The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)

"Oh, you look better in black. Or is white the new black?"

- The Doctor to The Trickster

The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith was the third story in The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 3. This episode includes an appearance by David Tennant as the Doctor, the first time new footage of the Doctor has been included in any of the spin-off series.

Synopsis
After Sarah Jane is acting suspiciously, Luke, Clyde, Rani and K-9 investigate and find that Sarah Jane has a boyfriend - Peter Dalton, and they are going to get married. Clyde suspects Peter may be an alien. At the wedding the Trickster returns and holds the church in a prison. Can the Doctor save Sarah Jane and the entire planet Earth?

Part 1
"What did you think was under there, the wedding cake?"

The episode starts with Sarah Jane sneaking out of her home for "a traffic report meeting". It is the fifth time Sarah Jane Smith has made an odd excuse to the gang for going out, but this time Luke activates Mr Smith and gets him to track Sarah Jane. Luke, Clyde and Rani find Sarah Jane on a date with a posh-looking man; they watch through a restaurant window as Sarah Jane kisses him. As the kids leave the restaurant, Clyde is puzzled by a strange sound (the distorted sound of the TARDIS engines). Sarah Jane is at first upset and shocked when she learns from Mr Smith and K-9 that the gang have been spying on her, and reveals that she was about to tell them. The man's name is Peter Dalton; Sarah Jane forgives them and jokes with Luke about how she might have to reveal to Peter her investigations with aliens. When Sarah Jane has left, Luke also hears the sound of 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, and asks Rani to take a parcel that's been delivered to her when it starts moving. In the Chandras' house, a multi-eyed creature bursts out of the parcel and runs rampant for a short time; it attracts K-9, who runs out of the house in front of Peter, but Luke manages to pass off K-9 as a prototype toy. With K-9's help, Rani and Clyde are able to 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, and Luke and Peter quickly bond with one another.

Two days later, Peter proposes to Sarah Jane in a restaurant - she accepts, and the surrounding crowds applaud. However, the mysterious engagement ring begins to glow. At the same time, Clyde starts to investigate Peter and tracks down his house over the Internet. He and Rani go there, but find the place virtually deserted, with paper covering the windows.

In the attic, Clyde tries to convince Sarah Jane that Peter may be more than he seems: Sarah Jane claims that she knows about the empty house, and Peter now lives in a flat closer to work. Rani and Luke are convinced, but Clyde is still very suspicious, and is shocked that Sarah Jane is getting married to Peter in two weeks. Sarah Jane appears to be in a trance, controlled by her glowing engagement ring. Mr Smith attempts to alert Sarah Jane to alien activity, but she deactivates him, saying that 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 attempts to insult Peter subtly, saying that the wedding has been arranged too fast; Luke becomes angry and suggests Clyde is projecting his attitude towards his own father onto Peter. Sarah Jane then arrives in a limousine, accompanied by Rani as bridesmaid, and the boys react with surprise and appreciation at her dress. Clyde also reveals that K-9 is at the wedding, further enraging Luke. When the Registrar asks whether anyone has to object to speak now, the Doctor bursts through the doors shouting "STOP THIS WEDDING NOW!" and K-9 emerges from hiding having detected alien activity. A white-cloaked Trickster then materialises and disappears with Sarah Jane and Peter...

Part 2
"Without Sarah, without you lot, saving the world from your attic in Ealing, there will be chaos and destruction. Meat and drink to the Trickster"

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

As Sarah Jane realises what has happened, she removes her engagement ring, recognizing that 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, and points out that Sarah Jane accepted his proposal on her own. Peter explains that the Trickster came to him when he had an accident at home, offering 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 attempting to find a way out of the hotel, the Doctor confronts the Trickster, revealing that he is the personification of the Pantheonof Discord, a group of aliens from a different universe thriving on chaos and trying to break through into this universe. The Trickster reciprocates with his own knowledge of the Doctor and 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.

As the TARDIS appears, attempting to 'lock on' to its pilot, the Doctor explains that 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, with the TARDIS and the Doctor being cut off from the hotel. However, Clyde's attempt to enter the TARDIS results in him becoming temporarily charged with artron energy, allowing him to attack the Trickster within the Void space. The Trickster's power momentarily disrupted by Clyde's attack, the Doctor is able to materialise the TARDIS in Sarah's second, reminding her that 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 informs 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 genuinely died in the accident, and is currently only living a half-life that will only become real once he marries Sarah Jane. Although the Trickster claims that Peter is too weak to make that decision, Peter states that his love for Sarah Jane has strengthened him. He ends the deal, throwing his ring into the Trickster, who bursts into flames.

Everyone returns to the hotel at the moment before the Doctor's arrival, with Peter having vanished and nobody else but the heroes remembering anything about the presence of the Trickster or the Doctor. People begin to whisper and a tearful Sarah Jane informs the guests that the wedding is off.

As Sarah Jane later cries in the attic, she is joined by Luke, Rani and Clyde, who console her on her loss before the TARDIS materialises in the attic. After the Doctor allows the three children to look around the TARDIS, he departs once more, assuring 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

Production Crew
to be added

Story Notes

 * This was the first episode of any Doctor Who spin off to feature the Doctor himself 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 and as the Third and Fourth Doctors in the previous episode.
 * This marks the third appearance for the Trickster, the first two being in SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? and SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith. The Trickster was also involved in (but did not appear in) the events of DW: Turn Left.
 * Production of this story occurred after the filming of DW: The End of Time, making this David Tennant's final (for now) work as the Doctor. In a recent interview, Tennant stated that his final words 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 DW: The Stolen Earth and DW: 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 refined on the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS prop so it would stand up better on HD. The St John's ambulance badge was not present.

Ratings
to be added

Myths

 * There were rumours of the Brigadier attending Sarah Jane's wedding. He did not. This was indeed planned. Nicholas Courtney sadly suffered a stroke around the time and was unable to film. He was upset not to have met David Tennant for the planned Doctor/ Brig reunion. Luckily Courtney has made a recovery.

Filming Locations
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Why does Sarah Jane say "Why is Mr. Smith still out?" when when she left Mr. Smith was not 'out'? (Seeing Luke, Clyde and Rani not using Mr. Smith probably made her think they would put him away.)


 * Why do Luke and K9 say "Have a good evening" when it is clear daylight and obviously in the middle of the afternoon? (The actual time is unclear. During the summer period in the United Kingdom, it can still be bright sunlight up till 9pm at night.)


 * Why was the part of a horse race on the television inside the chapel whilst everyone was trapped inside the second the same moment of the race in the second that Sarah Jane was trapped in when it was a different second? (It could be a replay or a different part that looks the same, also the footage looks like it's about a second ahead of the Doctor's second.They were meant to be 2 seconds next to each other.)


 * Mr. Smith was permanently deactivated near the end of part 1, so why is he fully working at the end of part 2? (Sarah Jane just reactivated him.)


 * The TARDIS locked in on the Doctor's time and position while he was trapped away from the TARDIS itself. The Doctor described it as a program to protect the pilot, however the TARDIS did not perform a similar function in several Doctor Who episodes, including DW: The Impossible Planet, 42, Blink and Voyage of the Damned. (This is a very different circumstance than the others, in that the Doctor has been trapped in a time loop from which the TARDIS is trying to rescue him)


 * How does the Doctor know who Rani and Clyde are? (The Doctor indicates that he has been looking at Sarah's future.)


 * How did the Doctor know about the wedding in the first place? (The Doctor knows of Sarah Jane's future and may have found out about her wedding, or he may not have known until he got there, The TARDIS, is, after all, programmed to tell the Doctor when there is alien presence and it landed, then the Doctor was alerted to her presence there, or the Doctor may have been coming to Earth for a different event and landed in the wrong time, as is regularly the case, or one of the Trickster's agents in another time and place may have let slip something about the wedding).


 * Sarah Jane tells the kids that they were grounded on Earth, even though they only wanted to see the dinosaurs which were on Earth. (Sarah didn't want them to go because their parents wouldn't forgive her. The kids' chatter also indicated they were interested in seeing more things than just the dinosaurs.)


 * Surely, if Sarah Jane was getting married she would have invited Natalie Redfern, Josh Townsend and the other members of U.N.I.T, the Brigadier is excluded as he has work issues and Maria and Alan could not make it, but surely Sarah would have invited the others. It's uncertain if the production team views the Big Finish Audio productions as canon. Regardless, who someone stays close to can change in life. Not everyone you meet is invited to your wedding (particularly a hastily-put-together one).

Continuity

 * The Travist Polong was previously seen in SJA: The Mark of the Berserker.
 * Sarah Jane mentions Metebelis III in regards to the Doctor. This was a planet that Sarah Jane and the Third Doctor visited, and where they fought against the Eight Legs, resulting in the Doctor's regeneration. (DW: Planet of the Spiders)
 * The Trickster mentions that the Doctor once held the Key to Time. (DW: The Armageddon Factor)
 * Sarah Jane mentions Clyde being grounded on Earth by Judoon. (SJA: Prisoner of the Judoon)
 * The Trickster mentions that the Gate is waiting for the Doctor, foreshadowing the events of DW: The End of Time

Novelisation

 * Main article: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (novelisation).

A novelisation is scheduled for release by Penguin Character Books on 5th November 2009. It is the first story to be novelised since SJA: The Day of the Clown.

For the Doctor

 * The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith occurs after DW: Planet of the Dead (TV story)
 * The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith occurs before DW: The Waters of Mars