THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: DAY OF THE CLOWN
Written By: Phil Ford
Directed By: Michael Kerrigan
The second series of SJA was well in it's full swing and had got off to a good start with an emotional farewell to Maria and Alan Jackson at the end of the first story. The second story saw the arrival of a new family to Bannerman Road, Rani became the new kid on the block ready to join the gang, and Sarah Jane and her friends are confronted by and fight off a very sinister looking clown who is behind the disapperences of young people.
I must say I've always prefered this one over 'The Last Sontaran'. I just get more out of this episode and there's much more development in this, the storytelling ties in well with introducing Rani and her family as well as presenting the danger at hand with the clown. 'The Last Sontaran' just seemed to be this confrontation against a ruthless enemy leading up to the big farewell at the end which was set up at the beginning of the story. I think this story has much more finer mix of blending in both the introduction to Rani and facing the alien danger / monster.
Bradley Walsh makes a guest appearence, and that is always great. You know you're in for a good time if Bradley Walsh is involved in something, and he really is a hoot. He plays a rather mysterious figure in the form of a circus ring leader called Elijah Spellman who is not all that he seems from first impressions. Sarah Jane gets tied up into this when young children have been going missing inexpicably and the only thing connected to the disapperances is this clown which pops up every now and again, the clown is linked to a magnificent imporium museum called "Spellman's magical museum of the circus" and that's what get Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde interested. Luke and Clyde are a bit down, they're missing Maria and finding it difficult to cope without her being with them, but Rani comes along and gets interested in the disapperence story too, so much so she herself ends up getting involved with Sarah Jane. And at the start Sarah Jane says to Luke and Clyde not to get her involved because of the dangers she and her family could face. But with Rani being such an iquisitive character, it was highly unlikly that that was every going to happen.
The main threat or villian in this is Odd Bob the clown. Now Clowns type into many peoples physic as being something scary. They're really frightening and I think a lot of people are scared of clowns. And the fear of clowns is something which is mentioned in this and almost offers an explination as to why that is the case with some people, the painted smile of a face of clown can leave you feeling quite traumatised, and there are a few creepy robot clowns in this which come to life, which made me jump first time I watched it, they worked very effectivly and they were a bit creepy. Odd Bob himself looks very creepy. The make up on him is done so well, and the overtly colourful costume and the baloon adds to overall look of Odd Bob and appeals to the meticulous nature of the design.
This story also adds a little bit more to Sarah Jane's background which we never knew before and taps into her actually confronting one of her greatest and darkest fears, fears of which she never even told the doctor about, so that was interesting to see.
There's lots of moments of great tension, suspence and thrill in this story. We learn a lot about fear and the energy of fear of what make people scared of things, we get to tap into character's fears such as Sarah Jane's and the some audience members watching can hopefully use this story to tap into and relate to their fear of clowns.
I think the storytelling in this is very effective and works to good effect, it's quite compelling how the message is put across into over coming your worst nightmares, and your worst nightmares becoming a reality. The music and soundtrack added much great background to the over suspence of the story and in mu opinion is what makes it so thrilling.
This story is one which belongs I think to both Sarah Jane and Rani. Rani because she's the new kid going into a new school, her dad's the head teacher, she's finding it hard to fit in and all of a sudden this mystery happens and she makes two new friends in Luke and Clyde and gets caught up in a whole world of adventure with Sarah Jane. This is very much Sarah Jane's story too because she overcomes some of her greatest and darkest fears.
Overall, really good story. One of my favourites.
8/10
Next Week: Secrets of the Stars!
