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, escapes whilst Janine is electrocuted and explodes and Jeffrey and Carl are trapped. They beg for Sarah's help, and she tries to open the door, but Jeffrey 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. She now knows that she's not alone in the world any more.

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

 * Writer - Gareth Roberts
 * Director - Alice Troughton
 * 1st Assistant Director - Gareth Williams
 * 2nd Assistant Director - Anna Evans
 * 3rd Assistant Director - Sarah Davies
 * Executive Producers - Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner
 * Producer - Matthew Bouch

Story notes

 * The first episode aired on BBC 1 only. Episode 2 was broadcast afterwards on the CBBC channel, and was shown on BBC 1 a week later.
 * Beginning with episode 1, The Sarah Jane Adventures adopts a format of 25-minute episodes (following its 50-minute pilot episode). This marks the first time a Doctor Who franchise series has used the 25-minute episode format since episode 3 of Survival concluded the original series in 1989.
 * This episode marks a grim first in the history of the Doctor Who franchise; after re-establishing the fact that the Slitheen take over human bodies by first killing the occupant, we see a young boy who is revealed to be a child Slitheen. This marks the first time in the history of the (televised) franchise that the death of a child has been directly indicated in connection to an adventure (discounting episodes that feature known historical events, such as the burning of Rome or the eruption of Vesuvius or World Wars).(Is this true? Surely DW:School Reunion begins with the murder of a schoolchild.)
 * Part 1 includes flashback footage from Invasion of the Bane.

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

Discontinuity

 * No explanation is given for the absence of Kelsey Harper. Since the previous episode established that Kelsey did not believe the events of Invasion of the Bane to have actually happened, presumably she didn't continue her friendship with Maria or, at least, was no longer brought into any adventures with Sarah Jane.
 * 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 TW: 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 and the Doctor could have told Sarah about the events of The Macra Terror, or the Macra may have been involved in an as-yet unchronicled adventure closer to our time.

Continuity

 * The Slitheen family previously appeared in DW: Aliens of London, World War Three, NSA: The Monsters Inside and DW: Boom Town.
 * This is the second time Sarah Jane has investigated schools with alien teachers (the first being DW: School Reunion). In both cases the leader of the alien group is depicted as impersonating the school's headmaster.
 * The Slitheen's tendancy to flatulate while wearing a person's skin is featured more prominently here than in the previous Doctor Who appearances.
 * The Blathereen are mentioned, and they are a rival family which appeared in NSA: The Monsters Inside.
 * The events of DW: World War Three are mentioned. The Slitheen also state that they are attempting to wipe out Earth in revenge for the loss of family members in that episode.
 * Sarah Jane recalls the phrase "Slitheen in Downing Street", which is a direct quote from Rose Tyler in DW: School Reunion.
 * Sarah Jane refers to School Reunion when talking to Maria's dad.
 * Much as she did in the pilot episode, Sarah Jane describes the Doctor to Clyde and explains how she used to travel with him.
 * The American newsreader Trinity Wells (aka Mal Loup), who appears in numerous Doctor Who episodes, makes her first SJA appearance.
 * UNIT are mentioned as handling the other Coldfire and Slitheen sites, and Maria is familiar with them. The script also uses Maria to refer to the Whoniverse trope of UNIT and other army groups going in guns blazing only to get slaughtered or worsen the situation.

DVD, video, and audio releases
This was due to be released on a vanilla DVD along with Eye of the Gorgon on 17 March 2008, until the release was cancelled. It is featured in the Series One box set, which was released in North America on 7 October 2008; UK release is scheduled for 10 November 2008.

Novelisation

 * See Revenge of the Slitheen (novelisation)

A novelisation was released on 1 November 2007, written by Rupert Laight. The cover features Sarah Jane, Maria, Luke, Clyde and the Slitheen.