The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)

The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith was the third serial of series 3 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Joss Agnew, and served as a crossover with Doctor Who, with David Tennant guest starring as the Tenth Doctor. The Trickster also returned for a third time. It would ultimately serve as his last appearance on the series, although there had been plans for him to return had the series not been brought to an end by the passing of Elisabeth Sladen.

Synopsis
After Sarah Jane starts acting suspiciously, Luke, Clyde, Rani and K9 investigate. They discover 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. 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 Doctor's TARDIS. 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 non-evil but mischievous 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, Travast Polong, 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 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. He and Rani go there, but find the place virtually deserted, with newspaper covering the windows, dim, and plastic wrap covering some of the furniture

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 in the ring but 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 does wonder why none of Peter's family are attending the wedding, but Peter explains that 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, 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 in a white gown 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 15:23:23pm, with that one second repeating over and over again. 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 due to the Trickster's time distortion. Using K9's sensors and his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor determines that Sarah Jane is trapped in a similar situation as they, but another second. He and Rani surmises the Trickster has separated the two groups both to prevent them from helping Sarah Jane, and so the Trickster can use them as hostages.

Sarah Jane figures out what has happened and removes her engagement ring, realising it has been influencing her actions and clouding her judgment. Peter protests that the "angel" (the Trickster in the white gown) told him that the ring would only ensure everything worked out at the wedding, and points out that Sarah Jane accepted his proposal of her own free will. Peter explains that the Trickster came to him when he had been injured after falling down the stairs at home, and offered him 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 his 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, which allows him to attack the Trickster within the Void space. Weakened by the artron energy, the Trickster collapses.

The Trickster's power has only been momentarily disrupted by Clyde's attack. The Doctor materialises the TARDIS in Sarah Jane's second. He reminds her there is only one way to end the Trickster's deal and tells Peter he knows that he's a good man and how sorry he is. 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 had died in the accident, and 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 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 and Sarah Jane reaffirm their love for each other before he disappears forever. The two seconds merge and the Doctor, Luke, Clyde, Rani and K9 run in and huddle together with Sarah Jan as time begins moving forward again.

Everyone returns to the hotel at the moment before the Doctor's arrival. Peter has vanished and nobody but Luke, Clyde, Rani, K9 and Sarah Jane remember the Trickster or the Doctor, who has also disappeared. People begin to whisper where Peter has gone and a tearful Sarah Jane announces to the guests that the wedding is off.

Later, as Sarah Jane contemplates in the attic, she activates Mr. Smith and is joined by Luke, Rani and Clyde, who console her on her loss. The kids lament that the Doctor disappeared without saying goodbye, but Sarah Jane notes that sudden vanishing acts is something the Doctor is known for. At that moment, both Mr Smith and K9 detect a temporal flux as 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 goodbyes. 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 someday.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra
 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Voice of K9 - John Leeson
 * The Trickster - Paul Marc Davis
 * 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 also unable to attend the wedding.
 * Clyde states that his mother, Carla Langer, is unable to attend Sarah Jane's wedding because she is attending another wedding.
 * Emma was Sarah Jane's hairdresser.
 * Clarissa was Sarah Jane's editor.
 * Sarah Jane bought Travast Polong from eBay.

Planets

 * Metebelis III is mentioned by Sarah Jane wonders where she found send the Doctor's invitation to her wedding.

Culture

 * Peter thinks the Trickster is an angel, as he is shown to Peter in white robes.

Locations

 * Gita and Haresh went to Brussels for their honeymoon, to the annoyance of Gita.
 * Peter takes Sarah Jane and Luke to the new Italian on High Street.
 * Sarah Jane says she is going to a meeting at the Ealing Town Hall.

The TARDIS

 * Clyde touches the TARDIS and absorbs Artron energy.

Other

 * The Doctor mentions time traps and time traces.

Story notes

 * This story had the working title "Pantheon of Discord."
 * Production of this story occurred after the filming of The End of Time, making this David Tennant's final work as the Doctor until he reprised the role in Day of the Doctor in 2013. 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.
 * The Pantheon of Discord was mentioned in a letter from the Doctor in the Doctor Who Storybook 2010.
 * 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 Travast 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.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 1.59 million viewers, with an AI score of 87. (DWMSE 28)
 * Part 2 - 1.47 million viewers, with an AI score of 89. (DWMSE 28)

Rumours

 * There were rumours of the Brigadier attending Sarah'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. Gareth Roberts acknowledges Courtney in the dedication of his novelization of the episode as having been unable to appear. Tennant re-confirmed that this was going to be the case in a HBO Max interview.

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * Any close-up on the Trickster reveals Paul Marc Davies's teeth behind the false ones.
 * When the unstable TARDIS appears in full, the camera shots of the Doctor and the TARDIS shots are edited to make the TARDIS shaky and blurry. However, when panned out, while the left door is blurry and shaky, the right door is completely still.

Continuity

 * 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)
 * Travast Polong was previously chased through a hospital by Sarah Jane. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)
 * Luke brings up how Clyde's father had disappointed Clyde. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)
 * Gita remarks that one of the guests at Sarah Jane's wedding is Clarissa, who "used to be her editor". (AUDIO: The Paradise of Death, The Ghosts of N-Space)
 * The Eighth Doctor previously promised to attend Sarah Jane's wedding. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two) However, one account implied Sarah Jane would have the surname "Morley" by 1998, implying that she married Paul Morley. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)
 * Luke says he saw the Doctor save the world and the Doctor replies that Luke helped him. (TV: The Stolen Earth, Journey's End)
 * To get the Bannerman Road gang's attention, the Doctor uses a football rattle. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora)
 * The Doctor and Sarah Jane both mention that the latter has fought the Trickster before, and Sarah 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". (TV: Turn Left)
 * The Trickster calls the Doctor "the man of ice and fire", (TV: The Family of Blood) and remarks that he once held the Key to Time in his hands. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
 * The Trickster appears to hit a nerve with the Doctor by branding him "the man who has lost everybody". (TV: Journey's End)
 * The Trickster mentions that "the Gate" is waiting for the Doctor. (TV: The End of Time)
 * Eve's Ship had recently shown Sarah Jane that the TARDIS would appear in her attic. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)
 * Sarah Jane reminds Clyde and Rani that they were grounded on Earth by the Judoon when they show an interest in travelling in the TARDIS. (TV: Prisoner of the Judoon)
 * With Mr Smith, Sarah Jane will later make a record of her encounters with the Trickster for the Alien Files. (TV: SJAF 1)

DVD releases

 * It was released in the Complete Collection Series 1-5 boxset release (Region 2 release: 6th February 2012).

Blu-ray releases

 * Both parts of this story were released on Blu-ray as part of the US-exclusive box set The Complete David Tennant Collection on 17 September 2019.
 * In September 2019, the story was released in the UK on The Complete Specials steelbook.