Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16150 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-29
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 61 minutes

DVD Description
The Sarah Jane Adventures was written by the multi award-winning Russell T Davies for CBBC, starring Doctor Who's companion Sarah Jane Smith. The series features thrilling stories for children. Big adventures, superb effects, wicked comedy.

Sarah Jane Smith is a truly remarkable woman. She inhabits a world of mystery, danger and wonder. A world where aliens are commonplace and the Earth is constantly under threat. A world that Maria Jackson - a seemingly ordinary girl - can only dream of until she moves in next door. Nothing will ever be ordinary again.

In the first adventure, there's a new drink taking the world by storm - Bubbleshock! Everyone's drinking it. When Maria's dragged along to the factory tour by her new friend, Kelsey - a girl with an opinion on everything - she's plunged into the sinister world of Bubbleshock and the mysterious Mrs Wormwood. There's something terrible behind the hype - something Sarah Jane's interested in too...

Synopsis
Maria Jackson's boring life collides with the excitement of that of Sarah Jane Smith, when the pair find themselves living next door to one another. Sarah inhabits a world of intrigue and adventure and Maria is about to tag along for the ride...

Customer Reviews

A Lovely Little Kid's Programme That Adults Can Watch
This is more of an official spin off from Doctor Who than Torchwood, by that I mean that it feels like the parent show and invokes the flavour of the 1970's Doctor Who stories that feature Sarah Jane.
There is no written rule that says a spin off has to mimic the parent programme, but I feel that Torchwood was possibly too far removed from Doctor Who to appeal to many hard core Doctor Who fans, Torchwood is good but not really Doctor Who. The Sarah Jane adventures are Doctor Who from the 1970's but without the Doctor himself and that is how it should be.

The fact that Sarah is my favourite companion ever goes a long way towards my enjoyment of this episode despite the fact that it is really for children, children's television does not mean that it is second rate and not worth the attention of adults if it is made well and I had a very enjoyable hour on New Years Day when it was transmittered watching this with my 10 year old daughter, she loved it.

It is very nostalgic in a way and reflects the children's drama programmes that I used to watch as a kid, such as King of the Castle, The Feathered Serpent and Into the Labyrinth and of course the original spin off from Doctor Who, K9 and Company starring Elisabeth Sladen.

Elisabeth Sladen slips back into the character of Sarah Jane with ease, just as she did in School Reunion a few months earlier, in Doctor Who she was always just 'the assistant' however good, but here she takes the lead and new facets to her character emerge, ones that were not necessarily evident in Doctor Who and I look forward to seeing how she develops in the tv series.

Elisabeth Sladen's co-stars are children of course and there have been many shows from the past spoiled because of the inability of many children to act convincingly, but here they have struck gold, the main girl in the show is a lovely little actress and gels instantly with Sladen and sets up the series nicely.

All in all this is a pleasant little kids adventure that is entertaining to adults also and will provide more of that 'Doctor Who' atmosphere than Torchwood ever can. Roll on the series.

Important information
It is important to note that if you are going to buy "The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Series" you have no need to purchase this disc, it is EXACTLY THE SAME as disc one of the box set.

Great - but what about the rest of the series!!?
It's all very well releasing the pilot on DVD, but what has happened to the proposed DVD release of series 1? Amazon had volume 1 listed for a while, but then took the listing down. And why can't we have a box set of the whole series, as with Doctor Who and Torchwood? Would someone from the BBC kindly explain what's happening and why we're having to wait so long? The second series will be airing soon!