Running Up That Hill

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Warriors of Kudlak

We were always told as kids and today that playing too many video games and the like could be hazardous for our health and in this episode that is taken to its logical conclusion as adept players at a laser tag game are being recruited to an interplantery war between old, old foes.

Now I have never played laser tag (it was called Laser Quest when I was a kid), or anything else like that but I can see why it is quite popular even when some people would play it only as an aid to pick up girls. Of course in this episode it is the two lads who get themselves into trouble only for the two girls to come in and rescue them.

Once again Luke shows that he is not just an average, nerdy kid by managing to hack into the onboard computer of an alien vessel. Clyde was quite funny especially in the second episode when he was so obviously trying to impress the girl, Jen, when they were on the Yuvodni spaceship, bigging himself up and basically calling Luke a bit of a nerdy geek, hoping that this would impress a girl by being a jack the lad type.

Unfortunately for Clyde this didn’t work and it was Luke who got a kiss off the girl in the end. The problem is now that poor old Clyde is going to have to have Luke asking him endless questions about girls, the kind of things they like and even how to pull them. Why doesn’t he just ask Maria? She is after all a girl and far more qualified on the subject that Clyde and most teenage lads.

There was a nice effects shot in the second episode of the Earth from the Yuvodni spaceship and then the pull back shot from the window of the spacecraft to show the entirety of the spaceship which was a little bit like the shot in the opening titles of some Babylon 5 series. That single shot alone would probably have blown the budgets of most CBBC dramas and also every episode of The Chuckle Brothers combined!

I also liked the twist at the end where Mr Kudlak just laid down his arms and gave himself up to Sarah Jane after realising he had been duped by a computer programme that just didn’t want the war to end. That gives Mr Kudlak a bit more depth than would normally be afforded to the baddies in a children’s drama and also makes you realise that he wasn’t really a bad sort he was just a solider obeying orders.

If anything the true villain of the piece was the slimy Mr Chadwick who was a fun part and the actor who played him was obviously having a whale of a time playing the part.

Lis Sladen was as good as ever here and she was really quite commanding when she walked straight onto the bridge of the Yuvodni ship and demanded her son back.

I am not too sure about the need for the character of Mr Smith, who is just basically like K9 but not as portable, and with the voice of Alexander Armstrong rather than John Leeson. They do seem to use Mr Smith sparingly, and then only when they need to know what they are up against, so perhaps he is useful as a plot device to explain to the audience all the technical stuff and give them an idea who they are up against, as Sarah is only human after all.

I really enjoyed Warrior of Kudlak it was a fun story, directed with panache by Charles Martin and did not talk down to the children in the audience about the futility, and violence, of war, which was a fairly serious subtext for a children’s television series.

This series is getting better by the story and it would be a great shame if it didn’t get renewed for a second series.

Originally posted on Nov 05, 2007

Gorgon Bennett!

The Sarah Jane Adventures – Eye of the Gorgon

I would say that this story is more successful than the Slitheen opening story. Quite a time seems to have passed between Revenge of the Slitheen and this adventure as Clyde is now fully integrated into the cast, and Sarah is quite happy to let him stay in her house even when she isn’t there, which shows that there is quite a gap there.

The pace of these episodes was full on with a race against time to stop the Gorgons from coming back to the Earth and also to save Maria’s dad from being stuck in the form of a statue for eternity.

That is quite a lot to happen in just twenty-five minutes and due to the nature of the show being primarily aimed at a younger audience it succeeds, and even though for people of our age (who really shouldn’t be watching it) it is pretty much a piece of fluff with little substance and not a lot else, for the core audience it is an exciting, thrilling piece of television, which they should consider themselves lucky to have, as more often than not we didn’t always get children’s television like that in our day.

Maria’s mother continues to be annoying and at times you are actually glad that she is not with Maria’s dad any more, just because she would be a nightmare to live with and you hope that Maria will not become like her mother when she is older because if she does then god help her.

Clyde doesn’t have a great deal to do in this episode and along with Luke isn’t actually able to be that proactive in this episode due to the fact that they are both held prisoner along with Sarah Jane.

Luckily all is not lost as there is someone else who can help to save the day. However, in the previous episode she was having a bit of a teenage temper tantrum.

It did make me laugh in the scene when Bea handed Maria a mirror and Maria couldn’t work out why on earth she was being given a mirror. Bea’s exasperated comment about the state of education these days was exactly what I was thinking at that moment!

The effects work in this story was up to the usual standard that we are used to in Doctor Who, which makes it look totally unlike anything else being broadcast on Childrens BBC at the moment, and less like a programme made for children and more like a full blooded scripted drama for a family audience just like the parent show.

Originally posted on Oct 21, 2007

Back to School

If you had told me a couple of years ago that there would be a new series of 25 minute adventures with Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as intrepid investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith then I would have looked at you quizzically and thought that you were totally and utterly mad. It will never happen I thought. How wrong was I?

Sarah Jane Adventures: Revenge of the Slitheen Part One

The main difference between this story and the pilot episode was the length. The pilot was a full hour whereas these stories consist of two 25 minute episodes. After watching the first episode I think that this 25 minute episode format works much better for the series than the hour long single episode format.

the majority of viewers will more than likely be in their 30’s

It wouldn’t work for Doctor Who nowadays but for children’s television it works perfectly well and that is, after all what The Sarah Jane Adventure is, children’s television. Well produced and glossy it may be, but it is still mainly written for and aimed squarely at the children’s market, as the magazine Doctor Who Adventures is. Of course, despite this the majority of viewers will more than likely be in their 30’s (much like the readership of Doctor Who Adventures).

Considering there was only 25 minutes in this episode there was a hell of a lot going on and it seemed to fit it more action and incidence in one episode than in a number of stories from the original run of Doctor Who. It, quite simply, flew by.

the [Slitheen] in Aliens of London were a little more subdued

There are plenty of references for the adults in the audience to appreciate (such as Manimal. I loved Manimal when I was a kid and Street Hawk but I’m digressing) but the rest of it, the pace, the characters etc are aimed squarely at the children in the audience, hence the scenery chewing of the headmaster and the science teacher (the ones in Aliens of London were a little more subdued that they are in this episode).

Elisabeth Sladen was great again as Sarah Jane, as was Yasmin Paige as Maria (who it seems is meant to be the real star of the show – hence her opening narration bit filling in the gaps for those who hadn’t seen Invasion of the Bane – the touchstone with the core audience as it were).

New character Clyde settles in well taking the place of the gobby Kelsey but not being half as annoying. Although how he can stomach cold chip butties, I will never know.

Was it just me or did the Slitheen costumes not look half as menacing as they did in series one of Doctor Who? I wonder if it was something to do with the way they were shot and lit?

The cliffhanger for this episode took its cue from Aliens of London with all of the main characters coming up against a Slitheen revealing their true appearance. I certainly wasn’t expecting a child Slitheen so that was the biggest surprise of the episode for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Revenge of the Slitheen part one, it wasn’t made for the likes of me, but it is great television and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Originally posted on Sep 26, 2007

Sarah Jane Adventures: Revenge of the Slitheen Part 2

Whilst the first episode was involved in setting up the main threat of the story and setting up the mood and themes, this episode is the one where the plot arrives and everything needs to be neatly tied up in 25 minutes.

There was plenty of running up and down corridors and all of the main characters have a laugh trying to pronounce Raxacoricofallapatorius (which is easier to type then to say – just!) and they manage to come to the same conclusion as the Doctor and Rose did in World War 3 in pretty much the same way as they did, with a little help from Mr Smith, of course, who will, I think, prove a useful tool in the series but could also be relied on a little too much if they aren’t careful, but mainly from Clyde’s cold chip butty (what is it with chips and the new series of Doctor Who? It seems to be an ongoing theme) and the Slitheen’s reaction to it.

The Slitheen looked far more menacing in this episode than they did in the first part especially when roaming around the corridors of a school. If I was a young child watching, I would be looking over my shoulders in the school corridors the next day!

The direction was great again and is quite possible some of the best direction ever seen on children’s television ever (Alice Troughton needs to work on Who, as soon as possible, to complete the set of working on all 3 series) and Gareth Roberts provides another excellent script.

The acting of the adult leads (apart from Liz Sladen and Joseph Milson) was hammier than the ham counter at a supermarket in Hampshire. My girlfriend (soon to be wife – 4 days and counting) thought that the baby Slitheen was cute. I am not too sure that was the reaction they were looking for but that was what they got from one adult viewer anyway.

There was also stuff for the original series fans in the episode such as Liz calling on her friends at U.N.I.T. (this series would be a much better place to have an episode featuring the Brigadier than the parent series I feel) and her description of the Doctor near the end. It was also quite heartwarming to see Sarah Jane Smith finally being able to become a mother, something that does seem to be an issue ever since she appeared in School Reunion.

Revenge of the Slitheen was a good opening gambit for The Sarah Jane Adventures, and judging by the trailer for the next episode it looks like it is only going to get better. It might not be aimed at me but I am sure enjoying it. Why should the children have all the fun?

Originally posted Oct 02, 2007

The Holly Oak

Sarah Jane Adventures: Invasion of the Bane

I sat down to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures wondering what a bloke in his thirties was doing watching a programme aimed squarely at kids. To be honest the only reason I was watching it was because I am a Doctor Who fan, and as you do, I will always watch anything with a Doctor Who connection and this episode had more old series references than the current series of Doctor Who has; for example the scene when Sarah relented and let the kids see into her attic room, where plastered over the wall were publicity photographs of the Brigadier, Harry Sullivan and the famous photograph from K9&Company. I am pretty sure that the Outpost Gallifrey server imploded from the deluge of posts about that scene, saying how much better and more Doctor Who like than Torchwood it was and how this is what a Doctor Who spin off should be like and that sort of stuff. I could be wrong though.

From the moment that I heard about this series and the fact that K9 would not be in it, I wondered what the hell was the point of it. I mean how many other children’s series have a middle-aged woman as the main character nowadays? I can only think of one and that is Come Outside with Lynda Baron as Auntie Mabel, but the star of that show isn’t Auntie Mabel, it’s Pippin her dog. So, I did wonder whether or not it would work. I mean this is the kind of show they should have made instead of K9 & Company and then it might still be running today. Imagine that, we could be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the show right now!

I will say that the titles and the theme music are much better than those of the last spin-off series featuring Elisabeth Sladen, and the logo is quite good as well, I liked the fact that the titles were very similar to those of the new series and even the theme music itself had some sort of similar vibe to the Doctor Who theme was well.

The plot was fairly interesting involving some sort of new soft drink a little bit like the stuff that Pete Tyler was peddling in the alternative universe, and surprise, surprise its bad for you, much like the chips were in School Reunion and luckily the plucky young girl who has moved in opposite to Sarah doesn’t like it, so is not going to be affected by the strange properties in said drink, unlike the majority of other people, including her own father.

Yes, it was quite predictable but the audience who this programme is aimed at are just going to be interested in watching the interplay between the young characters in the series chatting about the sort of things that they are going to be interested in, and that they are going to talk about when they go back to school that week, and also to marvel at the cgi work.

Only us grown up fans, who really shouldn’t be watching it in the first place, are going to think it’s predictable, and a bit childish but it is a children’s programme and what do you expect when you watch a programme aimed primarily at children. Just as in the parent series there were lots of references to modern day culture, I chuckled at the line about Hollyoaks and Jeremy Kyle.

Both Samantha Bond and Elisabeth Sladen were very good in this episode, with Samantha Bond being only slightly hammy in her role as the villainous Mrs Wormwood and Elisabeth Sladen getting so shine once again the in the role of her life. Yasmin Paige was great in the main role of Maria and she is one to watch out for in the future I am sure. I am not sure about the character of Kelsey, if she is meant to be really annoying then the actress playing her has done a good job, if not she would really grate in the series proper. The lad playing, the soon to become, Luke Smith was ok, a bit wooden, but then again he was playing a character who had only been alive for a few hours, so he actually did quite a good job.

There were enough references to the old series to keep the fans who were watching happy and not enough to confuse the hell out of the general audience of kids who had never seen the era of Doctor Who that Sarah Jane Smith was a part of.

One thing I am glad about is that they resisted the temptation to christen Sarah’s adopted son John, because that would have been sad wouldn’t it? I mean Alistair or Harry would have been good, and it would have kept the fans happy that the Brig and Harry got another mention, after seeing their pictures in Sarah’s attic room but calling him John would have been a step to far in my opinion.

Its quite nice isn’t it that Sarah has her own little TARDIS console room in her own house, it even looks a little bit like the alternative console room from series 14 which Sarah would have remembered well.

The K9 cameo was nicely judged and gave a perfectly good explanation why K9 will not be in the series from now on, one of the kids opinion of K9 mirroring Rose’s similar lack of enthusiasm about the faithful robot hound. Is it me or is it bit strange that Sarah has a safe that covers a black hole in their attic, because that is what most people have don’t they?

One thing I want to know is how in the hell did Sarah manage to make herself a sonic lipstick unless the Doctor gave her one (the lipstick before you even say it) after School Reunion, before Rose, Mickey and the Doctor ended up on a spaceship in the 50th century. I guess it makes sense that Sarah would have one of them, because all woman carry lipstick around with them at all times, don’t they? Or at least that’s what I’m told anyway.

Invasion of the Bane was an enjoyable enough piece of television, but I don’t know if I will be watching the series. I might, if I am not doing anything else whilst it is on, and I certainly won’t be buying it on DVD when it comes out, but the show isn’t really for me in the first place. Yes, I enjoyed it; no, I don’t think it is a spin-off too far, but I still prefer Torchwood and that is really the spin-off for me, this would have been if it had been made instead of K9 & Company back in 1981.

Originally posted on Jan 04, 2007

It Started With An Earthquake

Torchwood Children of Earth Day Five

God this episode was unremittingly grim from beginning to end but was fantastic all the same. The ending was unexpected but worked within the confines of the story itself and what Jack did in this story is probably no worse than what he had done before except for the fact that this time he had no real choice or the planet would have been destroyed, not that that would be any excuse if the person in question was a member of your own family, it also had to be someone like Jack to do it, as nobody else would have made the call that he did, and there was a moment where you thought that he might not. I know that I couldn’t have made that decision and I don’t have any children, so it would be a million times worse if you actually had children. Some parts of this episode were horrific such as the army taking screaming children away from screaming parents and the fact that John Frobisher was driven to kill his wife and children rather than have to give them up to the 456. In that moment he had no other choice as, at that time, there seemed to be no hope, and he just couldn’t live with the consequences of losing his children when he was originally promised that they would be excempt.

Peter Capaldi was excellent throughout this story as Frobisher and you really felt for him when he was told by the prime minister that he family had to sacrificed so that the government could look like victims. At the end of the day he was just a man doing his job, and the real nasty pieces of work were the ones who were coming up with ideas and then not taking the responsibily, so like the real government in fact. In fact all of the guest cast in this story gave sterling performances particularly Cush Jumbo as Lois Habiba – who really should join Torchwood if she gets a chance. That is one thing that I like about this new format is that there is a lot more characterisation given to the characters in the story than there is normally, the result being that Lois has a lot more character than Tosh ever had in 26 episodes of Torchwood, which is real shame if you ask me.

This is Torchwood at its best and if the series does carry on then I hope it is like this. A lot of people have taken the ending to mean that there is going to be more Torchwood, but I just don’t see it that way. The way I see it is that this allows Jack to appear in the final specials with the tenth Doctor and then gives him ample time to return to Cardiff afterwards. On the other hand if there was no more series then the ending would be considerd a nice, neat ending for the series, so it would work both ways. I would prefer it to come back, but in a similar format to this. Perhaps there could be two 5 or 6 part stories this time. That would do nicely.

Poor Ianto

Torchwood Children of Earth Day Four

Wow. Just wow. How are they going to get out of this?

And what can I say but: Ianto! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

We know more about the events surrounding the original visit of the 456. You can see what that was easy to cover up but it would be virtually impossible to cover up something of the magnitude of 325 million children disappearing, that just aint ever going to be accepted. It was interesting to hear some of the ways the government were going to try and get away with such as getting rid of the 10% of schools that are failing according to the school league tables. Never have school league tables been used in such a macarbre way before and I am sure will never be again. Even the 456 got in on the argument by quoting the rates of infant mortality around the world as there way of rationalising their request.

If they do get another series there ain’t going to be many characters left is there? Perhaps Lois can join as a eplacement for Ianto, as she is looking to be a really interesting character if she makes it out of this story alive. The character played by Liz May Brice would be an interesting addition as well, but as she has spent the whole entire story trying to kill the Torchwood crew, I don’t think that she would be welcomed with open arms, do you? I was half expecting that Ravi to end up as part of the crew but the went and got killed at the end of episode one which put paid to that idea.

Looking forward to the finale tonight. It’s just a shame that it will all be over then and then we have the long wait to see if we get any more Torchwood or not.

The Kids. Where Are the Kids?

Torchwood Children of Earth Day Three

Day Three is where the shit hits the fan and the 456 finally arrive on the Earth and into the secret building that the government had built for them. We don’t get to see them but we do know that they live in atmosphere of poisonous gasses and also appear to have claw like appendages and they also speak very little and when they do it is in single sentences.

The big question, though, is what do they want with the children of the earth and why will only they do? It does seem like a very specific request and is not one that is going to go down well with anyone on the Earth. We also know that they visited the Earth in the mid 1960’s and took twelve children, which the British government seem to want to keep quiet about, and it also seems that it was Jack who gave the 456 the children. Now if only twelve were enough back in the sixties why would they want 10% of all children now. That’s a bit of big jump isn’t it?

Now having Jack be the person who gave them the children on the previous visit did shock me initially, but after some thought, Jack was working for Torchwood One back in those days, and so would have had to obey orders given by them no matter how right or wrong he thought that they were, or at least that is the line that I am taking at the moment.

After spending the whole of the second episode apart the Torchwood team come back together in this episode and find an old abandoned warehouse which they christen the hub 2 (is it just me, or does that sound like a coffee shop or a trendy bar?) and try to get back to as much of normality as they can when the government wants them dead and has sent a crack team of operatives to do the job for them, who we still don’t know the identity of.

It does strike me as odd that the government are keeping the two agencies who know the most about extra-terrestrials i.e. UNIT and Torchood at bay when they are aware that there is a seemingly malevolent alien presence about to visit the planet. It just doesn’t make sense at all.

All in all this is fantastic stuff from the Torchwood production crew and I can’t wait for the final two instalments.

It Never Rains

Torchwood Children of Earth: Day Two

In Day Two the mystery deepens as Gwen and Ianto are hunted down by this mysterious agency acting for the government. Who they are is not made clear in this episode either but they are certainly thorough and have a lot of technology that is comparable to Torchwood.

They surpass themselves in trying to kill Captain Jack first by blowing him up, and then by encasing him in concrete – but not even that could stop Captain Jack. He truly is invincible now given what happened to him in this episode and it is unlikely that he would ever die and stay dead.

Epic is one word that best describes this adventure and it is the biggest one for Torchwood to date. It is
nice to see them fighting a menace that just doesn’t stalk the streets of Cardiff and has a global significance, even though in true Doctor Who style, they are coming for the British for no particular reason other than that it’s a British television programme.

Rhys joined the story proper in this episode and he immediately becomes an integral part of the team especially as he is named in the credits at the start of the episode. I really like Rhys he thinks with his stomach first much like a lot of blokes do and he is the everyman character in the show now that Gwen was when she first joined i.e. a normal person thrown in the deep end into situations they would never normally find themselves in. It is not before time that Rhys became a more important character in the show after his couple of episodes in the limelight during the second series.

The direction is very epic and Euros Lynn in his Torchwood debut shows his directorial credentials as someone who should be directing movies as well as television. I say lets vote for him now to direct the final instalment of the Harry Potter franchise.

One thing that I do like about this Torchwood adventure is how much room the characters have to breathe and just have lots of little character moments that they simply didn’t have time to have during the first two seasons it is quite refreshing and is something only this new format would allow and, dare I say it, this kind of format really does suit the show. Perhaps if they did get another season they could do two six-part adventures rather than thirteen individual stories.

There are more questions asked in this episode such as what it is that the 456 (which is really crap name for an alien race) want and why are they returning to Earth? Why do they want Torchwood out of the way when they are known specialists in the field (even more so that UNIT who also seem to be involved)? What does John Frobisher really know and what is his part in proceedings? Is he just a middle man (which would be very typical of seventies Doctor Who) or is he even more important than that? All of these questions will hopefully be answered in the coming days, as it is only going to bug me until they are.

Child’s Play

Torchwood Children of Earth: Day One

There really isn’t much that I can really say about the first episode of Children of Earth because it is only the starting point for the whole adventure and is full of set up for the later episodes but it certainly does make for an interesting story.

We do however meet Jack’s daughter and grandson, and Ianto’s sister and husband who we had never even heard of before. There were rumours that Jack had been married in earlier episodes but this is the first time that they have been mentioned so that was quite a nice little extra in this episode. I guess it was a bit off though that they never felt the need to see them before in the show until they actually needed something from them, although that is probably just a comment on families in general, rather than them being neglectful of their own familes!

The best lines in the episode came in the exchange between Gwen and Rhys when she was driving into England, where he asks is she has any currency and she says that she has had her injections.

Children doing strange things is always quite spooky and when they all stopped it was a rather unnerving sight (I am sure that there are times though when all parents would want their children to stop for a few minutes though!) and I expect many more scenes of spooky kids in the remaining four episodes.

I must admit that I was surprised about the character of Rupesh getting killed in the first episode as it looked for all the world like he might be a regular character in the story but Torchwood does this to you and pulls the rug from underneath your feet. I admit to being a bit surprised when he turned out to be double crossing Jack.

I also wasn’t expecting them to put a bomb in Jack’s stomach. I mean they obviously put something inside him as you saw them close the cut they had made but I wasn’t expecting that either!

Things don’t look good at the end of this episode for any member of the Torchwood team especially Jack. I mean can he survive being ripped apart? I guess we will find out tomorrow. It is certainly going to be interesting finding out.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum

Torchwood: Asylum

In this play a young girl, Freda is arrested by PC Andy for shoplifting and it soon becomes apparent that everything is not as it seems. For one the girl seems to talk in some kind of wierd dialect even though she has a Cardiff accent and she also was carrying a strange device that was most definitely not from the present time and so PC Andy promptly called in his old chum Gwen Cooper and Torchwood who promptly tried to take over the entire investigate much to the annoyance of PC Andy who gave as good as he got in this episode. I am not sure whether or not Andy escaped the whole experience without being retconed as it was never stated in the episode whether he had or not, but with Jack around it is safe to say that he might well have been.

Asylum was a fairly good story and was most definitely a Gwen episode as she was the focal point of the episode along with the girl, Freda, and PC Andy. Jack and Ianto were barely present in the story with Ianto having even less to do than Jack! Andy is always fun when he appears and he even gets some of the best lines in this play as well as he did when he appeared in the televsion episodes and his reaction when he finds out that Freda is an alien is priceless!

I liked the idea of a number of aliens being sent to the Earth to blend seamlessly into society so that a few generations down the line they will even forget that they were aliens as if they were told that they were human why would they think otherwise, particularily if the only difference between them and humans was in the body chemistry itself as it is for this alien race. The safe house from Out of Time reappears in this episode and the episode itself is also mentioned.

Then there is the whole question about what to do with Frida when they find out that she is an alien? A lot of this is a bit similar to the second season episode Sleeper, with Jack being more than happy to lock her away for her own safety, and for the rest of the human race’s safety, and the other trying to persuade Jack that they will act a bit like social services with Gwen as her caseworker. Yeah, like that would work. But when she seems to be harmless and not hell bent on enslaving the human race then I guess that it wouldn’t make a lot of difference if they did just let her go.

I would have to say that the best performance in the episode was not from the Torchwood crew but from Erin Richards who played Freda who carried a lot of the episode herself much like Eugene did in the first season episode Random Shoes.

I would probably listen to this again, but perhaps not for a while.