The Vault of Secrets (TV story)

The Vault of Secrets was the second serial of series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was written by Phil Ford and directed by Joss Agnew. It featured Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Daniel Anthony as Clyde Langer, Anjli Mohindra as Rani Chandra and Alexander Armstrong as Mr Smith.

It saw the return of Androvax, and the Alliance of Shades made their live-action debut after being introduced in Dreamland.

Synopsis
When an old enemy, Androvax the Veil, returns to Earth asking for help, the gang face a dilemma — should they trust him? Or does the legendary Vault hold an even greater terror? A second threat arises, when android guardians threaten to destroy anyone who uncovers their secrets. As the battle between Sarah, Androvax and the androids reaches its climax, Rani has to save her mother from being caught in the crossfire. The Vault opens and the destiny of the entire Veil species is at stake. Is it too late to save them?

Part 1
A teenage girl enters an old asylum and approaches the Vault of Secrets. She tries to access it, but only has one disc and needs two. She is confronted by the Alliance of Shades. She runs, hurts herself and falls over. Androvax, the "destroyer of worlds", exits her body and escapes. The Alliance of Shades (a.k.a. Men in Black) arrive and scan the unconscious girl. They announce the Veil is no longer in her.

Sarah, Clyde and Rani are in the attic, speaking to Luke on webcam. Mr Smith interferes with a NASA space probe on Mars, as Sarah wishes to prevent the probe discovering an "ancient and deadly civilisation".

Gita and her husband Haresh have joined B.U.R.P.S.S. (British UFO Research and Paranormal Studies Society) after their encounter with the Judoon and Androvax. When the couple return home on Bannerman Road, Gita spots Androvax entering Sarah's front garden.

Gita gives Haresh a tyre iron and he goes to investigate. He encounters Sarah, Rani and Clyde. After speaking with them, he leaves. Unseen, Androvax enters Rani's body. Sarah scans for alien activity and realises Rani has been taken over. Sarah and Clyde chase her/him to the attic and order Mr Smith to contain him after he willingly exits Rani's body. Surprisingly, he asks for Sarah's help.

They learn Androvax is dying. Since they last encountered him, he has escaped a Judoon prison in a swamp. In doing so, he was poisoned by an alien swamp viper. He is dying slowly and intends to free a hundred of his people from cryogenic sleep in the Vault of Secrets. They are the last survivors of the Veil species aside from Androvax himself. Forty years ago, their ship crashed on Earth and was sent to the Vault by the Alliance of Shades.

Ocean Waters (B.U.R.P.S.S.'s founder) arrives with Minty at Bannerman Road to scan for alien activity by picking up beta particles. Sarah uses her sonic lipstick to deactivate this device.

The three of them go to investigate a mental asylum, where they find the base of the Men in Black. They discover Ocean Waters was abducted in 1972 and met the Men in Black. The Men in Black arrive to confront them. They activate their robotic hands. They tell Sarah that she must hand over Androvax and their disc or be incinerated.

The gang arrive home, where they agree to let Androvax use Clyde's body. They speak to Ocean and Minty. Ocean has the other disc needed to enter the Vault. She recalls past encounters with the Men in Black and Mister Dread. As Androvax grabs the two discs, the Men in Black arrive and tell them to prepare to be incinerated.

Part 2
The incineration is averted. Androvax escapes and enters Gita's body. Gita leaves to the Vault. She is followed by Mister Dread, Sarah, Rani and Clyde. Sarah Jane makes Mister Dread's car malfunction, so he acquires a new one (which he takes from a civillian by force).

They all arrive at the asylum, where Rani and Clyde rescue Gita. Androvax leaves and encounters Sarah. She refuses to help him because when the Veil are reawakened and leave Earth, the spaceships will make Earth explode, ending human civilisation. Androvax takes over her body.

Clyde jumps away from an incineration blast from two Men in Black causing the two men destroy each other. Rani explains to her mother about aliens and how she, Sarah and Clyde have met them. Mister Dread is placed into his capsule and made to sleep. Androvax goes to the Vault in Sarah's body. When Rani, Clyde and Gita run in at the point Androvax wants to open the vault, Androvax pretends to be Sarah. The creature lies to the gang, telling them that Androvax is dead and that they don't need to be worried about them and then opens the Vault, revealing many spaceships. Androvax leaves Sarah's body, and locks himself inside the Vault, which is hyper-dimensional making it bigger on the inside. The team awaken Mister Dread, who gives up four hundred fifty years of his energy powering the transmat device to move Androvax's spaceship into space allowing Androvax and his race to leave without destroying Earth.

Mister Dread is low on power and declares his mission terminated. He erases Gita's memory, lest she tell the world about their experiences. He goes to sleep in his capsule.

The team returns home. Ocean and Minty arrive to ask about the Men in Black. Sarah denies everything and Gita says she doesn't believe in aliens. Minty and Ocean say that the aliens have won again and leave.

Androvax is in outer space. He flies away to find a new world for his species. As the Veil ship departs, his voice can be heard narrating, "Somewhere, there is a new planet for the Veil. A new hope, it is the legacy of Androvax, a new beginning... a second genesis."

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
 * Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra
 * Gita Chandra - Mina Anwar
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Haresh Chandra - Ace Bhatti
 * Androvax - Mark Goldthorp
 * Mister Dread - Angus Wright
 * Ocean Waters - Cheryl Campbell
 * Melvin Minton - David Webber
 * Gill - Sophie Benjamin
 * Van Driver - Perry Blanks

Individuals

 * Patrick Garfield's, Laura Selby's, Kathryn Warner's and Riley's memories were ereased by the Men in Black.
 * Bowie is the dog of Ocean Waters.

Locations

 * Maidenhead is a town in Berkshire.
 * Androvax meets a Bouken pirate in the Judoon prison.

Cultural references from the real world

 * Rani refers to Will Smith.
 * Dread introduces himself in a manner similar to James Bond.
 * Sarah asks if Mister Dread called the AA, a reference to AA Travel Insurance.
 * Gita mentions George Clooney and Jeremy Paxman. According to Rani she also claims to have seen Elvis Presley once.
 * Clyde refers to Ocean and Minty as "Mulder" and "Scully".

Races and species

 * Luke told Clyde that his university friends live off of baked beans and curry. Clyde says it must be like living with Slitheen.

Objects

 * The Men in Black have a Neuron-X Series 5 processor.
 * Melvin Minton builts an alien detector.
 * Two vault activator discs are needed to open the vault.

Other

 * Sentons are a unit of measurement.
 * The Men in Black have tritanic endoskeletons.
 * Stardrive is a method of transporting spacecraft used by the Veil.

Story notes

 * Androvax is also portrayed in this story by Elisabeth Sladen, Mina Anwar, Anjli Mohindra, Daniel Anthony and Sophie Benjamin. They portray Androvax when he is possessing their characters' bodies.

Ratings

 * Part 1 — 731,000
 * Part 2 — 606,000

Filming locations

 * Upper Boat Studios

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Androvax last appeared in TV: Prisoner of the Judoon, in which Gita saw Judoon and him.
 * Sarah went to the Mars pyramid with the Fourth Doctor in TV: Pyramids of Mars.
 * Mr Smith previously used his containment vortex on Mrs Wormwood in TV: Enemy of the Bane.
 * Consequences of Sarah asking Mr Dread to erase Gita's memory will be felt in AUDIO: Judgement Day.
 * With Mr Smith, Luke will later make a record of his encounter with Androvax and Mister Dread for the Alien Files. (TV: SJAF 6)

DVD releases

 * This story was included in the Complete 4th Series DVD release (UK release: 31 October 2011; North American release: 6 December 2011).

Blu-ray releases

 * This story was included in the Complete 4th Series Blu-ray release (UK release: 31 October 2011; not released in North America).