The Sarah Jane Adventures "Invasion of the Bane" Reaction!! 

Pop open some Bubble Shock, It's time for a whole new Adventure! If you want, you can watch the full reaction absolutely FREE! www.patreon.com/posts/104334477

So backstory time. The BBC asked Russel T Davies for a spin-off aimed at a younger audience. He thought the idea of a young Doctor inventing sonic scredrivers on Gallifrey was stupid and would ruin the mystique of the character so he suggested a show starring Sarah Jane instead and so something practically unheard of happened. A children's tv show where the main hero is a middle-aged woman who never got married and never had kids.

So happy you’re watching this. It’s often overlooked by most DW reactors. I grew up watching Sarah Jane and the 4th Doctor in the 1970s, and like many other kids had a bit of a crush on Elisabeth Sladen. So I was thrilled to see her return as Sarah Jane in School Reunion. She and the young cast a phenomenal in SJA, and unlike a CB lot of kids shows the writers don’t talk down to their audience. You’re in for a real treat, with great character development and excellent story telling.

The names Alistair and Harry that Sarah references in this episode are of course characters from classic Who. Harry actually was a companion in the Tardis with Sarah for a season. Alistair is Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart or just the Brigadier for short most of the time and he is a recurring character throughout classic Who meeting most of the classic Doctors and of course knew Sarah too. He will be referenced a lot more.

I just love the fact that Luke was born running! He’s like the Doctor is sooo many ways!

SJA was mine and a lot of other millenial/gen z introduction to the whoniverse and it is so nostalgic for me!! I am so excited for your reactions to this series

I always loved this show. I agree, the running does make it fit in with everything else 😅 There are little easter eggs woven throughout Sarah Jane Adventures which I didn't pick up on until much later. For example, the other names Sarah Jane suggests for luke are those of characters in classic who, probably Alistair is probably the most notable of those. Brigadier Alistair Letherbridge-Stewart worked for Unit with Sarah Jane and the Doctor

I do like a show that understands the importance of a good signature car. In this case Sarah Jane's green 1991 Nissan Figaro.

This show is absolutely fascinating from a writing perspective. Many children's shows aim at a very specific demographic, something like "3-5 year olds", "5-10 year old girls", and so on, and then cling to that age bracket for dear life as people age out and new people grow in. I don't think it's really a spoiler, but this show does the exact opposite. It grabbed hold of a group of children and then grew up alongside them. I have never seen another show do that. It targeted the same actual individuals throughout. It was definitely targeting the very young 7-12 year olds when it started, and as the younger members of the cast grew up it very clearly shifted in to targeting an audience of 13-17 year old by the end. Fascinating show that was, in a way, designed to be something of a *companion* itself.

My friends and I grew up watching Doctor Who on PBS, and Sarah Jane was our favorite. When she showed up in NuWho I shrieked and practically flew off the couch. I was in my mid 30's at that time. ☺️ P S, I love K-9! ❤️

They had tried a spin-off with Lis and K9 before called "K9 & Company", best not to ask anymore about that one though.

I think it was always planned to be a series, but this was a special which aired on New Year's Day. The first episode of the series proper started towards the end of September of that year.

Luke is my favourite character in the series. Tommy Knight played him really well.

3:06 this was in a torchwood episode titled the Greek baring of gifts and is referenced in a episode of the 12th Doctor in series 9 of Doctor Who

I loved this show as a kid. It kept that Doctor Who-ish vibe but felt much cosier with these smaller, more contained stories. It reminds of those School mornings or when I was stuck inside because of the rain. It also had something in it for the adults too with plenty of nods and easter eggs to classic who. It's just a neat, little show. Simple but entertaining.

Great catch for them to get Samantha Bond to play the first ever villain for this series.

Couldn't get K9 for a lot of SJA cause of licensing stuff. The writers who created him retain the rights (cause that's how it worked back in 1977), and one of them had been trying to create their own whole K9 franchise for a long time. Around the same time as SJA, he got a kids show running in Australia but not many have seen it still and it's not regarded as great. There's a few fleeting references dropped but because they couldn't mention anything Doctor Who they had to be very fleeting and non-specific.

Glad you've found this. There is very little of K9 in the first series of SJA because at the time the rights to use him were with an Australian production company who were planning some aussie spin off thing. This got sorted out later on, so K9 starts appearing more often. You probably know by now that after this episode the stories were all short 2 parters - so you might want to react to both parts in one shot rather than stringing them out.

Ahh my childhood!! Of course being a British child I was well aware of Doctor Who and had seen little bits and read some of the books and we played it in primary school (which just involved one of the boys being the Doctor, all the girls being companions, and the rest of the boys being daleks or cybermen and chasing us round the playground lmao) but this was the first DW-related show I properly watched. And Elisabeth Sladen's was the first celebrity death I really felt :( So excited for your reactions!

Amazing reaction! I can't wait for you to watch 5 series of pure perfection which is the Sarah Jane Adventures!!

I'm so exited to get on this ride with you. This show is just so good

I recently finished this series myself. I really enjoyed it a lot; I wish we could have had more.

I can relate to a former companion. I grew up in a small rural town and moved to Los Angeles when I was 25. I lived there for 25 years and had lot of wild adventures. I moved back home to help out my mom and transitioning back to life in a small town is really hard. When you have partied at nightclubs with movie stars, the corn festival just doesn't really do it for me.

7:56 OMG is WAS in the promo, back around the Chirstmas/New Year period of 2006/7!!!!

I can't overstate how much this show, combined with Doctor Who of course, *was* my childhood! I couldn't wait to get back from school to see what happened next! This is one of those great kids shows, like Avatar the Last Airbender, in that while it's definitely geared towards kids/young teens, it doesn't infantilise its audience and isn't afraid to tackle some deep stuff here and there. You should be in for a great time, I hope you enjoy it!

So i remember all of Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood from 2005 onwards when they aired and ill be honest when i was a kid this was so cool to me. This episode aired on the 1st of January 2007 and i loved it. Also you might recognize the species of the alien Sarah has in her garden cause its the same species as the alien in Greek Bearing Gifts from Torchwood. For kids my age at this time and even a few years after it meant so much to us having this show as well as Doctor Who (While torchwood was for adults even though i watched it way before i should have lol)

I love this show!! I'm so glad you're watching it. 😊

I recently watched the Sarah Jane Adventures (no idea why I didn't when they were airing live) and found the entire thing immensely fun, yeah it's more targeting children but there's enough for adults to enjoy it too

I just started watching this series, and it was so campy I love it!

I was right at the age where I was massively into Doctor Who but just drifting out of CBBC (Childrens BBC the channel where this was first broadcast). So I caught clips from the next six or so episodes. All of them unfortunately out of context and much better with context. So until now I never watched this show. But with the revamp if Doctor Who and this reaction series branching into it I sat down and watched a few episodes last night and Im really enjoying it so far. Look forward to your reactions.

Unfortunately, you won't be seeing much of K9, as he also got a spin-off at this time. It was actually an Australian tv show, and stars K9 Mark I, who was last seen on Gallifrey, with the Doctor's companion Leela, rather than K9 Mark III from School Reunion, or Mark IV introduced in that episode and seen here. K9 Mark II was also last seen on Gallifrey with the Doctor's companion Romana. *K9 (2009 - 2010)* ran for 26 episodes, but is most unrelated to Doctor Who given that it wasn't made by the BBC. You don't need to run out and watch it, you have plenty of Doctor Who to watch right now, but maybe you can give it a look if you run out of other Doctor Who related shows to watch.

I think RTD said that the Doctor left the sonic lipstick inside the new K9 at the end of School reunion.

It's so very sad that the actress who played Sarah Jane died, just as the series and her second wind ,were taking off :-(

K9 is actually owned by the writers who created him, and they license his use to BBC. At this time K9 was also being shopped for a series, which arrived in 2010 - Since the BBC was developing Sarah Jane, Torchwood and of course Doctor Who. they opted to not be involved in K9, and no other Doctor Who characters are involved with that show. That said, they did get to use this version (K9 Mk iV) from time to time .

Glad you're doing these!

Little info the girl who played Kelsey got fired she was actually too bossy and wanted stuff her way so they fired her

Apparently, the episodes have now been edited to not be as offensive in language. When the episodes originally came out, some language was considered normal. It is a kids show of course.

I can count on thee fingers the number of people that I never met whose death made me cry. Liz Sladen was one of them. Yes, she was special.

I think you should react to some fourth doctor episodes (Some with Sarah Jane). City of Death, Pyramids of Mars, Genesis of the Daleks, The brain of Morbius, Logopolis are all ones worth watching and most episodes will be important later on in new doctor who.

I would say more teen oriented. But I am waiting with great anticipation of your reaction to the upcoming episode of Dr. Who. I remember the first time I saw it, had to rewatch a few times to check and see if I heard everything correctly.

Been waiting

This was my first Who show, way, way before I even knew about Doctor who... Ah

I believe the rights to K9 were tied up with its original writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (a recurring thing with Classic Doctor Who, in which writers owned the material they wrote - the biggest example being the Daleks owned by writer Terry Nation, hence why it's heavily theorised the BBC currently have an agreement to feature the Daleks a minimum of once a year, which is why they appear even in a cameo capacity so often in modern Who). Bob Baker and Dave Martin had tried to get several spin-offs featuring K9, including the failed pilot "K9 and Company" in the 80s, and more recently the "K9" 2010 series. As such K9's involvement in Sarah Jane Adventures and Doctor Who is limited, though he does appear every now and then! Good dog!

Where Torchwood swings for an older, more mature audience, The Sarah Jane Adventures, if it wasn't obvious, skews towards a younger audience(even younger than Who).

I’m rewatching Kyle-XY for the first time since it originally aired. With all the times I’ve watched this, I never made the connection!

I grew up with Sarah Jane... Ok - that's a lie. I grew up with the 5th Doctor, but hey - he had... Oh, spoilers. Anyways - I did grow up with Sarah Jane because here in Australia, we had LOTS of re-runs of Doctor Who for many years. But.... I can't do this show. My kids enjoy it though.

Folks never watch this because it's labeled as a kids show. All the best kids shows never talk down and can be watched by all ages without numbing your brain.

Love this! It's great for a kids show. Season 4 premiere of Smallville was great tbh, I was shocked when Chloe was alive 😮

I'll warn you now, there IS a K9 spinoff floating around in the ether as well, but it has even less to do with Doctor Who than this show, only lasted one season, and is widely regarded as not very good xD Do with that what you will.

Maria's mother is absolutely insufferable. On the other hand, Alan, Maria's dad, is instantly likable, so it makes her mother's catty and dismissive attitude that much more irritating.

🤳