First of all, a quick explanation. This blog entry is being split into two due to the fact that a Doctor Who episode was broadcast during this season so I have to write things in the correct order! I'm a little OCD about such things. Here I will be talking about the first 5 out of the 6 stories of this season with the final story being talked about in a later blog entry.
The first story is pretty dull (what a great start we are having here!) however it does see the return of the rhino-like Judoon and Elisabeth Sladen does some of her best possessed acting since "Eldred must live!" Way back in the 1970s.
The second story sees Rani get all pissed off with the others when she thinks they are ignoring her and don't like her as much as they liked Maria (honestly these teenagers with their hormones and everything!) so she sets off to an abandoned theme park to solve a mystery by herself. This obviously isn't a great idea and it's not long before Sarah Jane and co are having to wade in to save the day. Interestingly the alien looks into Sarah Jane's mind and shows her her past and then her future. This means we get some exciting classic series clips such as her first meeting with the third Doctor and her future adventures with the fourth Doctor. Fortunately we are spared the sight of her falling down that steep slope in The Five Doctors. If that slope had a slightly shallower gradient it would be flat! Anyway...then Sarah Jane sees her future which includes a moment of witnessing the TARDIS materialising in the attic! Exciting!
This story also sees the return of K9 to the series as he is freed from the black hole he has been trapped in for the last few years. I think the truth is that there were some rights issues about using the character in the series but by season three these had been resolved. I had mixed feelings about K9 returning as I've never really like him all that much. However I think he fits in really well to the Sarah Jane series and some of the spitefull comments between him and Mr Smith (Sarah Janes's alien computer) are hilarious.
The third story of this season is where the true gems are. Sarah Jane meets Peter Doulton and they both fall fast for each other and so it's not long before wedding bells are in the air. Throughout part one of this story it's not the sound of wedding bells we occasionally hear but the sound of a struggling TARDIS trying to materialise. Of course if the Doctor is going to turn up at any moment it would have to be at the moment of "if anybody knows any reason why these two should not be joined together.. " This is another cruel game of the Trickster, one of the best recurring villains of the series.
What makes this story truely heartbreaking is that throughout it we are led to believe that Peter is going to turn out to be the bad guy which couldn't be further from the truth. He genuinely is in love with Sarah Jane and they are a perfect match for each other but Peter is forced to give this all up in order to defeat the Trickster and accept his fate of dying from a fall down the stairs at his home a month or so earlier. I think the idea of the Trickster appearing to people at the moment of their death to offer them a deal and a final chance at life is fantastically creepy. Also I must admit that Peter's final goodbye to Sarah Jane when he refers to her as "Sarah Jane Doulton" had me welling up a little!
Of course I can't pass by this story without talking about the Doctor. Having him appear in the series was incredibly exciting and it really established The Sarah Jane Adventures as part of the same universe. It's great to see him interacting with the kids and Luke, Clyde and Rani even get to have a little peek inside the TARDIS! It's at this point that I had my second moment of tearfulness as Sarah Jane and the Doctor say goodbye to each other. Each of them seems to know that this could be the last time they see each other and the Doctor almost certainly knows that his days as his tenth persona are numbered. As Sarah Jane turns to leave the Doctor says "Don't forget me Sarah Jane", a pretty emotional moment and in many ways refers back to when Sarah Jane left the fourth Doctor way back in the 1970s when she asked the Doctor not to forget her. Sarah Jane's response this time of "no one is ever going to forget you" is one of this amazing comments that could be seen to be about David Tennant himself. He may be leaving the show but he has certainly left his mark. For many people he will be their Doctor forever.
The fourth story is a fairly traditional haunted house story. It's ok but a bit of a come down from the previous story. I really don't have much more to say about this one.
And finally story number five is a bit of an odd one involving the Mona Lisa escaping her painting to run havoc around a London art gallery. This is only the second time I have seen this one and I remember deeply disliking it the first time round but for some reason I thought it was pretty good this time. Suranne Jones plays the Mona Lisa and she's pretty funny in the role.
So there we have it, the first five stories of the third season. I don't think you need to be a rocket scientist to work out which of them was my favourite!
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