Players
Souad Faress (Old Rani); Gregg Sulkin (Adam); Brian Miller (Harry); Toby Parkes (Sam); Eleanor Tomlinson (Eve) and Kate Fleetwood (Ship); and Jai Ranjani (Shuresh).
NOT South Croydon
Rani (the old one) has moved into Sarah’s old house on Bannerman Road. We find out that Rani used to live in Danemouth, which is made up. By Agatha Christie. It features in one of her novels (The Body in the Library), where its established to be within 30 miles of Lenworth, itself 30 miles Southwest of London. But real or not, it is on the sea somewhere. Mr Smith’s map makes it appear as though it’s on a peninsula between Worthing and Brighton. Problem is there’s no peninsula along the coast there. Maria’s apparently still in Washington in the future, we’re just not sure if that’s DC or the state.
Blink and You’d Miss It
Clyde’s artistic abilities are featured briefly in Rani’s flashback. He’s as good as ever. Old Rani mentions the Daleks and the Cybermen when talking to Adam about aliens. This is followed quickly by a series of flashbacks to Invasion of the Bane, The Last Sontaran, Eye of the Gorgon, Day of the Clown, Revenge of the Slitheen, Mark of the Beserker, Prisoner of the Judoon and Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?. Later Eve shows Rani more clips from past adventures, mostly from Day of the Clown when she met Luke, Clyde and Sarah, but we caught a few from The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith and Mark of the Berserker. The glimpses of Luke’s past include clips from Invasion of the Bane and The Last Sontaran. The really interesting flashbacks are to Sarah’s past life with the Doctor from The Time Warrior, Planet of the Spiders, The Five Doctors, The Hand of Fear and The Stolen Earth as well as clips from The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, Day of the Clown and Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?. Typically for a British fairground, the place is covered in badly drawn American icons with no regard to copyright – including Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, Goofy and even Scooby Doo. Eve’s race seem to have been casualties of the Time War spoken of in Doctor Who (her race were “exterminated” as part of a war because they could read the timelines). There’s a sign in Harry’s office saying “Just what the doctor ordered” – foreshadowing someone’s return next week perhaps? In the future, Rani and Luke go to Washington to see Maria – but where’s Clyde?!
Things That Embarrass Us
Rani is, like, the worst at hiding of anyone we know.
Classified/Top Secret
Maria’s been helping the government hide aliens in Washington DC. We hope it’s been the US government. Rani has been telling her old best mate, Sam Lloyd all about the aliens she’s been meeting and her adventures with Sarah Jane.
K9 Says…
Eve’s planet was devastated by a war between two other races. Her planet was attacked because her people can read the timelines. Eve’s parents sent her to Earth to save her, where Harry found her and Ship. He agreed to help hide Eve till Ship could figure out a way to get them home. Eve’s race are very powerful when fully grown, but as children if they use their powers too much it can kill them.Mode of Transport
Rani takes the train to Danemouth. Judging by where it appears to be, this would have taken approximately three hours from Ealing, inc;uding a couple of train changes.
Guys Rani Thinks Are Fit
Two words: Zac Efron. Rani adores this Disney heartthrob along with, it seems, half the teenage population. Your editors can only agree (although one of us also has a thing for Eve, worryingly). He’s dreamy! *sigh* Even Eve thinks he’s fit. Rani also seems pretty impressed with young Harry (we wonder is Lis would agree).
“And He Goes… And She Goes…”
“Hey, Rani’s gonna be ok.” – Clyde
“Easy to say, and if she isn’t? I brought you all into this.” – Sarah Jane
“Like you had a choice.” – Clyde
“What?” – Sarah Jane
“Well we chose you, you didn’t choose us.” – Clyde
“No, I don’t think so.” – Sarah Jane
“Well, you are getting old you know. Your memory’s going.” – Clyde
(With sudden realisation) “Oh, you’re not going to take an old lady’s hand? I might fall if you don’t” – Sarah Jane
“S’alright, I’ve got my mobile phone so I can call the ambulance if your hip goes.” – Clyde
“I saw the TARDIS in the attic.” – Sarah Jane
“K9’s coming home!” – Clyde
“I will grant you your wish.” – Ship (yeah, we know this doesn’t sound that remarkable, but try watching these episodes and not getting shivers down your spine when Ship says this)
Mr Smith Says…
Sarah Jane’s robot dog, K9 was able to relay co-ordinates for the Black Hole he has been closing to Ship so that she could absorb the Black Hole to re-energise. Now he’s back to help Sarah Jane all the time. Oh gooood!
Things That Don’t Make Sense (even to a six-year old)
• Old Rani seems remarkable unconcerned that someone’s broken and entered her house – even if she is mad, you’d think she’d be a bit bothered. • Who are the homeless people that are Eve’s friends? Have they been living at the park since they were taken over? Do they just sit around and wait for playtime to begin? • Since Rani’s Dad’s got a Southern accent and her Mum’s got a Northern one, but Rani herself has a Midlands one, we assumed she must have grown up in the Nottingham area – turns out she didn’t, so why does she talk like that? • Old Rani seems to know what happened in parts of the story when she wasn’t around, even though she didn’t have the chance to ask her friends what happened? “Reboot” seems to mean “recharge” to Ship. • We’d mention cross-species reproduction but we like the end too much to really think about it that much.
Snafus
• There is no latching bolt on the attic door, just a fake handle and key-shaped hole. • Sarah Jane mentions the Zodin. Could this be the same Zodin referred to by the 2nd and 6th Doctors? If so, Sarah’s recollection seems to be more of a race (and one that might just look like the Fimbles, characters from CBeebie’s other flagship show), rather than the woman of cunning guile the Doctor’s seemed to know as the Terrible Zodin. • When Eve is controlling the fairground, she also manages to make it rain… in some shots. • K9’s ears and collar change when he leaves the black hole (footage from Invasion of the Bane it seems) and reappears in the attic. • When Ship says “That is why we got Sam to bring you here, Rani” Eve and Rani pass in front of her for a hug, but its still possible to see Ship’s lips don’t move.• When Luke pulls his phone out of his pocket you can see the power line to his mobile microphone.
Also Known As
Brian Miller is our absolute hero – not only is he completely brilliant in this story, he also voiced some Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks and married Sarah Jane! Erm, we mean Elisabeth Sladen. He’s acted in a bunch of other stuff too – but Mr Elisabeth Sladen – wow! That means he’s also Sadie Miller’s dad, so we’d just like to buy him a drink and say “Well done there, mate.” Souad Faress was first seen in an episode of I, Claudius (1975) but has gone on to be in pretty much everything on Brit TV, like Blakes 7 (1979), Inspector Morse (1987), Prime Suspect 2 (1992), Coronation Street (2001), Trial & Retribution (2002) and Doctors (2004). Kate Fleetwood was spotted in Holby City (2001), Doctors (2002), Silent Witness (2004) and Casualty 1909 (2009). Gregg Sulkin had a regular part in As the Bell Rings (2007) and Eleanor Tomlinson was recently seen in Einstein and Eddington (2008) which also starred some bloke called David Tennant.
Photographic Proof
