Warriors of Kudlak (TV story)

Warriors of Kudlak
Featuring:	Sarah Jane Smith Maria Jackson Luke Smith Clyde Langer Mr Smith
Main enemy:	Uvodni Uvlavad Kudlak Mistress Mark Grantham Slabs
Main setting:	London Uvodni Warship in Earth orbit
Key crew
Writer:	Phil Gladwin
Director:	Charles Martin
Release details
Story number:	4
Release number:	Series 1
Premiere broadcast:	15th-22nd October 2007
Format:	2 30 minute episodes

Warriors of Kudlak was the fifth and sixth episodes, which make up the third story in the first series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It marked the first appearance of the Uvodni race.

Synopsis

Children have been going missing, but how? Will Luke and Clyde win Combat 3000? And who is the mysterious Mr Kudlak?

Plot

Part 1

Combat 3000, a new laser tag centre, has opened in London. A teenaged boy, Lance Metcalf, from Clyde and Luke Smith's school vanished after going there. Mr Smith tells Sarah Jane that twenty-four children have previously gone missing from all across England in places where other branches of Combat 3000 have opened.

Meanwhile, Luke tries to master the art of telling jokes but can't quite do it, nor does he understand games. Taking him under his wing, Clyde takes Luke to Combat 3000. Sarah Jane soon discovers that there have been mysterious storms at the time of the disappearances and that Mr. Mark Grantham and a humanoid, insectoid alien, Kudlak, are working for an unseen "Mistress". Luke and Clyde manage to survive Round One and are challenged to make it to the door to the championships, facing other accomplished Combat 3000 players. When Luke and Clyde are very close to the door, they are attacked. Soon, Clyde and Luke manage to escape and are locked in a room where they mysteriously disappear. Mr. Grantham points an alien gun at Sarah and Maria but Sarah uses her sonic lipstick to help her escape. Maria and Sarah arrive in a different room where they are then confronted by Kudlak...

But they have arrived too late to save Luke and Clyde. On a screen they see them transported to space by a transmat beam.

Part 2

Sarah Jane and Maria escape Kudlak after creating a diversion, and return to Mr. Smith, who informs them of who Kudlak is and the background to his race. He is a member of the Uvodni race, and they were part of a planetary alliance fighting against the Malakh. The Malakh won the ensuing battle, but the Uvodni would not quit, and continued fighting. Eventually, Kudlak was injured on the front line and forced to leave fighting to others. He was thus sent out as part of an Imperial Fleet to recruit "warriors" from other worlds. His ship was led by a Mistress, who kept the patriotism and bloodlust in Kudlak alive. After decades of recruiting (mostly human) children via Combat 3000, Kudlak, or rather Mr. Grantham - abducted Clyde and Luke.

Meanwhile, Luke and Clyde rescue other children from their crates, including Lance and a girl called Jen. Mr. Grantham breaks into Sarah Jane's home, but is overpowered by electric shock. Back on the Uvodni ship, the children make their way to a shuttlecraft, but are again captured. Sarah Jane and Maria blackmail Grantham into transmatting them to the Uvodni ship, where they find and talk to the Mistress. When Kudlak brings the children to the Mistress, everyone is reunited. They discover the Mistress's true identity as a face appearing on a computer screen, with no real person behind it.

Kudlak is stopped by Luke before he kills anyone. Luke has discovered a message made by the Uvodni Emperor ten years ago which reveals an armistice has been made with the Malakh. As a computer, the Mistress has no programming to understand the concept of peace, so the Mistress buried the message and continued to command Kudlak as before, even though her missions no longer had any real point to them. With the truth revealed, Kudlak destroys The Mistress, releases the children and swears to do what he can to reunite all the surviving recruits with their families. Back on Earth, Grantham has escaped, but Sarah Jane decides not to have him arrested.

Cast

• Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
• Maria Jackson — Yasmin Paige
• Luke Smith — Tommy Knight
• Clyde Langer — Daniel Anthony
• Voice of Mr Smith — Alexander Armstrong
• Mark Grantham — Chook Sibtain
• Carrie Metcalf — Sarah Haynes
• Wendy — Pamela Merrick
• Lance — Sonny Muslim
• Brandon Butler — James Bellamy
• Jen — Nadiyah Davis
• Cashier — Chrissie Furness
• Kudlak/Emperor/Mistress — Paul Kasey
• Voice of Kudlak/Emperor — Silas Carson
• Voice of Mistress - Tina Greatex

Production 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 Grip – David Holliday Supervising Art Director – Matthew North Standby Props – Nick Murray Post-Production Supervisor – Nerys Davies Supervising Sound Editors – Paul McFadden, Doug Sinclair Music – Sam Watts Casting Director – Andy Pryor Casting Associate – Andy Brierley Assistant Makeup Artist – Olivia Jones On-Set Visual Effects Supervisor – Simon C. Holden Visual Effects Coordinator – Jenna Powell Prosthetics Technician – Charlie Bluett Film Editor – Matthew Tabern

References

• The way Uvlavad Kudlak teleported children is similar to the H2O Scoop, used by the Judoon.
• Slabs were previously used by a Plasmavore to help her escape from the Judoon (DW: Smith and Jones). Their use by the Uvodni suggests that they could be drones used by many intergalactic species.
• The events of this story appear to take place during a half term holiday as Lance, the boy who is kidnapped, goes missing on a Saturday. The events in the story occur three days later, which must be a Tuesday, yet Maria, Luke and Clyde are seen, along with other school children, to spend the whole day out of school. Only the first half term of the school year is possible as the events in SJA: The Lost Boy must occur, at most, 5 months after SJA: Invasion of the Bane. Or, it could also be a local holiday.
• A picture of a Cyberman appears in Sarah Jane's attic.
• Maria mentions "Planet of the Apes".
• Clyde mentions Captain Kirk, a reference to Star Trek.
• Sarah Jane says that Lance Metcalf could be the first man on Mars. She then adds, the first human man on Mars. This could be a reference to DW: Pyramids of Mars.

Story Notes

• Both episodes aired on the CBBC Channel, and were broadcast a week later on BBC1.
• The BBC Ninth Doctor novel Winner Takes All has a plot similar to this episode.
• In Part 1, Paul Kasey is credited as playing Kudlak, Mistress and Emperor when only Kudlak appears and the Emperor is never even mentioned.

Ratings

Part 1

• 425,000 (CBBC)
• 1 million (BBC1)

Part 2

• 397,000 (CBBC)
• 1.2 million (BBC1)

Myths

To be added

Location Filming

To be added

Production errors

• If you look behind Luke as he puts on his suit you can see the scores from AFTER the game when it hasn't even started yet.

Continuity

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• One of the Uvodni race appears as part of the Alliance. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)

Home Video Releases

This story was included in the Series 1 box set, which was released in North America on 7th October 2008 and released in the UK on 10th November 2008.

Novelisation

Main article: Warriors of Kudlak (novelisation)

• A novelisation was released on 1st November 2007, written by Gary Russell.