Players
Rosanna Lavelle (Barbara Smith); Christopher Pizzey (Eddie Smith); Paul Marc Davis (The Trickster); Jimmy Vee (The Graske); Georgie Glen (Mrs King); Robert Madge (Oscar); Andrew Bullivant (PC Ferguson) and Philip Hurd-Wood (Voice of the Graske).
NOT South Croydon
The English village of Foxgrove, on August 18th 1951. Foxgrove was later completely demolished to make way for an A road in 1964. Where ever it is located, it’s a half-hour on the train from Ealing. We also discover that Sarah and the kids live in the Greenford area of Ealing.
Blink and You’d Miss It
Sarah Jane isn’t a fan of Steve Wright – which is a shame since he’s always been very supportive of Doctor Who. Clyde refers to Luke as his “padawan”, a reference to the young Jedis taught by the masters in the Star Wars series. The Clyde-y sense that Clyde refers to is probably referring to Spider-Man’s famous ability to sense danger. Sarah Jane and Luke pose as Victoria and David Beckham in 1951. Clyde also mentions the awful children’s movie Jumanji, about a magic board game, to reopen the time fissure. While trying to rationalize saving her parents Sarah remembers all those Bubble Shock drinkers and the miners on Peledon. Maybe that’s why their hair went all frizzy. Clyde recalls being chased by the Slitheen, being onboard a spaceship and having had a Sontaran shooting at him.
Generation Gap
Barbara and Eddie Smith are introduced as Sarah’s parents, killed in a car crash when she was only a few months old. Sarah’s Aunt Lavinia is revealed to be her father’s sister. Sarah makes the same joke about her Aunt that Lavinia made in K9 and Company to describe her neice – “never in one place long enough to lick a stamp”.
Things That Embarrass Us
Sarah Jane just gets stupider and stupider as this story progresses. Yes, we know its her parents, but she spent several years travelling with the Doctor and knows so much better than she acts here. It’s one of the main reasons we find this story just so hard to believe. The way Barbara describes her story of meeting Eddie, he proposed without ever having spoken to her.
Classified/Top Secret
Barbara Wilson met Eddie in the NAAFI, the servicemen’s canteen for the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes.
Eldrad Must Live (and everybody else must die)
Everybody lives, except the Smiths, who die to save the future. Who die as they were always supposed to. Who die even though Sarah Jane acts like she can stupidly change time.
Blokes Clyde Thinks are Fit
Clyde seems overly worried that his “Lukey-boy” might be being probed by aliens and seems quite upset by the idea that he might have been stood up (“He never ever forgets…”).
Blokes Rani Thinks are Fit
What was that kiss all about, eh?
Sarah Jane’s Got the Coolest Duds
Sarah Jane consults a web site to get her outfit right for 1951, but did she have to go so pink. She seems deluded into thinking that the 50s fashions came back into style in the 1970s. They didn’t.
“And He Goes… And She Goes…”
“I tell you, my Clyde-y sense is tingling” – Clyde
“How does it protect you? – Rani
“I don’t know. With it’s box-ey goodness.” – Clyde
“I always thought ‘all in a day’s work’, ‘cos it was scary and brilliant at the same time.” – Clyde
“Yes, hello! Ethnic person in the 50s! Hi!” – Rani
“One thing. It’s important. Sarah Jane, our baby, is she safe? Does she have a good life?” – Eddie
“Yes. So many incredible things. Things you wouldn’t believe” – Sarah Jane
Things That Don’t Make Sense (even to a six-year old)
Most empty shops are just that – empty. The landlords tend to find them easier to rent to new tenants that way rather than storing lots of old rubbish in them. That aside, they’re also asking for vandalism by leaving the door to the space unlocked. Typically for time travel stories that don’t really understand the nature of time travel (and we do ‘cos we took our A-Levels in it, ya see), time seems to pass evenly on both sides of the fissure, with each of Sarah Jane’s actions in the past having a direct effect on the present while she makes them, such as the little boxey thing going all time-whimey crazy. The Trickster’s plot, and the reason for the destruction of Earth, makes absolutely no sense (which is a shame since it would have been easy enough to explain the end of the world away as a successful invasion by the Bane the previous year). Since when are religious sites where the web of time is at its weakest? (Unless Sarah Jane has been watching Father’s Day, a clear inspiration for this episode). Barbara manages to figure out the entire plot with very little information. Although this episode lifts the plot of Father’s Day, it also directly contradicts it (in Father’s Day, Rose changes history by ensuring her Dad isn’t alone when he dies; here Sarah Jane makes history by providing the only logical explanation as to why she was abandoned by the roadside).
Snafus
When Oscar runs out of the time fissure at the beginning of the story, how does Clyde know that he has just stepped through time? The fissure is inside the abandoned shop and Clyde couldn’t possibly have seen him come through – unless he’s developed x-ray vision to go with that Clyde-y sense. And how does Oscar remain the same distance ahead of Rani (twice his height!) throughout the chase? The police box looks nothing like the TARDIS and still confuses Sarah Jane.
Also Known As
Rosanna Lavelle was in the films Charlotte Gray (2001), Two Men Went to War (2002), Fix (2003) and Angel (2007). Christopher Pizzey has been seen in episodes of London’s Burning (1999), EastEnders (2006), The Basil Brush Show (2002-7), Doctors (2007) and The Roman Mysteries (2007). Georgie Glen has been in loads, as she’s so old – including episodes of As Judi Dentch Gets Older, uhm, whoops, we mean As Time Goes By (1997), Jonathan Creek (1998), Alas Smith and Jones (1998), The Armando Ianucci Shows (2001), Dalziel and Pascoe (2002), Doctors (2004), Heartbeat (2000-5), Little Britain (2003-5) and Holby City (2007). Andrew Bullivant played a milkman in the Doctor Who episode The Stolen Earth (2008).
Paul Marc Davis, Jimmy Vee and Philip Hurd-Wood have all been in The Sarah Jane Adventures before. Robert Madge makes his first TV appearance here.
Photographic Proof
