Trivia / The Sarah Jane Adventures S2 E9-10 "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith"

• Recycled Script: The story and its ending bear many similarities to the Doctor Who episode "Father's Day". Both feature a companion preventing the automobile collision death of one or both of their parents during the companion's infancy, but the event is a fixed moment in time that cannot be altered without dangerous consequences; the course of history is derailed and put on a path that allows a destructive force that would ultimately destroy mankind access to the world, thereby causing horrific damage to the Earth (such as the case of the Reapers and the Trickster); Sarah's parents, like Rose Tyler's father, sacrifice themselves to restore the timeline and protect their daughter.
  • The story also bears may similarities with "The Curse of Fenric". Luke, like Ace, met his young grandparents and his infant mother. Both of their grandfathers died, and their grandmothers sped off in a car to protect the infants.
• What Could Have Been: In the original treatment, Sarah Jane identified a time fissure at the disused RAF Twyford, and used it to travel back to 1951, during the airbase's heyday — the place and time of her parents' death in a mysterious accident. Masquerading as Commander June Barlow to fool Group Captain Burfield, Sarah Jane became suspicious of research being conducted by Dr Kendrick. Clyde came through the time fissure to assist her, but the first episode ended with the reveal that this was really the Trickster in disguise, as her friends were actually being kept away from the fissure in the present day by the Graske. Sarah Jane discovered that Dr Kendrick was working with a lethal type of bacteria, but did not realise that the scientist and her parents were already infected. In the original version of history, they sacrificed their lives by crashing a plane loaded with all samples of the bacteria. Due to Sarah Jane's interference, however, this no longer transpired and the infection began to spread uncontrollably. Fortunately, in the present day, her friends were approached by an old woman named Jinty who had helped care for the infant Sarah Jane as a twelve-year-old on the base. Armed with Jinty's information, Luke was able to travel through the time fissure and help his mother put history back on track.

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