History Series / Thesarahjaneadventures

** Alan tries to cover for Maria's alien hunting by telling Chrissie she's playing an AlternateRealityGame. Chrissie's reaction is "Like when we were looking for [[Literature/KitWilliamsMasquerade that golden rabbit]]?"

* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: School-based plots were common in the first three series.

* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Double Subverted with the Nightmare Man. Luke gives a WorldOfCardboardSpeech which he simply laughs off, asking if he really believes that talking would defeat a creature like him. [[spoiler: ''I wasn't talking to you.'' cue OhCrap.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In "The Man Who Never Was", Luke sends a Morse code message that told "Clani" to grab Harrison's pen. Clyde stated he was never more glad to see a full stop. [[http://twitter.com/#!/OldRoberts953/status/126370112335904768 Gareth Roberts even tweeted how surprised he was that it got through]].

** Luke gets a few in Series 4; his speech to the Nightmare Man and the look on his face when he returns at the end of Series 4.

* LeftHanging: Virtually every plot in motion at the time of Elisabeth Sladen's demise was cut down and left to imagination. This includes the "Clani" romance, the idea Luke was going to come out as gay, Sky's true nature as a servant of the Trickster, Mr. Smith assuming human forme for a brief spell, and virtually any future developments with these characters, as none have made even the slightest peep in any of the main ''Doctor Who'' timeframe or the expanded universe beyond small mentions and fleeting Sarah Jane comic cameos.

* MagicalComputer[=/=]OmniscientDatabase: Mr. Smith, Sarah Jane's [[MagicalComputer alien computer]], has access to all sorts of stuff, as he can "hack into anything" and thus is able to scan for any news about alien activity. Sarah Jane [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this, pointing out he is also configured to look up boy band news. This is a somewhat JustifiedTrope, given that the computer is a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien one, and this is acknowledged by the fact that it has restricted files which humans can't access. [[spoiler:Which turns out to be because he's evil.]]

* RedPillBluePill: Sarah Jane offers Rani this choice.

** In "Death of the Doctor" Clyde, realising he's got Artron energy flowing through him in the middle of a UNIT base, fears the same might happen.

The series was cancelled following Sladen's death, but three out of the six planned two-parters for Series 5 were already completed and aired posthumously in October 2011. Although UK media reported that the BBC was considering continuing the series in some fashion, common sense prevailed and the series was retired. Russell T Davies and Phil Ford swiftly created a replacement series, ''Series/WizardsVsAliens'', which allowed most of the production team (though not the cast) of SJA to keep their jobs. At least one episode of [=WvA=] ("The Thirteenth Floor") was adapted from one of the episodes that had been planned for SJA's fifth season but never filmed due to Sladen's death.

...Or does it? On April 19th 2020, nine years after Sladen's death, a special minisode, 'Farewell Sarah Jane', premiered, written by Russel T. Davies, and intended as the final word on the character.
* 'Farewell Sarah Jane' has Rani theorise that Sarah Jane isn't dead and instead had one last adventure with The Doctor believing that they're travelling through the stars and exploring the universe forever. The story goes on forever as Sarah still has many more adventures beyond 'The Man Who Never Was' and even after she's lone gone, her legacy still lives on. Rani eventually ends up inheriting Sarah's house and living there even during 2059 as shown in 'The Mad Woman in The Attic'.

* LighterAndSofter: Compared to Sarah Jane's Big Finish series, and on occasion, the [[Series/DoctorWho main show]] itself... Most of the time, at least. The series has featured a few downright ''[[NightmareFuel terrifying]]'' villains, like the Clown and the Nightmare Man.

* {{Novelization}}: All of Series 1 and 2 and several stories from later seasons were adapted as young adult novels, the first such books of their kind to be published as part of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' franchise since the 1990s. They occasionally feature an AdaptionExpansion, such as in ''The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith'' novelization, which has a scene not included in the episode where the Brigadier counsels Clyde over Skype about the changes going on in life.

* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: The Doctor has crossed-over twice, but it really doesn't bear worth thinking why he leaves saving the world in all the other episodes up to a bunch of kids and a old woman (maybe because he knows they're capable).
** Torchwood is also absent, as is any references to the earth-shattering events it takes part in (i.e. Children of Earth - although Luke, Rani, Clyde and Maria are pubescent and thus weren't affected). This is implied to be invoked-given how little she likes UNIT and their guns, it only stands to reason that she'd be even less willing to work with Torchwood.

* ActorAllusion: Ronnie Corbett's character Rani [[spoiler: the Slitheen]] in the UsefulNotes/ComicRelief special mini-episode is all about this, starting with mention of "the two Ranis".

* CharacterOutlivesActor:
** A 2010 episode revealed that 60s ''Doctor Who'' companions Barbara (Wright) Chesterton and Ben Jackson were both still alive, despite the actors who played them having died in the 1990s. (By contrast, the character of Harry Sullivan, whose actor died in the 1980s, was referenced in the past tense enough to indicate that he's deceased.)
** Sarah Jane Smith herself is still alive, despite the death of Creator/ElisabethSladen. The last episode of the series ends with the words "And the story goes on...forever."
*** The expanded Whoniverse (novels, etc.) had previously established that Sarah Jane lives beyond 2011 (the year Sladen died).

* ContinuityLockout: The occasional throwaway reference aside, the series manages to avoid this with its younger viewers, even in the continuity-heavy "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E5E6DeathOfTheDoctor Death of the Doctor]]". That said, some level of lockout is unavoidable for viewers who have never seen ''Series/DoctorWho''.

** Had the series continued beyond 2011 after Elisabeth Sladen's passing, the Doctor would have made another appearance, but not the David's Doctor or Matt's: Creator/TomBaker, the Fourth Doctor himself, would have returned to see 'his Sarah Jane' once more.

%% Dawson Casting example moved to Trivia tab.

* EvilVsEvil: In "Enemy of the Bane"; the Bane Kindred vs. [[spoiler:Mrs. Wormwood and Commander Kaagh]].

* 'Farewell Sarah Jane' has Rani theorise that Sarah Jane isn't dead and instead had one last adventure with The Doctor believing that they're travelling through the stars and exploring the universe forever. The story goes on forever as Sarah still had many more adventures beyond 'The Man Who Never Was' and even after she's lone gone, her legacy lives on. Rani eventually ends up inheriting Sarah's house and living there even during 2059 as shown in 'The Mad Woman in The Attic'.

* 'Farewell Sarah Jane' has Rani theorise that Sarah Jane isn't dead and instead had one last adventure with The Doctor believing that they're travelling through the stars and exploring the universe forever. The story goes on forever as Sarah's legacy lives on and Rani eventually ends up inheriting Sarah's house and living there even during 2059 as shown in The Mad Woman in The Attic.

...Or does it? On April 19th 2020, ten years after Sladen's death, a special minisode, 'Farewell Sarah Jane', premiered, written by Russel T. Davies, and intended as the final word on the character.

* PlotRelevantAgeUp: [[spoiler:Sky]].

* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:The race of supercomputers that Mr. Smith belongs to.]]

* SeasonFinale

** To ''Franchise/StarWars''[[note]]specifically ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''[[/note]] in "Enemy of the Bane". 'Luke. I am your Mother!'

** Clyde was once upset that the teacher didn't accept [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the battle of Hoth]] as actual history.

** In "Death of the Doctor" Clyde, realising he's got Artron energy flowing through him in the middle of a UNIT base fears the same might happen.

** [[spoiler: Sarah Jane becomes the TokenWhite when Luke leaves and it actually helps Rani and Clyde's development.]]

----

* LineOfSightName: In "The Curse of Clyde Langer", when Clyde's name is cursed and he has to give a fake name, he looks at an Enrico's pizza box and gives the name Enrico Box.

* ParentService: All the teen characters' dads are remarkably hot. Rani has her male fans. Chrissie and Gita sometimes wear low-cut tops. Then there's [[GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave Sarah Jane]] herself. There have also been more than a few guest stars who also fall into this trope.

** To ''Franchise/StarWars''[[note]]specifically ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''[[/note]] in "Enemy of the Bane". Luke. I am your Mother!

'''[[spoiler:[[DisappearedDad Paul]]]]:''' [[Anime/YuGiOh OK... is this]] [[Anime/YuGiOhGX some kind of]] [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds trading card thing?]]]

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Sarah Jane, despite meeting all kinds of aliens, flatly refuses to consider the possibility that the events in "The Eternity Trap" are caused by ghosts, or even by aliens with similar properties.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Sarah-Jane frequently. She's an ex-companion of The Doctor, do ''not'' tick her off.

** Luke gets a few in Series 4; his speech to the nightmare man and the look on his face when he returns at the end of Series 4.

* {{Novelization}}: All of Series 1 and 2 and several stories from later seasons were adapted as young adult novels, the first such books of their kind to be published as part of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' franchise since the 1990s.

* {{UST}}: Clyde and Rani, since first meeting, but more noticeable in series 4.

** This isn't necessarily true. The Sarah Jane Adventures actually had four comic strips distributed from The Sarah Jane Adventures website on (C)BBC. The first three comics were unique show related adventures (Monster Hunt, Return of the Krulius and Defending Bannerman Road) and the fourth one was The Silver Bullet which was an in-universe comic that [[spoiler:Clyde was developing in Series 5]]

** Sarah Jane Smith herself is still alive, despite the death of Creator/ElisabethSladen. The last episode of the series ends with the words "And the story goes on...[[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming forever]]."