Revenge of the Slitheen (TV story)

Revenge of the Slitheen was the first 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 is comprised of the first two regular episodes of the series. The episode is notable for the introduction of the character Clyde, as well as the reintroduction of the Slitheen, who had previously appeared in the Doctor Who stories Aliens of London/World War Three and Boom Town and would be prominently featured in future SJA serials.

Synopsis
First days at school are always difficult. For Maria Jackson and Luke Smith, the task of blending in is made all the more difficult when their teachers turn out to be aliens from outer space, back for revenge!

Part one
Maria and Luke start their new school but find all is not as it seems. Aided by Sarah and their new friend Clyde, they find the Slitheen, old enemies of the Doctor, this time disguised as teachers, have taken control of the technology block and are trying to switch off the sun. Luke unknowingly gives the Slitheen the code to start the machine and they start to absorb the power of the sun. Sarah investigates the company controlling the science block, and Maria, Luke and Clyde investigate the school. Sarah is attacked by a female Slitheen, who disguised herself as a company secretary, Janine. Luke finds a secret room and is confronted by the Slitheen commander Glune Fex Fize Sharlaveer-Slam Slitheen, disguised as the headmaster Greg Blakeman. Maria is underneath an IT desk while Luke's science teacher Tim Jeffery unzips in front of her, revealing himself to be a Slitheen Kist Magg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen. The only thing visible to Maria is his big green Slitheen feet. Maria runs away and is chased by Kist. She meets up with Clyde, who spots Kist and runs away with Maria. As Carl, the school genius, saves them from Kist, Carl unzips to reveal a child Slitheen.

Part two
They escape and head back to 13 Bannerman Road. Clyde figures out that the Slitheen are allergic to vinegar, and the team head off back to the school with squirty bottles of vinegar. After Maria uses the vinegar to blow up Glune, they head over to the secret room in the block and Luke tricks the Slitheen by telling them the machine won't take the power of the sun. He turns the machine off and uses the sonic lipstick to cause the machine to malfunction. As the room explodes, the continental Slitheen, still disguised, escape whilst Janine is electrocuted and explodes and Kist and Carl are trapped. They beg for Sarah's help, and she tries to open the door, but Kist is killed when the technology explodes. However, at the same time, Carl escapes. Sarah is highly affected by this, as she thinks Carl is dead. Afterwards, she tells Clyde about her travels with the Doctor, and then accepts him into the team, before sharing a long hug with Luke. She now knows that she's not alone in the world any more.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Maria Jackson - Yasmin Paige
 * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Alan Jackson - Joseph Millson
 * Chrissie Jackson - Juliet Cowan
 * Greg Blakeman - Martyn Ellis
 * Tim Jeffery - Ian Midlane
 * Wendy - Pamela Merrick
 * Janine - Imogen Bain
 * Carl - Anton Thompson McCormick
 * Trinity Wells - Lachele Carl
 * Carl Slitheen - Jimmy Vee
 * Jeffery/Blakeman/Janine Slitheen - Paul Kasey

Individuals

 * Sarah is heard saying, "Give my love to the Brig" in a telephone conversation with a UNIT contact.
 * Clyde mentions High School Musical.
 * Clyde's deoderant is called Wolverine.
 * Glune Fex Fize Sharlaveer-Slam Slitheen mentions Jamie Oliver.
 * Kist Magg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen and Luke talk about Faraday.

Locations

 * Sarah investigates St Cheldon's Comprehensive School in Upminster. Coldfire Construction has also set up schools in Epping, Amersham, Richmond, Hammersmith, Hounslow, Camden, Waltham Forest, Newham, Lewisham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Merton, Hamlets, Kensington, Lambeth, Westminster, Southwark and Morden.
 * Coldfire has set up sites in ten major cities, all with underground railways, across the world. In addition to London, Coldfire operates in Barcelona, Washington DC, Santiago, Los Angeles, Sydney, Beijing, Moscow, Naples, and Paris.
 * The reactor in Peking is causing a massive los of power in Peking which is spreading towards Kunming, Shanghai, Pyongyang and Tokyo. The power loss in Los Angeles is spreading north towards San Francisco.

Organisations

 * Sarah calls UNIT to handle the other Coldfire and Slitheen sites, sending her "love to the Brig." Maria is familiar with them.
 * The Grand Council is mentioned by the Slitheen.
 * The Ealing Echo is an Ealing newspaper.

Objects

 * The Slitheen use a transporter pendant to teleport away.
 * Sarah repairs a dynacron star drive.

Planets

 * One of the Slitheen says, "For the love of Clom", which is the home planet of the Abzorbaloff and the twin planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius.

Species

 * Mr Smith has a picture of Abaddon in his data base.
 * Chrissie mentions Zombies.
 * The Slitheen mention that they purchased some plans from a Wallarian.
 * The Judoon investigate Slitheen activities on Earth.
 * The Slitheen mention the Hostrozeen family.
 * According to the Slitheen the Baaraddelskelliumfatrexius beasts are extinct.

Story notes

 * The first episode aired on BBC 1 only. Part two was broadcast afterwards on the CBBC channel, and was shown on BBC 1 a week later.
 * Beginning with part one, The Sarah Jane Adventures adopted a format of twenty-five-minute episodes (following its sixty-minute pilot episode). This marked the first time a Doctor Who franchise series used the twenty-five-minute episode format since episode 3 of Survival concluded the original series in 1989.
 * Part one includes flashback footage from TV: Invasion of the Bane.
 * The character of Maria's friend Kelsey Hooper, played by Porsha Lawrence-Mavour in Invasion of the Bane, was dropped for the series as it was felt there were too many female characters in the show, so Clyde was created instead.
 * The American newsreader Trinity Wells (aka Mal Loup), who appears in numerous Doctor Who episodes, makes her first SJA appearance.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 1.4m viewers
 * Part 2 - 1.1m viewers

Filming locations

 * Clinton Road Penarth (Bannerman Road)
 * Whitchurch High School Cardiff, Robinswood Crescent, Penarth
 * Cardiff High School, Cardiff
 * Mamhilad Park Industrial Estate, Pontypool, Wales
 * Coleg Morgannwg, Parc Nantgarw, Caerphilly
 * Unit A5, Pontypridd
 * Coldfire Construction, Ffordd-Y-Gollen, Tonteg, Mid Glamorgan

Production errors

 * When the unmasked Jeffrey is chasing Maria and Clyde and he says the line, "Children, come to me", the shot of Jeffrey is Birdseye, revealing the actor's head rather than the Slitheen's.
 * When Mr. Smith is showing them the American news channel, down the info bar at the bottom it reads, "the pacific ocean" instead of the "The Pacific Ocean".
 * When Clyde is squirting vinegar at Glune, he realises that he has no more vinegar in his squeezie. However, in the previous shot, a good quarter of the mixture is still visible.
 * Mr. Smith brings up a world map before Sarah asks him to.
 * The audio tracks containing lines of dialogue dubbed by the voice actors of the Slitheen are sometimes out of sync with the lip movements performed by the actors in the suits.

Continuity

 * This is the second time Sarah has investigated schools with alien teachers. Sarah refers to this fact, sarcastically saying it would be ridiculous for there to be something unusual in a school. In both cases, the leader of the alien group takes on the role of the school's headmaster. (TV: School Reunion)
 * The Slitheen again show a tendency towards flatulence while wearing a human's skin. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, Boom Town)
 * The Blathereen are mentioned; they are a rival family which appeared in PROSE: The Monster Inside.
 * The Slitheen also state that they are attempting to wipe out Earth in revenge for the loss of family members that were previously defeated by the Ninth Doctor. (TV: World War Three)
 * Sarah recalls the phrase "Slitheen in Downing Street", which is a direct quote from Rose Tyler; Sarah mentions that it was "something a friend said". (TV: School Reunion). As a result, when the Slitheen mention the disappearance of their family members, Sarah states she believes she knows who was responsible.
 * Sarah describes the Doctor to Clyde and explains how she used to travel with him. (TV: The Time Warrior, et al)
 * Kist Magg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen said that Glune Fex Fize Sharlaveer-Slam Slitheen had bought the plans for the machine of a Wallarian. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)
 * Sarah will be complimented on a "nice job with the Slitheen" by Jack Harkness, who has followed her work. (TV: The Stolen Earth)

Home video releases

 * This was due to be released on a vanilla DVD along with Eye of the Gorgon on 17 March 2008, but that release was cancelled. It is featured in the series one box set, which was released in North America on 7 October 2008 and released in the UK on 10 November 2008.