The Sarah Jane Adventures (TV Series) The Gift: Part One (2009) User Reviews

The Weeds of Death

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 7/10 · 23 January 2020]

Review of both parts:

This story involves Sarah Jane and her young team meeting relatives of the Slitheen, who announce themselves as the peaceful Blathereen. They help deal with some Slitheen and ask to give a gift to the world in the form of a plant called Rakweed that supposedly could solve problems such as world hunger. Of course all is not as it seems.

This is reminiscent of the classic 2nd Doctor story the Seeds of Death although the impressive effects used for the plant spores are light years away from the popping balloons and soap suds from the 60s story haha.

The story is decent and there is exciting drama as Luke suffers his first ever illness and danger looms in a great cliffhanger. Overall there are contrivances and less convincing aspects but this is a fun adventure.

My ratings: Part 1 - 7/10, Part 2 - 6.5/10. Overall - 6.75/10.

Series 3 was not quite as consistently strong as Series 1 & 2 but was not far off. Still a very enjoyable series.

My average rating for Series 3 - 7.63/10.

The Slitheens' Master Plan

[wetmars · 7/10 · 25 October 2020]

When the Slitheen's latest scheme to destroy Earth for profit is foiled, another family from the Slitheen's planet arrive, the Blathereen. Though they seem helpful, can they be trusted? As a generous gesture of peace, the Blathereen gift the gang with a plant called Rakweed, which could end world hunger. However, the Rakweed goes wild, spreading spores about London and infecting people, including Luke. Sarah must fight alone, not only to save the Earth, but also her son. Meanwhile, Clyde smuggles K9 into school to help him cheat at a test, and he, Rani and the metal dog find themselves trapped in the school - surrounded by Rakweed. Can the team work together across Ealing - and Antarctica - to prevent Rakweed from devouring the entire planet?

Review of both parts -

Finally, we get much more screentime of K-9! It was the best of the Slitheen, a devastating plan to release a spreading spore illness throughout London. Aside from the immature farting jokes, this is finally the last time we will see the Slitheen, well, not quite. We have two more cameos coming up. I'm so damn tired of the farting jokes.

Anyway, about that, Sarah Jane did something for once! Not just standing there and get help from Luke, Clyde, and Rani. She did it herself.

7/10.

Good start to the finale.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 4 January 2024]

Leaf and Tree Blathereen intervene, and stop two Slitheen from destroying the world, Sarah Jane shows her gratitude by hosting a dinner party for the pair, they in turn gift Sarah with a plant, known as rakweed.

It's a nice start to the series three finale, in a change up, the excitement comes pretty early on, and it settles down into a rather cosy episode, but of course there's a twist.

It's a really clever story, there a degree of imagination that surpasses some of the more recent episodes of Doctor Who even.

I like the idea of the blathereen, and that the planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius has several different races, not just The Slitheen.

I like how it references both classic and modern day Doctor Who, a nice reference to Logopolis.

Clyde trying to cheat through a test with K9's help was funny.

No denying the sheer brilliance of both Miriam Margolyes and Simon Callow, two of Britain's finest actors, it's just a shame we don't get to see either of them, but their voices are enough.

8/10.

Some Nice Symbolism and a Big Plot Hole

[boblipton · 6/10 · 21 January 2011]

THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES is a good spin-off from the BBC Wales version of DOCTOR WHO, in which Sarah Jane Smith, an old traveling companion of the Doctor, battles various alien threats to Earth with her adopted son Luke, two of his friends, an alien super-computer and K-9, a robot dog from the 6th Millennium. It is pitched for younger children, and typically contains a goodly amount of thrills, moral lessons, and aliens.

In this one, aliens from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, who have previously appeared in the 2005 season of DOCTOR WHO, trick Sarah Jane into accepting Raxweed, which they say can feed the planet. However, it soon becomes clear that this is a virulently invasive species which will, like kudzu in the American Southeast, take over the planet, unless Sarah and her teenage assistants can stop it. The story is told with the series' usual good humor, action and production values. Happily for fans of the serial form like me, all the stories of Season Three are written as two-parters, which permits cliffhangers. In addition, some important issues are handled symbolically -- something which fantasy and science fiction do very nicely: the question of whom to trust, the dangers of introducing new species into a a local ecology -- just like kudzu, as mentioned above -- and the dangerous allure of fame.

Unfortunately, there is a big plot hole: since the Raxweed spreads itself rapidly via spores -- fast enough to cover all of greater London in three days and the entire planet, presumably, in a few weeks, why did the aliens need to involve Sarah Jane at all? Why not just drop it in an out-of-the-way spot and let it conquer the Earth before anyone noticed? Well, I suppose the production team figured that its target audience would not notice.