Sky (TV story)

Sky (TV story)

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Sky
Featuring:	Sarah Jane Smith Rani Chandra Clyde Langer Mr Smith Sky Smith (introduction; joins) Luke Smith (cameo)
Main enemy:	Miss Myers Metalkind
Main setting:	Ealing, London, 2011 Summerwell Nuclear Power Station, London, 2011
Key crew
Writer:	Phil Ford
Director:	Ashley Way
Producer:	Brian Minchin
Release details
Story number:	26
Release number:	Series 5
Premiere broadcast:	3rd October 2011 (Part 1) 4th October 2011 (Part 2)
Format:	2x30 minute episodes

Sky was the first story of Series 5 of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Synopsis

Part one

Sarah Jane finds a baby girl on her doorstep and tries to find out who abandoned her. At a nearby nuclear power station, a beautiful woman appears out of thin air and uses alien powers to take control. She's looking for something – and realises Sarah Jane may have it.

Part two

Sky has undergone an amazing transformation, but in doing so has triggered a countdown that no one can stop. As Sarah Jane and Sky find themselves trapped between the alien war fought by Metalkind and Fleshkind, Clyde and Rani face a race against time to stop the biggest bang in history...

Plot

Part 1

In the attic, Sarah Jane Smith watches the star-filled sky with her telescope, narrating the wonderful things she has seen. A seeming meteor approaches Earth and crashes in a junkyard. A homeless person witnesses this and sees a metalloid figure emerge, scan the area and then make itself invisible. Back in the attic, Sarah Jane speaks to her son, Luke Smith, with her friends Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra. Sarah Jane misses her son but Rani comforts her, saying Luke will be back soon and that Sarah Jane should make the most of her peace and quiet.

Very early next morning, Sarah Jane is awoken by the doorbell. She finds a baby girl on her doorstep. Rani is woken later by a text from Sarah Jane saying to come. All of the light bulbs on Bannerman Road have been destroyed and by the time Rani gets to Sarah Jane's, she discovers it was the baby's doing. Sarah Jane reveals to Rani and Clyde, who appears later, that the child is an alien. Clyde feeds the baby milk, calming her down.

Meanwhile at a power plant, a bolt of energy appears and an attractive woman walks out. She confronts a fallen worker, introducing herself as Miss Myers. She is looking for her child. She hypnotises people at the power plant, learning her daughter is at Bannerman Road and heads there. The Bannerman Road gang discover with help from Gita Chandra the body that hit the previous night. With Professor River's help and the eyewitness account of the homeless man, Sarah Jane and Rani discover that the metalloid alien is headed for Bannerman Road.

Clyde is babysitting the young girl, now named Sky, when the alien attacks them. He is rescued by Miss Myers and taken to the power plant. Miss Myers tells Clyde a little of"Sky's" purpose. Clyde evades Miss Myers and her henchmen while Sarah Jane and Rani break into the plant. They reunite with Clyde and Sky and the metal alien has them cornered. It reveals that the baby is a weapon . The child begins a metamorphosis. Myers is delighted that the weapon is "priming" itself; an energy aura surrounds Sky and she becomes a pre-teen...

Part 2

Sky, having just transformed, launches a powerful jolt of electricity at the metal alien, sending it crashing into the wall. Miss Myers encourages Sky to finish off the Metalkind but Sky is scared and confused until she is comforted by Sarah Jane. Miss Myers reveals that she created Sky. The Bannerman Road gang escape with Sky to Sarah Jane's house, where Mr Smith can scan her. He determines that Sky was created to be a bomb to destroy the whole Metalkind species across the entire universe and Sky as well.

Rani tells Sky of Sarah Jane adopting Luke and about what it is to be a girl. Sky learns of her purpose and with the Bannerman Road gang returns to the power plant as Miss Myers is the only person who can "defuse" Sky. They break in again and Sarah Jane confronts Miss Myers. Myers is a member of the the Fleshkind species, who have been locked in war with the Metalkind for centuries. The Metalkind that was injured has been hooked up to the power plant. Myers plans to have it summon the entire Metalkind species so Sky can destroy them all. The Fleshkind invaded his home planet and mined the ore, which was actually the Metalkind children. Myers is determined that Sky fulfil her destiny and Sky believes that she should fulfil her purpose to save Earth from the oncoming Metalkind army, even if it means dying.

Rani and Clyde and find a room in the power plant where they begin to manually shut down the power to prevent the Metalkind from coming to Earth. Sky is fully primed and ready to destroy the Metalkind when Clyde and Rani deactivate the power. Sky absorbs the energy and causes a power cut that reaches Bannerman Road. Sky's potential has been destroyed. Myers feels this and realises she has lost her daughter. The Metalkind grabs Myers and using the Fleshkind's own pendant, teleports back to the war.

The gang return to Bannerman Road. Gita assumes that Sarah Jane is fostering Sky. Sarah Jane goes along with it. The former bomb is christened Sky Smith. Sarah Jane and Sky go to the attic and are surprised to see The Captain and The Shopkeeper. They were the ones who left Sky on Sarah Jane's doorstep; the young girl would be safe with the former time-traveller. It is the Shopkeeper's task to put things in the right place as a "servant of the Universe". Sky expresses her desire to stay with Sarah Jane and the Shopkeeper agrees. He tells Sarah Jane she will find out who he is in good time before teleporting away with the Captain, leaving Sarah Jane confused just like last time. Sarah Jane offers Sky pizza but the young girl is unaware of what it is.

Cast

• Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
• Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
• Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra
• Sky - Sinead Michael
• Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
• Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
• Gita Chandra - Mina Anwar
• Haresh Chandra - Ace Bhatti
• Miss Myers - Christine Stephen-Daly
• Caleb - Gavin Brocker
• The Metalkind - Paul Kasey
• Professor Rivers - Floella Benjamin
• Hugo - Peter-Hugo Daly
• The Shopkeeper - Cyril Nri (uncredited)
• Baby Sky - Chloe and Ella Savage and Amber and Scarlet Donaldson
• Voice of Metalkind - Will McLeod

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Nikki Wilson

Written by Phil Ford	Produced by Brian Minchin	Directed by Ashley Way	Director of Photography Mark Waters	Production Designer Keith Dunne	Visual Effects BBC Wales VFX
Make-up Designer Emma Bailey	Casting Director Andy Brierley	Music Sam Watts Dan Watts	Costume Designer Stewart Meachem	Edited by Tim Hodges	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Murray Gold

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Co-producer - Phil Ford Location Manager - Gareth Skelding Production Co-ordinator - Hannah Simpson Production Accountant - Mark Strainge Script department Script Editor - Gary Russell Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Richard Harris 2nd Assistant Director - Sarah Davies 3rd Assistant Director - Delmi Thomas Script Supervisor - Nicki Coles Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Focus Pullers - Martin Scanlan, Keith Bainton Grip - John Robinson Boom Operator - Jeff Welch Gaffer - Dave Fowler	Art department Standby Props - Phill Shellard Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Costume department Costume Supervisor - Barbara Harrington	Make-up and prosthetics Prosthetics - Millennium FX General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Nerys Davies Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown Assistant Editor - Carmen Sanchez Roberts On-line Editor - Matt Mullins Special and visual effects Colourist - Jon Everett Sound Sound Recordist - Simon Koelmeyer Dubbing Mixer - Mark Ferda Sound Editors - Matthew Cox, Howard Eaves

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

• The homeless man in the episode got his idea of what robots are like from Star Wars.
• Rani describes shutting down a nuclear reactor as "James Bond meets Mario". Clyde claims to be excellent at the latter.
• Clyde objects to Sky entering a power station, saying it would be like a "Houses of Parliament tour with Guy Fawkes."
• Rani likens herself to Wikipedia by calling herself "Ranipedia". This is also a reference to when Clyde refers to himself as "Encylopedia Clydannica". (SJA: Warriors of Kudlak)

Story notes

• This is the first series opener not to feature an alien from Doctor Who (not counting Invasion of the Bane). Series 1's Revenge of the Slitheen featured the Slitheen, Series 2's The Last Sontaran featured a Sontaran, Series 3's Prisoner of the Judoon featured the Judoon, and Series 4's The Nightmare Man featured a cameo appearance from a Slitheen.
• Clyde calls the attic the Bat Cave and mentions Jedward.
• This episode premièred a longer pre-titles sequence than those seen in previous series.
• There are a few nods to the Terminator franchise. The metalkind's hunt for Sky, a child that will be used against them in a war, is reminiscent of Terminator hunting John Connor. The way Miss Myers appears is very similar to the method of time travel used in The Terminator. She also tells Clyde to go in to the van, saying "get in if you want the child to live", similar to "come with me if you want to live", a famous line used in Terminator.
• This was the first Sarah Jane Adventures story that was broadcast after the death of Elisabeth Sladen.

Ratings

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Rumours

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

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.

• Luke Smith is credited in the credits for Part 2 although he only appeared in Part 1.
• Baby Sky is credited in the credits for Part 2 although she only appeared in Part 1.

Continuity

• Rani suggests that the Doctor was the one who left Sky on Sarah Jane's doorstep. Rani met the Tenth Doctor in SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, and the Eleventh Doctor in SJA: Death of the Doctor.
• Miss Myers intends for her daughter to be used against the Metalkind. The idea of a child being used as a weapon from birth first appeared in DW: A Good Man Goes to War, with the Silence and Madame Kovarian kidnapping the infant Melody Pond/River Song and turning her into a weapon to kill the Eleventh Doctor.
• Rani tells Sky about how Luke was created by aliens to invade the Earth. (SJA: Invasion of the Bane)
• Clyde tells Sky about when they fought the Bane (SJA: Enemy of the Bane)
• The Shopkeeper and Captain reappear. (SJA: Lost in Time)
• The idea of twin planets, with one having Flesh-based life forms and one having metal based ones, may sound familiar to some. (DW: The Tenth Planet, BFA: Spare Parts)

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

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