The Sarah Jane Adventures 1.2/1: Eye of the Gorgon, part one

[sir_guinglain]

Not much to say about this episode except that it's an improvement on the fun but sometimes excessively boisterous first story; the seemingly compulsory obsession with toilet habits in children's broadcasting (defended in a radio programme by a commissioning editor about five years ago) is got rid of early on, and then we are safely into the realm, as Nigel Kneale would have put it, of 'teatime terror for tots'. A few weeks ago BBC 2 showed the Hammer film The Gorgon as part of its British film season; this is referenced early on and the trailer for part two shows why, as Sarah Jane's Gorgon needs a host just as Hammer's did. Much of the action takes place in an old people's home, where the speaking residents are played by Phyllida Law and Doreen Mantle; Phyllida Law's Bea Nelson Stanley shows an early talent for recognising aliens, and one of Doctor Who's returning monsters from next season receives not just a namecheck but a discussion on how silly they are. There's a lot of play on the kids' sense of invulnerability and their distance from old age, while Sarah feels her mortality more acutely.

Maria's mother makes a further appearance, but she seems still to follow the path to ever more grotesque caricaturedom. It's impossible to imagine Maria's father ever finding anything attractive in her. Nonetheless, her rejection by Maria in this episode suggests that the series may place her on the path to some kind of redemption. We hear a little more of Mr Smith in this episode too; and the Gorgon's nuns, while not particularly subtle, are suitably sinister.