The Last Sontaran (TV story)

The Last Sontaran was the first story of The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2.

Synopsis
Reports of strange lights around the Tycho Project's radio telescope lead Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, and Maria into a terrifying forest encounter, where Sarah Jane comes face-to-face with her oldest enemy.

Meanwhile, Maria wrestles with a huge decision when her dad is offered a new job in America.

Part 1
At a radio telescope used by the Tycho Project's search for alien life, in rural Goblin's Copse, Lucy Skinner and her astronomer dad, Professor Nicholas Skinner, are observing the night sky when they spot strange lights floating in the sky. Professor Skinner investigates, but goes missing--so Lucy investigates, and is promptly captured herself.

The following day, investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith hears reports of the strange lights and, despite Mr Smith's assurances that strange lights rarely herald alien activity, decides to pursue the story. She recruits Luke and Clyde to help; Maria comes, too, though she seems sad and hints that she may be leaving soon. In fact, Maria's dad Alan has been offered a job in America, at the head office of his firm. Maria is ambivalent about the news: happy for her dad, but sad that she must leave her friends behind.

At Goblin's Copse, the team finds Lucy, who tells them that her dad is still missing. But no sooner has she said so than Professor Skinner appears, though he seems strangely detached and unemotional, and orders the investigators to leave immediately.

Sarah Jane and her friends have no choice but to leave the observatory. Luke and Clyde have found a strange invisible spaceship in the woods around the observatory; when the cloaking field is disabled and Sarah Jane sees the ship, she immediately recognises a Sontaran ship--and, as the group discovers too late, its Sontaran occupant has just found them.

The Sontaran is Commander Kaagh, badly wounded when the Doctor defeated the Sontaran army in DW: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky. The only survivor of the botched invasion, he has vowed revenge on Earth for his people's humiliation.

The humans quickly manage to escape, with Kaagh chasing them. Outside the observatory, they split up: Luke and Maria crawl into a vent that pierces the observatory, while Sarah Jane and Clyde attempt to reason with Professor Skinner--only to discover that he is under mind control by the Sontaran. Kaagh's plan is revealed: he will 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.

Part 2
Kaagh shoots Sarah Jane, who sprawls, unconscious, on the floor. He then boasts to Clyde that she will be taken to Sontar as a prize, and he will be hailed as a hero instead of a laughingstock--perhaps even given a more honourable epithet, such as "Kaagh the Avenger".

Luke and Maria are hidden in a nearby vent, watching the scene unfold. They catch Clyde's attention and motion for him to join them.

Sarah Jane awakens to find that she is being held in a store room, along with Lucy Skinner, and that Kaagh has taken her sonic lipstick. Undeterred, she and Lucy start to build a device to jam the satellite, knowing that Kaagh will detect it, plans to escape when Kaagh comes to investigate.

Luke, Maria, and Clyde provoke Kaagh into chasing them through the observatory's corridors and service tunnels; the teens escape into the forest and block Kaagh from getting out. They run to Kaagh's shuttle, where Luke uses the alien chemicals stored inside to synthesise a knockout gas that will incapacitate the Sontaran. But then Luke sets off the intruder alarm, and knowing that it will bring Kaagh, Cyde sets off to distract him.

Sarah Jane activates her new invention; just as she expected, Skinner soon appears to search for it. Sarah Jane and Lucy sneak out, locking Skinner in the room, and try to figure out a way to disarm the satellites. They let Clyde in through the same door Luke, Maria and Clyde escaped through earlier, just in time to save him from Kaagh, who they lock out. Kaagh enters through the the main door, breaks down the door to the room Skinner was locked in, and expresses his rage at him.

Maria, not sure that Luke will be able to synthesise the gas in time, decides to ask Mr Smith for more information on defeating Sontarans. As Mr Smith is still in Ealing, she calls her dad and asks him to contact the computer. Alan does so, unaware that he has been followed into Sarah Jane's attic by his ex-wife Chrissie. Chrissie demands to know what is going on; Alan quickly brings her up to speed on Sarah Jane's alien hunting and Maria's role as her assistant. Chrissie realizes he is telling the truth as his lip twitches when he is lying. Maria's parents, fearful for her safety, decide to join their daughter at Goblin's Copse.

Sarah Jane, Maria, Clyde, Luke and Lucy all meet up. Sarah Jane takes Luke and Lucy with her to try and deactivate the transmitter, while Maria and Clyde go and try to find the switch that will move the transmitter away from the satellites. However Kaagh and Skinner get there first and capture them.

Luke tries to break into the observatory's main computers, eventually succeeding when he realises that Sontarans, who have three fingers on each hand, probably use base six mathematics. But Kaagh appears and reveals that Lucy is a sleeper agent, activates the mind-control chip he had implanted in her, and instructs her to re-activate the transmitter. He threatened Maria's life if Sarah Jane tries to stop him. All appears lost--until Chrissie bursts into the observatory and attacks Kaagh's probic vent with her high-heeled shoe, incapacitating him more effectively than Luke's knockout gas was able to. The transmitter is de-activated, this time for good.

Kaagh is escorted back to his ship and ordered to return to Sontar, which he is only too glad to do; he is humiliated that he was defeated by "half-forms" (children) and a woman. Sarah Jane is relieved, even if she is not entirely convinced that the Sontaran is gone for good.

Six weeks later, Maria and Alan say their goodbyes to Sarah Jane, Luke, and Clyde, as they leave for their new life in America. As father and daughter pull away, Chrissie whispers to Sarah Jane that she was not entirely ignorant of her daughter's alien-hunting hobby.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elizabeth Sladen
 * Maria Jackson - Yasmin Paige
 * Luke - Tommy Knight
 * Clyde - Daniel Anthony
 * Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Alan Jackson - Joseph Millson
 * Chrissie Jackson - Juliet Cowan
 * Professor Nicholas Skinner - Ronan Vibert
 * Lucy Skinner - Clare Thomas
 * Kaagh - Anthony O'Donnell

Production Crew

 * Executive Producers – Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson
 * Producers – Matthew Bouch, Nikki Smith
 * Co-Producer – Phil Ford
 * First Assistant Director – Simon Morris
 * Post-Production Supervisor – Nerys Davies
 * Sound Recordist – Julian Howarth
 * Music – Sam Watts
 * Casting Directors – Andy Pryor, Andy Brierley
 * Prosthetics Technician – Charlie Bluett
 * Prosthetic Makeup Artist – Sarah Lockwood
 * Film Editor – William Oswald
 * Production Designer – Arwel Jones

Story Notes

 * This is Maria Jackson's last story as a main character. Actress Yasmin Paige is in her GCSE year, so chose to concentrate on her studies. She makes a guest appearance in part 2 of "The Mark of the Berserker", and the character of Maria is referenced either visually (through photos, art and flashbacks) or in dialogue in all other Season 2 stories.
 * Although this story clearly takes place following the Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky storyline, it is unclear as to whether it takes place following the events depicted in DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, which aired before it. The episode contains dialogue references to alien life being widely known on Earth, and the reference to Maria in The Stolen Earth would suggest it took place before Maria and her father moved to America.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 0.7 million (BBC 1)
 * Episode 2 - 477,000 (CBBC channel)
 * 0.6 million (BBC 1)

Myths and Rumours

 * The Sontaran was rumoured to be General Staal, because, in the original teaser trailer, Kaagh looks identical to Staal. These rumours were proved false.
 * After he left, Kaagh has deliberately delayed his revenge. It would be smart for him to delay so Sarah Jane doesn't think he will return. This turned out to be the case (SJA:Enemy of the Bane)

Filming Locations

 * Back in series one, Alan Jackson's original house was set in a real life house on a normal suburban street instead of in a studio. The first episode of the second series entitled The Last Sontaran has the house set in a studio and has been redecorated extremely accurately by the production crew.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The lack of reference to the Earth being relocated suggests this episode may take place before the events of DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, however in The Stolen Earth Maria and Alan are said to be in Cornwall, whereas they leave for America at the end of this storyline. Lack of reference to the events don't mean they didn't already occur. However, the vacation in Cornwall could conceivably have occurred during the six weeks that elapse between the main part of this story and the Jacksons' departure for America. There is no evidence for or against.
 * To add further confusion to where this story lies in relation to DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, Chrissie Jackson is incredulous about the existence of aliens. Which she wouldn't be after experiencing the Daleks pulling Earth across the universe. Sarah explains in the following story that people will say anything to avoid facing the truth. Also, DW: The Runaway Bride gave us Donna Noble, a similar character (initially) to Chrissie, who had managed to remain oblivious to the Battle of Canary Wharf and the Sycorax invasion; in the case of Chrissie several previous episodes have established that she is rather dense when it comes to these things (Revenge of the Slitheen, Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?). And a very public Dalek invasion doesn't mean that people will believe in aliens that are showing up all the time. The Torchwood episode Children of Earth: Day One establishes that following the Dalek invasion many people do now believe in alien life, but not all have chosen to accept it; this strongly implies that there has been no government cover up.
 * And to add even more confusion as to the chronological timeline of this story Mr Smith has a new more waterlike shape on his screen while in the Stolen Earth he has the diamond shapes that he had before his reboot. (His look here is consistent with his look after the reboot, and going forward in the series. If anything, the discontinuity would be in DW: The Stolen Earth.
 * When Kaagh's face is revealed his helmet slides open for him but in 'The Sontaran Stratagem' and 'The Posion Sky', all Sontarans take their helmets off by hand.(The fact that a few Sontarans take their helmets completely off does not mean that they don't have the capability to slide open.)
 * Why didn't Kaagh just use Lucy first rather than risk his first plan failing as Sarah-Jane had 45 mins to stop him? (Because using his first plan he had time to escape, and Lucy was the plan-B)
 * Why was Kaagh's Scoutship already fleeing? The Sontarans were destroyed only seconds after finding out their ship would be destroyed, he couldn't escape that quickly.(When the Doctor stopped the Sontarans choking the Earth, General Staal ordered his soldiers to take Earth by force; Kaagh was probably one of the first troops sent to attack. We do see several scoutships leaving the mother ship as the explosion occurs.
 * In DW: The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky, the Sontaran's laser killed people immediately, but in Sarah Jane's case, she was merely stunned. (Kaagh had the gun on a different setting.)
 * About 13 minutes into Part Two, a shot of the countdown is shown as a video playing in VLC Media Player. Many graphics seen on screens on TV shows are videos that have been prepared beforehand and played as the scene is shot. If you ever watch Doctor Who Confidential and see someone entering the TARDIS console room set through the doors, you can often see a computer displaying that TARDIS screen graphics, which is being played on that computer and the monitor on the console. In this case, however, perhaps turnaround between takes was so fast that they didn't wait for the video control bar (which often disappears on VLC when a video is playing full-screen) to disappear, possibly for continuity as shots have to match previous ones, you'd notice if the countdown said 4 minutes and then in the next shot said 5).

Continuity

 * The Tycho Project is mentioned in NSA: Beautiful Chaos

DVD and Other Releases
This story, along with the rest of Series 2, is scheduled for release on DVD on 9th November 2009 (UK) and 10th November 2009 (North America).

Novelisation

 * Main article: The Last Sontaran (novelisation)

A novelisation of The Last Sontaran was published in November 2008.