Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)

Eye of the Gorgon
Featuring:	Sarah Jane Smith Luke Smith Clyde Langer Maria Jackson Mr Smith
Main enemy:	Gorgons The Abbess Sister Helena
Main setting:	Lavender Lawns
Key crew
Writer:	Phil Ford
Director:	Alice Troughton
Release details
Release number:	3
Premiere broadcast:	1st & 8th October 2007
Format:	2 - 30 min episodes

Eye of the Gorgon is the title of a story in The Sarah Jane Adventures series. It is the third story of the series, and makes up episodes 3 and 4 of season 1.

Plot

Sarah Jane and her companions investigate claims of sightings of a ghostly nun at Lavender Lawns, the local nursing home. Meanwhile, Chrissie Jackson moves into her ex-husband's house, but succeeds only in causing further problems with the family. Back at Lavender Lawns, an old lady gives Luke an ancient talisman, which is really the key to a portal in space and time. They find that a group of nuns are hiding an age-old creature, the Gorgon. When Sarah Jane refuses to give the talisman to the nuns, they kidnap Luke and Clyde and take the Gorgon and Maria to Sarah Jane's house where the Gorgon turns Maria's father to stone.

Having got what they came for, the nuns and Gorgon leave. Luke and Clyde escape from their entrapment via a secret passage. Mr Smith tells Maria and Sarah that Alan is retrievable until 16:00. Luke and Clyde see the Gorgon stumble, but are unable to prevent the talisman beginning the process of joining the Gorgon Homeworld with Earth. The Gorgon - a parasite inside the Abbess - chooses Sarah Jane as its next host. Chatting with Bea reveals to Maria that the talisman can revert those turned to stone. Clyde distracts the nuns long enough that Luke grabs the talisman, disconnecting the portal. However, Sarah Jane and both boys are recaptured and locked in another room, though Sarah Jane is soon taken and tied next to the portal. Luke and Clyde escape again and join Sarah Jane just as the Gorgon begins to transfer itself, but Maria arrives and uses a mirror to revert the transfer and turn the Gorgon - and Abbess - to stone, freeing the nuns of mind-control. Maria disconnects the talisman and the portal shuts down forever. The talisman brings Alan back to flesh-and-blood and Chrissie leaves, reuniting with Ivan.

Cast

• Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
• Maria Jackson — Yasmin Paige
• Luke Smith — Tommy Knight
• Clyde Langer — Daniel Anthony
• Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
• Alan Jackson — Joseph Millson
• Chrissie Jackson — Juliet Cowan
• Bea Nelson-Stanley — Phyllida Law
• Sister Helena — Beth Goddard
• Mrs Gribbins - Sarah Crowden
• Mrs Randall — Doreen Mantle
• Rosaline Evans - Emily Head
• The Abbess — Audrey Ardington

Crew

Executive Producers – Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson Producer – Matthew Bouch Second Assistant Director – Anna Evans Script Editor – Lindsey Alford Focus Puller – Steve Rees Supervising Art Director – Matthew North Post-Production Supervisor – Nerys Davies Supervising Sound Editors – Paul McFadden, Doug Sinclair Dubbing Mixer – Mark Ferda Music – Dan Watts Casting Director – Andy Pryor Assistant Makeup Artist – Olivia Jones Visual Effects Coordinator – Jenna Powell Animator – Neil Roche Prosthetics Technician – Charlie Bluett Film Editor – William Webb Director of Photography – Rory Taylor

References

• Bea Nelson-Stanley mentions that "the Sontarans are the silliest race in the galaxy"
• Bea Nelson-Stanley references that the Sultan of Ishkanbar had seen a Yeti once (a reference to DW: The Abominable Snowmen).
• Clyde says he will never turn old, by placing his brain in a robotic suit. This is, of course reminiscent of the Cybermen, much to Sarah Jane's annoyance.
• There is a silhouette/scale drawing of a Jagaroth ship on the wall in Sarah's attic.
• Sarah Jane Smith, in attempting to guess where the abbey was, mentions Agatha Christie, a key character in the Doctor Who Series 4 episode The Unicorn and the Wasp.
• The Sonic lipstick does not work on wood, as shown with the Doctor's sonic screwdriver in Silence in the Library.
• Sister Helena makes a punning reference to "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?", a famous song from The Sound of Music - which was performed by a group of nuns in that musical. It is also the title of a Sound of Music-related talent competition TV series which, in its Canadian edition, featured John Barrowman as one of the judges.
• The idea of the nuns hiding an Alien being is very similar to DW: Tooth and Claw with the monks hiding the Werewolf

Story notes

Ratings

• Both episodes aired on the CBBC channel, and were broadcast on BBC 1 a week later.
  • Ratings
• Episode 1 - 365,000 (CBBC)
• 1.1 million (BBC 1)
  • Episode 2- 411,000 (CBBC)
• 1.0 million (BBC 1)

Filming locations

To Be Added

Myths

The Greek myth of a Gorgon is featured.

Production errors

• Sarah Jane's house number should be 13 but in these two episodes the door number is 21.

Continuity

• Sarah Jane met the Sontarans in DW: The Time Warrior and The Sontaran Experiment.
• The Gorgon uses what looks like to be Petrifold Regression on Alan Jackson, which was last seen in DW: New Earth.
• The Gorgons may be a reference to the Series 4 finale of Doctor Who, Journey's End, in which the Doctor and his companions encounter the Medusa Cascade. One of the Gorgons of Greek mythology is Medusa.
• The building used as Lavender Lawns is the same building used as the hotel when Donna, Wilf and Slyvia see London be destroyed, in DW: Turn Left

Home video releases

• This was to be released on a vanilla DVD along with Revenge of the Slitheen on 17 March 2008, until the release was cancelled. It is featured in the Series One box set, which was released in North America on 7 October 2008; UK release is scheduled for 10 November 2008.

Novelization

See Eye of the Gorgon (novelisation)

• A novelization was released written by Daniel Attwood

Footnotes