The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fifth Season (2012)

NOTE: I KNOW IT SAYS 'NO SPOILERS' AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE, BUT THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS FOR SEASON FOUR.
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The fifth season of TSJA is both the shortest and the last of them. It's not because the series was losing its audience or appeal, but because the actress that played the title character, namely Elisabeth Sladen, sadly passed away before it could be completed. Of the planned twelve episodes, just six were made.

Luke (Tommy Knight) is still at university, but Sky (Sinead Michael), the young girl that Sarah Jane and her team rescued at the end of Season Four, is still around, bringing the number of human helpers the reporter has back up to a comfortable three. Well, four, if you count the times when Luke is back on Bannerman Road. He gets paired with Sky in the season's final two-parter, The Man Who Never Was.

They're both Sarah Jane's 'adopted' children, so it makes a kind of sense that they'd end up side by side. And it works well; the duo, despite their differing backgrounds and ages, have things in common (such as not being human, for a start) and they've a wonderful brother/sister chemistry, as believable as the bond that formed between Rani (Anjli Mohindra) and Clyde (Daniel Anthony) in the previous years.

Thematically, the short season includes musings on identity and upbringing (e.g. we can't choose our parents at birth, but we can choose to be not like them as we grow). The issue of homelessness is given some attention, it's slight but may well be enough to make a youthful audience notice its existence in the streets around where they live. It even touches on how relationship break-ups can leave a hole.

As an adult viewer it was pleasing to see the inclusion of something that's often overlooked: Sarah Jane's journalistic skills aren't just useful for researching aliens, they're also what pay the bills. I'm sure Mr Smith costs more than a penny to run.

I'll genuinely miss the series; I loved the opening music, the creepy stories, the sonic-lipstick jokes, and, of course, Elisabeth, who brought to the role a distinctive level of sincerity and gentleness that was all her own. The final episode ends with a moving montage of moments that give credence to that feeling. The Doctor Who franchise will endure for as long as there's money to be made from it, but I feel that the extended universe will be lessened without Elisabeth Sladen's presence.

6 episodes, approx 27 mins each.

3 galactic coincidences out of 5

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fourth Season (2011)

Sarah Jane's son Luke (Tommy Knight) features prominently on the cover art, but the character is only in the fourth Season occasionally, and mostly it's from the other side of a webcam chat. His absence is used to highlight the kind of feelings that a parent may experience when their only child leaves the nest, and the sense of abandonment and fear of further separation that a small but close-knit group of friends can feel when one of their members is no longer present.

In one of the two-parters, within a dream scenario (the subject's first, incidentally) lurks an Elm Street / Pennywise-esque creature that preys upon self-doubts and anxiety, which is something that the youths have much of at that time. It has a creepy nursery rhyme jingle, too, which is often a plus in that kind of scenario.

Additionally, looking at the same situation from a different angle, it shows how we can draw courage and strength from trusted friends when we need it most.

Rani (Anjli Mohindra) and Clyde (Daniel Anthony) have always worked well together, both as characters and with regards the actors' onscreen chemistry, which is just as well because with Luke absent the duo are required to step up and fill multiple roles. One such situation has them running ragged while trying to save the entire Earth from ultimate destruction - so, no pressure, then.

Throughout the series there's commentary on how we are frequently influenced and inspired by our family and friends, the latter being something that I was reminded of very recently in my personal life. (If you're reading, TYVM.)

There's another welcome Doctor Who connection, which plays a role in the season's best two-parter (Eps 5+6), a story dealing with the death of a loved one, with subsequent denial, and how such unfathomable change can make us appreciate those we still have; it contains a superbly written and admirably concise explanation of grief, one that a young person could understand. Also, it has lots of stuff from Who's past, for fans who enjoy both the old and the new.

And finally, for this review, at least. there's a time-travel episode that reminded me of the wonderful Sapphire and Steel (1979-82) TV series.

12 episodes, approx 27 mins each.

3½ enduring echoes out of 5

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Third Season (2010)

Bannerman Road's most famous resident continues the good fight. With the aid of an extraterrestrial super-computer housed in the attic, Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and her three young companions hold the line against all kinds of alien nasties that want to inhabit earth for various nefarious or profitable reasons.

The word 'alien' has negative connotations, but while it can be prudent to keep in mind Virgil's 'Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes,' it's unwise to judge on appearances, so the idiom 'don't tar all with the same brush,' is an equally relevant one.

Events in season three go back as far as 1665 and forward to 2059, with the immediate present playing a crucial role in one of the more notable two-parters, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, which has a very special guest star.

Her travels with the Doctor(s) and much of her life since has been filled with the unknown, but something she never thought she'd have to deal with is motherhood. It's a challenge at any age, but having a son that's an artificial human created by the Bane makes it a little more difficult still. Luckily, Luke (Tommy Knight) is learning to stand alone against the odds, which he proves more than once.

While all of the stories would classify as 'Adventures', some of them do a much better job with important themes than others do. Some of the better ones include, but are not limited to, the destructive affects of jealousy; being careful what you wish for, especially in anger; the pangs of regret; the desire to feel appreciated and fit in; and the healing power of second chances. Yes, it's still a children's TV show, but that doesn't mean it has to compromise on subtextual depth.

Threats include nanotechnology and a not-too-bright but very determined Judoon police officer, but what I'd run from most are Rani's (Anjli Mohindra) parents, adults who are somewhere between sit-com and soap opera - a useful combination when the script calls for an adult annoyance, but damned aggravating when it doesn't.

6 two-part stories (12 episodes), approx 27 minutes each.

3½ broader horizons out of 5

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season (2009)

I was surprised to see one of the regular cast members leave in the first two-parter of the second Season. It's not Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen), so the series survives the upheaval, but the relationships that were built up in Season One had a lot more potential depth to them. I'd even begun to try and predict where it would go after the series finale. Happily, the replacement character is a similar shaped peg that fits into the existing format well.

There's nothing that I'd call filler, but most of the stories are weaker than S1. The exception, which was both the highlight and the one that quickly became my favourite episode of all so far, was The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith. It's a powerful story making use of a plot device that won't be new to any fan of sci-fi, but that doesn't lessen it. It packs a potent emotional punch that actually benefits from being simplified for a younger audience. If the melodrama had been piled on too thick it could've easily swamped the narrative and made it much too schmaltzy, but it avoided the pitfalls, so sincere kudos to the writers for that.

The notion of 'family' is a recurring theme throughout the season, and ties everything together. It's shown from different sides: responsibility, self-sacrifice, parental abandonment, etc, but it gives each approach the same level of importance. The surrogate mother role that Sarah Jane filled in the first season is put to the test, and her own upbringing is further explored.

Alongside some rather heavy themes is the affirmation that differences in people should be celebrated, not scorned. It's an important message that everyone watching — not just kids — ought to recognise and take on board.

6 two-part stories (12 episodes), approx 27 minutes each.

3½ "amazing things out there in space" out of 5

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Season (2008)

A Doctor Who spin-off aimed primarily at teenagers might not sound very exciting, but The Sarah Jane Adventures is something really special. It addresses questions that many discerning Doctor Who fans have probably asked themselves more than once: what happens to the travelling companions after they go back to their boring life? How do they readjust after the wonders they've seen?

It was created by Russell T Davies, the man credited with making the parent show such a renewed success, and offers the same kind of action packed flights of fantasy, grounded regularly by relatable emotions, and characters guided by concern for each other. It expands the same fictional universe, populated by the same kind of threats, and through it all remains faithful to the existing continuity, while creating some of its own. You can call it Doctor Who diluted, if you want, but it's just as exciting as the real thing, no matter what age you are.

It stars Elisabeth Sladen as the titular character, Sarah Jane. She's a kind of surrogate mother figure to more than one of her co-stars. She first appeared in a 1973 episode alongside the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and stayed as his travelling companion for a while, even after his regeneration into Tom Baker. For adults of a cerian age watching the show, she provides a link to their own childhood.

Elisabeth is fantastic in the role. She has no TARDIS to hop around in, so unlike the Doctor she's localised, meaning you'll need to accept that all the danger happens within close proximity of her house, but it's an easy adjustment to make.

It strikes a comfortable balance between teenage concerns and adult concerns; there are references to growing old that teens won't notice, and there are references to the trials of adolescence that the teens will relate to and the adults will be sympathetic to, provided they haven't forgotten what it was like.

The stories get progressively darker in tone as it nears the end of the Season. It begins to feel more like a regular Who episode that's undergone some minor rewrites. The episode Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? is especially notable.

It launched with a 1 hour pilot that was followed by 5 two-part stories (10 episodes), approx 25 minutes each.

4 fake I.D cards out of 5