THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES REVIEW: EYE OF THE GORGON
Written By Phil Ford
Directed By Alice Troughton
Hello again everyone.
I hope you've had a good week and are enjoying the easter weekend.
This week's review is of "Eye of the Gorgon" the second story of the first series in the Sarah Jane Adventures. This story has always stood out as being one of my favourite stories to watch. I always have a good fondness for this one in particular, it's probably the strongest story in the first series for me, apart from Invasion of the Bane if you count that as being part of series one.
So it's a story which is basically about friendship, about trust and about treating everyone equally, as well as that there is an a science fiction twist on the gorgon myth which is all very exciting. If someone pitched this idea of a story to me to write, I'd really run with it and grasp upon it with two hands.
Giving a brief synopsis of the story, Lavender Lawns, a nursing home, is being haunted by a ghostly nun and Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde go over there to investigate the claims from the residents who have seen her. Whilst on their visit Luke befriends one of the residents Mrs Nelson Stanley who has an alien artefact in her possession which she gives to Luke to look after because she's worried about who might be watching her. Meanwhile Maria and her dad are dropped with a bombshell when Maria's mum Chrissie comes back to stay but her visit in coming back causes more harm than good. Later you find out that a group of nuns are looking for the very same alien artefact (an ancient talisman) which was given to Luke. But what are their purposes for wanting to get it back?
In order to try and find out more about the alien talisman, Sarah Jane and Maria go back to Lavender Lawns to talk to Mrs Nelson Stanley, only Mrs Nelson Stanley has alzheimer's and often recalls moments which has happened in her past, it is from her they learn that they are up against a gorgon.
Luke gets kidnapped by the Nuns which brings Sarah Jane, Maria and Clyde to the abbey where it is confirmed that the nuns are keeping an age-old gorgon in their care. When Sarah Jane refuses to surrender the talisman to the nuns, they keep Luke and Clyde as hostages in the abbey and take the gorgon and Maria to Sarah Jane's house where the gorgon turns Maria's father to stone and for the rest of the story, it's a race against time to try and find a way of defeating the gorgon and turning Alan Jackson back from stone.
There's a lot at stake here and there's a lot to lose in this story for a lot of characters, the danger and the threat feels very real, so real in fact, the monsters very nearly succeed in their invasion. It also allows the audience to be educated on the greek myth of the gorgon, especially for people who have never heard of that story before. But for those of the audience watching who do know of the myth, we already have an advantage from some characters like Maria who didn't know that you could use a mirror to reflect off the gorgon's power and turn her to stone. It's blatantly obvious to us as a viewer watching it, that you just scream at the telly "use the mirror!".
I liked the sense of thrill and adventure with this, is a sense of thrill like no other in series one in the fact that the clock is ticking, the chase is on to find out the answers and solve the problems before its too late. As a contrast to that, there are also some lovely suttle moments which make the drama more warm and real to real life, that is achieved with the character of Bea Nelson Stanley. Old age is something which are society ignores or pushes to one side, and Bea is an example of getting that message across of don't write them off because their old. It is a horrible reality in which they face, that much is true when Maria says "with no one in the world, who really knows you or cares". It's heartbreaking to think that we could all get to that stage and not think anyone cares about us, because all our loved ones are dead or elsewhere, and we are on our own, when in actual fact, old people have so much greater stories to tell than the rest of us and that we should treat everyone equally with the kindness and respect that they deserve. I don't know whether that was the intention in the script, but that's what I got from it. I liked all of Bea's scenes with Maria and I liked how Maria could connect with Bea on an emotional level, especially when she's trying to get her to remember stuff about the gorgon.
I thought Elisabeth Sladen was particularly good in this story, amongst all the rest in the first series, apart from her performance in "The Lost Boy" the series one finale, this one stands out as being her best performance of the series. I also liked Sarah Jane's costume, with the maroon coat and the white shirt, waist coat, jeans and boots, it's a nice look for her. I thought she looked quite trendy for an alien investigator. I don't why we didn't see that look more often, I don't think we see the maroon coat again in the series or in other stories. I think it's just for that one, but I could be mistaken.
Maria's very good in this. I think this a story about Maria, just as much as it is about Bea Nelson Stanley, because it's through Maria's part of the story that she's really struggling to cope with being part of a divorced family, so much so that she lashes out at both her parents and in doing what she does in running off, she actually puts her dad's life at risk and is in danger of losing her family which puts everything on the line for her to fix things and put things right.
On a personal level, I thought it was great to see a guest appearance from Doreen Mantle as Mrs Randell, she's only in two scenes, but seeing as I know her as Mrs Warboys from One Foot in the Grave, I just go "Oh, it's Mrs Warboys!" whenever I see her in it.
In effect, I really enjoyed the pace, progression and depth to the story telling, so much so I think this really stands up as being acceptable today as a good piece of children's drama, written by a very good writer in Phil Ford and a constructive thoughtful direction in Alice Troughton.
8/10
Next Week: Warriors of Kudlak
