Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Alice Troughton
“Hey mum, just bunking down for the night in the old haunted house. We haven’t seen any ghosts yet. I reckon they’re on skeleton staff. We’ve already had dinner…we had GHOULash!”
Didn’t I comment — not too long ago — on what The Sarah Jane Adventures does best? I was absolutely right.
Tick off every box on the hoary cliche list: a centuries-old haunted house, ghosts, secret passages, poltergeists, ancient terrors, lost children, false bravado and zinging one-liners from our intrepid regulars…even a hint of X-Files-meets-Ghostbusters post-modernism.
Luckily, all of it works because The Sarah Jane Adventures specializes in this type of delicious storytelling. The Eternity Trap sets out to do nothing more than scare the hell out of small children, and suitably creep out the older members of the audience in the process. It’s a simple script, transformed into something wonderful through some excellent direction, and a superb guest star turn by Donald Sumpter, with a voice that covers each end of the evil-ghost spectrum: sepulchre-depths and unearthly sing-song.
The Eternity Trap is The Sarah Jane Adventures version of comfort food. No K9 or Mr. Smith, no Luke…just a stripped down, 60 minute freak out fest. It offers some excellent Rani/Clyde double-act moments, Sarah Jane doing her best Doctor-impression, and the science-geek-to-end-all-science-geeks. What more could you possibly want from an episode… :D
Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Joss Agnew
“Sonic scarlet…my favourite shade.”
The ingredients that make up Mona Lisa’s Revenge are first rate. A modern, epic setting inside the national gallery…the nicely realized idea of paintings coming to life, while simultaneously functioning as prisons for people from the real world…lots of excellent character moments…the best entrance K9 has ever made…a surprisingly touching scene between Sarah & Mr. Smith…
…and then Suranne Jones makes her entrance, and everything goes all pear-shapped.
It’s not that she’s a bad actress. If anything, she takes a fabulous turn as a campy Queen-Bee-atch villain that would put Samantha Bond’s Mrs. Wormwood to shame. She’s oily, sneaky, flirtatious, obnoxious…and guaranteed to be the best boo-hiss-HATEABLE enemy to ever appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
But as the Mona Lisa…even an approximation/extrapolation…she’s a DISMAL failure. I’ll wager that the true Mona Lisa wasn’t a wide-eyed mock-ney girl, since I don’t believe many of them (1) made their way down to Florence in the 15th century, or (2) actually EXISTED! “Former Coronation Street Star” as special guest looks good in newspaper headlines…but god-almighty, it makes for one hell of a weird episode when she’s trying to be a Renaissance model-come-to-life.
All that aside, there’s a great deal to enjoy here, especially Sarah Jane’s realization that Luke is growing up, and he’s going to leave her just as she’s started to get used to the idea of having an actual family. I never thought I’d see Mr. Smith used so effectively in a character moment, but it actually happened, and with a suitable amount of understated grace. I also enjoyed the fact that Luke and Sarah’s mother/son argument is over something as ridiculously banal as cleaning his room. It’s another touch that adds to the general verisimilitude.
In the end, Mona Lisa’s Revenge is a winner…but you’ll have to suffer through the personality-whiplash of the central villain in order to appreciate all its merits.
Written by Rupert Laight
Directed by Alice Troughton
“That rakweed plant could be really incredible. It could feed thousands!”
“But I bet it’ll still taste like salad. Like the world needs more salad.”
A season book-ended by two of my less-than-favourite stories. Both Prisoner of the Judoon and The Gift lean a bit TOO much towards overtly-juvenile humour (something no self-respecting kids show should EVER do), and the end result is a series of moments where Sarah Jane and the gang have to be rather stupid and impotent in the face of a nemesis that doesn’t exactly offer much in the way of serious threat. I mean…the SLITHEEN? Again? Really? And now…their cousins? Really?
That said, The Gift throws enough curve balls to make the audience doubt what’s going on. Not enough to truly believe the Blathereen, but the viewer does often pause and wonder if “to good to be true” really IS “too good to be true”.
The most impressive moments come in the rakweed attack on Park Vale Comprehensive, with some nice, subtle CGI combining with the magnificent double-act of Clyde and Rani, to produce the most exciting and enjoyable parts of the story. Perhaps they’re going to be MORE than a double act someday. There’s certainly a great deal of the right sort of romantic Spencer/Tracy chemistry visible on-screen…
And even I have to admit that the climactic, gooey comeuppance of Tree and Leaf (yes I know…) is highly amusing, and gives Mr. Smith one last sarcastic moment of grace.
So…that was The Sarah Jane Adventures that was. Series 3 is topped and tailed by run-of-the-mill episodes I could have easily lopped off, but the stories sandwiched in between make for an impressive, meaty, and satisfying filling…with extra K9 as dressing. Roll on Series 4!
