The Lost Boy (TV story)

The Lost Boy was the sixth and final story of series 1 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was comprised of episodes 9 & 10 of the regular series and saw the reappearance of the Slitheen family. Additionally, K9 Mark IV returned briefly in the second episode.

During this adventure, Mr Smith, Sarah Jane's thus far loyal supercomputer, had his alien origin unveiled, along with the unsettling discovery of his true colours. Up to this point he was operating under a friendly pretext, but the facade dropped to reveal a malicious alien underneath the indiscernible guise. Sarah Jane had him subjected to a computer virus to erase the part of his memory that drove him to hostility. After this, his disposition became genuinely benevolent.

Synopsis
A missing child turns out to be, both visually and genetically, Luke. Sarah Jane is forced to hand him over to the "parents". Heartbroken, Sarah Jane rejects Maria and Clyde, and with Maria's dad threatening to sell the house to keep his daughter out of danger, it seems the gang's adventures have come to an end, whilst Luke discovers his new "parents" are not all they seem - An old enemy has returned, and this time, they are in league with a member of Sarah Jane's faithful team in a plot to bring the moon crashing to Earth...

Part 1
Having discovered what Sarah Jane, Maria, Clyde and Luke do together, Alan Jackson 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 on their battles against aliens.

A BBC news report on a family searching for their son, Ashley, missing for five months, brings a shock. Ashley looks exactly like Luke, shocking everyone. 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 whose memory was wiped. 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. As Clyde arrives wanting answers, Sarah Jane is arrested and the police put Luke into the charge of Ashley's parents, Jay and Heidi. Sarah Jane is detained by the police until UNIT intervene and have her released. Depressed, Sarah Jane decides she was wrong to involve children and tells Maria to stay away from her, suggesting that she and her father move away. Mr Smith suggests she take on a case to take her mind off things. 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 to a channel that glows green. They announce to the Xylok that they have the boy in their possession.

Luke's new parents are abusive. They keep him locked up in his room at all times. Clyde Langer cuts school to visit Luke, but Heidi does not let them see each other. She claims that her son is a keen skateboarder, which worries Clyde; 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. He tries desperately to escape. Mr Smith, meanwhile, sends Sarah Jane back to the lab to steal one of their headsets, which he needs to work out Nathan's plans.

Back at Luke's new home, his 'parents' are meeting with Nathan, just as Luke is breaking out of his room. He fails to escape, but finds his parents are actually Slitheen. Luke asks how they are not fat and they explain they are using improved compression technology and Nathan Goss is Korst Gogg Thek Lutiven-Day Slitheen, a child Slitheen Luke met before, now in a new disguise and looking for revenge.

Clyde gets to the house only seconds after Sarah Jane has left. He takes the photo to Mr Smith, asking if the photo can be checked to see if it is a fake. Mr. Smith tells Clyde it is a fake, and he knows... because Mr. Smith faked it. Clyde is confused, as Mr Smith is the Xylok who has been behind everything. Noting that Clyde is not a part of his plan, he fires a bolt of energy at the boy, causing him to digitize and vanish from the real world, laughing fiendishly.

Part 2
Clyde wakes to find himself inside Mr Smith. Sarah Jane Smith returns from the Pharos Institute, having stolen a telekinetic headset. Elsewhere, Maria and Alan go to Ashley's house, where they find a skinsuit. Maria realises the Slitheen have Luke. Alan gets 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, Alan and Sarah Jane arrive. Working together, they discover Mr Smith's intentions. Alan adapts a computer virus to 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 humans with its gun. Sarah Jane unlocks a safe and calls on K9. The robots battle and Sarah Jane inputs 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, K9 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 that 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 - 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 K9 — John Leeson

Story notes

 * This episode ends with Sarah Jane narrating. This closes the first series, just as a narration by her opened the series in Invasion of the Bane. This would carry on throughout the remaining four series.
 * Both episodes were aired on the CBBC channel, and were broadcast a week later on BBC 1.
 * 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. It was followed by a similar in-joke spoken by the Tenth Doctor, as he reminisced about working for UNIT in the '70s, "or was it the 80s?" (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 465,000 (CBBC)
 * Episode 2- 659,000 (CBBC)

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * At one point, it says 21 on Sarah Jane's door.

Continuity

 * The Slitheen previously appeared in: TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, and Boom Town; TV: Revenge of the Slitheen; PROSE: The Monsters Inside and Attack of the Graske. The family have has been referenced in other episodes.
 * When the inspector questions Sarah Jane, a page of her confidential UNIT file is visible on screen.
 * K9 returns briefly and reference is made to his work on containing the black hole. Clyde does not know of him as he was not present when K9 met Maria and Luke. (TV: Invasion of the Bane) K9 calls Clyde "young master".
 * 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 previously caused inconvenience. (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen, et. al.)
 * The Pharos Institute may have some connection to the Pharos Project. (TV: Logopolis)
 * Sarah Jane says she never thought she could be part of a family. She would later tell the Tenth Doctor that he had the biggest family on Earth, herself being a part of it. (TV: Journey's End)
 * Professor Rivers says that all humans have the ability to perform telekinesis. The Doctor would later use telekinesis whilst using the thoughts of the human race psychically linked together. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

Home video releases
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 one box set.