So we've now come to the last ever Sarah-Jane Adventures post that I'll ever be doing. With an appearance of the 11th Doctor, a former companion of his, the first and last ever trip to an alien planet and a complete change of the usual things to expect in the show, this is my review of series 4:
The Nightmare Man
With Luke being quite smart, it comes to no surprise from a lot of us that he would be going to university a year early and this episode prepares us for that. As preparations go underway for this event, Luke begins to have nightmares which seem to have been set up by a figure known as The Nightmare Man and it isn't long before he begins to absorb energy from Luke to materialize into the world, thus causing the world to be in a never-ending sleep that only Luke and friends can stop. Now when I saw this episode, there was news spreading that this would be the last one to feature Luke and K9 as regulars due to other commitments (such as Tommy Knight given more demanding work to do and K9 having an Australian spin-off) but would appear on certain occasions in later episodes, and I won't spoil anything here, but it was a pretty good episode for them. I like that the show has stopped doing its previous tradition of having a DW enemy appear in the first episode of a series because even though those were good, they got boring after a while. 8/10
The Vault of Secrets
Androvax the Veil (previously a prisoner of the Judoon) has returned to Earth seeking help from the one and only Sarah-Jane Smith. Since their last encounter, he has escaped the Judoon once more, via a swamp and is slowly dying as he got poisoned whilst doing that. His last request is to free his people from a Vault of some kind which is under protection of the Men in Black (who we last saw in the one off animated Doctor Who episode, Dreamland), androids that choose to kill those who try and find out their secrets. What will Sarah-Jane decide to do? Will she doom an entire species to extinction or save them? This episode I thought was a very good and action packed episode that has some comic relief from Rani's parents as well as everyone giving it their all which is always a good thing. 9/10
Death of the Doctor
In a sort of reunion episode that also serves as in some way, a love letter to the fans of the Doctor Who universe (as well as Russell T Davis's only written episode to feature the 11th Doctor), Sarah-Jane and Co get told by UNIT that The Doctor is dead and as you would expect, she doesn't believe that such a thing has happened. As the team head for the funeral that is being organized by the Galactic Undertakers who are eagle looking aliens known as the Shansheeth, Clyde gets some static from somewhere (which is explained later in the story) and upon arrival Sarah-Jane meets a very old companion of the Doctors' known as Jo Grant (played by Katy Manning who is reprising the role for the first time since her appearance in the classic series) alongside her grandson Santiago (played by Finn Jones) and both of them think that this is a trap. What trap could this be and is the Doctor truly dead (and to be honest, the show makers really are rubbish when it comes to keeping secrets from the general public)? I thought this was another good episode that gives fans that much deserved fan service with a 3 way reunion which works very well. 9/10
The Empty Planet
Clyde and Rani wake up to a world that has been deserted with no human life, apart from themselves and a mysterious boy. But it isn't long before 2 robots appear and begin to hunt them down, but who are they after really? While this episode was good in regards to that it gives character development with Clyde and Rani (who may or may not fancy each other, but the show has hinted it a number of times), its not as great as you would think it is. I mean its OK in regards to what the episode is doing, but that's as far as it goes. 7/10
Lost in Time
Sarah-Jane reads a newspaper and gets the attention of a particular article which leads her, Clyde and Rani to a shop. They come across a man who is known as The Shopkeeper (played by Cyril Nri) who apparently knows of Sarah-Jane and her adventures and explains that he needs 3 pieces of some kind of metal that is forged in the time vortex, are needed in order to shape the destiny of Earth and sends the 3 of them to 3 different time periods to fine the metal, mentioning to his parrot called Captain that they only have an hourglass to do this if they ever want to get back home. Rani arrives in what seems to be Victorian times, in the Tower of London and is asked to meet a queen of some kind who is under threat of being killed. Clyde arrives in 1941 during one of the World Wars and has to help a boy in foiling the Nazis plans of taking over. And Sarah-Jane arrives in a house in 1889 and meets a woman who is investigating this supposes haunted house. Can the trio save the world? I honestly think that this was one of the more creative episodes that uses the scenario of travelling in time without the need of the Tardis and it works quite well. I'm not entirely sure if this is just another filler episode but regardless, its one that I very much enjoyed and has a lot of action going for it. 9/10
Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah-Jane begins to feel ill and has decided that her time is up and cannot continue to save the world. So she seeks the help of someone else and that person is a woman called Ruby White (played by Julie Graham) who she has recently been helping in some of SJ's cases without her permission (or some other reason), but can she be trusted? As a series finale, I thought it was good in showing Sarah-Jane in a vulnerable state and was one of the more stronger series finales in the show. 9/10
So as the last 6 episode series of this show, it was very strong with a lot of creative ideas going for it and the departure of a few series regulars was well thought out as well. Just a shame that we couldn't have another big series like this, but at least we get the chance of seeing Elizabeth Sladen in her much loved role of being one of The Doctor's greatest companions, one last time before passing away. 9/10
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