Bubble Shock!
The Bane attempted to use the orange-coloured Bubble Shock! soft drink in order to control the Earth's human population.
Bubble Shock! in fact contained secretions from the Bane Mother. When consumed, the secretions of the mother entered the body of humans, allowing the Bane to control them. Sarah Jane Smith's technology even detected the drink as an alien life form in its own right. A free bus took children to tour the Bubble Shock! factory. Upon entering the building, the children were analysed by a scanning device. These analyses served to create the Archetype, a human child grown by the Bane to determine why 2% of the human population had an immunity to the enzyme. The machine however was disguised by name as an alarm system and metal detector to stop children from attempting to find out about its true purpose.
History
Bypassing the variety of approvals required, the Bane managed to get their product released in two weeks, much quicker than European Union food and drink safety policies would normally have allowed.
Advertising the drink as delicious and organic and saying it contained an ingredient called Bane, the Bane species heavily advertised the drink on television. They even had Blue Peter presenters Konnie Huq and Gethin Jones offer on-air testimonials.
Pushed into a corner, Mrs Wormwood, the leader of the invasion, turned Bubble Shock! consumers into possessed slaves who offered the drink to anyone who had not already taken it. With the death of the Bane Mother, however, the drink apparently lost its power. Afterwards, the possession of various humans was attributed to the ingredients in Bubble Shock! causing a combination of "chemical imbalances". (TV: Invasion of the Bane)
References
The Bubble Shock! factory was one of several alien incursions which occured in the 'Ealing Triangle', cited by Ruby White when she met Sarah Jane and her team. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)
Behind the scenes
- Writer Gareth Roberts had previously created Bubbleshake, an addictive beverage with dangerous qualities, in his novel The Highest Science.
- The Futurama episode Fry & the Slurm Factory featured Slurm, another highly addictive drink created from the secretions of an alien creature, in this case the "Slurm Queen".
