Revenge of the Slitheen (TV story)

Revenge of the Slitheen was the second story of the series, and makes up the first two episodes of the first series.

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 Smith - Tommy Knight
 * Clyde Langer - Daniel Anthony
 * Voice of Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong
 * Alan Jackson - Joseph Millson
 * Chrissie Jackson - Juliet Cowan
 * Greg Blakeman - Martyn Ellis
 * Tim Jeffery - Ian Midlane
 * Wendy - Pamela Merrick
 * Janine - Imogen Bain
 * Carl - Anton Thompson McCormick
 * Trinity Wells - Lachele Carl
 * Carl Slitheen - Jimmy Vee
 * Jeffery/Blakeman/Janine 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.
 * Part 1 includes flashback footage from SJA: Invasion of the Bane.
 * Mr. Smith's zapping of Clyde (followed by dark laughter) is a possible foreshadowing of his true intentions.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 1.4m viewers
 * Episode 2 - 0.4m viewers (CBBC channel), 1.1m (BBC 1)

Myths
To be added

Filming Locations
To be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * No explanation is given for the absence of Kelsey Harper. She might have moved school/house, or just simply stopped keeping in touch with Maria. Kelsey Harper wasen't intended to be series regular. 


 * How does Mr Smith know of Abaddon, The Beast or the Macra? Macra have appeared in Earth's past (during the classic series of Doctor Who), and seeing that Mr. Smith is an amazing super-knowledge 'Xylok, why not? Also, Abaddon and The Beast have existed before appearances in Doctor Who and Torchwood, so there is a chance he/it picked up information from the events.


 * The speed of light is still not enough for the effect of the Sun being drained to be instant, it would take days, if not weeks for the sun to "go out".
 * When Mr. Smith is showing them the american news channel down the info bar at the bottom it says 'thepacific ocean' instead of the 'The Pacific Ocean'.
 * Why does Maria have to pretend there was water in her squeezie when after she exploded the Slitheen she still had loads left.
 * When Clyde is squirting the head Slitheen he realises that he has no more vinegar in his squeezie, however in the previous take a look at the bottle a good quarter of the mixture is still in, it happens to fast for it to be empty that quick.
 * If the Slitheen's device absorbed all nearby energy, shouldn't the various types of energy (electrical, chemical, heat etc) in living organisms be absorbed too?
 * Mr. Smith brings up a world map before Sarah-Jane says it.

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). Sarah Jane refers to this fact, sarcastically saying it would be ridiculous for there to be something unusual in a school. 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 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 and released in the UK on 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.