executed by Mary I. Amber Beattie is very good as the tragic queen who forms a friendship with Rani, and takes solace in Rani saying she will be remembered forever. The most bold has Clyde face up against actual Nazis, in a caper where of course two young boys ward off a German invasion. I can’t believe a Nazi called Clyde a ‘Negro’ on CBBC. The Nazis are very one-dimensional, but hey, I can’t blame them. Really, the biggest issue is the three stories make each one seem a bit rushed, not to mention the ill-defined danger Earth was in. The show took a big swing, it didn’t pay off, but points for trying.

An overstuffed serial is ambitious, but ultimately isn’t perfect. I’m really not sure what they were going for with the Shopkeeper.

8/10 A heartbreaking episode. Maybe wise Clyde didn’t go meet up with the now 83 year old George

Not sure the Shopkeeper was handled right

The Empty Planet Review

Posted on December 1, 2021 by guardion

The Empty Planet

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 Episodes 6-7

In a pitch-perfect story, Rani and Clyde’s relationship deepens as they are the last two humans left standing.

The Review

The best episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures have deepened the relationships of the cast and had serious emotional stakes. In this episode, Sarah Jane can’t save them now as Rani and Clyde wake up as the last two humans. Well, two of the last three as they meet a 13 year old named Gavin. Rani and Clyde have to use their own wits to sort out what’s going on, with several intelligent observations: all the cars and planes are gone too, so it’s like Earth wanted to be preserved. They struggle to think of something they’ve done but Sarah Jane hasn’t and realize it was getting grounded by the Judoon. The scenes of a completely deserted London are appropriately haunting, and it’s a great mystery.

It turns out Gavin, who thought himself completely normal, is half-alien, conceived Peter Quill style by his mom and an alien king. Said king has now died, so two brightly colored robots have arrived to deport Gavin on the throne. The real quality comes from Rani and Clyde coming closer to voicing their love for each other. The two compliment each other perfectly, Clyde’s creativity with Rani’s genius, and Rani’s self-confidence with Clyde’s underlying insecurity. Not to mention that as Rani and Clyde apparently vanish to their parents, we see her dad and his mom worrying about them. It’s a great mystery with some great character building. It’s no secret how Anjli Mohindra has had the best post-SJA career, her talent is clear.

No Sarah Jane turns out to be no problem for the show in an all-time classic outing. This is great children’s sci-fi!

10/10 The growth off Clyde and Rani has been great to watch

Death of the Doctor Review

Posted on November 30, 2021November 30, 2021 by guardion

Death of the Doctor

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 Episodes 5-4

The Eleventh Doctor makes his spin-off appearance for a fun story that remixes a bit on School Reunion.

The Review

RTD is back as writer, Matt Smith is here as the Doctor, and almost more excitingly: Katy Manning is back as Jo Grant for the first time. Her entrance is classic Jo, accidentally dropping her vase of flowers, and admiring the Sansheeth aliens. Sarah Jane’s grin when she realizes it’s Jo Grant (or sorry, Jones), is wonderful. The clips of the Third and Fourth Doctors is nostalgia bait, but it’s fun seeing Jo and Sarah Jane, two of the best companions, interacting. One of Jo’s twelve (soon thirteen) grandsons Santiago also gets to meet Rani and Clyde. Both think the other has an amazing life, Jo and Santiago’s family protesting injustice and constantly traveling while Rani and Clyde fighting off aliens and being home in time for tea.

The villains are the Sansheeth, giant vulture aliens who are basically evil funeral home directors which is a pretty great concept. The idea that the Doctor has died is interesting considering how Series 6 is going to go. We have an evil UNIT colonel too, though Laila Rouass is pretty one-note evil. Their whole plan is they stole the TARDIS and are going to use it to stop death, which sounds like a good idea if you think about too hard. Really, the best moments come from Jo heartbroken the Doctor returned for Sarah and not her, and then the Doctor saying he checked in on Jo and was so proud of her. Unsurprisingly since RTD’s writing the Eleventh Doctor feels the most Tenth Doctor like here, but the fact that Matt Smith got to share the screen with Elisabeth Sladen is just wonderful.

It’s a fun adventure, highlighted of course by the return of Jo. It’s a shame the show ended before more classic companions could return, but we’ll get there.

9/10 Jo and Sarah Jane got to go to an alien planet again!

The Vault of Secrets Review

Posted on November 29, 2021 by guardion

The Vault of Secrets

The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 Episodes 3-4

The Sarah Jane Adventures gets back on track with a straightforward story and a returning baddie.

The Review

Down to only two kids on the cast, and down K9, it was time to return to the Chandra family. Gita has dragged Haresh to BURPSS, an ‘alien encounters anonymous’ group to talk about seeing Androvax and the Judoon last season. Turns out, Androvax is back, he broke out of space jail but was fatally poisoned and is trying to save his species. I was please with a lot of of the ambiguity of whether Androvax was turning over a new leaf, it turns out he did genuinely want to save his people but didn’t mind that Earth would have to get destroyed along the way. He hops into Gita and all three of the main cast over the story, and I contend that Anjli Mohindra and Elisabeth Sladen were the best at it. I like when this show has returning villains, keeps it lively.

The most fun bit is that we finally get a stop in from the Men in Black, who are androids deployed in the 50s to cover up alien activity. Angus Wright is a fantastic presence as the imposing leader of the Men in Black, and there is a lot of humor in his no-nonsense performance. Overall, this is a pretty standard, ordinary episode of the series. It does its job successfully, and not too much else. The characters of Ocean and Minty who had been kidnapped by aliens and founded BURPSS are played for comedy, but their story is actually quite sad: they’re completely right and nobody believes them. For a show about aliens, you think real life UFO hunters would garner more respect.

As classically SJA as one could expect, not too much more.

8/10 Meat and potatoes SJA as it were