Revenge of the Slitheen (TV story)

Revenge of the Slitheen is the title of a story in the Sarah Jane Adventures series. It is the second story of the series, and makes up the first two episodes of the first season.

Synopsis
Sarah Jane Smith, investigative journalist and former companion to The Doctor, is back in a brand-new CBBC drama from the makers of Doctor Who. And in the first two-part story of the series she faces some familiar alien enemies of The Doctor as the Slitheen are back and out for revenge...

Plot
Maria and Luke start their new school but find all is not as it seems. Aided by Sarah Jane 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 Jane investigates the company controlling the science block, and Maria, Luke and Clyde investigate the school. Sarah Jane 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, his headmaster Blakeman, whilst Maria and Clyde are chased first by their Slitheen Science teacher, Mr. Jeffrey and then the school genius, Carl, unzips in front of them to reveal a child Slitheen.

They all manage to escape and head back to Sarah Jane's house. 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 the Slitheen commander Blakeman, 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 Jeffry and Carl are trapped. They beg for Sarah's help, and she tries to open the door, but Jeffry is killed when the technology explodes. However, at the same time, Carl escapes. Sarah Jane 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.

Cast

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

Production crew
To be added

Story notes

 * This is the first half-hour episode produced of any Doctor Who-related program since the final episode of Survival in 1989.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 1.4m viewers
 * Episode 2 - 0.4m viewers (CBBC channel), 1.1m (BBC 1)

Myths
To be added

Location filming
To be added

Continuity

 * The Slitheen family previously appeared in Aliens of London, World War Three, The Monsters Inside and Boom Town.
 * This is the first ever time that a Raxacoricofallapatorian child is seen.
 * The Slitheen in this episode are basically doing the same plan as they did in World War Three, by blowing up the planet for fuel.

Discontinuity

 * No explanation is given for the absence of Kelsey Harper.
 * How does Mr Smith know of Abaddon, The Beast or the Macra?
 * It is possible that he knew of Abaddon because of the events of End of Days, The Beast because it had spread its influence all over time and space, but Sarah Jane never met the Macra, and the Macra lived in the future from the 21st century (but the Macra could be known to the Xylok).

DVD, video, and audio releases
This has been released on a vanilla DVD along with Eye of the Gorgon.

Novelisation

 * See Revenge of the Slitheen (novelisation)

A novelisation was released on 1 November 2007. The cover features Sarah Jane, Maria, Luke, Clyde and the Slitheen. This was the first novelisation based upon a Doctor Who-related production since Scream of the Shalka was published in 2004, the first novelisation based upon a televised Doctor Who-related production since Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film in 1996, and the first novelisation of a "regular" television episode in the Doctor Who franchise since The Evil of the Daleks published in 1993.