The Sarah-Jane Adventures

[fenris]

No confirmation of the broadcast dates yet, but the first season of The Sarah-Jane Adventures is supposedly being screened in the autumn. The series will consist of five two-part stories, with the episodes in each two-parter both having the same name, as opposed to the differing titles of the two-parters in New Who. According to Doctor Who Magazine #385, the ten episodes are;

Episodes #1 and 2: Title to be confirmed. Russell T Davies has stated that this title is being kept secret as "it gives too much away." It's rumoured this story takes place at a school and features green farting aliens the Slitheen, from New Who's first season (Blimey, I hope that not. Couldn't stand them.)
Episodes #3 and 4: 'Eye of the Gorgon.' Apparently set in a retirement home, with villainous nuns.
Episodes #5 and 6: 'Warriors of the Kudlak.'
Episodes #7 and 8: 'Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane?' Reported to be a story about events in Sarah-Jane's childhood.
Episodes #9 and 10: 'The Lost Boy.'

[orokiah]

Thanks for the info, fenris, looking forward to this series hitting the air. Kids' show or not, I really enjoyed the pilot episode. Loving the 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' homage in the title 'Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?', too. I love cheesy titles.

Apparently the character of Kelsey has been replaced in the series proper by someone called Clyde. She was hugely irritating in the pilot but some of her lines were comedy gold; should be interesting to see how another teenage male character affects things.

[Beattie~Babe]

Im not sure if Im going to watch it .... I wasnt really that keen on Sarah Jane as a character.

[fenris]

Here's a link to the official BBC press release regarding the first two-part story. Be advised that it contains a few details about the plotline, including the identity of the villains. I don't think it's particularly spoilery, but if in doubt, do not view.

www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/09_september/06/sarah.shtml

Still no confirmed broadcast date though. C'mon BBC, we wanna know!

[Beattie~Babe]

I didnt see the pilot when it was shown .... Was Jamie Davis in the pilot ?? or is he going to appear in the first episode ??

[orokiah]

cc said:

I didnt see the pilot when it was shown .... Was Jamie Davis in the pilot ?? or is he going to appear in the first episode ??

He was in the pilot. He was very good, there were some really funny moments involving his character. Personally I think he's a bit better at playing evil than he is at playing Mr Nice Guy.

Possibly they'll reshow the first episode at some point before the series proper even if it's just on one of the BBC's children's channels, but it's also out on DVD on 29th October. I also remember reading somewhere that they're putting out a novelisation of this episode and some, if not all, of the others. Bound to be in kiddy-friendly format though.

fenris said:

Still no confirmed broadcast date though. C'mon BBC, we wanna know!

It starts Monday 24th September at 5pm on BBC1. They updated their press office this afternoon with the info (link contains fairly detailed spoilers for the episode, including the title):

www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/wk39/mon.shtml

[fenris]

Thanks for the info, orokiah.

[orokiah]

Sarah-Jane.tv have confirmed that the first episode, Invasion of the Bane (the one with Jamie Davis in) is getting a repeat just prior to the start of the series, on Sunday 23rd September on the CBBC channel.

According to the Radio Times it's being shown at 5.10pm.

[aquarius]

I looked this up at imdb.com and I didn't see Jamie Davis's name in the credits. Am I correct in understanding that he's not going to make recurring appearances?

[orokiah]

aquarius -- he was only among the guest cast in the first episode, Invasion of the Bane. I doubt he'll be in any more: highlight for episode spoiler his character got eaten at the end of the episode! Not that we saw it in graphic detail though so I suppose they could always go back on it if they wanted to..

I thought Samantha Bond's character would have made a great recurring nemesis for Sarah Jane.

[aquarius]

Oh, right on. Thanks.

I don't think you have to worry too much about spoilers for US fans. It's doubtful that we'll get this show here. BBC America and Sci-Fi channel don't seem to do much in the way of children's programming. The effort was much appreciated, though.

[orokiah]

aquarius said:

It's doubtful that we'll get this show here.

That's a real shame - it's billed as a kids' show but the first episode really was surprisingly good. I know some Who fans over here who were put off by that and I think they missed out on a gem because of it. So the spoilery bits aren't just for US fans but for UK ones who might want to give it a second chance when the repeat airs next Sunday, hint hint. Aimed at kids or not it's worth a watch.

I definitely recommend giving it a go if it ever does crop up stateside. In the meantime there's always YouTube...

[aquarius]

Oh, sorry. Due to the age of the thread I was mistaken and thought this show had been on for a while and was pretty spoiler-proof by now. On re-reading I see it only just got started.

Our TV seasons last about twice as long as yours (26 episodes is considered the standard here), but we do have some shows that start as mid-season replacements that are only 13 episodes long. Generally, for a station or network here to buy the rights to air an existing show, even from overseas, they want it to be at least 2 US seasons long, so they can get a lot of milage out of showing the reruns before viewers get bored and tune out because they've already seen all the episodes several times before. Obviously it's different for BBCA because they follow the UK TV model, but they haven't really expanded into children's programming, even on weekday mornings or weekend daytime; rather, they show rerun after rerun of Cash in the Attic, How Clean is Your House, and Changing Rooms. Sci-Fi Channel made an exception for Doctor Who, since DW has been a sci-fi institution with a large following here for decades. I don't think they'll make the same exception for Sarah Jane, though, even if it appears to be written for the whole family and not just kids. While they got Doctor Who a full year before BBC America did, they surprisingly did not pick up Torchwood this year, so only the minority of Americans who have BBCA will see it, and starting next month those who live close to the Canadian border will be able to catch it on CBC.

It's really frustrating that even with hundreds of channels to pick from, we still miss out on stuff if it can't be neatly pigeonholed.
I'll check YouTube like you suggested, and failing that I can look for the DVDs when they come out.

[orokiah]

aquarius said:

Obviously it's different for BBCA because they follow the UK TV model, but they haven't really expanded into children's programming, even on weekday mornings or weekend daytime; rather, they show rerun after rerun of Cash in the Attic, How Clean is Your House, and Changing Rooms.

It is interesting to see what shows cross over to BBCA; I was looking at the schedule a while back to see what else was on there and one of the things I noticed was how many 'lifestyle' shows there were, like the ones you mentioned. At least you get Hex, Jekyll and Top Gear in compensation for dross like Cash in the Attic - I know Alistair Appleton has lots of devoted fans but I still can't stand his show!

While they got Doctor Who a full year before BBC America did, they surprisingly did not pick up Torchwood this year, so only the minority of Americans who have BBCA will see it, and starting next month those who live close to the Canadian border will be able to catch it on CBC.

There was a lot of buzz last week about how Torchwood was the highest rated show ever on BBC America. I was surprised to read that 700,000 was its highest rating yet. Makes me wonder how well Hex did.

And back on-topic - trust me, seeing Jamie Davis reprising his Evil Leon act is worth the price of admission for the Sarah Jane Adventures all on its own.

[aquarius]

I am definitely going to be on the lookout for that. Evil Leon is fun!!