The Eternity Trap (TV story)

The Eternity Trap was the fourth story in The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 3. This saw the return of Professor Rivers

Synopsis
A haunted house, with mysterious whispers and secrets in the shadows attracts Sarah Jane's attention. When Professor Rivers and the gang investigate an old legend, a monstrous creature appears in the night as the terrifying grasp of Erasmus Darkening reaches out from centuries past. Sarah Jane and the gang discover the secrets of Erasmus Darkening, but are they too late? As ghosts from the past rise up, and the quest to find the missing children reaches a climax, it seems that nothing can stop the ancient alchemist's rise to victory.

Part 1
Professor Rivers tells the story of a haunted Manor. She says that a man named Lord Marchwood and how he employed Erasmus Darkening. Lord Marchwood thought that Erasmus could make gold out of nothing. His two children Elizabeth and Joseph spy on Erasmus he spots them and vanishes them for Eternity. Rivers is telling the story to Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani and her assistant Toby. Luke is at home as their stand by in case anything goes wrong. Sarah Jane splits up from the group and finds a book on the history of the manor. She turns round from the book case where she is ready from and unknown to her the books begin moving. Clyde and Rani also do this they go outside and find a shed. There is a fountain outside all of a sudden the fountain goes of and some wet foot prints appear to the shed. They hear a young girl cry. It stops as Clyde pulls a sheet of a Mirror. All of a sudden a face appeares on the mirror of a man. They ran back into the manor and find Sarah Jane. Meanwhile in the control room the camera in the playroom cuts out. Rivers goes to investigate. All of a sudden the baby moniter starts to play. Then seconds later rivers vanishes. They all go to investigate and they find that all the toys come alive. The mirror in the room a message appears saying "Get Out". Clyde and Rani begin exploring and find a secret passage way they go down and find Erasmus' lab. Meanwhile Sarah Jane goes out and finds a balcony a creature in the bushes with red eyes appears it advances towards sarah jane. But Lord Marchwood's ghost manifests and he fights it of. Clyde and Rani find a computer, then when they turn around they see Erasmus Darkening.

Cast

 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Rani Chandra - Anjli Mohindra
 * Professor Rivers- Floella Benjamin
 * Erasmus Darkening - Donald Sumpter
 * Toby Silverman - Adam Gillen
 * Lord Marchwood - Callum Blue
 * Joseph Marchwood - Rhys Gear
 * Elizabeth Marchwood - Amelia Clarkson
 * Mr Scriven - Tony Boncza

Crew
to be added

Story Notes

 * This is the only Sarah Jane Adventures Story so far to not have featured Tommy Knight as Luke Smith. This was due to Tommy being busy taking his GCSE exams.
 * Neither Mr Smith nor K-9 appear in this episode. Mr Smith is mentioned.

Ratings
to be added

Myths

 * The faceless being that Toby saw as a child was The Trickster
 * Some people believed that Erasmus Darkening may have been a Time Lord. Sarah Jane commented on Darkening`s manipulator having TARDIS-like qualities. Clyde made reference to some aliens looking human and used the Doctor as an example. He seemed obsessed with living forever as if he were a Time Lord on his last regeneration. His clothing was suggestive of Time Lord clothing. The counter argument is that the Doctor has indicated that he "would know" if there were other Time Lords still in the Universe. Erasmus was, however, trapped between dimensions, which it is hypothesised may have "hidden" him.

Filming Locations

 * The Haunted House in the episode was previously used in Series Four of Doctor Who in Forest of the Dead.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * In Part One, when the Professor is taken, her scream can be heard, but the cameras she is using have no audio, as she earlier uses her radio to talk. (The fact that the she used her radio doesn't mean the camera had no audio. If she was still holding her radio button down when she screamed, the sound would have been transmitted back that way.)
 * Rani mentions that Haresh has been teaching Luke to play chess. However, in the previous story, there was a chess set in Luke's bedroom. (Luke could have been starting learning how to play chess at this point, and bought or was given this to practice.)

Continuity

 * Clyde references the events of SJA: Eye of the Gorgon
 * Clyde mentions the Doctor, he previously met he Doctor in SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
 * Professor Rivers previously appeared in SJA: The Lost Boy and SJA: Day of the Clown.

Timeline
The Eternity Trap occurs after: SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith The Eternity Trap occurs before: SJA: Mona Lisa's Revenge