Customer Reviews

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, it's intended to be a lot more kid-friendly than Dr. Who or, especially, Torchwood. Putting aside the children-friendliness of the show, it's got some good science fiction action and the idea content is higher than television average. With a good price, I'd recommend this to anyone, though some familiarity with the Dr. Who shows might help with context.

The Last Sontaran: This is a direct continuation of the 10th Doctor's episodes Poison Sky & Sontaran Stratagem. It's loaded with science fiction movie references (Star Wars, Predator, etc.) and the 1st episode action is pretty good. There are some logical gaps that grate, but it's pretty well done.

The Day of the Clown: Good creepy show introducing some new characters. The Pied Piper features... Some filler, but mostly good.

Secrets of the Stars: Astrology, possession, Ancient Ones, and a Chosen One. But nowhere near as bad as that makes it sound! Still, my least favorite of the season.

The Mark of the Berserker: Sarah Jane doesn't feature prominently in this episode, rather it's like the Dr. Who & Torchwood episodes that focus instead on others having a singular experience with the unknown and alien. Rather well done tale of an alien pendant and family relationships.

The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith: Time Travel, the Trickster, and a Trap. A well-worn science fiction cliche of changing the past to horrible effect in the present, but nicely executed. More would be telling too much...

Enemy of the Bane: UNIT, the Brigadier, immortal aliens, Mrs. Wormwood ("Luke, I am your mother."), and the Bane attempt to take over the world again. Might be a bit too much packed in here, but, once again, pretty well done.

This isn't the greatest science fiction television of all times, but it's fun, smart, and very human.

We were first introduced to Sarah Jane in the current four year run of Dr. Who. It encouraged us to buy old Dr. Who shows when Sarah was a young associate for two Doctors. Now this series is out and we waited eagerly after the first one. If anything, this season of The Sarah Jane Adventures is better than the first and is great. It has us on Amazon getting the BBC radio shows and books. We love her.

I was just so impressed with the 2nd season of The Sarah Jane Adventures. The producers were very clever in subtly developing definite character and story arcs throughout the series, ultimately concealing some extremely powerful explorations of the inner lives of children and the ways the parent-child bond can become frayed, behind a briskly-paced and often amusing adventure series. The willingness to paint the title heroine as a flawed human being, subject to pettiness, phobias, and monstrously bad judgment, was a brave step. The episode with Clyde and his father ranks with Doctor Who's timeless first series episode "Father's Day" as a powerful exploration of paternal abandonment issues. Rani and her family are great new characters, though it's sad to part with Maria and her dad (and mum!) as regulars. But the writing and acting on all levels has reached a level of smooth confidence in collaboration that's a wonder to behold in a half-hour kids' show. It's great to see the show developing its own internal mythology, a scrappy subset of the larger Doctor Who universe. Lis Sladen must thank her lucky stars and Russell Davies every day for the opportunity of this great later-career resurgence. It has given her a chance to demonstrate that she's a stronger, more deeply-felt actress than she was in the '70s; she takes what these talented writers and co-stars toss her and consistently hits it out of the park (if I can be allowed a baseball, rather than cricket, metaphor). Exactly the opposite of disappointing! That said, if you've already seen these episodes elsewhere, don't expect much in the way of special features from this package, they're a near-total wash.

Bottom line, we've enjoyed watching it. For the true Dr Who aficionado, this series is a must have. Be warned that it is aimed specifically at a very young audience and The Doctor is mentioned once or twice and has only made one rare appearance in Series 3. This show IS NOT ABOUT The Doctor. That said it, is a fun addition to complete the spin off shows of Dr. Who. The quality of the writing in the first two series has not been as good as Dr. Who hence the actors have had less material to work with. The "aliens" and special effects have all been excellent, except for Mr Smith's campy entrances. Elisabeth Sladen does a good job of transitioning from the 2nd fiddle position of Companion to being the Lead of the show.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is a spin off of Doctor Who. This is a really great show! It's smart, funny, and it's fun for the whole family. I think everyone will enjoy this show!

Good clean fun for all ages, especially pre-teens and teens, as well as adults.

A touch of mystery, excitement and save the world attitude.
Enjoyable.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season was very entertaining and fun to watch. As a long-time Dr. Who fan, I love the concept of Sarah Jane Smith still having wonderful adventures on her own, and as the mother of a 13 year old, the Sarah Jane Adventures are a family hit. These stories have a slightly lower "scare factor" than Dr. Who, and because the stories are all about Sarah Jane and her bunch of teenage helpers they appeal to a younger audience, while still being fun for the "grown-ups".

I love the stories but this time I got a whole set of DVD's that skip, even tried another machine thinking it was me, but No .. Can't always get what you want.

Don't get me wrong here. I absolutely loved K9 And Company when it first came out in 1980, and was somewhat disapointed when it was not picked up by the BBC as a regular series.

Well, SJA has totally made up for that loss, albeit a bit late. The show so far, has great stories, great villans, and despite it's somewhat erroneous (IMHO)label as a "Kiddie show" has plenty of chills and thrills for the adult crowd as well.

One thing that truly amazes me is the youthful energy that Elizabeth Sladen puts into this role. Time has not disturned her acting abilites, nor her character's razor sharp wit, although I contribute a lot of that to Mrs. Sladen's acting.

Ah, what could have been... *Sigh*

However, I think that John Nathan Turner and Jon Pertwee would be well pleased.

But I digress. I am eagerly awaiting the Series 3 DVD release, as it alledgedly features the full time return of K9 to Sarah Jane's side, and the truly final apperance of David Tennant's wonderful 10th Doctor.

Always a spin-off in-waiting, Sarah Jane had a patchy history of well-meaning attempts to get her back on screen. The 1981 pilot for 'K9 & Company' seemed perhaps the only real TV opportunity. Nothing came of that and her subsequent Who appearances felt increasingly flat. There was an oddly-dressed (no change there) cameo in 'The Five Doctors' and another ten years later in the ghastly missed opportunity that was 'Dimensions in Time'. BBV's 'Downtime' in 1995, though often superior to the official Doctor Who movie the following year, was never going to have investors cueing up. Lawrence Miles 1999 bizarre and sprawling double novel 'Interference' gave her a significant role, though not one that would lead anywhere. Then two series of Sarah Jane Smith audio dramas were produced by Big Finish in 2002 and 2006. Though these audios were rather po-faced and 'right on', Elisabeth Sladen was back in some kind of limelight and turned in some splendid performances. Some of it was pretty good ('Test of Nerve', 'Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre', 'Buried Secrets', 'Fatal Consequences') and some of it merely not bad. Sadly, it often felt like yet more proof that, even with a good pair of headphones, time travel to the past just wasn't possible. But then came 'School Reunion'...

Great though that was, I still didn't watch The Sarah Jane Adventures Season One. By the time that came onto our screens in 2007, I had stopped watching Doctor Who altogether and had not renewed my Big Finish subscription. The complete reconstruction of the Who franchise made me reluctant to shoulder yet another crushing disappointment. How wrong I was.

1. The Last Sontaran
After strange lights are seen around a radio tower, Sarah Jane, with Luke (her adopted son) and friends Clyde and Maria, discovers a Sontaran Commander, Kaagh, sole survivor of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet (destroyed in the Doctor Who episode 'The Poison Sky'). Kaagh plans revenge by bringing Earth's satellites down onto nuclear power stations across the world, wiping out all humanity...

In hindsight, the first story has far more in common with that Season One, both in tone and in terms of personnel (the Jackson family leaving for America at the end of the episode, not the beginning), and feels very tied-in to Doctor Who (an understandable ratings ploy perhaps), much more so than the rest of Season Two. Though the title demolishes any mystery about the lights in the sky right from the start, part one is generally pretty good with some very pacey direction. Part two, however, is far less convincing, involving a lot of padding and a couple of problems that seem to recur in the SJAs: namely, a powerful alien easily fooled by children (well, it is a kids show, I suppose) and a treacly closing homily.

2. Day of the Clown
The Chandra family move into the Jacksons' old house opposite Sarah Jane just as she is starting an investigation into disappearing children in the area. Clyde and Luke meet new girl Rani Chandra at school and after Clyde sees a clown prior to the sudden disappearance of one of his friends, Rani reveals she is being stalked by someone no-one else can see...

On paper, it didn't look good. Always a difficult proposition for any series, a new family had to be introduced. (I needn't have worried. A charming, well-cast group of individuals with loads of room for character development.) A former game show host as the villain? (Big surprise just how unsettling Bradley Walsh's portrayal actually was. First class.) A gaggle of children who one might have thought would irritate the pants off of anyone over the age of thirty? (No problems there either. The regulars are really well portrayed and even the bit parts are well done.) The plot could be summed up easily as "Children are disappearing and it's up to Sarah Jane and the gang to stop it!" and if you'd seen that in the Radio Times, you'd have hardly ringed it in felt-tip pen and rushed home early from school/work. What really makes this episode shine is it's visual impact. The clown's first fleeting appearances are especially fine, as are its later scowling through windows and the hall of mirrors in part two. For a less-than-mega-budget children's TV show, the directing is superb but the production also sounds very mature, both dialogue and music (and there is of course a lovely little moment for old school Who fans, as, flicking through a selection of images on a computer, one of them is a still from 1966's 'The Celestial Toymaker'.) Not yet quite hooked, I was certainly impressed.

3. Secrets of the Stars
Martin Trueman is an astrologer and a fraud, deceiving his customers for money, finally admitting this to one of them. However, when he sees a shooting star heading for his house, he is possessed by an unknown being. Later, Luke, Clyde and Rani visit an event put on by Trueman, as do Rani's Parents and Sarah Jane. Each person fills in a card with their birth date and star sign. The show starts and Trueman begins detailing the secrets of his audience with uncanny accuracy...

Further proof that 'Day of the Clown' was not just a flash in the pan comes with Gareth Roberts' 'Secrets of the Stars'. Too good a writer to merely ridicule astrology out of hand and give the audience a ready-made demolition job, Roberts simply puts it all out there for rational assessment, giving us a great little story into the bargain. (To keep older viewers on their toes, he also slips in references to the Draconians and seems to be tying in the Ancient Lights, taking control of people star sign by star sign, with the Virgin New Adventures range.) The gradual take-over of the population is very effective and Russ Abbot is rather good as the charlatan turned prophet (and his final end is not at all what one expects). All-in-all, very entertaining as well as a coded warning against blanket adherence to the irrational.

4. Mark of the Beserker
A child finds a pendant which enables him to make others do his bidding. When it starts to take him over, he dumps it and its finds its way to the Sarah Jane clan, eventually to Clyde's estranged Dad, Paul. In an attempt to make things up with his son, Paul starts using the pendants for his own ends...

A very uneven story. Once the plot is established, there is a heavy emphasis on families, with a lot of angst and precious little action. Nothing wrong with that per se but the style is unlike other SJA story and often even unlike itself, never really finding any consistency. (At one point, there is even a sequence of rock music video father-son bonding, bringing it all very much into the realm of ordinary television. Elsewhere, Maria and her father from Series One turn up to very little dramatic effect.) Sarah Jane herself is barely in the story and as for the ending... It's all resolved by people just learning to be themselves (or something) and feels like a cop out of major proportions. Closing with Clyde the cool teen showing us how sensitive he really is and we have a very tacky resolution indeed. At times visually impressive but definitely the weakest story of the season.

5. The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
A young boy, transported from the 1950s to the early 21st century, has to be returned to his own time. But the child refuses to step back through the time portal. Sarah Jane allays his fears by holding his hand and going through with him, only to find that the portal leads to the time and place where her parents abandoned her as a baby...

Beserker's terrible ending may be sickly-sweet in the extreme but its discussion of parents and their children does lead us nicely into a far better script. 'The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith' has a blend of childhood fears and an adult sense of a past gone forever. (For older viewers, TWoSJS should carry a health warning, such is the frankly overpowering sense of loss and regret. One cannot help but read into it the contrast of the current Doctor Who world alongside the author's obvious love for an earlier, perhaps more innocent version of it.) The 1950s setting is beautifully done and though Sarah Jane's parents are a little easily convinced of the truth of the situation and the music sometimes threatens to overwhelm the dialogue, the emotional punch is very, very strong. There's some splendid acting from the supporting cast: notably Rosanna Lavelle and Christopher Pizzey as Sarah Jane's parents, but also Georgie Glen as Mrs King ("Can that really be the fashion in the Punjab?") and Robert Madge's creepy little Oscar. But this is Sarah Jane's gig and Elisabeth Sladen is brilliant. Graeme Harper's direction is likewise superb and there's even a quarry! What on Earth is this doing hidden away at half past four in the afternoon? Exceptional television by anyone's standards.

6. Enemy of the Bane
Two former enemies turn up and Sarah & co. end up stealing a powerful alien artefact, the Tunguska Scroll, from the previously impregnable UNIT Black Archive...

'Enemy of the Bane' is the closest that the SJAs have got to classic series tokenism. Nicholas Courtney enters the fray as the Brigadier, a Doctor Who regular throughout the 1970s. Possibly for reasons of health, he is sadly underused but the older audience get their little reminder of past glories without the narrative flow being disturbed or the modern audience being alienated, which is quite an achievement. The problem is that, such nostalgia aside, 'Enemy of the Bane' is a bit of a let-down in most other respects. There doesn't seem to be any good reason at all why the Tunguska Scroll has to be stolen, other than that the plot requires it. UNIT's safety is a lax as ever but the Brig's agreeing to assist in the break-in does not ring true with his sense of military obedience. His inexplicable absence from the denouement is wrong too. Worse, the attempt to finish on an epic high simply does not suit the show's small-scale cosiness and, as with Luke being on the run from his pursuers in part two, their is a lot of sound and fury signifying very little. 'Enemy of the Bane' is not an 'Armageddon Factor' in the scale of its anti-climax but it feels flat nonetheless.

***

A couple of shows aside, SJAs Season Two was a lovely surprise: television that combined continuity with the past with modern production values and exciting, thought-provoking stories. I can't have been the only one who'd had my faith in the Doctor Who universe restored.