The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

Part One

[Shopping centre]

(A bespectacled young boy runs out of a wibbly energy fissure into an empty clothes shop, then into the mall proper.)

CLYDE: Hey, you! Stay there. Stop!

(The boy runs.)

RANI: Get after him! Shout at him, brilliant!

(Clyde and Rani chase the boy while Sarah Jane continues her scan.)

LUKE: Found anything?
SARAH JANE: Got it! In there.

[Street]

RANI: Stop! Please, I can help you! Please!

(Clyde cuts the boy off and grabs him.)

CLYDE: It's okay. You're safe. You're safe.

[Empty shop]

LUKE: A time fissure. We're staring into time. It's beautiful.
SARAH JANE: That poor boy must have wandered in and ended up here. It's happened before. Missing people, lost in time.
LUKE: But if we stepped through there, we could travel in time. Amazing!
SARAH JANE: Uh, uh. It's not safe. We'll send the kid back home then I'll use the Converter to reduce the energy ratio and close the gap, I hope.
LUKE: Like a time puncture repair kit.
SARAH JANE: Yeah. Exactly like.

(Clyde and Rani return with the boy.)

CLYDE: Sarah Jane! We got him!
OSCAR: What's going on?
RANI: Don't worry, everything's going to be all right.
SARAH JANE: Hello. What's your name?
OSCAR: Oscar. Who are you lot? Where am I?
SARAH JANE: Don't worry about that. You're going home, Oscar. Just step through. You'll be safe. There's nothing to be scared of.
RANI: Go through. I promise you'll be safe.
OSCAR: No. I'm scared.
SARAH JANE: Luke.

(Sarah hands the gizmo to Luke then take's Oscar's hand.)

SARAH JANE: Come on. It's all going to be fine, I promise you. Back in two ticks.

[Field]

(With an old stone tower nearby and a village down the hill.)

SARAH JANE: And this is home, yes?
OSCAR: Yes. I was just going for a walk and suddenly I was in that strange place.
SARAH JANE: Forget it ever happened. Forget me. Okay?

(Sarah turns back as a cock crows, and sees a milestone - which ought to be by at least a track - that says Foxgrove 1 mile.)

SARAH JANE: No, it can't be. What's the name of that place?
OSCAR: Foxgrove. It's where I live.
SARAH JANE: What year is this? Please, tell me the date.
OSCAR: It's 1951. July 1951.
SARAH JANE: No. Go, go, go!

(Oscar runs off.)

SARAH JANE: No. Oh no, you don't, Sarah Jane Smith.

(Sarah Jane takes a final backwards look before going through the rift, which then closes.)

OSCAR: Did I do it properly, sir?

(A black mist solidifies into a cloaked figure with just a mouth full of pointed teeth.)

TRICKSTER: You did it beautifully. Soon I will do battle once more with Sarah Jane Smith. She will return here. The one time and place that she cannot resist. And this time, the triumph shall be mine! Bwahahahahaha!

[Empty shop]

RANI: How did it go?
SARAH JANE: Fine. Just fine. I sent Oscar home.
LUKE: What about you? How are you?
SARAH JANE: Fine. Why shouldn't I be?
CLYDE: What's on the other side of that?
RANI: Yeah, what was it like? Did you see anything?
SARAH JANE: Nothing much. This place used to be countryside. Right. Better close it up.
RANI: We could go through there, into another time. We might never get the chance again.
CLYDE: Can't we just have a look? Five minutes?
SARAH JANE: No! I'm sorry, Clyde, but it's too dangerous. You've seen it in the movies. You go back you change one tiny thing, it has terrible consequences.
RANI: You've travelled through time in the TARDIS.
SARAH JANE: With the Doctor, who knew what he was doing, most of the time. This is different, and I'm closing it up, forever.

(The rift vanishes.)

SARAH JANE: Job done. Let's go home.

[Outside Sarah Jane's home]

RANI: Bye, Sarah Jane.
SARAH JANE: Yeah.
RANI: See you tomorrow?
SARAH JANE: Bye, Rani.
LUKE: No good at hiding how she feels, is she?
CLYDE: She said she was fine.
LUKE: She spent the whole ride back staring ahead, not saying anything. She didn't even complain when Steve Wright came on the radio.
CLYDE: Yeah, not even when he played the Hoosiers.
RANI: Something happened when she went back in time.
CLYDE: And it's up to you, my young padawan, to find out the whole story.
RANI: Ciao.

[Attic]

MR SMITH: The energy spike now registers minimal activity, Sarah Jane. The fissure is no longer active.
SARAH JANE: Thank you, Mister Smith. Can you give me the details of the area over the last century? In particular, a village called Foxgrove.
MR SMITH: The village of Foxgrove was sited here. It was mainly noted for the ruins of a Cistercian abbey. The entire village was demolished in 1964 to make way for an A road. The area now comprises housing on the edges of the Broughton New Town.
SARAH JANE: It's right there. Oh, why didn't I realise?
MR SMITH: I'm sorry, Sarah Jane, I don't understand your question.
SARAH JANE: I was talking to myself.
MR SMITH: I see. Sorry I spoke. Sarah Jane, forgive me, but is there anything else I can help you with?
SARAH JANE: No, thanks.
MR SMITH: Are you sure?
SARAH JANE: Positive. Goodbye for now.

(Mister Smith goes back into the fireplace. Sarah Jane takes an old picture from a drawer.)

SARAH JANE: Oh no, you don't, my girl. I can't, I mustn't, and I won't.
LUKE: Mum? What's the matter?
SARAH JANE: I'm fine. I'm fine. Why is everybody asking me if there's anything wrong? Rani, you, even the computer.
LUKE: I've got to say, Mum, you're very, very unconvincing.
SARAH JANE: Oh. It's that bad? Oh, Luke. I'm sorry.

(Luke takes the photograph.)

LUKE: Who are they?
SARAH JANE: Barbara and Eddie Smith. My mum and dad.

[Lounge]

LUKE: They died when you were just a baby. What exactly happened?
SARAH JANE: We lived in a village called Foxgrove. That's where I was born. One afternoon in August 1951, they got in their car, drove off, and they never came back.
LUKE: There was an accident?
SARAH JANE: A tractor had broken down in the lane. They went straight into it.
LUKE: You got out okay.
SARAH JANE: I wasn't with them. They left me behind, in my pram, at the side of the road, alone.
LUKE: They must have had a reason.
SARAH JANE: To leave a three month old baby on its own?
LUKE: So your Aunt Lavinia brought you up?
SARAH JANE: Dad's sister, the family genius. She did the best she could, but she was always so busy. Never in one place long enough to lick a stamp. She always said my mum and dad were the best parents in the world. But I couldn't help thinking, was she covering up for them? Because that day they just upped and left their baby alone. Left me behind.
LUKE: Where were they going in the car?
SARAH JANE: Nobody knew. They just took off. I've never told anybody this. Not even the Doctor. All these years I tried to forget, to pretend it didn't matter, and then today we found that time fissure. It leads right there, to Foxgrove, July 1951. A month before they died. I actually saw the village. My mum and dad, they're down there.
LUKE: You want to go back. Well, why not? Just for a moment, just to see them.
SARAH JANE: I can't! Stepping back in time, into your own past, is so dangerous. And think about it. It's all too convenient. It could be a trap.
LUKE: Or a coincidence.
SARAH JANE: No. It must be a trap. Which is another reason for not going. Somebody's been very clever. But not clever enough. They've put the idea in my head, put the bait on the hook. But this one's not biting. I'm strong enough to say no.

[Attic]

(Sarah Jane gets out some old clothes, and eventually settles on a pink outfit.)

SARAH JANE: I must be out of my mind.

[Front door]

LUKE: Mum? I know where you're going, and I'm coming with you.
SARAH JANE: No, I won't let you risk it.
LUKE: I just want to make sure you're all right.
SARAH JANE: Oh, Luke.
LUKE: Not a school night either, is it?
SARAH JANE: Straight there, straight back and we won't tell anybody.
LUKE: Where'd you get the clothes?
SARAH JANE: Back of my wardrobe. Simple, classic, it'll do the job.
LUKE: You used to wear that? Seriously?
SARAH JANE: Listen, kid, the Fifties came back in the Seventies. I remember when this was quite the thing.

[Empty shop]

(Opening up the fissure.)

SARAH JANE: I can still change my mind. I can still walk away. I could meet myself as a baby, that's so dangerous. If I touched her there could be a huge explosion.
LUKE: But you know that, so you won't. It's your choice. It's only dangerous to go back in time if you change something, and you're not going to.
SARAH JANE: What would you do?
LUKE: I'd go. Any normal person would. I think even I'm normal enough to know that.
SARAH JANE: And if it is a trap, this is the only way to find out who's behind it. That sounds like a good, rational reason I can give myself, anyway.
LUKE: There you go.
SARAH JANE: Thank you. You know something? You're brilliant. The fissure should stay open for about an hour, but I'll be back before then.

(Sarah Jane goes through to the past.)

LUKE: Mum, it's closing. No! Mum!

(Luke dives through the small hole before it shuts completely.)

TRICKSTER: Yes! The trap is closing! Bwahahahaha!

[Field]

SARAH JANE: Luke! What on earth are you doing?
LUKE: I had to come though. It was closing up, I had no choice. It's gone! Mum.
SARAH JANE: Don't panic. Give me the Converter. It's okay. Time fissures, they can be erratic. But it's still active. I can open it again. We can get back.
LUKE: We're back in time. 1951. It's incredible. It's daytime.
SARAH JANE: That's time travel. Jet lag you wouldn't believe.
LUKE: The village.
SARAH JANE: You should go back. Mind you, every time I use this, it weakens the link. Well, now you're here, you might as well come with me.
LUKE: Is that okay?
SARAH JANE: You're part of the family too, aren't you?

(They walk down the hill.)

OSCAR: She did it.

[Outside Sarah Jane's home]

(Clyde is ringing the bell.)

CLYDE: Come on.

(He shouts through the letterbox.)

CLYDE: Luke! Lukey-boy!

[Outside Rani's bedroom]

GITA: Rani! Rani!
RANI [OC]: Mum, it's a Saturday.
GITA: You've got a visitor. RANI [OC]: What? I'm having a lie in.

(She opens the door.)

GITA: Can't keep trouble away. Good job your dad didn't see him.

[Attic]

CLYDE: Their phones are off, and me and Luke are meeting up. He never ever forgets. I tell you, my Clydey-sense is tingling.
RANI: They might've just gone out.
CLYDE: Or what if Sarah Jane's been grabbed? Right. We'll make a list of all her enemies.
RANI: Great idea. Shouldn't take us more than fifteen years. Mister Smith, I need you!
CLYDE: Where are Sarah Jane and Luke?
MR SMITH: I have no information.
RANI: Come on. Did she say where they've gone?
MR SMITH: No, Rani, she did not.
CLYDE: See, that's weird. What if it's aliens? They've been abducted. They could be being probed right now.
MR SMITH: There are no signs of alien activity. In fact
RANI: In fact what? Spit it out.
MR SMITH: It is not my function to venture opinion, or to prognosticate the behaviour of humans, but I have a theory about where they've gone. Or rather, when.
CLYDE: Oh. Didn't like how that sentence ended up.
RANI: Mister Smith, give us your theory.
MR SMITH: Sarah Jane was here born in the village of Foxgrove. She lived there as a baby at the exact period to which the fissure leads.
RANI: Her mum and dad! They were alive then. She's gone back to see them.
CLYDE: Whoa. Obvious trap!
RANI: Like if it was you, you wouldn't go?
MR SMITH: Information. Energy pulse detected.
CLYDE: Energy pulse? Where?
MR SMITH: Behind you.

(The Verron soothsayer's box is glowing.)

CLYDE: Oh no. Bad news.
RANI: Tell me.
CLYDE: Last year some really weird stuff went down. I never got my head round it, but some alien thing took Sarah Jane out of time completely. But Maria could still remember her because she had this box. It protects you against some other alien. Little midget thing, the Graske. And, er, bad time things in general.
RANI: How does it protect you?
CLYDE: I don't know. With its boxy goodness?
RANI: But we can remember Sarah Jane and Luke. Nothing's changed.
CLYDE: Something's making it flash though.
RANI: We've got to get after them, warn them.
CLYDE: She'll have taken the Converter. We can't get through the fissure.
RANI: We can try, and that might help us. It's only half an hour on the train.

[Village square]

(Bunting and Union flags on the railings around the War Memorial.)

LUKE: Nobody about.
SARAH JANE: Look.

(A banner proclaims Foxgrove village fete this way.)

SARAH JANE: They must be down there.
LUKE: Come on, then.
SARAH JANE: Just one look. I just want to see them, that's all.
LUKE: I know. Me too.

[Fete]

(Along the stream, over the stile, across the road, to a field with various tents and stalls.)

SARAH JANE: But Luke, they abandoned me. What kind of people are they? Do I really want to know the answer?
LUKE: You can't turn back now.

(A thin lady is making an announcement over the loudspeakers.)

MRS KING: Everybody, could I have your attention, please? The raffle prizes will be announced at five o'clock sharp. Thank you.
LUKE: These people, they look so excited.

(The children are dunking the teacher for a penny. There is a sack race going on.)

SARAH JANE: It's 1951. They're still on rations after the war. No mobile phones, no TV.
LUKE: I see. This is what old people call making your own entertainment.
BARBARA [OC]: Sarah Jane! Look what Mummy's got for you, Sarah Jane.
SARAH JANE: It's her, my mum.

(A woman in a yellow dress is holding a baby wrapped in a lace shawl.)

BARBARA: Sarah Jane.
LUKE: And that must be
SARAH JANE: I know. Me.

(The baby is put back into the pram.)

LUKE: Looks like a pretty good mum.
SARAH JANE: So why did she leave me?
LUKE: You can hardly go up and ask.
SARAH JANE: I can if I'm careful.
LUKE: That wasn't the plan. You wanted to see her. Now you have.
SARAH JANE: Plans change. It's her. My mum.

(They walk over.)

SARAH JANE: Hello.
BARBARA: Oh, hello. Sorry, I thought you were. I thought you were. I thought I knew you.
SARAH JANE: Oh, that's all right. Lovely baby.
BARBARA: Yeah, thanks, she is. Come on. Guess how many gobstoppers in there. Penny a go.

(Luke throws some coins into the tin box. Barbara picks them up and looks at them curiously.)

LUKE: I'd say it was six hundred and seventy six.
BARBARA: You what? What did you say?
LUKE: Six hundred and seventy six. If you take the cubic volume of the jar in centimetres, and then divide by the size of each sweet, allowing for the approximate spaces in between.
BARBARA: Just put your name down there. Centimetres? You from abroad?
SARAH JANE: No. We're from London. What's she called?
BARBARA: Sarah Jane.
SARAH JANE: You look like you adore her.
BARBARA: Yeah. Eddie. Made it eventually, then?
EDDIE: Oh, had to leave the car up by the memorial. Ruddy horsebox parked outside the house.
SARAH JANE: Hello.
EDDIE: Hello, strangers. Welcome to the village fete. Fete worse than death. You staying over the pub?
SARAH JANE: No, just passing through. A little holiday.
EDDIE: Oh. Well, lovely day for it. Eddie Smith.
SARAH JANE: I'm, I'm Victoria Beckham.
LUKE: And I'm David Beckham.
EDDIE: Nice to meet you.
BARBARA: I'm Barbara.
EDDIE: How's my little darling? She been behaving herself?
BARBARA: Quiet as a lamb.
EDDIE: Beautiful, ain't she? Oh, Mrs King says can you help out in the tent? They're a bit short-handed. Go on, I'll mind the stall.
BARBARA: Righty-ho. Bye, bye. Bye, bye.

(Sarah Jane goes with Barbara, and Luke tags along.)

SARAH JANE: I'll help out if you like, if you another pair of hands?
BARBARA: No, that's all right.
SARAH JANE: I like to be useful.
LUKE: Mum, are you sure? We should be getting back soon.
SARAH JANE: I'll only be a moment.
LUKE: Okay.
SARAH JANE: Meet you back at the square.

(Oscar is there. He waves at Luke and runs off. Luke chases him.)

EDDIE [OC]: How many sweets in the jar? Come on, lovely prizes. Step up.

(Luke loses Oscar but finds a newspaper. The Hertfordshire Time proclaims that Festival of Britain continues to draw crowds.)

[Refreshment tent]

MRS KING: Thank you so much, Mrs Smith. We can always rely on you.
BARBARA: That's all right, Mrs King. Where's Mister Beckham today, then? Your husband.
SARAH JANE: I'm not married.
BARBARA: But David's your son.
SARAH JANE: I adopted him.
BARBARA: You can adopt even if you're on your own? I thought you couldn't do that.
SARAH JANE: You going to have more kids?
BARBARA: A couple more. That's always been the plan. Don't want her growing up on her own, nobody to play with. Here, I was doing this when I first met Eddie.
SARAH JANE: In a canteen or something?
BARBARA: The NAAFI, yeah. Eddie came in every afternoon, three on the dot. Milky tea and a teacake. Used to leave me silly notes. Miss Wilson, be mine. Miss Wilson, I adore you. Then one day, Miss Wilson, will you be Mrs Smith? So I sent one back. Mister Smith, I will. We still do it, look. Mrs Smith chips for tea please. You probably think we're soft, Victoria.
SARAH JANE: I don't. I think it's lovely.

[Empty shop]

RANI: There, the fissure's closed. Try the box.
CLYDE: What am I supposed to do?
RANI: I don't know. Hold it up.
CLYDE: Er, hocus pocus? Open sesame? Oh, I don't know. Oh, Jumanji!

(Nothing.)

CLYDE: I feel like a right fool.
RANI: Look at that. It's going crazy.
CLYDE: It's trying to tell us something.

[Refreshment tent]

(Eddie wheels in the pram.)

EDDIE: Watch out, here comes madam.
BARBARA: Oh! Look at her, so peaceful. What's she thinking?
EDDIE: Thinking about her tea, I reckon.
BARBARA: Eddie thinks she's going to turn out like his sister, the brain of Britain.
SARAH JANE: I'm sure she'll turn out fine.
BARBARA: You wonder sometimes, though, don't you, Victoria? What kind of world is she going to grow up in? Russians and the Yanks letting off H bombs left, right and centre. All these men with big ideas on how to live your life.
SARAH JANE: I think the future will be better than that.
EDDIE: Well, that's why we moved out here. You see, our generation, we had all the upheaval, the danger. But Sarah Jane's going to have a better life.
BARBARA: She's the best little girl in the world. We'll always be there for you, won't we, darling?
SARAH JANE: I'd better go. It was nice meeting you. No, it was incredible. Goodbye.

(Sarah Jane leaves.)

BARBARA: She's a funny one.

[Village square]

LUKE: Mum, it's time to go home. Now.
SARAH JANE: Yes. I'll never know why they left me that day, but I do know that they loved me.
LUKE: I thought I'd take this back to show Clyde and Rani. A souvenir, if that's okay?
SARAH JANE: Why not.

(She sees the date on Luke's newspaper.)

SARAH JANE: No. No, it can't be.
LUKE: What's the matter? Mum?
SARAH JANE: Today's date. August the 18th. It's the day they died.
LUKE: The boy, Oscar. He told you it was July. Why would he lie?
SARAH JANE: They drive off today. They leave me today. This afternoon. Now.
LUKE: We've got to go back home.
SARAH JANE: There, that's the car. My dad said, you heard him, he parked it by the memorial.
LUKE: We're going home, now.
SARAH JANE: I could save them with the sonic. I could put the car out of action, then wherever they were going, they'd never leave.
LUKE: But it's a fixed point in time. We know it happened.
SARAH JANE: But why? Why them? It's so unfair!
LUKE: You know you can't do it.
SARAH JANE: Luke, I have saved the lives of so many people. People I didn't even know, I don't know, Miners on Peladon, all the people drinking Bubbleshock, without a second thought. But this is my mum and dad.
LUKE: You know you're not meant to.
SARAH JANE: But why? Why can't I? Why shouldn't I save them too?
LUKE: What about the way you were brought up? If you changed it, then what if you never meet the Doctor? What if you never meet me?
SARAH JANE: I only want to look through the fissure, see what my life becomes if they survive. If there's anything wrong, we come back and set it right again.
LUKE: Unless this is the trap.
SARAH JANE: Why do we have to think this is something terrible? What if this is a good thing? All these years I've been putting other people first. There has to be something at the end of it, doesn't there? Something for me. What if this is it? My reward?
LUKE: Please. Stop for a moment. Think.
SARAH JANE: If I do, I'll change my mind.

(Sonic zap. The car shakes.)

SARAH JANE: There, I've disabled the engine. Now they can't go anywhere.
LUKE: You always said changing time was so dangerous.
SARAH JANE: Back to the fissure, now. Maybe the whole world will be better. It's just an experiment. I have to see.

(They run past the ruins of the Abbey. A crack appears in it.)

[Fete]

(Clouds and thunder.)

EDDIE: Weather's turning.
BARBARA: Forecast said sunny all day.
EDDIE: One day they'll get it right. But there's no clouds, that's weird.

(Oscar peers round the tombola.)

OSCAR: It's happening. Time for me to collect my prize.

[Empty shop]

RANI: Why has it turned red?
CLYDE: What? I don't like this at all.

(The fissure appears.)

RANI: It's Luke. Luke!

(No, it is Oscar.)

CLYDE: No, it's not him. It's that kid, Oscar.
RANI: Oscar, what's wrong? Where's Sarah Jane, the lady who helped you?
OSCAR: So stupid, humans.
CLYDE: I don't like where that sentence ended up either.

(Oscar shakes vigorously and turns into the little alien Graske, who produces a gun.)

CLYDE: Run!

[Street]

CLYDE: Let's split up.
RANI: No, think. It must be the Graske thing, and that'll protect us.
CLYDE: Let's not split up.

(Further on, they hide behind commercial wheelie bins.)

CLYDE: Here.
RANI: Something's happening.
CLYDE: Shush!
RANI: Hold on to me!

(The world goes wibbly and spins a lot. They scream as the bins get blown away.)

[Field]

LUKE: I can't see anything. What's happened?
SARAH JANE: I'm going through.
LUKE: Wait for me!

[Westminster]

LUKE: This is our time, our world.

(They emerge next to the ruins of the Houses of Parliament clock tower.)

SARAH JANE: That's impossible. What's happened to London? It's been destroyed!

[Greenford]

RANI: What just happened? Where are we?

[Westminster]

TRICKSTER: Bwahahahaha! Sarah Jane Smith.
SARAH JANE: Oh, no. Not you.
LUKE: Mum, what is it?
SARAH JANE: Where is this place?
TRICKSTER: This is what you wanted to see. Earth on the day that you left. Do you consider your experiment to be a success?
SARAH JANE: What have you done?
TRICKSTER: It was you. You gave me the power to walk this world. You gave this planet to the Trickster! Bwahahahahaha!

Part Two

[Westminster]

TRICKSTER: You gave me what I wanted all those years ago, in 1951.
SARAH JANE: You're lying. How could me saving my mum and dad do all of this? They're just two ordinary people.
TRICKSTER: This place is a weak point on the web of time. In the grand scheme of things, yes, you saving your parents was a tiny thing. But the village is on the faultline, and you smashed right through it.
LUKE: Time was broken open?
TRICKSTER: I existed only in the Limbo Dimensions. I could only walk in the shadows, appear only in your reality for fleeting moments. But you gave me a path into this world. I exist here, in the flesh, for ever.
SARAH JANE: I've defeated you before, I can do it again. We're going back to 1951.
TRICKSTER: Do you not understand? The battle is over. You've already lost.
LUKE: Mum, come on!
TRICKSTER: Bwahahahaha!

[Greenford]

(Looking like a quarry now.)

RANI: I don't get it.
CLYDE: This is Earth, twenty first century, right now. It's an alternative timeline. The box protected us like it protected Maria the last time the Trickster appeared, when the world changed around her.
RANI: This is Earth? Today?
CLYDE: Yep, and this is all that's left of London.
RANI: Where are all the people?
SARAH JANE: Gone.

[Field]

SARAH JANE: It's all my fault!
LUKE: All we have to do to change things back is repair the car.
SARAH JANE: And then what? I order my mother and father inside and send them off to their deaths?
LUKE: It's the only way.
SARAH JANE: I can't do it. If it was me, Luke, could you? I won't kill them! There must be another way. There's always another way! Look, negative energy readings coming from the village. He's breaking through somewhere down there.
LUKE: It's so cold.

(The storm clouds are building.)

SARAH JANE: That's not natural. It's starting. He's coming through!

[Fete]

MRS KING: Looks like rain. Astonishing how it's turned. Right, everybody inside. Come on! Look lively! Into the village hall! Come on!
BARBARA: Never seen it turn so bad so quickly. It's creepy.
EDDIE: Come on, love, let's get inside.
MRS KING: Chop, chop. Everybody into the hall.

[Greenford]

RANI: Are you okay?
CLYDE: I've been chased by Slitheen. I've been aboard a spaceship. I've had a Sontaran shooting at me. I always thought, I don't know, all in a day's work. Because it was scary and brilliant all at the same time.
RANI: Yeah, that's what I feel.
CLYDE: But this is different. We're in an alternative timeline. Our world never existed. So how do we get back home from here?
RANI: We keep walking?

(The Graske walks past an outcrop of rocks.)

CLYDE: Look!
RANI: He's got to be on his way somewhere.

[Foxgrove]

SARAH JANE: I can't get an exact fix on him.
LUKE: But he's here somewhere. I'm lost. We saw the Trickster in the future.
SARAH JANE: But he hasn't manifested himself yet. That's about to happen here, in 1951. If we can find him, perhaps we can still stop him.
LUKE: But how? What's that other way? How can we stop him?
SARAH JANE: I don't know, yet. There's only one person in the universe who would know straight away. One person who could help us. And where is he whenever you need him?

(And there, down an alley is a police telephone box.)

SARAH JANE: Oh, yes! Yes! I don't believe it! Doctor! It's me! Doctor!

(She knocks on the door and it opens.)

PC FERGUSON: You won't find a doctor in here, my love. What do you want?
SARAH JANE: Nothing. Sorry, officer. It's just a police box, that the TARDIS looks like. They were everywhere in this time period.
PC FERGUSON: That's as may be, but if you don't mind, missus?

(He shuts the door again.)

SARAH JANE: We can do this ourselves.

[Greenford]

RANI: Why is he still running round? There's nothing here.
CLYDE: Yeah, what does he want with Earth when it's in this state? Get down!

(They hide behind a boulder.)

CLYDE: Slowly.

(They carefully peer over the top of it. There is a group of people in rough weave clothes loading rocks into mining buckets, near some tents and a campfire.)

GRASKE: Humans, stop! Humans, rest!
CLYDE: They're slaves.
RANI: Oh, no. No, Clyde. Tell me that's not her. Mum!
CLYDE: Stay back! He's seen us!
GRASKE: Deviants! You don't belong.
CLYDE: He's scared of us.
RANI: That's my mum.
CLYDE: Stop, Rani. We've got to stay together. There's only one box.
RANI: No.

[Village square]

LUKE: Where is he? It all looks the same.
SARAH JANE: Wait. The Trickster must have been planning this for a while, before we even came here. Someone in the village might have seen something strange that could lead us to him.
LUKE: You're avoiding the question. How do we stop him?
SARAH JANE: We worry about that when we've found him.

(A sign for the fete says - moved to Village hall.)

SARAH JANE: Village hall! Come on!

[Greenford]

RANI: How can she be here?
CLYDE: Luke told me once that when time goes wrong, it tries to compensate, keep people on the same track.
RANI: Mum?
GITA: No talking. Go away.
RANI: Mum, it's me, it's Rani.
GITA: Why are you walking free? Nobody walks free. Graske says no talking. Go away.
RANI: What's he making you do? Tell me.
GITA: We're digging. The world's dead. It fell apart. The Graske made us dig. He won't stop till the last minerals are torn up.
CLYDE: Come on, organise a rebellion. Where's everybody else?
GITA: We're the last humans.
RANI: What have they done to you?
GITA: Go away!
RANI: Mum, please. Where's Dad? Your husband. Haresh.
GITA: No husband. Go.
RANI: She was born into this world. Never met my dad. I don't exist any longer.
CLYDE: Rani, come on. We are going back. There's always a way. What happened? How did the world die?
GITA: Everybody knows the legend. It was her.
CLYDE: Who's her? I mean, who's she?
GITA: Sarah Jane Smith.
CLYDE: What? You're not serious.
GITA: She handed the world to the Trickster.
CLYDE: What exactly happened? What did she do?
GITA: The legend says, years ago, he tricked her. There was a car. Her parents never left in the car, and that made a hole in the world, in the Abbots Gateway. The Trickster walked through the Abbots Gateway and sucked the life out of the world.
CLYDE: The Abbots Gateway? What's the Abbots Gateway?
GRASKE: Humans! Back to work. Go!
RANI: Mum, I'll save you, I promise. Everything's going to be all right, I promise.
GITA: No talking. Go away.
CLYDE: The Abbots Gateway. Hang on, I'm working this out. We have to get back there and tell them that the Trickster's coming through the Abbots Gateway, whatever that means.
RANI: How can we get back there? The fissure's shut, and it's the only way back.
CLYDE: The Graske works for the Trickster, right? But why? What does he get out of it?
RANI: No idea.
CLYDE: He can't grab us or send us anywhere weird if we've got the box.
RANI: Nowhere can be worse than this.

[Village hall]

(The food and produce stalls get set up.)

EDDIE: It's getting worse out there. Shame. I thought we could go for a drive later.
MRS KING: Here we go. Sustenance for the troops.

(She has a tray of teacups.)

SARAH JANE: Oh, hi. Hi there. You're going to think this is very strange, but we need to ask you something.
LUKE: In the last few days, have you noticed anything new or strange in the village? Something that wasn't there before?
BARBARA: No. What are you talking about?
SARAH JANE: Please think. It's important.
EDDIE: Are you two having a laugh?
LUKE: You know the village. Can you come with us, see if you can find anything that's changed?
BARBARA: But why? What's going on?
LUKE: We can't explain.
EDDIE: Sorry, what is all this? Are you taking the mick?
BARBARA: Look after Sarah Jane. I won't be five minutes.
EDDIE: Barbara, what are you doing?
BARBARA: They look like they're in trouble.
EDDIE: None of our business. What's got into your mummy, Sarah Jane?

[Greenford]

RANI: Are you sure about this?
CLYDE: I'm just going to do it the way Sarah Jane does it. We demand audience.
GRASKE: You are rejects. No place here for you. Go.
RANI: Send us home.
GRASKE: This is your home. Trickster makes this your home.
CLYDE: They're your slaves, right?
GRASKE: Take rocks from this planet. Give Trickster powers, to leave, go into space, take other worlds.
RANI: And then what? Another job for the Trickster? Because they're your slaves, but you're his slave, aren't you?
GRASKE: Graske never enslaved!
RANI: Then why do you work for him? What do you get out of it.
GRASKE: Human stupid! Trickster stole me.
CLYDE: What happened? Tell us.
GRASKE: You! Ha! Stupid!
CLYDE: Can't be that thick if we've got this, can we?
GRASKE: Give it to me! Humans must give box to Graske.
CLYDE: Ah, ah, ah. You tell us how he got you.
GRASKE: I was stupid. Should have died. Trickster tricked me. I was in spaceship, burning up.
TRICKSTER [memory]: Krizlok of the Graske. Listen to me. You don't have to die. I can lift you away to be safe at my side. But I must have your agreement.
GRASKE [memory]: What are you?
TRICKSTER [memory]: Do you want to live? Do I have your agreement?
GRASKE [memory]: Agreed! Agreed!
GRASKE: I'm a slave.
CLYDE: But you want to escape, be free? Look at this. It fights the Trickster's power, it protects us from him. And you.
GRASKE: Give it to me.
RANI: So you do want to be free. Think. We can help you.
CLYDE: Sarah Jane, the lady you tricked into doing all of this? She's defeated the Trickster once before.
GRASKE: But Trickster find me. I never escape.
CLYDE: Then I promise this time we'll stop him. Then we'll give you this. He'll never find you. You'll be free.
RANI: Open the fissure. Let us go back to Sarah Jane. We can help her. We can stop him like she did before.
GRASKE: Will open fissure.
RANI: Yes! Thank you!

(He does so with a device on his belt.)

GRASKE: You, stay with box.
RANI: No. We can't do that.
CLYDE: What did you think he was going to say? He needs a guarantee.
RANI: A hostage? I'm not leaving you here.
CLYDE: I'll be fine. And if this is what it's like, I've had a bellyful of time travel anyway. Go.
RANI: Clyde.

(Rani kisses Clyde on the cheek.)

GRASKE: Hurry, go.
CLYDE: Cool. Must be heroic more often. Remember! The Abbots Gateway!
RANI: I'll save you, Mum.

(Rani goes through the fissure, and it closes.)

[Field]

RANI: Right, let's go.

[Village square]

BARBARA: I can't see anything, David. It all looks the way it always has. The way it always will be.
LUKE: I wouldn't bet on that. There must be something.
SARAH JANE: Luke, over here! I think I've found something!

[Ruins]

(Barbara is intriqued by Sarah Jane's wrist watch tricorder.)

BARBARA: What's that? Tell me.
LUKE: What have you found, Mum?
SARAH JANE: An unusual energy reaction.
LUKE: I can't see anything, but he must be here.
BARBARA: Listen! I'm helping you, and you've not listened to me, you've not answered any of my questions.
SARAH JANE: I'm sorry. I really am sorry, but we can't. I wish I could.
BARBARA: You think I'm stupid, but I'm not. That thing, the way you talk. Energy reaction. Are you from somewhere else?
SARAH JANE: No. And I don't think you're stupid, Barbara. I think you're amazing, and a brilliant mother, and more than I ever hoped you'd be, but I can't say anything more.

[Village hall]

MRS KING: No sign of your winner yet, Mister Smith?
EDDIE: No. Something's not right with that lad. Or his mother.
MRS KING: Sandwich? Ham there, cheese there.
EDDIE: Never say no to free grub.

(Rani runs in.)

MRS KING: Oh! My goodness.
RANI: Yes, hello. Ethnic person in the Fifties. Hi. Listen, please. It's important.
EDDIE: Not another one.
RANI: I'm looking for Sarah Jane Smith.
EDDIE: What? Well, what do you want? She's right there.
RANI: Oh, wow. And you're her dad, right?
EDDIE: What do you want? What's going on?
RANI: No, I didn't mean I was looking for her. I mean, I'm looking for a woman. Short, brown hair, very pretty. Probably with her son. He's a bit weird.
EDDIE: You mean Victoria Beckham?
RANI: What?
EDDIE: Well, they were here.
RANI: Right. Where've they gone?
EDDIE: They're around. Said they were looking for something unusual, whatever that means.
RANI: Right. Thank you.

(Rani runs out.)

MRS KING: What on Earth was she wearing? Can that really be the fashion in the Punjab?
EDDIE: Mrs King, will you watch the baby, please?
MRS KING: Of course. Off you pop.

[Village square]

RANI: Luke! Luke!

(Lightning and thunder.)

LUKE: Rani! Over here!

[Ruins]

RANI: Sarah Jane?
SARAH JANE: How did you get here?
RANI: Long story.
BARBARA: Why did you call her that?
RANI: I did it again.
BARBARA: Who are you, and why did you call her Sarah Jane?
RANI: You stopped your parents driving off. They never got in the car, right?
SARAH JANE: Yes, but how can you know that?
RANI: Doesn't matter. The important thing is, the Abbots Gateway. The Trickster is coming through the Abbots Gateway.
LUKE: What's the Abbots Gateway?
BARBARA: It's over there. It's what they call that arch thing.
SARAH JANE: Of course. Religious sites, hallowed ground. Sometimes that's where the web of time is at its weakest.
LUKE: I can't see anything.
SARAH JANE: Same emission patterns, nothing specific. No sign of him.
RANI: But I know the Trickster comes through here.
SARAH JANE: How do you know?
RANI: My mum told me.
LUKE: Your mum?
SARAH JANE: What?
BARBARA: Listen. You called her Sarah Jane. Why did you call her Sarah Jane?
SARAH JANE: Oh, yes. There!

(Black smoke trying to solidify.)

SARAH JANE: A crack in time.
LUKE: He's coming through.
BARBARA: What's that? Oh, no.
EDDIE: Barbara! You're coming back home with me right now.
BARBARA: Wait. Eddie, look. That thing. Something's happening. Something really strange.
EDDIE: We're going home now. You stay away from us!
SARAH JANE: I didn't want it to be like this.
TRICKSTER [OC]: Soon I'll be free!

[Village hall]

MRS KING: There you are. All settled, I hope.
EDDIE: The storm's getting worse. Not that anything bothers madam.
MRS KING: I'll leave you both to it, then.
EDDIE: Look, let's cheer ourselves up a bit, eh? We'll go home, switch on the wireless and see what's on the Light Programme tonight.

(He picks up an orange which instantly goes mouldy.)

EDDIE: What the heck's going on? It's rotten.
BARBARA: It's to do with us. Eddie, look.

(Barbara brushes her hand against a vase of flowers, which turn to dust.)

EDDIE: What's happening?
BARBARA: Everything we touch turns bad. It's us. Something's wrong with us.

[Ruins]

TRICKSTER: Ah, I can breathe. Soon, I will be strong.
SARAH JANE: I can find the frequency you're using to manifest yourself and block it.
TRICKSTER: Empty words. Technology cannot help you.
SARAH JANE: No. I'm going to send you back.
TRICKSTER: Soon all three of you will cease to exist. I will step from this door and consume this world in chaos.
LUKE: It's not too late. There's only one way to stop him, Mum. We've both known it all along.
SARAH JANE: No, I can't.
LUKE: Use the sonic. Repair the car.
TRICKSTER: And send your parents to their deaths. Will you be the agent of their destruction?

[Village hall]

BARBARA: That Indian girl, she said something to Victoria. She said, you stopped them driving off. They never left in the car. As if it was a bad thing that we didn't go. And not going, that let out that terrible creature under the arch.
EDDIE: None of this makes sense.
BARBARA: It does if you think about Victoria, who she really is. That girl, she called her Sarah Jane. I said I'd seen her before.

[Ruins]

TRICKSTER: Too late! I'm growing stronger!

[Village square]

RANI: It's too late. They won't drive off and you won't make them.

(Sarah Jane repairs the car with her lipstick.)

SARAH JANE: Rani's right. I won't kill my own mum and dad. I can't do it. He's beaten me.
BARBARA: Victoria! If we get in the car and drive away right now, then that's the end of that thing under the arch. I know I'm right.
SARAH JANE: You can't, you mustn't go.
BARBARA: We've got to. But not Sarah Jane. Not our baby. Take her. Look after her.
LUKE: This is why they left that day. They didn't abandon you, Mum. They saved you.
EDDIE: One thing, though. It's important. Sarah Jane, our baby. Is she safe, does she have a good life?
SARAH JANE: Yes. So many incredible things. Things you wouldn't believe. Don't go.
EDDIE: Got to, though, haven't we?
BARBARA: Like he worked any of it out. I said, didn't I? I don't understand it but sometimes the heart knows things the mind can't explain.
SARAH JANE: Mum. Dad.
EDDIE: Come here, come here.

(Family hug.)

BARBARA: Look at you, older than us.
EDDIE: And you came all that way to see us.
SARAH JANE: I thought you'd left me behind. I never knew you. I never had the chance. It was so unfair.
BARBARA: Who said life was fair, eh?
SARAH JANE: I tried so hard to resist the temptation. I knew the dangers, but I just couldn't stop myself. I had to see you.
BARBARA: I'm so glad you did.
SARAH JANE: So am I, Mum.
BARBARA: (to baby) Goodbye, Sarah Jane. (to adult) Goodbye, Sarah Jane.
EDDIE: Goodbye, Sarah Jane.
SARAH JANE: Bye, Dad. I won't forget you. I'll never forget you.

(Eddie and Barbara get into the car and drive away. The clouds vanish and the sunshine returns.)

TRICKSTER: No! Stop them. Stop them! You have denied me! My hunger
SARAH JANE: I did nothing. That was my mum and dad saving the world, something we Smiths can't help doing.
TRICKSTER: But you, you couldn't do it. I knew you could never do it.
SARAH JANE: You were right. I couldn't send them off. But you didn't count on one thing. They were brilliant. They worked it out, they went by themselves. My mum and dad defeated you.

(The Trickster explodes and vanishes with a scream.)

LUKE: We've got to put things back on track. We've got to leave her.

[Greenford]

(The world starts to shake.)

CLYDE: Whoa. Hold on. This is it!

(The Graske grabs Clyde as the world spins.)

[Empty shop]

CLYDE: Yes! See? I told you. She did it! Sarah Jane is the man!
GRASKE: Give box! We did deal.
CLYDE: I'm a man of my word.

(He gives the Graske the Verron Soothsayer's box.)

GRASKE: Ha! Free!

(The Graske disappears.)

CLYDE: Right. Come on, Sarah Jane.

(Back in the field in 1951, Rani, Luke and Sarah Jane take one last look at Foxgrove before activating the Converter and going through the fissure.)

CLYDE: Yes! Welcome home! Sarah Jane, look at you! You did it! We did it, the team! I'm missing something, aren't I?
SARAH JANE: This time, it stays closed.

(She closes the fissure then stamps on the Converter.)

SARAH JANE: Let's go home.

[Outside Sarah Jane's home]

GITA: Hello! You didn't say you were with Sarah. I've been phoning all afternoon. I was just about to get worried. Oh, I like your look. Where've you been, somewhere nice?
RANI: Mum, come here.

(Rani gives Gita a big hug.)

GITA: What's brought this on? What are you after? Sarah, come on. What's she done?
SARAH JANE: She's been great.
HARESH: Rani, the state of your room, like a bomb's hit it.
RANI: Dad! I'll go and clean my room right now. I'll do anything you want.
HARESH: What did I do to deserve this? I thought you were too old for cuddles.
RANI: Oh, no. Not for as long as you live.
GITA: Bye, Sarah. Bye, boys. Come on, you.
HARESH: You still have to do your room.

(Gita, Haresh and Rani go across the road.)

CLYDE: I'll be off home, then. Today I've been to an alternative timeline and now I'm saying I'll be off home, then?
SARAH JANE: That's the life we lead. Sometimes it brings you such joy, and sometimes it brings you the worst things in the world.

(Clyde leaves.)

[Attic]

(Sarah Jane shows Luke the photograph of Eddie and Barbara.)

SARAH JANE: That's all I ever had of them. But life goes on. It has to. Oh, Luke, they were my mum and dad. And they were wonderful.
LUKE: It's made me realise. I'm so lucky, because I've got my mum. I've got you.

(As they hug, we pan down to the back of the photograph, where it says Mr Smith I need you.)

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

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