June 13: Sky Parts One & Two (SJA)

As you may recall, Elisabeth Sladen passed away on 19 April 2011, just before "The Impossible Astronaut" aired.  She'd been more or less in the middle of filming the fifth series when she died; they'd completed the first half, and then postponed filming of the second half due to Sladen's illness -- but she succumbed to cancer, leaving that second block unfilmed.  So what we get is an abbreviated fifth series, consisting of those first six episodes comprising three stories, and the first story, Sky, is as solid as ever.

This story is essentially a game of two halves.  The first half (part one) is about Sarah Jane receiving a mysterious baby on her doorstep -- coincidentally(...?) on the same night as something crashed to Earth.  This is clearly not a human baby, as its cries have the ability to blow out light bulbs and short out car alarms, which leads to some rather wonderful moments of Sarah Jane, Clyde, and Rani trying desperately to stop the baby from crying, while Haresh and Gita deal with the fallout of when she does.  (Oh, and incidentally, this happens to be Mina Anwar's last story as Gita Chandra; one by one we're having to say goodbye to some beloved characters.)  In particular, Clyde's efforts to stop Sky (named on the spur of the moment, as she basically fell out of the sky) from crying are imbued with great charm and fun -- Daniel Anthony continues to excel as Clyde Langer.  (And it's also fun how Mr. Smith refuses to open up in her presence and be accidentally shorted out.)  This leaves Sarah Jane and Rani free to investigate the site of the crash -- which is already being investigated by Professor Celeste Rivers (thus marking her fourth return to the show), although it's an interview with a local tramp, who talks about a man made of metal, that ends up being the most helpful.  These scenes are interesting, but as they're concerned with advancing the storyline they're not as much fun as Clyde's scenes.

Sarah Jane, Sky, Rani, and Clyde. (Sky Part Two) ©BBC

The second half (so part two) is a little different.  The cliffhanger of part one involved the baby Sky being taken into a nuclear power station by Clyde and someone claiming to be Sky's mother, only for Sky to be surrounded by energy and age twelve years in as many seconds.  So that means now we have a twelve-year-old girl running around, still with the same electrical powers but with a bit more control over them.  Part two isn't quite as much fun, just because it's much more heavily plot-oriented, but it's still entertaining.  Sky is some sort of living weapon designed to kill the metal man's people (the Metalkind, who are boron-based lifeforms -- hey, why not?  It makes as much sense as silicon-based life), but it's not a destiny Sky is particular happy about.  Sinead Michael seems rather awkward and hesitant as Sky, but that might be a deliberate performance choice (as Sky is meant to be completely unknowledgeable about the world), so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

Because yes, Sky manages to thwart her mother's plans for her, leaving her no longer a weapon and free to live with Sarah Jane -- thus making her a series regular.  (And thus the youngest series regular to date on any of the Doctor Who-related shows, as Sinead Michael actually was twelve at the time of filming -- thus making her younger than the Paul McGann movie.  Blimey.)  It seems she was dropped off at Sarah Jane's door by the Captain and the Shopkeeper (who you might remember from last series' Lost in Time).  "I'd still like to know who you are," Sarah Jane asks.  "Both of you."  "Consider us servants of the universe," the Shopkeeper replies.  "... Sometimes things can't be left to chance.  Sometimes a breeze must blow from east to west, not north to south.  Sometimes a sky should be blue, not laden with cloud.  And sometimes, a child must find her way home.  Which is my task, Miss Smith.  To put things in the right place."  "But who are you?" Sarah Jane repeats.  "All in good time," the Shopkeeper replies, and you get a sudden pang of sadness at the thought that that mystery will go unrevealed.²³⁷  But yeah, looks like Luke's got a little sister now.  I wonder if they'll get the chance to play with that at all.

In many ways this story feels like an excuse to introduce a new cast member, to replace Tommy Knight as Luke (now only sporadically appearing on the show), but while there's nothing too surprising or compelling here, what we get is another solid, well done tale.  It's still a nice job, even if it's not the greatest thing ever.







²³⁷ My guess is that he's meant to be a sort of opposite of the Trickster (who's basically the Black Guardian anyway, so that makes the Shopkeeper essentially the White Guardian -- although the original version of the story actually had the Doctor drop Sky off, but Matt Smith was too busy with "A Christmas Carol").  He was supposedly going to reappear in the sixth story of series 5, The Battle of Bannerman Road, which would have also seen the return of the Trickster.  So I'm willing to bet I'm not far off.