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Post by fenris on Oct 7, 2008 19:04:35 GMT
Episode #2.2: The Last Sontaran (Part Two)
Well, the resolution of the cliffhanger was a blatant cheat (Sarah-Jane does get shot, but is merely stunned, not killed), but otherwise this was an entertaining, action-packed romp, with plenty of Classic Who-style running up and down corridors. Some amusing dialogue as well, such as this exchange about Luke; Lucy: "He's just a child!" Sarah-Jane: "Can you see the flaw in Einstein's Theory of Relativity? He can. And when it comes to saving the world, he's had practice." It was also great to see Ronan Vibert brandishing a Sontaran blaster.
However, this installment did seem to be slightly mechanical and empty, as though the storyline was merely an exercise in marking time until Alan and Maria were written out. And what was the point in revealing that Maria's mum remembers what happened? Are the producers planning to bring the mother back later in the series?
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Post by fenris on Oct 20, 2008 17:56:14 GMT
Episode #2.3: The Day of the Clown (Part One)
I'm so behind watching things I've recorded that I only saw this episode yesterday. It's essentially a mini-reboot of the series, with new regular Rani and her family introduced with the kind of deftness and confidence that we've come to expect from this series - though the twist about her father being the new headmaster was easily predictable.
Full marks also to guest-star Bradley Walsh, for taking a potentially difficult role, playing it entirely straight and providing us with a surprisingly understated but effective villain.
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Post by fenris on Oct 23, 2008 18:04:36 GMT
Episode #2.4: The Day of the Clown (Part Two)
The storyline wraps up in solid, workmanlike fashion, though the sight of several dozen schoolchildren walking along in a trance, each clutching a red balloon, was - oddly - not as eerie as it should have been. And having Sarah-Jane and friends defeat Spellman by relying on the old adage 'you have nothing to fear but fear itself' was a little too cliched. But I speak as someone who's seen that plot device used many times before - it probably seemed quite fresh and inventive to the show's target audience.
Ultimately, the emphasis in this two-parter was not Spellman and his mass childnapping scheme, but the introduction of Rani to the ranks, and that on level it was successful.
Interesting note: Luke mentioned to Rani that he, his mother and Clyde have saved the world twelve times, and since he's incapable of exaggerating, we can safely assume that they've had a few unseen adventures between Seasons One and Two.
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Post by matsee on Nov 9, 2008 16:38:29 GMT
Interesting note: Luke mentioned to Rani that he, his mother and Clyde have saved the world twelve times, and since he's incapable of exaggerating, we can safely assume that they've had a few unseen adventures between Seasons One and Two. Even if we to count Sarah and Luke's appearance in the last two episodes of this year's season of Doctor Who, that would only count for eight adventures prior to Day of the Clown, meaning that there are four unseen adventures (assuming that Luke did not include the events of Day of the Clown as one of the twelve). They could be the SJA audios released by the BBC which I have not got.
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Post by matsee on Nov 11, 2008 3:10:12 GMT
2.8 The Mark of the Berseker Part 2: An excellent conclusion to the story. Sarah Jane appears a little bit more here than in the previous episode and what an entrance she made here since becoming aware of the situation at hand. Probably goes to show that SJA can't solve a situation without her. What a very very pleasant surprise seeing Maria and Alan in this episode plus mention of UNIT. Like the song that was played here. Very tense seeing the Berseker slowly taking over Paul. Despite the circumstances Clyde really had a good time with his dad. Luke told Carla to turn left. Could this be a reference to Turn Left, after all if Carla had turned right, the Berseker would have gotten away with Clyde. Very good chat between Sarah Jane and Clyde and I glad that this story presented the seriousness of Clyde's character. The last shot of this episode was a very good way to end the episode.
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Post by matsee on Nov 18, 2008 18:12:29 GMT
2.9 The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith Part 1: At the end of the previous episode The Mark of the Berseker Part 2, Sarah Jane was looking at an old picture of her late parents. At the time I was completely unaware this would lead to this episode as Sarah Jane and Luke goes back in time to meet Sarah's parents in this sequel to the previous season's Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? with the return of the Trickster (does this mean that every time that Sarah's name is in a story's title that the Trickster is going to be around). Like the earlier story from season 1, this story is again written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Graeme Harper. Despite the same writer and same director, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith so far loses a little bit of a punch that made its predecessor so thrilling. Nevertheless it is still a very good yarn. Sarah looked very handsome in the pink dress that she wore. Very funny the names that Sarah and Luke adopt when meeting Sarah's parents, Victoria and David Beckham (oh my David being the son of Victoria; talk about an Oedipus complex). Very shocking that Oscar turned out to be a Graske as well as what has happened to London as a result of Sarah changing the past.
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Post by matsee on Nov 25, 2008 17:09:30 GMT
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Post by matsee on Nov 27, 2008 6:58:20 GMT
2.10 The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith Part 2: What a tease seeing the TARDIS only for it to turn out to be a genuine police box. Quite good the way that Rani delivers the line of ethnic girl in the 1950s when she was actually in the 1950s but Mrs King seems more astonished with what she was wearing. Felt tears in my eyes as the adult Sarah says goodbye to her parents for what they ultimately have to do.
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Post by matsee on Dec 4, 2008 6:45:37 GMT
2.11 Enemy of the Bane Part 1: Sequel to the first episode Invasion of the Bane. Mrs Wormwood introduced herself as "Wormwood, Mrs Wormwood". Obviously an in-joke to Samantha Bond (Mrs Wormwood) having been Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films. Quite surprise that the enemy in the title refers to Mrs Wormwood rather than Sarah Jane. This marks Nick Courtney's return as the Brigadier with mention of his mission in Peru which had been mentioned in The Poison Sky. Very good to see him back. Funny the line from Clyde about how much make-up that Mrs Wormwood uses. Quite good the way it was played out of the scene between Luke and Mrs Wormwood. Very good this episode especially towards the end when Sarah, Rani and the Brigadier escaped from the Black Archives. The biggest surprise came at the very end with the return of The Last Sontaran, Kaagh.
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Post by fenris on Dec 4, 2008 19:28:45 GMT
In my opinion, the second season of The Sarah-Jane Adventures lacks some of the spark of last year's series. I suspect it's due to the actress who played Maria deciding to leave the show. I don't know how much warning the writers had of her departure, but most of the scripts in this season give the impression that they were written with the presumption that she was still going to be a member of the team. Some slight tweaking has taken place, and her dialogue has simply been given to Rani.
I think the best example of the scripts having originally included Maria is that the resolution of 'Mark of the Berserker' still relied on her father's hacking skills. Fortunately the actors playing Maria and her dad were both available to film a cameo.
The result of Rani being created to merely fill the Maria-sized gap in the scripts is that Rani hasn't been able to grow into a character in her own right. And this has left the show feeling slightly off-kilter.
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Post by fenris on Dec 9, 2008 20:50:41 GMT
Episode #2.11: Enemy of the Bane (Part One)
Samantha Bond returns as Mrs. Wormwood and in five seconds flat reminds us that she's the best villain this show has ever had. As she wanders round Sarah-Jane's loft, cheerfully making throwaway comments that are part-small talk, part-catty remark, it's clear that she's the substitute Master to Sarah-Jane's standing-in for the Doctor. Especially effective is Sarah-Jane's unease regarding the link that Luke and Wormwood share - when Wormwood calls Luke her son, there's no denying that she's entitled to do so.
The idea of Wormwood and Sarah-Jane cautiously joining forces to deal with a mutual threat is wonderfully appealing - so much so, that the revelation of it all being a ruse is actually quite disappointing (if Liz Sladen decides to retire in a few years, I'd quite like to see a spin-off series in which a genuinely-reformed Wormwood protects Earth from alien threats). Wormwood is such a strong villain that the addition of Kaagh seems quite unnecessary, while the much-heralded return of the Brigadier is curiously underpowered.
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Post by matsee on Dec 10, 2008 6:13:57 GMT
2.12 Enemy of the Bane Having recently rewatched The Lost Boy which ended season 1, the concluding episode of Enemy of the Bane which ends season 2 seems less spectacular in comparison but it is still passable. Quite a surprise when Kaagh destroy the sonic lipstick (reminiscent of when the Terileptil Leader destroyed the sonic screwdriver in The Visitation). However Sarah has another one. As she herself says she is not the only girl to have more than one lipstick. As with the previous episode some wonderful scenes between Luke and Mrs Wormwood. So not surprised about Major Kilburne. Couple of funny lines here from Clyde about sitting on the job and of the stone circle not looking how it appeared at the school trip. As with the end of season 1, season 2 ends with a lines from Sarah about adventures on Earth and again deliver perfectly by Lis Sladen.
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Post by fenris on Feb 5, 2009 21:51:15 GMT
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Post by fenris on May 27, 2009 5:32:19 GMT
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Post by fenris on Sept 25, 2009 19:57:05 GMT
The lovely Liz Sladen as provided the SFX website with her exclusive thoughts on the first eight episodes of the third season of The Sarah-Jane Adventures, which begins on BBC1 in mid-October. Spoiler warning;
Liz Sladen previews The Sarah Jane Adventures. Back in July, SFX went on set for The Sarah Jane Adventures (during the filming of series finale “The Gift”) and talked to the cast about what it was like working with David Tennant on the mid-season story in which he guest stars. You can read all about it in issue 190, on sale Wednesday 18 November (yes, November!). In the meantime, here’s a little bit of a preview of the first four stories, by the prenaturally ever-young Liz Sladen.
Episodes one and two: “Prisoner Of The Judoon” by Phil Ford. “I love one and two, because I’m evil Sarah Jane, and I absolutely relished it – it’s great! I said to Phil Ford, ‘Why did you think I could do that?’ and he said, ‘It’s something you did or said last year’, so I thought ‘Oh… They do listen!”
Episodes three and four: “The Mad Woman In The Attic” by Joseph Lidster. “Three and four my husband [Brian Miller] is in, which is brilliant. That was in the rain on Barry Island. If you’ve ever been on Barry Island, with or without rain, you would remember it. I got a chest infection on Barry Island! You look at it and you don’t see the terrible weather we had - it was a nightmare for poor Alice [Troughton, the director], it really was. And for the lighting guy. And of course this year we’re in HD for the first time. It’s a different kind of look and it looks so expensive – it’s wonderful, I’m so thrilled with it.”
Episodes five and six: “The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith” by Gareth Roberts. “A great story. It’s by my lovely Gareth – he’s lovely because he knows Sarah so well, he knows Doctor Who so well. He puts little things in sometimes, where I look up from a read-through and maybe only he and I and Russell and someone else will spot them! It’s really nice to have those little moments.”
Episodes seven and eight: “The Eternity Trap” by Phil Ford. “The haunted house one is incredibly scary - I mean I even screech in it when something happens! Danny [Anthony, who plays Clyde] went to the loo and he wouldn’t look in the mirror - when he came back out from washing his hands, he flew out!”
The third season of The Sarah Jane Adventures starts airing on BBC One on Thursday 15 October, with the second episode following the next day.
Copyright: Future Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
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