Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)

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Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? is the title of a story in The Sarah Jane Adventures series. It is the fifth story of the series, and forms episodes 7 and 8 of Season 1.


Synopsis

Sarah Jane Smith was given a mysterious box from an emissary on a previous episode. She can't unlock it, but was advised to 'give it to someone you trust." Sarah Jane gives it to Maria Jackson. Maria Jackson works it open like a rubics cube and it opens, but nothing happens. Maria Jackson wakes to find that no-one has heard of Sarah Jane or Luke, and a new woman called Andrea Yates has moved into Sarah Jane Smith's House and been replaced her in any photos that Sarah Jane were in. This Graske chase & capture Maria, but she got her dad Alan Jackson the box before she disappears. Maria and Sarah Jane are trapped in a Nothingness dimension where The Trickster has put them. Maria's mother Chrissie Jackson forgets she ever had her, and Alan is adamant that she is alive. Alan confronts the new woman in Sarah Jane's house and Sarah Jane convinces them to switch places once more. The woman Andrea Yates had died on a school trip off a broken down peer when she & Sarah Jane were in school, hence the reason the Trickster could make them switch places.

Plot

Sarah Jane tells Maria, Luke and Clyde about a meteorite on course with Earth but reassures them that Mr Smith will be able to deflect it the following day. Sarah Jane gives Maria an alien puzzle box to cheer her up; she falls asleep that night holding it, as a mysterious cloaked figure approaches Sarah Jane's house. The next day, Maria finds that Sarah Jane, Luke and Mr. Smith have all disappeared, and she alone remembers them. A woman named Andrea Yates is living in Sarah Jane's house.

Investigating, Maria finds a 1964 newspaper report stating that a thirteen-year-old Sarah Jane Smith drowned after falling from a pier, where she was playing with her friend Andrea Yates. As Maria watches, the names of the deceased and the survivor keep switching. When Maria confronts Andrea, the panic stricken woman rushes to her attic and finds a second puzzle box. The cloaked figure appears and offers to make Maria disappear. After Andrea accepts, he dispatches a Graske, who captures Maria just after Alan picks up the first puzzle box. When Chrissy comes round he discovers his ex-wife cannot remember their daughter. Meanwhile Maria escapes from the Graske and finds herself on a beach promenade near two girls. As the first episode ends, they introduce themselves as Andrea and Sarah Jane Smith.

After failing to dissuade Andrea from taking Sarah Jane to the pier, Maria is recaptured and taken to join Sarah Jane on a white misty plain, limbo. The mysterious figure explains he has removed Sarah Jane from Earth's timeline so the meteorite will destroy it and create the chaos on which he feeds; the Doctor will be his next target.

Alan accompanies Chrissie to Andrea's birthday party. Remembering Maria's suspicions, he questions Andrea, who takes him to the attic and tearfully reveals the truth. When she fell off the pier and Sarah Jane was unable to save her, a voice offered to switch the girls' places, and she accepted. The figure appeared and gave her the puzzle box, then removed himself from Andrea's memory; Maria’s questions made Andrea remember. Alan is now chased into the street by the Graske but knocks it down and ties it up, then uses its device to bring back Maria.

They return to the attic, where Sarah Jane appears in the mirror and explains to Andrea that witnessing her death gave her the resolve to fight pointless deaths herself. When the figure reappears (called “the Trickster” by Alan), Andrea explains she has changed her mind about the deal and throws her puzzle box at the mirror, smashing both. Back in 1964 Andrea falls to her death, while Sarah and Luke reappear in the attic and activate Mr Smith. The party guests, including Clyde and Chrissie, have learnt from television news about the incoming meteorite, and are relieved to see it suddenly diverted from its fall. The episode ends with Alan demanding an explanation of his daughter’s involvement with aliens and supercomputers.

Cast

Production crew

To be added

References

  • Sarah Jane is Maria's age (13) in 1964.
  • The Trickster says he is going to use Sarah Jane to locate The Doctor, and remove him from time.
  • The Trickster also says that Luke Smith never was born, because the Bane never came to Earth (as he probably removed them as well).
  • Since Luke wasn't born, the Trickster says that he is in the Forgotten Places. The Forgotten Places is even further away than Limbo.

Story notes

  • this is thye only time The Doctor has been mentioned, by name in the series.

Ratings

  • Episode 1 - 406,000 (CBBC)
    • 1.2 million (BBC 1)
  • Episode 2- 633,000 (CBBC)
    • 1.1 million (BBC 1)

Myths

To be added

Location filming

To be added

Continuity

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

DVD, video, and audio releases

To be added

Target novelisation

To be added

See also

To be added

External links

To be added


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