Invasion of the Bane

Invasion of the Bane is a pleasant enough watch and a decent start to the series. Sarah, Maria, and her dad are all pretty great, and the story works well enough for what they are going for with this clearly younger oriented series. It is something revisiting this show after we've lost Elisabeth Sladen, and there's definitely a bittersweet sense of nostalgia to the show now. Tommy Knight is a little awkward in the show in these early episodes, and the Kelsey character reeks of being a pilot artifact that thankfully doesn't last outside of this story. Child acting can be a no-win situation for the actor, production, and the audience, and this is a good example of that. I don't think it speaks much about Kelsey's actor, Porsha Lawrence-Mavour, more so the larger system and people behind the scenes that created the situation.

Still, it's a fun enough and serviceable start to a rather memorable Doctor Who spin-off that seems to have gotten a lot of affection from the fan community these days. I think it is deserved, evident even in lesser episodes like Invasion of the Bane.

Pilots often feel a little off from what a show will become and this is no exception. While a good little episode taken on its own, it doesn’t quite feel like an episode of The Sarah-Jane adventures, not so much for any faults in and of itself, just for not quite meshing in the context of the rest of the show.

While all of the new characters are pitch perfect from the get go, or in the case of Luke as close as it is reasonable to get just after being born, outside of the scenes with Mrs Wormwood, Sarah-Jane feels a little off to me in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. A little too hard edged in perhaps not quite the right ways, and I suppose that's what the episode is going for, to see her softened by Maria and Luke, and later Clyde, but it doesn’t quite stick the landing. To an extent it feels as though they haven’t yet figured Sarah out as the main protagonist, as the leader of this small band of alien fighting kids, any coldness towards them or attempts to keep them out of the danger feel to me as though they are out of annoyance more than any desire to keep them out of harm's way.

The plot of this story is also pretty thin, which isn’t really an issue as this is the first episode, the plot is not as important as introducing us to the characters, but it does leave you with the impression that this is a Doctor Who plot with a Sarah-Jane Adventures coat of paint, making it pretty unrepresentative of what the show will be like moving forward. I think the primary reason for this is the sense of scale, while other Sarah-Jane Adventures episodes have aliens with plans to take over or destroy the world, the initial steps of those plans usually feels very local to Bannerman Road, or sometimes even hyperfocused on Sarah and the kids, and I don’t get that sense here.  Bubbleshock is already a large company getting endorsements on Blue Peter, and while I would never question the capabilities of Sarah-Jane and friends, alien invasions of this nature and scope are not really within their typical wheelhouse.

As someone who grew up on this show I do like the episode overall, and certainly it introduces all of its characters in a version of themselves that is either already perfect or will be with some minor tweaks which is the most important thing, but it is a story what just does not quite feel like it belongs to the Sarah-Jane Adventures as a whole.

This story is slightly separate from the first series of Elizabeth Sladen’s second(!) spin off. It informally acts as a pilot for what is to come, introducing several key players from the eventual series. Having not watched this since near transmission I was pleasantly surprised that this out and out children’s TV show from 15 years ago held sincere entertainment value.

My favourite thing about this story is Sarah-Jane’s characterisation. She’s pitched as a 9th Doctor style figure, you could put a lot of her words in Eccleston’s mouth. She’s wounded, she has history, but under her hard shell she is secretly compassionate. She’s closed off and secretive, hiding fascinating rarely understood truths in her attic - you can see why children fell in love with this.

Russell T Davies “gets” drama, show pitches and characters. Here, him and Gareth Roberts flex their muscles and gives the kids intelligent drama that the adults are allowed to watch too.

The side characters are wonderful, Maria’s divorced parents are so funny - the snatches of adult dialogue between them are designed to prick up the ears of all parents watching. I actually think the much maligned Kelsey is pretty well written too - perhaps a little *too* antisocial. Contrary to fan wisdom I think she plays the part okay - a shame the child actor was apparently a bit of a bit of a dick on set!

The story is in some senses a rehash of The Long Game. Replace Max with the Bane and frozen zombies with zombies holding pop. It’s not quite generic though, with the central alien subterfuge being just about intricate enough to keep interest.

I was a bit resigned about watching all of a children’s TV, but this opening story perked me up. It’s wonderful seeing more Sarah-Jane. After everything we’ve been through together (as character and Doctor Who obsessive).