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Maria Jackson was a teenage girl who lived on Bannerman Road. She assisted Sarah Jane Smith and her friends in combatting alien menaces and protecting the Earth from natural threats originating from space.
Biography
Meeting Sarah Jane Smith
When Maria was thirteen, her parents, Alan and Chrissie Jackson, divorced. Alan and Maria moved to Bannerman Road in Ealing. The first night in her new home, Maria made the life-changing discovery about her neighbour, Sarah Jane Smith, whom she saw talking with a glowing, winged alien. The next day, she and a new friend, Kelsey Hooper, went to the Bubble Shock! factory where Maria learned she was one of the 2% who didn't drink Bubble Shock! When Kelsey used her phone, it triggered the Bane's alarms which awakened their artificially created human child, Luke Smith (at that time known only as "the Archetype"). Maria was wandering around the factory looking for Kelsy. She ran into the Archetype and then Sarah Jane. Together they escaped the Bubble Shock factory. On their return to Bannerman Road, Sarah Jane told her to forget everything she had seen and go live her life like a normal person.
They were joined by Kelsey, and then Davey, a disguised Bane who unmasked and tried to kill them. After Davey was defeated, Maria went upstairs to Sarah Jane's attic, where she was told the truth about the Universe: aliens came to Earth all the time. She met Mr Smith, Sarah Jane's alien supercomputer and K9 Mark IV, her robot dog who was stuck in deep space trying to repair a Black hole so the Earth wouldn't be sucked in. She, Sarah Jane and the Archetype banded together to defeat the Bane invasion. On naming The Archetype that Sarah Jane adopted, Maria replied "I like Luke".
Adventures with Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde
A week later, Maria and Luke went to their first day at school, They met Clyde Langer. Sarah Jane, investigating the company who built the science block, told them to look around look for something suspicious. While investigating, Maria ran into Mr. Jeffery, who revealed himself as Kist Magg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen. Maria ran into Clyde and they both ran from the Slitheen. A student gave them a place to hide but this was a trap. He, too was a Slitheen. Maria and Clyde met up with Luke and ran from the
Slitheen. When Sarah Jane escaped from Florm Rox Fey Fenerill-Slam Slitheen, she helped them escape. Back at Sarah Jane's house they discovered the Slitheen's weakness to Acetic acid. The Slithen started to turn off the Sun and all electrical devices including Mr. Smith. Sarah Jane's Sonic lipstick and Scanner watch were switched off.
They returned to the school, armed with vinegar. Maria killed Kist by throwing a bottleful at him, before she and Clyde were captured. Luke tricked the Slitheen by telling them the machine wouldn't take the power of the sun. He used the Sonic Lipstick to make the machine malfunction. Korst was the only the Slitheen to escape. (SJA: Revenge of the Slitheen)
While the team were investigating claims of sightings of a ghostly nun at Lavender Lawns, the local nursing home, Chrissie temporarily moved in with Maria and Alan, causing further problems in the family. At Lavender Lawns, an old lady gave Luke an ancient talisman, the key to a portal in space and time. The nuns were hiding an age-old creature, a Gorgon.
They kidnapped Luke and Clyde and took the Gorgon and Maria to Sarah Jane's house, where the Gorgon turned her father into stone. Having got what they came for, the nuns and the Gorgon left.
Mr Smith told Maria and Sarah that Alan's original form was retrievable until 16:00. The Gorgon - a parasite inside the Abbess - chose Sarah Jane as its next host. When Maria went to talk with Bea, she found out that the talisman could revert those turned to stone. Just as the Gorgon began to transfer itself, Maria arrived and used a mirror to revert the transfer and turn the Gorgon - and Abbess - to stone, freeing the nuns of their mind-control. Maria disconnected the talisman and the portal shut down forever. The talisman brought her father back to flesh-and-blood and Chrissie left, reuniting with Ivan. (SJA: Eye of the Gorgon)
Maria helpped defeat Uvlavad Kudlak and discovered why children went missing all over the country because they were taken by a H2O scoop at Combat 3000. She left Earth for the very first time and saw Earth on the Uvodni Warship in space with Sarah Jane. (SJA: Warriors of Kudlak )
Sarah Jane told Maria she was the one person she trusted best and gave her an alien puzzle box that was given to her by a Verron Soothsayer who they helped fly home the previous week, who told her to give it to the person she trusted the most and just to 'remember'. The next day, after telling her dad if she was going to Sarah Jane's and realising her dad didn't not know (or at least could not remember) anybody named Sarah Jane Maria began to get worried. She crossed the road and found a strange woman in Sarah's house who apparently knew her.
After checking the photos from before and finding Sarah Jane is not in them, rather the strange woman, Andrea Yates, Maria found that Sarah Jane, Luke and Mr. Smith had all disappeared, and that only she could remember them. Knowing that a meteor that could have been deflected by Sarah Jane was about to hit the Earth, Maria tried to warn everyone, but no one would listen. After claiming to her dad she lied about a woman called Sarah Jane she decided to go investigating. She found a newspaper article from 1964 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 watched, the names of the deceased and the survivor switch, though a bemused Alan claimed he saw nothing. Maria then confronted Andrea, declaring that she would uncover the truth and set things right, before being thrown by her. The Trickster, who orchaestrated the switch, dispatched a Graske, who chased Maria, causing her to drop the puzzle box. Maria came to a dead end under a tunnel, and the Graske teleported Maria away, erasing her from history. Alan, who had picked the box, was the only one who remembered his daughter. Maria escaped from the Graske and found herself on a beach promenade near two girls. She grabbed a newspaper and saw the date, knowing July 13th 1964 to be the day of the accident.
When Maria asked two nearby girls where she was, they introduced themselves as Andrea Yates and Sarah Jane Smith. Maria attempted to warn the young Sarah Jane of what was about to happen, but was once again captured by the Graske and sent to Limbo where she was reunited with Sarah Jane. Meanwhile Alan captured the Graske and got Maria back and together they stopped the Trickster, ensuring that Sarah Jane was back to stop the meteorite. (SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?)
However, in the process, Alan stumbled in on the existence of Sarah Jane's activities Maria told him about her adventures and things she seen. He decided that they were moving away, concerned for his daughter, but Alan recanted and decided to stay in their old home when Maria convinced him that not all aliens were evil. Maria and Alan then helped defeat the Slitheen and the rogue Mr. Smith.(SJA: The Lost Boy)
During the Dalek's relocation of Earth to the Medusa Cascade, Maria was staying in Cornwall with her father. Luke called her to check on her. (DW: The Stolen Earth)
Last adventure
Alan later received a letter inviting him to work in America, at the head office of his firm. Maria was distraught at the implications, despite Alan teling her that the decision was not just his to make. Entering Sarah Jane's house, Maria was unable to break the news, just as a report of unusual goings-on in Goblin's Copse was discovered by Mr. Smith, prompting the team to head to the countryside to investigate. They arrived at Goblin's Copse, being watched by something. Inside, the team found a girl called Lucy, who told them that her Dad had gone missing, before passing out. While the boys searched the woods, Sarah Jane learned that Alan had been offered the job in America, responding coldly and matter-of-factly, to Maria's distress .
When Lucy waked up, Sarah Jane persuaded her to recall the events of the previous night. Professor Skinner then appeared, though he seemed strangely detached and unemotional. He ordered Sarah Jane and Maria to leave immediately, which they did. Luke then called Sarah Jane, bringing her and Maria to a cloaked object he and Clyde found. When the cloaking field was disabled and Sarah Jane immediately recognised the ship as Sontaran. Its Sontaran occupant, Commander Kaagh appeared behind them, armed. When Maria tricked Kaagh, the group managed to escape, splitting up, with Kaagh chasing them. Outside the Observatory, Luke and Maria crawled through a vent into the building. Maria and Luke watched from the vent, while Kaagh and Sarah Jane talked. He revealed he was badly wounded when the Tenth Doctor defeated the Sontaran army: The only survivor of the botched invasion of Earth, he vowed revenge on Earth for his peoples' humiliation. He revealed his plan to use the Tycho radio telescope to take control of Earth's satellites, and steer them to crash into nuclear stockpiles on Earth, triggering nuclear annihilation. Clyde protested, so Kaagh announced he would experiment on him. Sarah Jane stepped in front of Clyde, denying Kaagh, who pulled out his gun and shot Sarah Jane, stunning her.
Luke and Maria caught Clyde's attention and motion for him to join them. Luke, Maria, and Clyde provoked Kaagh into chasing them through the observatory's corridors and service tunnels; the teens escaped into the forest and blocked Kaagh from getting out. They ran to Kaagh's shuttle, where Luke planned to use the alien chemicals stored within to synthesise a knockout gas that would incapacitate Kaagh. Maria then decided to tell Luke about America, to his initial dismay.
Maria, not sure that Luke would be able to synthesise the gas in time, decided to ask Mr Smith for more information on defeating Sontarans. As Mr Smith was still in Ealing, she called her dad and asked him to contact the computer. unaware that he would be followed into Sarah Jane's attic by Chrissie.
Sarah Jane, Maria, Clyde, Luke and Lucy all met up. Sarah Jane took Luke and Lucy with her to try and deactivate the transmitter, while Maria and Clyde tried to find the switch that would move the transmitter away from the satellites. However Kaagh and Skinner got there first and captured them, revealing that Lucy was a sleeper agent, and activated the mind-control chip he had implanted in her, instructing her to re-activate the transmitter Luke had just shut down. He threatened Maria's life if Sarah Jane tried to stop him. All appeared lost until Chrissie burst into the observatory
and attacked Kaagh's Probic vent with her high-heeled shoe, incapacitating him more effectively than Luke's knockout gas was able to. Maria then used the gas to knock out her mother, having Alan take her home and pretend that she had dreamt everything about Kaagh.
Six weeks later, Maria came up to the attic to say goodbye to Mr. Smith and have one last look before she left. Sarah Jane apologised for her reaction when she was told about America, telling her that it was because for the first time in her life she had found a family, and had thought she was losing the daughter she had always wanted. The next day, Maria and Alan said their goodbyes to Sarah Jane, Luke, and Clyde, as they left for their new life in America. (SJA: The Last Sontaran)
Life in America
After Maria moved to America, she stayed in touch with Luke by email. (SJA: The Day of the Clown)
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Maria and Alan were later contacted by Luke and his new friend, Rani, who asked for help identifying an alien pendant. (SJA: The Mark of the Berserker) Later, Maria was involved in helping aliens hide from the American Government. One of the races she encountered was the Zodin, whom Sarah Jane had also met. (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic) Maria retained a closeness with her colleagues that sparked a degree of jealousy in Rani Chandra, which was capitalised upon by adversaries on a few occasions (particularly in (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic)).
Soon after, Maria was invited to Sarah Jane's wedding, but could not attend because she was taking exams. (SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
In September 2010, Maria congratulated Luke, through a social network, on being accepted to the University of Oxford. He attempted to tell her about the Nightmare Man, but was unable to. (SJA: The Nightmare Man)
Later Life
Although Maria had long since left, Sarah Jane and her gang continued to have adventures, defend Earth and save countless lives. They (including Maria) would get statues in their honour and leave behind a legacy that would last forever. (SJAN: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (novelisation), SJA: The Man Who Never Was)
Alternate realities
Donna's World
If Donna Noble had turned right for a job interview instead of turning left, Maria would have investigated the Royal Hope Hospital with Sarah Jane, Clyde and Luke. Since, as it was moved to the moon, the oxygen ran out it caused every one in the hospital, including Maria, to die of suffocation. (DW: Turn Left)
The Trickster's World
In The Trickster's World, Maria Jackson was erased from time by Krislok and then sent to Limbo. Because she was protected from the Trickster by the Verron soothsayer puzzle box, she was the only person who knew about the meteorite that was heading towards the Earth.
Personality
Maria had a patient, tolerant, and inquisitive personality. Her parents divorce made her somewhat moody, and she was much less worldly-wise and trendy than Clyde. She was also braver and more sensitive. Clearly, Maria looked up to Sarah Jane, and Sarah Jane trusted her more than anyone in the world. (SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?)
Behind the scenes
- Although Maria technically left the series in The Last Sontaran, each story for the remainder of Series 2 included some on-screen reference to her, with Maria herself making a cameo in The Mark of the Berserker. Maria was again referenced several times in Series 3 and 4 though she did not appear.
- Maria's birthday was some time in the last week of August. She had to be fourteen before the 1st of September to be in year 10 with Luke and Clyde. (SJA: Revenge of the Slitheen)
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