The Lost Boy (TV story)

The Lost Boy was the title of a story in The Sarah Jane Adventures series. It is the sixth story of the series, and forms the last two episodes of season 1.

Synopsis
A missing child turns out to be, both visually and genetically, Luke. Sarah Jane is forced to hand him over to the 'parents', only to find that they are not what they seem.

Part 1
Following on from Alan Jackson's discovery of what Sarah Jane and Maria Jackson do together in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, he threatens to move house again, only to have a change of heart when he sees how upset Maria is. His condition for not moving away, however, is that he is kept up to date with their battles against aliens. However, a news report on a family searching for their son, Ashley, who has been missing for five months, brings a shock; for Ashley looks exactly like Luke. Mr Smith compares their DNA, and confirms that Luke and Ashley are genetic matches; apparently Luke was not 'grown' by the Bane, but was a kidnapped boy. His lack of a navel is explained as the result of its removal by the Bane, who are eggborn and find navels offensive. Chrissie Jackson calls the police and reports Sarah Jane as a child abductor; Sarah Jane is arrested and the police relieve Luke into the custody of Ashley's parents, Jay and Heidi, and Sarah Jane is detained by the police, only for UNIT to intervene and have her released. Depressed, Sarah Jane decides she was wrong to involve children and tells Maria to stay away from her. Mr. Smith suggests she take on a case in order to take her mind off things, and she visits the Pharos Institute a research centre where alien technology is being used to conduct experiments into telekinesis. Here she meets the annoying child prodigy Nathan Goss. That night, Luke's new parents watch television and switch over to a channel that glows green; they announce to the Xylok that they have the boy in their possession.

Luke's new parents are extremely abusive towards him, keeping him locked up in his room at all times. Clyde Langer cuts school to visit Luke, but Heidi does not allow him. Heidi claims that her son is a keen skateboarder, which worries Clyde as he knows Luke has a poor sense of balance and is a dreadful skateboarder; he decides to bring a photo of Jay and Heidi to Mr Smith. Luke becomes frantic upon seeing Clyde leave the house, and desperately begins making attempts to escape. Mr. Smith, meanwhile, sends Sarah Jane back to the lab to steal one of the headsets there, which he needs to analyse to work out Nathan's plans. Clyde gets to the house only seconds after Sarah Jane has left, but takes the photo to Mr Smith anyway, only for Mr Smith to confess that he faked the photo. It turns out that Mr. Smith is the Xylok, and he fires a bolt of energy at Clyde, causing him to vanish.

Back at Luke's new home, his 'parents' are meeting with Nathan, just as he is breaking out of his room, with the result that he fails to escape, but succeeds in discovering that his parents are actually Slitheen using improved compression technology, and Nathan Goss is in fact Korst Gogg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen, a child Slitheen Luke encountered previously, now in a new disguise and looking for revenge.

Part 2
Clyde awakes to find himself inside Mr. Smith as Sarah Jane Smith returns from the Pharos Institute, having successfully stolen a telekinetic headset. Elsewhere, Maria and Mr Jackson go to Ashley's house, where they find a skinsuit and Maria realises the Slitheen have Luke. Mr. Jackson then receives a message on his computer from Clyde, who states Mr. Smith has turned evil. The Jacksons and Sarah Jane confront Mr. Smith and are nearly killed as it fires a bolt of energy from a built-in gun.

The Slitheen take Luke to the Pharos Institute where they test his abilities. Luke overcomes the Slitheen and escapes, as Maria, Mr. Jackson and Sarah Jane arrive. Working together, they discover Mr. Smith's intentions with Luke and Mr. Jackson adapts a computer virus that could destroy Mr. Smith. Using the Slitheen teleporter, Sarah Jane arrives in her attic, where Mr. Smith is using Luke to awaken other Xylok from the Earth's core. He plans to crash the moon into the planet, cracking it open like an egg and freeing the other Xylok. Clyde returns when Mr. Smith states he is merciful, but threatens the duo with its gun. Sarah Jane unlocks a safe and calls on K-9. The robots battle and Sarah Jane inserts the virus, which makes Mr. Smith forget its purpose. As the Moon grows closer to the Earth, Sarah Jane tells Mr. Smith it has a new purpose: to safeguard planet Earth.

The Moon returns to its original position, K-9 goes back to the safe to safeguard the black hole and the Slitheen return to Raxacoricofallapatorius. As Sarah Jane, Maria, Luke, Clyde, Alan and Chrissie watch the ship leave, Sarah Jane reflects how she never thought she could be part of a family...

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
 * Maria Jackson — Yasmin Paige
 * Luke Smith — Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer — Daniel Anthony
 * Voice of Mr Smith/Xylok - Alexander Armstrong
 * Alan Jackson — Joseph Millson
 * Chrissie Jackson — Juliet Cowan
 * Professor Rivers — Floella Benjamin
 * Jay Stafford — Jay Simpson
 * Heidi Stafford — Holly Atkins
 * Nathan Goss — Ryan Watson
 * Chief Inspector - Julian Dutton
 * Jay Slitheen — Paul Kasey
 * Nathan Slitheen — Jimmy Vee
 * Heidi Slitheen — Ruari Mears
 * Newsreader - Jason Mohammad
 * Voice of K-9 — John Leeson

Story Notes

 * Both episodes were aired on the CBBC channel, and were broadcast a week later on BBC 1

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 465,000 (CBBC)
 * 1.3 million (BBC 1)
 * Episode 2- 659,000 (CBBC)
 * 1.2 million (BBC 1)

Myths
To be added

Filming Locations
To be added

Continuity

 * The Slitheen previously appeared in DW: Aliens of London, World War Three, and Boom Town, SJA: Revenge of the Slitheen, NSA: The Monsters Inside, and in Attack of the Graske and the family have had many references in other episodes.
 * When the inspector questions Sarah Jane, a page of her confidential UNIT file is visible on screen. The text is taken from the BBC's UNIT website and includes the in-joke that UNIT's activities span "the sixties, the seventies, and some would say the eighties." This is the first on-screen reference in SJA (and indeed the entire Doctor Who TV franchise) to the UNIT dating controversy and was followed by a similar in-joke spoken by the Doctor in DW: The Sontaran Strategem where he reminisces about working for UNIT in the '70s, "or was it the 80s?"
 * K-9 returns briefly and reference is made to his work on containing the black hole (as indicated in SJA: Invasion of the Bane).
 * The Slitheen are now using an improved version of their skin suit, which allows them to pass for skinnier humans, and no longer causes the gas exchange problem which caused inconvenience in Revenge of the Slitheen et al.
 * The Pharos Institute may have some connection to the Pharos Project, last seen in DW: Logopolis

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The Slitheen are said to be returning to Raxacoricofallapatorius, however it was established in Boom Town that they face execution if they ever set foot there again.Only Sarah Jane says they are going to Raxacoricofallapatorius - she may be unaware of this fact and assumes they are returning to their home world (or has been falsely told that they will).
 * Why would a police inspector have a confidential UNIT file on Sarah Jane -- complete with clear reference (visible on freeze-frame) to how and why UNIT was founded? Possibly UNIT heard about Sarah Jane, or she contacted them, and they sent the file to cover for her. A Chief Inspector (his rank as given in the episode) would be cleared to see confidential documents as part of his job, also it is only a confidential version of the file. The original file may have a higher classification and this version may have sections censored or removed.
 * The child Slitheen's voice is different than that heard in Revenge of the Slitheen. The voices of Slitheens always change when they assume a new disguise.
 * Why does Mr. Smith send the meteor away in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, when his goal is to let his fellow Xylok out of the Earth's crust? The impact of a meteor, while devastating to life on Earth, is nothing compared to the scope of bringing the moon colliding with Earth. He obviously needed a much larger geological impact.
 * Chrissie doesn't seem to be the least bit perturbed to see Luke back with Sarah Jane at the end of the episode. She was the one who phoned the police about Sarah Jane having Luke in the first place, so why would she not say something about her having him back?
 * How did Mr Smith close the door, and if he could then why didn't he do that to stop, Sarah Jane, Maria and Alan when he was shooting at them earlier in the episode.

DVD Release
The Lost Boy, along with Invasion of the Bane, Revenge of the Slitheen, Eye of the Gorgon, Warriors of Kudlak and Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, is available in the Series 1 boxset.

Novelisation

 * Main article: The Lost Boy (novelisation)


 * A novelisation written by Gary Russell, was published on 3 November 2008, marking the first time since the early 1990s that a complete season of a Doctor Who-related series has been completely novelised.