The Lost Boy (TV story)

The Lost Boy was the fifth and final serial of series 1 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was written by Gareth Roberts, directed by Alice Troughton and featured Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Yasmin Paige as Maria Jackson, Tommy Knight as Luke Smith, Daniel Anthony as Clyde Langer and Alexander Armstrong as Mr Smith.

It was comprised of the ninth and tenth episodes of the regular series and saw the reappearance of the Slitheen family. Additionally, K9 Mark IV returned briefly in the second episode.

During this adventure, Mr Smith, Sarah's thus far loyal supercomputer, had his alien origin unveiled, along with the unsettling discovery of his true colours. Up to this point he was operating under a friendly pretext, but the facade dropped to reveal a malicious alien underneath the indiscernible guise. Sarah had him subjected to a computer virus to erase the part of his memory that drove him to hostility. After this, his disposition became genuinely benevolent.

Synopsis
A missing child turns out to be, both visually and genetically, Luke. Sarah is forced to hand him over to the "parents". Heartbroken, Sarah rejects Maria and Clyde, and with Maria's dad threatening to sell the house to keep his daughter out of danger, it seems the gang's adventures have come to an end, whilst Luke discovers his new "parents" are not all they seem — an old enemy has returned, and this time, they are in league with a member of Sarah's faithful team in a plot to bring the moon crashing to Earth...

Part 1
Having discovered what Sarah, Maria, Clyde and Luke do together, Alan Jackson threatens to move house again, only to have a change of heart when he sees how upset Maria is. His condition for not moving away, however, is that he is kept up to date on their battles against aliens.

A BBC news report on a family searching for their son, Ashley, missing for five months and last seen boarding the Bubble Shock bus, brings a shock. Ashley looks exactly like Luke. Mr Smith compares their DNA, and confirms that Luke and Ashley are genetic matches. Apparently, Luke was not "grown" by the Bane, but was in fact a kidnapped boy whose memory was wiped. His lack of a navel is explained as the result of its removal by the Bane, who are eggborn and find navels offensive.

Chrissie Jackson calls the police and reports Sarah as a child abductor. As Clyde arrives wanting answers, Sarah is arrested and the police put Luke into the charge of Ashley's parents, Jay and Heidi. Sarah is detained by the police until UNIT intervene and have her released. Depressed, Sarah decides she was wrong to involve children and tells Maria to stay away from her, suggesting that she and her father move away. Mr Smith suggests she take on a case to take her mind off things. She visits the Pharos Institute, a research centre where alien technology is being used to conduct experiments into telekinesis. Here she meets the annoying child prodigy Nathan Goss. That night, Luke's new parents watch television and switch to a channel that glows green. They announce to the Xylok that they have the boy in their possession.

Luke's new parents are very unpleasant. They keep Luke locked up in his room at all times. Clyde Langer cuts school to visit Luke, but Heidi does not let them see each other. She claims that her son is a keen skateboarder, which worries Clyde; he knows Luke has a poor sense of balance and is a dreadful skateboarder. He decides to bring a photo of Jay and Heidi to Mr Smith.

Luke becomes frantic upon seeing Clyde leave the house. He tries desperately to escape. Mr Smith, meanwhile, sends Sarah back to the lab to steal one of their headsets, which he needs to work out Nathan's plans.

Back at Luke's new home, his "parents" are meeting with Nathan, just as Luke is breaking out of his room. He fails to escape, but finds his parents are actually Slitheen. Luke asks how they are not fat, as Slitheen wearing skin suits are known to be, and they explain they are using improved compression field technology. Nathan Goss is Korst Gogg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen, a child Slitheen Luke met before, now in a new disguise and looking for revenge.

Clyde gets to the house only seconds after Sarah has left. He takes the photo to Mr Smith, asking if the photo can be checked to see if it is a fake. Mr. Smith tells Clyde it is a fake, and he knows... because Mr. Smith faked it. Clyde is confused, as Mr Smith is the Xylok who has been behind everything. Noting that Clyde is not a part of his plan, he fires a bolt of energy at the boy, causing him to digitise and vanish from the real world, and laughs fiendishly.

Part 2
Clyde wakes to find himself inside Mr Smith. Sarah Jane Smith returns from the Pharos Institute, having stolen a telekinetic headset. Elsewhere, Maria and Alan go to Ashley's house, where they find a skinsuit. Maria realises the Slitheen have Luke. Alan gets a message on his computer from Clyde, who states Mr Smith has turned evil. The Jacksons and Sarah confront Mr Smith and are nearly killed as it fires a bolt of energy from a built-in gun.

The Slitheen take Luke to the Pharos Institute, where they test his abilities. Luke overcomes the Slitheen and escapes as Maria, Alan and Sarah arrive. Working together, Sarah's gang and the Slitheen discover Mr Smith's intentions. Alan adapts a computer virus to destroy Mr Smith. Using the Slitheen teleporter, Sarah arrives in her attic, where Mr Smith is using Luke to awaken other Xylok from the Earth's core. He plans to crash the Moon into the planet, cracking it open like an egg and freeing the other Xylok. Clyde returns when Mr Smith states he is merciful, but Mr Smith then threatens the humans with its gun. Sarah unlocks a safe and calls on K9. The robots battle and Sarah inputs the virus, which makes Mr Smith forget its purpose. As the Moon grows closer to the Earth, Sarah tells Mr Smith it has a new purpose: to safeguard planet Earth.

The Moon returns to its original position, K9 goes back to the safe to guard the black hole and the Slitheen return to Raxacoricofallapatorius. As Sarah, Maria, Luke, Clyde, Alan and Chrissie watch the ship leave, Sarah reflects that she never thought she could be part of a family.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
 * Maria Jackson — Yasmin Paige
 * Luke Smith — Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer — Daniel Anthony
 * Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Alan Jackson — Joseph Millson
 * Chrissie Jackson — Juliet Cowan
 * Professor Rivers — Floella Benjamin
 * Jay Stafford — Jay Simpson
 * Heidi Stafford — Holly Atkins
 * Nathan Goss — Ryan Watson
 * Chief Inspector - Julian Dutton
 * Jay Slitheen — Paul Kasey
 * Nathan Slitheen — Jimmy Vee
 * Heidi Slitheen — Ruari Mears
 * Newsreader - Jason Mohammad
 * Voice of K9 — John Leeson

Individuals

 * Chief Inspector Robert Lines works for the West Ealing Police.
 * George Bailey is a security guard at the Pharos Institute.
 * Ashley Stafford is a fan of the Chelsea Football Club.
 * According to Mr Smith, Nathan Goss was born in Stoke Newington, attended the St Rosalind Preparatory School and St Rosalind Secondary School.
 * Mr Cairn teaches Maria in French.
 * Luke Smith decides to celebrate the day he stopped the moon from crashing into the Earth; to everyone else not part of his mother's group, it would appear to be his birthday.

Locations

 * Mr Smith mentions the Metrabelan Cosmic Cluster.
 * Luke Smith's Slitheen "parents" live in a house at Hammersmith.

Organisations

 * When the inspector questions Sarah, a page of her confidential UNIT file is visible on screen.
 * Alan mentions the FBI.

Objects

 * A telekinesis experiment conducted by the Pharos Institute involves levitating a basketball.
 * Sarah uses the Slitheen transporter pendant

Species

 * Bloorm Vungah Bart Slitheen mentions the Bartleboigle tree, which is used on Raxacoricofallapatorius to spank children's backsides as a means of disipline.
 * Luke mentions the stegosaurus.

Cultural references to the real world

 * Mr Smith claims that "without purpose, we do not exist." This is almost a direct quote from Agent Smith, the similarly-named antagonist of the film.
 * Mr Smith asks, "Am I not merciful?", also said by the villain of the film .
 * Maria likens the Slitheen to the TV show Only Fools and Horses.
 * Alan mentions The X-Files, comparing it to the nature of Sarah Jane's lifestyle.
 * The Armegeddon Virus is featured in the 2007 novel George's Flag. It is controlled by computer expert Sister Mary Ellen Brevado.
 * Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Galileo and Copernicus are mentioned.
 * Alan refers to Star Trek and Frankenstein's monster.
 * Clyde is a fan of the bands Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys.

Other

 * Telekinetic control is valuable in some parts of the galaxy.
 * Sarah and her friends are watching the Kalazian Lights.

Story notes

 * This episode ends with Sarah narrating. This closes the first series, just as a narration by her opened the series in Invasion of the Bane. This would carry on throughout the remaining four series.
 * Both episodes were aired on the CBBC channel, and were broadcast a week later on BBC 1.
 * When the inspector questions Sarah, a page of her confidential UNIT file is visible on screen. The text is taken from the BBC's UNIT website and includes the in-joke that UNIT's activities span "the sixties, the seventies and some would say the eighties." This is the first on-screen reference in SJA (and indeed the entire Doctor Who TV franchise) to the UNIT dating controversy. It was followed by a similar in-joke spoken by the Tenth Doctor, as he reminisced about working for UNIT in the '70s, "or was it the 80s?" (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
 * This episode marks the last major appearance of the Slitheen. The Slitheen would then be featured in part one of The Gift as a minor appearance but The Nightmare Man would be the last appearance in the show but this would only serve as a cameo.
 * Mr. Smith nearly caused the catastrophe that the Silurians feared: the moon crashing into the Earth.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 465,000 (CBBC)
 * Part 2- 659,000 (CBBC)

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * At one point, it says "21" on Sarah Jane's door, which is the real-life number of the house that is used for Sarah Jane's house.
 * At another point, when the moon is crashing down onto Earth, the moon can clearly be seen over lapping the building outside the window.
 * At '25:58' on "Part 1", Clyde as he opens Sarah's door, looks behind him and looks to the camera until he closes the door.

Continuity

 * The movement of the Moon caused the orbits of it, the Earth and the Sun to be in a mess. Clyde Langer and Mr Smith set them right shortly afterwards. (GAME: Plant and Animal Habitats)
 * Mr Smith can't be trusted at all during this adventure. The information that Mr Smith provides for Nathan Goss, Heidi and Jay Stafford turn out to be wrong and were just invented to achieve his goals. Heidi and Jay Stafford don't exist, the skin suits are from June and Marco Goss, their history is made up by Mr Smith. Nathan Goss isn't a genius and has never worked at the Pharos Institute. (PROSE: The Lost Boy)
 * The alien Deathy could hack into Mr Smith without him noticing because he was still suffering from the Armegeddon Virus. (AUDIO: The Ghost House)
 * The Slitheen reappear. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, Boom Town, Revenge of the Slitheen, PROSE: The Monsters Inside)
 * K9 returns briefly, and a reference is made to his work on containing the black hole. Clyde does not know of him as he was not present when K9 met Maria and Luke. (TV: Invasion of the Bane) K9 calls Clyde "young master".
 * The Slitheen are now using an improved version of their skin suit, which allows them to pass for skinnier humans and no longer causes the gas exchange problem which previously caused inconvenience. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, Boom Town, Revenge of the Slitheen)
 * Sarah Jane says she never thought she could be part of a family. She would later tell the Tenth Doctor that he had the biggest family on Earth, herself being a part of it. (TV: Journey's End)
 * Professor Rivers says that all humans have the ability to perform telekinesis. The Tenth Doctor would later use telekinesis whilst using the thoughts of the human race psychically linked together. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

Home video releases

 * The Lost Boy, along with Invasion of the Bane, Revenge of the Slitheen, Eye of the Gorgon, Warriors of Kudlak and Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, were released in the series one DVD box set.