Those who know me well will know that a blog post about The Sarah Jane Adventures will come sooner or later. I adore the show, and the characters stayed with me for years.
Whenever I tried to write a blog post about the show, I struggled to think of what to write. How can I explain my love for a show that affected me for my entire teenage life and continues to affect me to this day? I often turn to my special interest in the show either when I am daydreaming or burnt out after an exhausting day. When I am tired, The Sarah Jane Adventures is one of the few things I will turn to.
As well as the show, there are novelisations of some of the episodes and characters to collect.
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Why I love the show
I have loved The Sarah Jane Adventures since I was a teenager after discovering the show in 2012. I had a brief lapse in interest and became interested in another show. However, I returned to Sarah Jane and her friends in 2014, and no other show has taken its place. The reason I love the show is due to the characters and the strong episodes. There are some weak episodes throughout the series, but there are many stronger ones to make up for it. There is a lot of character development to make the characters well-rounded, and often delve into their backstories.
My Favourite Sarah Jane Adventures Characters
Sarah Jane Smith is one of my favourite characters in the show since she is a mother figure and a leader for the group. She starts off cold towards Maria in the first episode, Invasion of the Bane, but she warms up to each of the characters as they are introduced. I see Sarah Jane as a mother figure, so I feel pretty close to the character. Whenever I write an original character in my fanfictions, Sarah Jane always ends up as a mother figure or a mother to that character.
I also like Luke, who is the first child Sarah Jane adopts. He first appears in Invasion of the Bane and appears in most of the episodes, with some exceptions in Series three, four, and five as the actor, Tommy Knight, was working on his GCSEs. He is an interesting character and very intelligence, and Sarah Jane, Clyde, Rani, and Maria would’ve never stopped some of the aliens they did without his help.
My Favourite Sarah Jane Adventures Episodes
I usually watch the show when I am doing the episodes for my fanfiction, such as Emma’s Six. As that one follows most of the episodes closely, I’m paying attention to dialogue and character development. Some of my favourite episodes introduce new characters, give the characters more development, or has an interesting story line. I am writing short bits about each episode, and I am writing them in chronological order to make things easier.
Invasion of the Bane
Invasion of the Bane introduces The Sarah Jane Adventures as a whole and introduces the younger audience to Sarah Jane Smith. It also introduces two teenage characters who become a critical part in Sarah Jane’s life, Luke and Maria. The episode is an hour long, which is necessary to help introduce the characters and Sarah Jane’s life. There are multiple references to Doctor Who, which will fly over the viewer’s head if they have never seen the show before. However, Elisabeth Sladen acts it perfectly, and talks about Sarah Jane’s life in such a way that it’s not necessary to have seen any Doctor Who episodes for her to know what she is talking about.
Revenge of the Slitheen
Revenge of the Slitheen introduces Clyde Langer, another critical character who appears in all the episodes right up to the show’s end in 2011. It is the start of the series after the New Year’s special, and begins the series of two half an hour episodes. Clyde quickly justifies why he is a main character as he tells jokes to help lighten situations and is also quick on his feet after using his deodorant against the Slitheen.
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith is one of the episodes that delves into Sarah Jane’s backstory, and we discover why Sarah Jane’s Aunt Lavinia raised her since Sarah Jane was a baby. It provides a lot of backstory to the character and gives her depth. It is also the second time we see the Trickster, who appears in three stories throughout the series.
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is the first time the Doctor makes an appearance in a spin-off. Sarah Jane made appearances in Doctor Who after The Sarah Jane Adventures began, but this is the first time the Doctor appears in a spin-off show. It is also the third and last time we see the Trickster. In this episode, we see him dressed in white for the first time. It certainly works for the one time as he first appears at Sarah Jane’s wedding and only wears black when he meets the Doctor and when he offers Peter a new life.
Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
I have an interesting reaction to this episode as it is my favourite and least favourite at the same time. If you have read my fanfiction blog post, you will know that I ship Sarah Jane and Ruby together. Due to this, seeing Ruby as one of the villains and wanting to kill Sarah Jane is tough to watch. However, I like the beginning and middle of part one because it shows Ruby becoming closer to Sarah Jane and her friends, and the show could have worked with another adult who knows about what goes on at number thirteen.
This episode was the last to air before Elisabeth Sladen died in 2011, making it a bittersweet episode.
Sky
Sky is the first two episodes of the final series, and introduces a new character called Sky. I like Sky, and she acts like a new character to help younger viewers become interested in the show as Clyde and Rani are grown up. While Sky isn’t given a lot of screen time since series five was shortened due to the untimely death of Elisabeth Sladen, Sky is still given some amazing dialogue and roles within the three stories she has. The first episode, which is named after her, explores how Sky arrives at Bannerman Road and becoming another member of Sarah Jane’s family.
Farewell, Sarah Jane
I recently re-watched Farewell, Sarah Jane, which is available on YouTube. It is an emotional episode as it reunites Luke, Clyde, and Rani, as well as brining in familiar faces like Gita Chandra and Jo Grant. The episode revolves around Sarah Jane dying, but no one says what she died of, and it is never explained, leaving it up to the viewer. It is an emotional episode, and I cried the first time I watched it. I recently wrote a fanfiction slightly inspired by it and I was almost moved to tears then.
As I don’t like imagining Sarah Jane dying, this is a difficult episode for me to watch. However, the episode is done so well that it becomes a perfect end to the series I love so much.
Why I Write So Much Fanfiction About The Sarah Jane Adventures
As The Sarah Jane Adventures is my favourite show, I would obviously write fanfiction about it. I have accounts on fanfiction.net, Wattpad, and A03 if you want to read them.
I was left hanging when the show ended in 2011 with The Man Who Never Was. It was the last episode Elisabeth Sladen filmed before her death, and as there were meant to be three more episodes in series five, it makes sense that the producers had to wrap up the show in a way that would leave fans satisfied. I like the ending they created with that episode, but the end felt like Sarah Jane, and her team could have many more adventures. As it was left open-ended, fans could continue the story and write what they wanted.
However, I do not write stories that could take place after the show’s end. Instead, I write alternate universes, and most of them involve Sarah Jane having a child that takes centre stage and tells the series and other stories from her perspective. Sometimes, I have Sarah Jane in another period, as in Time Travel: Things Go Wrong. Most of the fanfictions I have on A03 are linked to the series Emma’s Six I am writing on fanfiction.net or about a pairing I like writing about.
An Unusual Pairing…
As I am talking about fanfiction, maybe I should talk about the couple I ship the most out of all of those out there in The Sarah Jane Adventures fandom. I have talked about it a little on my fanfiction blog post, but I want to go into a little more depth in this post.
I first started shipping Sarah Jane and Ruby in secondary school, and I thought as I already saw them as friends, it would not be a problem. Now, all my Sarah Jane Adventures fanfictions feature this couple one way or another, either as parents, parental figures, or as characters in their own right. Most of the time, I have them as parental figures for the characters, especially in Emma’s Six, and do not delve much into their relationship.
However, some of my fanfictions on A03 do delve into their relationship, either within the Emma’s Six universe, in canon, or in a different universe. One of the most recent fanfiction series I started writing is rewriting the episode Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith. That does involve re-watching the episode to make sure I get the scenes right, but The Sarah Jane Adventures YouTube Channel has clips from all the episodes uploaded if you want to check it out.
2017- The Sarah Jane Adventures Attic Reunion
Back in 2017, I was able to go to the Attic, a Sarah Jane Adventures reunion which reunited most of the main cast. I was sixteen at the time and interested in The Sarah Jane Adventures as much as I am now. I got a photograph with Tommy Knight (Luke Smith), Yasmin Paige (Maria Jackson), Sinead Michael (Sky Smith) and Anjli Mohindra (Rani Chandra). We could order things before the event, and I ordered all the postcards as they were selling postcards linked to the episodes.
I was able to get two of them signed, Sky by Sinead Michael and Death of the Doctor by Katy Manning, who played Jo Jones, who was another companion of the Doctor in the classic era. I have them all framed now, with my favourite six hanging above my chest of drawers, which I use to display my characters and some Sarah Jane Adventure themed photographs.
I also brought five posters, some of which are set during the episodes. My favourite one out of these is a group photo of the team at Bannerman Road.
I have adored The Sarah Jane Adventures for a long time, and I am glad I could share my favourite special interest with my readers.
If you want to discover more of my special interests, you can find them here.