Time for another visit to Bannerman road to see what Sarah Jane has been getting up to and it's all change in the first story of this season as Maria heads off to live in America when her Dad gets a new job. Before she goes though she gets one last exciting adventure as she battles a Sontarans who survived from the events of The Sontarans Stratagem and wants to avenge himself on the Earth by making all the satellites crash down on the planet. Nice plan.
The second story see's a new girl move into Maria's old house. It's Rani. Not THE Rani though. Oh the wild fan speculation that occurred when her name was announced. I swear Russel T Davies does this sort of thing on purpose sometimes. It's like how Astrid in Voyage Of a The Damned was an anagram of TARDIS. It meant nothing at all but fans would endlessly debate before the episode was broadcast about how she would turn out to be the TARDIS is a human body. I mean what a ridiculous idea! Anyway I've strayed from the point.
Rani is great and her mum and dad are also strong character. Her dad is the headmaster of the school which gets him more involved with the stories and also, rather unfortunately, becomes an enemy of Clyde.
Bradley Walsh stars in the Rani's debut story as an alien who likes to disguise himself as a clown and kidnap children. Clowns are so bloody freaky and this one is no exception. I'm sure this have kids nightmares for weeks. Not me though, I'm a fully grown man so I'm pleased to say I only wet the bed once after this story and then I got over it.
The third story is a bit of an odd one. I remember liking it the first time I saw it but this time it sort of annoyed me. Russ Abbot stars as an astrologer who has wasted his life conning people out of money. Just as he is about to come clean he is possessed by an ancient force which truly gives him the gift of prophecy. The idea of a poor man who feels like he has wasted his life to suddenly find himself at the centre of something so important is quite touching really. Even if the alien force does want to take over the universe. This story also marked day 800 of my challenge. The last centenary I'll celebrate before the final day in day 900!
In the fourth story of this season we meet Clyde's dad for the first time. And Clyde also meets him for the first time in years after his dad abandoned him as a child. After starting to make up with his dad, Clyde foolishly lets him into Sarah Jane's attic in an attempt to prove to his father that his stories of saving the world from aliens are true. Unfortunately his dad gets his hands on a pendant which allows him to control everyone's actions and he turns into a right arsehole!
The fifth story continues the tradition of the returning villain of the Trickster. This time he manipulates Sarah Jane by presenting her with the chance of saving her parents lives by opening a time tunnel back to the village where they used to live. By saving them she opens up the world to the Trickster. This story would be pretty good but to be honest it just feels like a rehash of the ninth Doctor story Father's Day where Rose saves his dad from being run over by a car only to release terrible monsters on the world as a result.
The finale see the return of Mrs Wormwood, the leader of the Bane, from the very first Sarah Jane Adventures story. It's great to see her back as she's a fantastic villain and the fact that she essentially created Luke gives some nice conflict between her and Sarah Jane as to who Luke should consider his mother to be. The story itself is a little muddled and not great but the scenes between Mrs Wormwood and Luke are pretty good.
I can't finish this blog entry without talking about the Brigadier. As Sarah Jane needs to break into a UNIT facility she needs to call on her old friend to help her. It was great seeing Nicholas Courtney back in the world of Doctor Who as his character goes all the way back to the era of the second Doctor! It's a real shame that this was the last Doctor Who related thing he did before his death in 2011. A return to the main show was not to be sadly.
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