The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)

The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith was the third story in the third series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. The serial was notable for the appearance of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, the first time that the Doctor has appeared in any of the spin-off series, and David Tennant's last performance as the Doctor during his original tenure, filmed after production concluded on his final episode in Doctor Who. The Trickster also returned for a third time. It would turn out to be his last appearance on the series, although he would be obliquely referenced in Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Synopsis
After Sarah Jane starts acting suspiciously, Luke, Clyde, Rani and K9 investigate. They find she has a boyfriend, Peter Dalton, and they are going to get married. Clyde suspects Peter may be an alien. At the wedding, an old enemy returns. As the gang find themselves trapped in a time loop in Limbo, can a very special friend from the past save Sarah Jane, her friends and the entire planet Earth from the wrath of the Trickster?

Part 1
Sarah Jane Smith is sneaking out of her home for "a traffic report meeting". It is the fifth time this month she has made an odd excuse to the gang for going out. This time Luke activates Mr Smith and has him track her. Sarah Jane stops on Morris Drive, where she almost uses her sonic lipstick as a normal lipstick. Luke, Clyde and Rani find her on a date, secretly seeing her new boyfriend. with a suave-looking man. They watch through a restaurant window as Sarah Jane kisses him. As the kids leave, Clyde is puzzled by a strange sound: the distorted sound of the TARDIS engines. Sarah Jane is upset when she learns from Mr Smith and K9 that the gang have been spying on her. She says she was about to tell them. The man's name is Peter Dalton. Sarah Jane forgives them and jokes with Luke that she may have to tell Peter about her investigations of aliens. After Sarah Jane leaves, Luke also hears the TARDIS.

Peter arrives, and Clyde, Rani and Gita try to spy on him. Sarah Jane is reluctant to reveal her secrets to Peter right away. She asks Rani to take a parcel that's been delivered to her, but it starts moving. In the Chandras' house, a many-eyed creature bursts out of the parcel and rampages briefly. It attracts K9, who runs out of the house in front of Peter, but Luke passes off K9 as a prototype toy. With K9's help, Rani and Clyde catch the creature and bring it to Mr Smith, who transmats it to its home planet, Polongus. Meanwhile, Sarah Jane, Peter and Luke go out for a meal. Luke and Peter bond quickly.

Two days later, Peter proposes to Sarah Jane in a restaurant. She accepts and the surrounding crowd applaud. However, her engagement ring begins to glow red. Clyde starts to investigate Peter and tracks down his house over the Internet. Rani and he go there, but find the place virtually deserted, with newspaper covering the windows.

In the attic, Clyde tries to convince Sarah Jane that Peter may be more than he seems. Sarah Jane claims she knows about the empty house, that Peter now lives in a flat closer to work. Rani and Luke are convinced, but Clyde is still suspicious. He is shocked to learn Sarah Jane is getting married to Peter in two weeks. Sarah Jane seems to be in a trance, controlled by her glowing engagement ring. Mr Smith tries to alert Sarah Jane to alien activity. She deactivates him, saying she doesn't want to deal with aliens anymore and may never have to tell Peter about her secret life.

On the wedding day, Clyde tries to insult Peter subtly, saying the wedding has been arranged too fast. Luke becomes angry and suggests Clyde is projecting his attitude towards his own father onto Peter. Luke wonders why none of Peter's family are attending the wedding; Peter explains he has no living relatives. Sarah Jane arrives in a limousine, with Rani as her bridesmaid. The boys react with surprise and appreciation at her dress. Clyde reveals K9 is at the wedding, further enraging Luke. When the registrar invites anyone who wants to object to speak now, the Tenth Doctor bursts through the doors shouting, "Stop this wedding now!" Everyone is baffled why he wants the wedding stopped, but the Doctor firmly repeats that he wants the wedding stopped. Wind begins to blow inside the room and K9 emerges from hiding, saying he has detected alien activity. The Trickster materialises and disappears with Sarah Jane and Peter as the Doctor calls out to her.

Part 2
As Luke, Clyde and Rani regain consciousness, the Doctor introduces himself. K9 and they are the only people in the hotel. It now exists in a white void trapped at 15:23:23. The Trickster has literally trapped them in a second, cut off from the rest of the world and, more importantly, cut off from the TARDIS, which cannot materialise properly. Using K9's sensors and his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor determines that Sarah Jane is trapped in another second. He surmises the Trickster has separated the two groups to prevent them helping Sarah Jane.

Sarah Jane figures out what has happened. She removes her engagement ring, realising it has been influencing her actions and clouding her judgment. Peter protests that the "angel" (the Trickster) told him that the ring would only ensure everything worked out at the wedding. He points out that Sarah Jane accepted his proposal on her own. Peter explains that the Trickster came to him when he had fallen down the stairs at home and offered him his life and the love he never had. The Trickster declares that Sarah Jane and her allies will only be returned to the real universe when she says, "I do".

While searching for a way out of the hotel, the Doctor confronts the Trickster, stating he is the personification of the Pantheon of Discord, a group of aliens from a different universe thriving on chaos and trying to break into this universe. The Trickster reciprocates with his own knowledge of the Doctor. He explains that, with her marriage marking the beginning of her new life, Sarah Jane will forget her old life of defending Earth; he also mysteriously comments that 'the Gate' is waiting for the Doctor.

The TARDIS appears, trying to "lock on" to its pilot. The Doctor explains they can use the artron energy that powers the TARDIS to fight the Trickster, but his attempt to help Luke, Rani and Clyde into the TARDIS fails. The TARDIS and the Doctor are cut off from the hotel. However, Clyde's attempt to enter the TARDIS results in him becoming charged with artron energy, allowing him to attack the Trickster within the Void space. The Trickster's power is momentarily disrupted by Clyde's attack. The Doctor materialises the TARDIS in Sarah's second. He reminds her there is only one way to end the Trickster's deal. As the Trickster and Clyde appear, both weakened by Clyde's attack, Sarah Jane tearfully tells Peter that the only way to stop the Trickster is for Peter to take back the deal, even though this will mean his death. Peter really died in the accident. He is living a half-life that will become real only when he marries Sarah Jane. Although the Trickster claims that Peter is too weak to make that decision, Peter says that his love for Sarah Jane has strengthened him and that he was right, they are the perfect match for each other. He ends the deal, throwing his ring into the Trickster, who bursts into flames, screaming in agony. Peter disappears forever.

Everyone returns to the hotel at the moment before the Doctor's arrival. Peter has vanished and nobody but the heroes remember the Trickster or the Doctor. People begin to whisper and a tearful Sarah Jane announces that the wedding is off.

Later, as Sarah Jane cries in the attic, she is joined by Luke, Rani and Clyde, who console her on her loss. The TARDIS materialises in the attic. The Doctor tells Sarah Jane that he wouldn't just take off without a proper goodbye, and allows the three youngsters to come inside and look around the TARDIS control room. They soon exit, however, to give Sarah Jane and the Doctor a chance to say their good-byes. The pair recall their first parting, thirty years earlier, and each tells the other not to forget them. As he departs on his travels again, The Doctor assures Sarah Jane that she still has an incredible life ahead of her, and suggests that they may still see each other again...

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra
 * Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Voice of K9 - John Leeson
 * The Trickster - Paul Marc Davies
 * Peter Dalton - Nigel Havers
 * Gita Chandra - Mina Anwar
 * Haresh Chandra - Ace Bhatti
 * Registrar - Zienia Merton

Individuals

 * Luke mentions Maria. She cannot attend the wedding due to exams and the fact Alan was tied up with work.
 * The Brigadier is back in Peru and unable to attend the wedding.
 * Clyde states — possibly untruthfully — that his mother, Carla Langer, is unable to attend Sarah Jane's wedding because she is attending another wedding.
 * Clyde's formal outfit is uncannily like the Doctor's: a pinstripe suit with trainers.
 * The Doctor refers to Sarah Jane Smith as "Sarah", as he often did during her time-travelling with him.
 * The Doctor says "spit spot" to Rani and Clyde, a phrase used by Mary Poppins.
 * Sarah Jane's aunt left her money, presumably a reference to Aunt Lavinia.

Planets

 * Metebelis III is mentioned by Sarah Jane, when just before her wedding she wonders aloud where she would have sent the Doctor's invitation.

Story notes

 * This was the first episode of any Doctor Who spinoff to feature the Doctor in new footage, although some of the footage was featured in the previous episode as a vision. The Tenth Doctor also previously appeared as a flashback clip in Series 2, as did the Third and Fourth Doctors in the previous episode.
 * This marks the third and final appearance of the Trickster on the series. The first two were in TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? and TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith. Though he did not appear, the Trickster was also involved in the events of TV: Turn Left and TV: Immortal Sins. The Trickster's Brigade are the only enemies to be faced in Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Had Series 5 continued on past TV: The Man Who Never Was, its planned finale, The Battle of Bannerman Road, was slated to feature the return of the Trickster, but due to Elisabeth Sladen's sudden death, the series was abruptly concluded.
 * Production of this story occurred after the filming of TV: The End of Time, making this David Tennant's final work as the Doctor. Shortly before the episode aired, Tennant gave an interview in which he mentions that his last line playing the Doctor was, "You two, with me, spit spot!" — which appeared in part two when the Doctor went upstairs, taking Clyde and Rani with him.
 * Clyde and Rani meet the Doctor for the first time and Luke meets the Doctor in person for the first time (having seen him via subwave network in TV: The Stolen Earth and TV: Journey's End).
 * The Pantheon of Discord was mentioned in a letter from the Doctor in the Doctor Who Storybook 2010.
 * The TARDIS prop used in this episode was actually that of the Eleventh Doctor, built for the new 2010 season. Its shape and colour were slightly altered from the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS prop so it would show up better on HD. The St John's ambulance badge was not present.
 * The week of this episode's broadcast would prove to be a big treat for fans of K9, as this story featured K9 Mark IV and the very next day after the airing of part two, Regeneration, the premiere of the original K9's own spin-off show and his regeneration into a new model was broadcast.
 * Just before the TARDIS arrives in the attic, the words "Temporal And Relative Dimensional Interference Sensed" appear at the bottom of Mr Smith's screen. This, as an acronym, also spells TARDIS.
 * When K9 reacts to the rampant Travist Polong, as he prepares to descend from the upper floor of Sarah Jane's house, he says, "Activating stair negotiation, hover mode." This solves the mystery of how K9 can get down stairs, transfer himself from different heights unhindered, and possibly how he easily glides around as he moves. It also shows that flight was not original to the redesigned K9 seen in the incoming Australian spin-off show. Additionally, his ability to hover is a feature similar to that used by Daleks and Davros for mobilising across variegated terrain and stairwells.

Ratings

 * Part 1 — 1.6 million
 * Part 2 — 1.5 million

Rumours

 * There were rumours of the Brigadier attending Sarah Jane's wedding. He did not and a rumour circulated that Nicholas Courtney had suffered a stroke that prevented him from participating. Both true. Although under-reported at the time, publications such as Doctor Who Magazine confirmed the stroke in its coverage of Courtney's death, while Tennant and others have confirmed that Courtney was originally intended to appear. The lost scene involving the Brigadier would appear in PROSE: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * Any close-up on the Trickster reveals Paul Marc Davies's teeth behind the false ones.

Continuity

 * The Travist Polong was previously seen in TV: The Mark of the Berserker.
 * Luke says he saw the Doctor save the world and the Doctor replied that Luke helped him. (TV: The Stolen Earth/ Journey's End)
 * The Trickster mentions a time that the Fourth Doctor once held the Key to Time. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
 * Sarah Jane mentions Clyde and Rani being grounded on Earth by the Judoon. (TV: Prisoner of the Judoon)
 * The Trickster mentions that the Gate is waiting for the Doctor, foreshadowing the events of TV: The End of Time
 * When the Doctor and Sarah Jane say goodbye to each other it almost mirrors their original parting in TV: The Hand of Fear. This time Sarah Jane says, "Until we meet again" and the Doctor says, "Don't forget me".
 * To get the youngsters' attention at one point, the Doctor uses a football rattle. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora, COMIC: Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game)
 * The sound heard from the Doctor trying to break through is also used in TV: Spearhead from Space and TV: Logopolis.
 * Ship had recently shown Sarah Jane her future, including the TARDIS appearing in her attic. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)
 * The Doctor says "K9" in the same surprised way he did before. (TV: School Reunion)
 * The Doctor utters the phrase, "I'll explain later", a which has been used many times by both the Doctor and companions of the Doctor (and parodied in TV: The Curse of Fatal Death). He also says "Allons-y". (TV: Army of Ghosts, et al)
 * The Eighth Doctor previously promised to attend Sarah Jane's wedding in PROSE: Interference - Book Two. However, that book implies that she will marry Paul Morley, and PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet suggests that she will have the surname "Morley" by 1998. This implied marriage is contradicted by The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and TV: School Reunion.
 * The Doctor and Sarah Jane both mention that the latter has fought the Trickster before, and Sarah Jane mentions how the Trickster used her best friend and her parents against her. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)
 * The Doctor mentions that he has fought the Tricksters' "shadows" and "changelings". This is an oblique reference to Donna, and the Doctor indirectly, fighting the time changing beetle, a member of The Trickster's Brigade. (TV: Turn Left ) It also implies that the Doctor has had other encounters with the Trickster's Brigade.
 * Gita remarks that one of the guests is Clarissa, who "used to be her editor". This is interpretable as a reference to Sarah's editor in The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space.
 * Mr Smith does not play his trademark bootup fanfare when called upon by Luke in compliance with his request to activate "quickly and quietly". This indicates Mr Smith plays his fanfare out of preference, which Sarah Jane commented on during the 2009 Dalek invasion of Earth due to using the same one repeatedly. (TV: The Stolen Earth)