Sarah Jane Adventures is back, and after so little new Who this year it was bliss to have a Judoon stomping around the place (I’m really not sure if Torchwood counted. It was very much its own show this year).
I quite like the strategy they’re using this year, giving us two episodes of Sarah Jane a week. As SJA stories are all two-parters it makes a lot of sense, and since we’ll shortly be getting Dreamland and the final specials for the tenth Doctor not dragging out the run of Sarah Jane Adventures makes a degree of sense.
For this series opener itself, I thought it was a great start. Borrowing from the previous formula, the show brings back a prominent alien from Doctor Who to help kickstart things. With the Slitheen and the Sontarans in previous series, this year it was the turn of the Judoon, which was great for me as they’re a favourite of mine.
The writers had a lot of fun with the Judoon. They built on their previous appearances by making them absolute sticklers for the letter of the law, even those local laws (whereas previously they weren’t too concerned about local laws, and came across more as hired thugs in some regards). Having the Judoon refusing to leave the car behind until the gang had paid and displayed for example, I thought was a great laugh. Similarly, there was a nice visual gag with the Judoon driving around in a Police car. We also had the return of the Judoon’s bureaucracy, with the Judoon handing over official paperwork for commandeering the car.
Less successful was possibly the comedy stuff with Rani’s parents. I like them, but they felt a little forced in in the second episode. Especially with all the funny aspects to the Judoon’s role, it seemed a bit redundant to also have Rani’s parents also having comedy adventures at the same time.
However, that’s a deeply minor niggle. We also had a really nice spaceship design in the second part, an interesting villain, and Liz Sladen clearly enjoying the chance to play Sarah as possessed by said villain.
This was a really strong start, and I can’t wait for the next story. Of course, we’ve also got some big events coming up, with K9 returning for a larger role, and the 10th Doctor appearing at the halfway point.
