23rd January, 2013

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 episode 9 "Lost in Time" part 1

     The preview promises a time warping adventure this time out, which should provide a good contrast with the other stories this season. We jump right into the story, with Sarah Jane, Rani, and Clyde following up on a report of an alien in a shop downtown. They encounter "The Shopkeeper" who purposefully led them there to recruit them on a mission to retrieve three metal objects hidden throughout Earth's history. Retrieving these objects is necessary to prevent some sort temporal disaster and The Shopkeeper is "forbidden" to retrieve these objects himself. Sarah Jane is left to ponder several unanswered questions: Who hid these objects in Earth's history? For what purpose? Are these objects forged from the Time Vortex the solution to whatever is putting the Earth in peril or the cause? How is the Shopkeeper aware of their previous adventures in time,and can he be trusted? Before she can decide the wisdom of taking this character at his word and putting all of their lives in danger, the Shopkeeper sends each of the gang into a different period of time, informing them that they should appear near the object, they'll know when they've found it, and they'll be returned to the present when they've obtained it.
     Rani travels to the tower of London on July 19, 1553, the final day of Jane Grey's 9 day reign. She pulls a Doctor patented move in being mistaken for an expected visitor and manages to become a lady-in-waiting for the ill-fated Queen. She forms an instant bond with the young monarch, but raises the suspicions of another of her handmaidens, Lady Matilda. With Mary I's troops right outside the tower, Rani uncovers a plot by Matilda to assassinate Jane Grey, and observes her unwrapping a dagger made of a suspicious looking metal....
     Clyde winds up in a locale right out of "The Curse of Fenric" as he meets a lad named George whose family had been relocated because of WWII. The year is 1941, which is supported by the uniforms of the 3 Nazi invaders they observe landing on the beach. The kids follow the soldiers to a church, where they are found out and captured while trying to hide. The Lieutenant in charge describes the plan to block radio transmissions to provide cover for an invasion, and pulls out a "Thor's hammer" that is much smaller than the one we saw last summer in "The Avengers" (A Norse artificat...hmmm...) to power the scrambling device they are constructing. Clyde realizes that the hammer is glowing and is undoubtedly the item he is looking for...
     Sarah Jane comes to in a small room under a flight of stairs. After being unable to locate Harry Potter, she exits the room to encounter a young lady Emily Morris who informs her that the year is 1889. Ms. Morris had arrived at the obviously haunted mansion in order to do a little ghost-busin' apparently. As per normal, the odd events begin at 8pm precisely. They hear voices, and from their use of modern slang, Sarah surmises that they are hearing events from the future, not from the past. Sarah forgets her current task and endeavors to save the future children they're hearing from being burned in the fire the kids are in danger of starting.
     We finish the episode back in the present, with the Shopkeeper fretting that the sands in the hourglass he's using to provide the episode's obligatory deadline have about run out. It looks about half full to me, but whatever. Hopefully we'll learn more about his purpose and motivations next week as we've reached the cliffhanger and the end of part 1.