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  1. #1
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    Default 4.6 Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith

    Is Sarah Jane really past it? Will Julie Graham get the show cancelled?

    All will be revealed in this week's Sarah Jane Adventures...

    Si xx

    I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.

  2. #2
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    I really enjoyed that, I didn't at first expect the twist. I particularly liked the idea of Sarah losing her marbles and panicking, though she was a bit too rash in so easily handing over not just Mr Smith but her whole house to someone she's just met! Even if she was under the influence, as it were. Looking forward to the finale tomorrow - the whole series has flown by!

  3. #3
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    I thought it was a good episode too. I did wonder from the off whether there would be someone behind it or if they'd be daring enough to write her out of her own series... of course they weren't, but for just a second I wondered.

    Anyway, Julie Graham was rather fabulous as Ruby White I thought and I loved it when she was grinning behind Sarah Jane as she got what she wanted.

    I look forward to Part 2.

    Si xx

    I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.

  4. #4
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    Methinks the thread title be incorrect.
    For every fail, there is an equal and opposite win.

    ...Oh, who am I kidding?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by shada pavlova View Post
    Methinks the thread title be incorrect.
    Is it? I only missed a comma!

    Si xx

    I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.

  6. #6
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    I enjoyed it! A good mystery (though one I guessed!). My only complaint is the revelation all seemed to come too soon and at once, and left me feeling that Part 2 holds nothing but a runaround to sort everything out. How much better to leave some answers for the second episode?

    Si.

  7. #7
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    I agree with Si. The revelation left next to nothing to watch today other than the runaround & the bit of techno-jiggery pokery to resolve the situation.

    Obviously Luke had to turn up in this to finish the season off. He was dressed more like he'd had a gap year from Uni than actually attending. Nicely left the door open for a return, having the "pod" going off towards the Sun. It could easily sling-shot around it & come back. Maybe even return back in time.







    *Cheers Star Trek

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by SiHart View Post
    Is it? I only missed a comma!

    Si xx
    Not that, it's just that Dennis Brent would in all likelihood refer to this story as "Story SJA4.6".
    For every fail, there is an equal and opposite win.

    ...Oh, who am I kidding?

  9. #9
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    Yup, that was an enjoyable finale, and nice to see Luke and K9 back - the point being that each of the gang did their bit to save the day, harknig back nicely to the team idea of the season opener.

    I thought Julie Graham was very good, both as goodie and baddie. The stomach reminded me a bit of the thing from The Long Game. I hope we do see her more of her.

    Oh, and the whole premise at the start of the story was rather spoiled by the knowledge in advance that the show is back next year. If we hadn't known that for sure, it would have had more credibility that Sarah Jane could conceivably have called it a day...

  10. #10
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    The stomach also reminded me of the Ood hive brain and the Nestene from "Rose".

    Anyway, this was altogether better than I thought it would be, after the first episode built up a good mystery then stamped on it just before the end. Julie Graham ramped it up and I loved her scenes - deliciously evil. The 'space prison' was a bit familiar and Cyde frequently seems to get locked up in these things. The device with Rani having to "act" while K9 wiped Mr White was very good and very tense.

    Nice to see Luke back and taking control - all in all, it was a very entertaining episode. So that's the first season without a Trickster episode and, creditably, the first not to re-hash a costume from the last season of Doctor Who.

    My only real complaint to this episode was that K9 still has to be on a screen - why?! If it's rights, its an odd arrangement that lets him take part via a monitor but not be there in person. And why wouldn't Luke bring him back with him from Uni, if he knew there was trouble afoot back home? I liked K9's "Typical!" in reference to Mr Smith letting them down though.

    A good season, and an altogether better and less overblown season finale than we are used to.

    Si.

  11. #11
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    Okay, so a good not great end to the season. Enjoyable - especially as the first time ever I was actually glad to see Luke. K9 was an added bonus. Shame they couldn't get Miller for Mr White. Glad it's got another season, as this episode did feel a bit like it was shambling towards a "that's all folks" moment.

    But overall a good strong season! The Empty Planet, still the best!
    Creator of Doctor WHeasel and sometime political radical

  12. #12
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    I liked the last episode. Julie Graham really made it for me. her last few lines were astonishingly OTT and brilliant. I like a good villain and I think she was a good villain. Not the best episode, but the best season closer since the end of the first year without a doubt.

    Si xx

    I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.

  13. #13
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    I'm disappointed because the final shot wasn't a crack appearing in the attic.
    For every fail, there is an equal and opposite win.

    ...Oh, who am I kidding?

  14. #14
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    I'm disappointed that the slimy thing in Ruby's cellar wasn't the Animus.
    Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!

  15. #15
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    I'm dissapointed that Clyde and Luke didn't get it on.

    Si.

  16. #16
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    Oh life is full of disappointments.

    Si xx

    I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.

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    I'm disappointed that Ruby & Sarah-Jane didn't get it on.

  18. #18
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    Oh life is full of disappointments.

    Si xx

    I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.

  19. #19

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    I'm disappointed K-9 wasn't covered in sick and have a "Socialist Worker" sticker stuck to him if he's gone with Luke to Uni?

  20. #20

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    So that's the first season without a Trickster episode
    I thought at first judging by the title, the Trickster would be in it as he's been in the other episodes titled Sarah Jane.

    Another good series which has flown by. Great stories especially The Death of the Doctor.

  21. #21
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    I did like the idea of Ms White coming back - as she fairly chewed the set at times (IMHO the best moments of the ep!) although despite having her stomach go splurge she didn't appear to be suffering any ill effects.

    My season favs in order
    1) The Nightmare Man (genuinely creepy story, stunning villain, excellent performances)
    2) The Empty Planet (great story, great performances, smashing robots!)
    3) The Vault of Secrets (okish old villain, good story, nice robots and SFX)
    4) Death of the Doctor (geek delight, not enough Doctor, Jo Grant big disapointment
    5) Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith (okay plot, good villain, could have been a belter but wasn't)*
    6) Lost in Time (Rushed, thin plot. Too dull in places, not good enough for s4)

    *bonus points for being the first episode where I didn't want Gita to DIE DIE DIE every moment she was on screen.
    Creator of Doctor WHeasel and sometime political radical

  22. #22
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    Just finished watching via BBC One HD. Apart from a sound error ten minutes in (when it dropped from 5.1 to normal stereo - thanks BBC! ), a satisfying finale.

    Have to agree about Julie Graham, she was great here, and definitely made the entrance fee worthwhile.

    Overall, a patchy season again, I thought, and still think S2 has been the strongest. The show's strength really seems to have become the acting/writing of Clyde & Rani, and I can't help feeling SJA & Luke only tend to bring the quality down a little notch. My favourite is definitely 'The Empty Planet', and also thought 'Vault Of Secrets' to be very good too.

    Oh well, another season to look forward to, and of course, another 497 (??) incarnations of The Doctor as well. I do hope that the BBC are a bit kinder to it's scheduling next year.
    “If my sons did not want wars, there would be none.” - Gutle Schnaper Rothschild

  23. #23
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    I agree about giving away too much of episode two at the end of the first episode. It kind of wastes the effort of creating all that suspense and drama. Genuine cliffhangers are really exciting and it's a shame to tell us what happens in advance. I did like seeing Luke back, and the ongoing closeness of Clyde and Rani is sweet. I really did wonder if they were writing Sarah-Jane out for a bit and I'm very glad they didn't. She did seem a bit too quick to hand over everything, though, and disappear without even telling her son - even with the alien influence over her, that felt rushed and unconvincing. Not the best of the series.

  24. #24
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    I've been catching up on some SJAs, thanks to repeats of S4 and 5 I recorded on the planner off CBBC before Christmas ("They're for the kids, darling, honest...") and I've just watched 'Goodbye, Sarah Jane'.

    I have to say, watching it in retrospect, it was heartbrekinngly poignant when Mr Smith said that Sarah was 'very ill indeed' - how hard must that have been for Lis if she'd have (presumably) known at the time? And it was equally moving when she said at the end that she could 'go on forever'. Oh, if only Sarah Jane, if only.

    Anyway, on the whole, it wasn't the best of stories - the 'world-without-Sarah Jane' plot has been done several times before, and better - but it was still enjoyable, reminding me a little of 'The Tomorrow People' in tone. Clyde and Rani were as good as ever, and it was good to see Luke and K9 back, but best of all was Julie raham as the deliciously OT (and marvellously-named) Ruby White. She pitched it at just the right level of camp for a female 'Doctor Who'-type villain - and then some! In the words of many a grea thinker on PS, 'she knows'.

  25. #25
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    As far as I know Lis was only diagnosed until early last year, just a few months before she died and certainly nothing was known during the period in 2010 when the last series and a half were being filmed.
    The parallel between this story and her final illness is unfortunate but also purely coincidental.

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