The Sarah Jane Adventures - Series 5 [DVD]

Like so many others I was shattered at the passing of Elisabeth Sladen. She was my favourite Doctor Who companion and i loved this series. In SJA she really shined and showed what a great actress she truly was. I think SJA was tremendous in being able to bridge that difficult line between a children's show and an adult one. I think it achieved exactly what it set out to do, and kudos to Russell T. Davies for making it possible.

This series is of course sadly short due to Lis Sladen's untimely passing. But at least we did get some more stories after series 4 and there is a fitting ending to the final episode which is a nice tribute to Ms Sladen.

The 3 stories each have some nice moments and it would have been so nice to have seen more. However, in this final series, I do feel that there was a slight backward step with the character of Sky. As mentioned, upto now the series has not been aimed at just kids. This has been largely due to the three-dimensional and interesting characters. We have seen the kids grow and mature and how their view of the world has changed due to their adventures with Sarah. Unfortunately Sky is more one-dimensional and comes over as very childish. Also the actress portraying her is very inexperienced and the result is very school-play. This jars with the good acting of the others and tends to give it a slight amateur feel which it never had before.

Still it would have been great to see more and am so sad to see it go. Congrats to all involved at producing such great material and especially to the wonderful Elisabeth Sladen. She will be in our hearts forever!

Due to the death of Elizabeth Sladen, this is the final series. It is only 3 episodes long, and unlike the past series there has been little Doctor who references (as opposed to in the past where the brigadier and doctor guest starred or they fight the slitheen) other than that there is very no complaints about this series
Sky introduces a new character, an alien child named sky, who Sarah Jane adopts. She is used to bring back the child factor, as the original children are grown up by now, and it is a children's program. The episode sky is quite childish, but otherwise good, and I was a little concerned that it would go back to the childish show it was in series 2.
Episode 2 is the curse of Clyde Langer. This is the most emotional and grown up episode of the entire series, and it is sad and lets us see the best side of Clyde, the man he has become that is usually hidden by the cocky cheeky boy. Clyde, a character we have come to love and care for since pretty much the beginning, has been cursed so whenever anyone hears or says or even thinks his name, they see him as the worst person on the world and shun him like he is a monster. Sarah Jane, rani and even his mum shun him in an emotional opening episode. In part 2, we see Clyde getting by as homeless person and falling in love, we see him managing at rock bottom. The ending is a little bit simple, but managed brilliantly, and the story as a whole is possibly the best Sarah Jane episode ever.
The final episode is the man that never was. This is a pretty good episode, but the worst of the 3. It is full of funny scenes, but the plotline is not great, the motive behind the villain's actions is one we have seen dozens of times before over the 3 whoniverse series', and it is a very childish episode. But on the upside, we see Luke and sky meeting in the flesh, and the dynamic between them is a good one. They ended it with a montage of clips and the same speech Sarah Jane says at the end of series one, and end it with the brilliant line "And the story goes on... forever." I feel this was the best way to end the series.
As a whole the series is the best series to reach out to such a range of people, and if this is where the series was heading, I wish there would have been more

A short final season of the very enjoyable Doctor Who spin off that feels more like classic Doctor Who than the new Doctor Who series thanks to the cliffhangers and half hour episodes. The first story introduces new girl Sky who Sarah Jane goes on to adopt. The girl's one of those annoying kids that keeps asking why every 5 minutes but sadly as it's only a short season due to Elizabeth Sladen's death half way through filming she's never given a chance to develop. The remaining 2 stories are enjoyable and the final episode is a fitting tribute to a fine actress allowing the series to go out on a high. A fun show and while it's sad to see it go the BBC did the right thing cancelling it after Elizabeth Sladen's death as it wouldn't have been right to carry on without her.