SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: THE TEMPTATION OF SARAH JANE SMITH
Written By: Gareth Roberts
Directed By: Graeme Harper
The Trickster is back for revenge. Sarah Jane goes back in time to 1951 when her parents were still alive and she gets the opportunity to find out and solve the mystery of why they abandoned her as a baby.
As the second series comes to a close, this one being the penultimate story, it really tests Sarah Jane's moral abilities I think. In all the time she has travelled in space and time with the doctor, she must have picked up a few hints and tips of what to do and what not to do when going back into the past and yet we find her going against those rules and by doing so she brings tragic consequences upon the world.
The story starts off with a young boy from the early 1950's, Oscar who walks through a time fissure and is transported to the modern day earth. Unbeknown to Sarah Jane who takes him back, he did it deliberately under the orders of the Trickster. There is a milestone, which tells her that the village she can see in the distance is Foxgrove, this is significant to her because it was the village where she was born. This forces her to make a decision. Does she leave things alone or does she go back to Foxgrove to try and find out the truth. It's a tough choice to make, something which I would probably find difficult to decide in her situation because on one hand you've got earth as it now and by leaving things alone you're doing anything to prevent the course of earth's history but wouldn't you want to know the truth? It's that question which draws you into submission, without really knowing what it is you are submitting to, so in effect Sarah Jane is playing a very dangerous game, of which is very unlike her character and very irresponsible.
She decides to go against herself and puts on a gorgeous pink fifties style dress and decides to go back to Foxgrove. Having picked up what's going on, Luke goes with her. It's interesting to point out that this must be Sarah Jane's first trip through time without the TARDIS and without the doctor as well. When you get to 1951 Foxgrove, it does look very elicit indeed, I liked the whole atmosphere of the fair and the costumes were very authentic and accurate to match the time of the setting. It brings back memories of the days after the second world war, the kind of forties generation still but moving forward. Another thing as well is, now with her own spin off and since coming back to Doctor Who, Sarah Jane has been given a whole new back story thanks to Russell T Davies that we didn't even know about. They just invented it, and as a result of that, we are introduced to her parents whom she has never known. It's almost got that sort of "Father's Day" vibe to the story.
By going back in time, Luke meets his young maternal grandmother and infant mother, just as Ace had done in "The Curse of Fenric, 1989". Also similarly, another interesting thing to comment on is their respective grandmothers hurry off in an automobile, and their maternal grandmother's deaths are described.
It's only when Sarah Jane and Luke are leaving that Sarah Jane thinks "If I damage the car they can't leave and everything that happened to them now can't happen". By doing that she basically destroys the world. She allows the Trickster in, it's a great confrontational moment when the Trickster returns and Sarah Jane and Luke see him in the almost dystopian style of future that he creates.
So for the whole of Part Two, it's basically all leading up to Sarah Jane having to do what she's always needed to do and that is repair the car with the sonic lipstick and send her parents off in the car, but Sarah Jane knows if she does that, they will die because she never sees them again. You might think that the ending to this is a bit naff with Sarah Jane having to do what she's always known she's had to do since damaging the car and that's to repair it and send her parents off, makes you think why did she bother damaging it in the first place? Well it's about Sarah Jane trying to think of possible alternatives throughout the episode to stop the Trickster that doesn't involve sending her parents off in the car, and more she tries to think of a way around that, the harder the struggle is, she ends up having to go against her temptation, and in actual fact she doesn't end up doing what she's always dreaded to do because Eddie and Barbra (Sarah Jane's Parents) work it out for themselves and go off in the car voluntarily. Similar to the ending in "Father's Day". I can understand why the ending of this and indeed the whole of the second part of this story is a big naff. What's the point in her meddling with the car if she is just going to repair it and her parents go off in it anyway as it's the only way to stop the bad guy? I can understand why that may be considered to be a naff ending.
All the stuff in the dystopian world with Rani and Clyde is just a consequence of what the world will be like if Sarah Jane doesn't stop the Trickster.
There's one thing in this story which bugs me though, it's the fact that no one in 1951, dares to comment on Rani or Luke's clothes. They can obviously tell their not from around their area and yet no one comments on their clothes? why not?
This is one of those mish mash stories for me, I really like bits in it, and then I don't like bits in it. Basically I think Part One is really good and sets up the whole atmosphere for the story and raises the bar enormously for Part Two, Part Two is what lets this story down for me, not much happens apart from Sarah Jane trying to resist something that she always had to since changing the course of time, send her parents to their deaths. You can't argue with fate no matter how hard you try. And once again, the Trickster is defeated.
One thing I do really like, and I thought was a nice sentiment, was at the end of story, the camera pans out to an old piece of paper which reads "Mr Smith, I need you". I like it because it interlinks everything to the series so far, I thought it was a nice touch.
Overall this is a story that really tests Sarah Jane, whether she passes it is up to the viewer. But this story without a doubt sets out to test Sarah Jane in a big way. It helps in terms of character development and giving her character more of a sense of purpose and identity as well, everyone has a story to tell however boring or interesting they are, everyone's got a story and that for me is what's so exciting about meeting people. We learn from people as they learn from us.
I'm going to give this story a 6/10.
Next Week: Enemy of the Bane.
