My Review of The Sarah Jane Adventures: "From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love"

Written by Gareth Roberts And Clayton Hickman
Directed by Joss Agnew

Clyde: “You’re a Slitheen.”
Eranius: “Whatever gave you that idea? It’s not like I got a big zipper on my head.”

When the Doctor Who universe isn’t making itself known during the Children In Need, it’s decided to come up trumps for Comic Relief 2009. Of course by that, I mean giving us a nice little scene from The Sarah Jane Adventures for a change.

When I heard that both the Slitheen and K9 were going to feature, I had mixed reactions. I really shouldn’t because while I’m still not particularly taken with the Slitheen, they are better handled in Sarah Jane’s world compared to The Doctor’s.

Casting Ronnie Corbett in the little scene made for a good treat. He interacted brilliantly with the cast and had a wonderful back and forth dynamic with both Rani and Clyde mostly.

Also due to the night in question, the scene was largely light and the Slitheen were played for laughs. Despite the fact that it was the first time that Rani had to interact with them, she wasn’t particularly impressed and even got in a wonderful joke at the Slitheen’s expense.

Eranius’s big plan wasn’t that big. He simply wanted K9 to help him rule the universe and even having the gang detained briefly enough wasn’t enough to stop him. In the end, K9 sent him far away and Sarah Jane mused about the encounter being strange. For Sarah Jane, it’s probably not that strange when you really think about it.

- The writer/director credits weren’t actually shown. I found them out from the March 2009 issue of DWM.

- Naturally it was David Tennant and Davina McCall who introduced this scene as they were on presenting duties for Comic Relief.

- Any chance this little scene can feature on the Season 2 DVD for the series?

- K9 got a Red Nose at the end of the episode. The gang got them on headpieces earlier on.

Quote, Unquote

Luke: “What are these?”
Eranius: “We didn’t know what to get you. Humans are very fickle to buy for.”

As mini-scenes go, this was a hoot. Now all we have to do is wait another month for a new episode of Doctor Who. That being said, Sarah Jane should do more of these little gems.

Rating: 8 out of 10.