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Recap / The Sarah Jane Adventures S 3 E 11 E 12 The Gift

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A pair of Raxacoricofallapatorians offer Sarah Jane a special plant as a token of friendship.

While trying to stop a Slitheen plot to turn the Earth into a giant diamond, Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, and Rani get unexpected help from two brown-skinned Raxacoricofallapatorians named Leaf and Tree, members of the Blathereen family. They claim to have dedicated themselves to hunting down and capturing the Slitheen. After joining our heroes for dinner, the Blathereen give Sarah Jane a plant called Rakweed, which they say will help solve world hunger as it can thrive in the harshest conditions. After Mr. Smith finds the plant to be harmless, Sarah Jane accepts.

The plant mutates overnight and releases its now deadly spores, infecting Luke. Sarah Jane goes to the Blathereen's ship, where she learns that Leaf and Tree are in fact the Slitheen-Blathereen and see the Blathereen side of their family as worthless "do-gooders." The Slitheen-Blathereen are farmers who are addicted to Rakweed and hope to turn Earth into the site of a new Rakweed crop.

The Rakweed spreads all over London, including Clyde and Rani's school. They see its spores infect their classmates and teachers. When the school bell rings, the nearby Rakweed is destroyed. Realizing that the sound is the plant's weakness, they tell K-9, who Clyde had brought to school to cheat on a test, to increase the bell's volume and destroy all the Rakweed in the school. With Mr. Smith's help, they are able to mimic the bell's frequency all over London, destroying the rest of the Rakweed and curing Luke. Sarah Jane tells Mr. Smith to prepare to mimic the sound once more, but only in the attic.

Clyde, Rani, and K-9 return to 13 Bannerman Road, where Clyde confesses to using K-9 to cheat on a test. Leaf and Tree teleport into Sarah Jane's attic and threaten to kill everyone. Sarah Jane orders Mr. Smith to produce the noise one more time. This destroys the undigested Rakweed in Leaf and Tree's stomachs, which produces methane gas and causes them to explode, spraying slime all over Sarah Jane and the others. Our heroes celebrate with a barbecue.

Tropes

  • Alien Catnip: The Rakweed is edible to both Raxacoricofallapatorians and humans, and was known to be addictive to Raxacoricofallapatorians.
  • Alien Kudzu: The Rakweed produces large amounts of spores, which increase the Rakweed's number, and infect life forms which were considered dangerous to the plant. Those who were affected by the spores would suffer a distinctive red and black rash, become weaker and enter into a deep coma which they might never waken.
  • Bathos: Sarah Jane laments at having to kill the villains - while covered in gunge as a result of them literally farting themselves to death.
  • Batman Grabs a Gun: After Luke get a heavy dose of the Rakweed spores in his system, Sarah Jane grabs a very large pressurised vinegar-filled water gun, and tells Mr. Smith to teleport her to the Blathereen, and threatens them with it on their spaceship, demanding the Rakweed to be destroyed or they'll be vinegar'd to death. To prove she's serious, she fires it near their feet, and the Blathereen do take her somewhat seriously, She warns them that she's feeling "very trigger happy."
  • Brown Note: The Rakweed is killed by soundwaves of a certain frequency.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • We have the first on-screen appearance of the Blathereen, who first appeared and were established as rivals to the Slitheen in the Doctor Who Ninth Doctor novel "The Monsters Inside", and were also mentioned by Glune Slitheen back in "Revenge of the Slitheen"
    • Clyde asks Rani what Sarah would do. Rani replies, "She'd do what she always does: improvise." This is how the Third Doctor described his own approach to Sarah in "The Five Doctors".
    • Sarah Jane, after killing off the antagonists: "This isn't how it should end. There should have been... another way." Although this serial ends on a decidedly happier note.
  • It's Personal: It gets personal for Sarah Jane after Luke gets infected by the Rakweed.
  • Killed Offscreen: As usual for the Slitheen, the real Chris and Dave were killed sometime before the events of this story start.
  • Loophole Abuse: Clyde justifies bringing K9 into school to cheat on a test - textbooks aren't allowed, but there's nothing about robot dogs.
  • Mama Bear: Sarah Jane cares very much for Luke, and when he gets infected with Rakweed spores, her ethical and moral standard of not using lethal weapons The Doctor taught her goes straight out the window.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Luke had to be removed from the narrative due to Tommy Knight taking his GCSEs.
  • Running Gag:
    • The cast getting showered with slime.
    • Sarah Jane burning food.
  • They Called Me Mad!: Invoked by our favourite Deadpan Snarker Clyde after it turned out that his bringing K-9 to school to cheat on a test would save the day.
  • Toilet Humor: The Blathereen are killed by a buildup of methane gas in their bodies. As Clyde puts it, they farted themselves to death.
  • Written-In Absence: Rani's parents are away at a teachers conference, which results in Rani having to stay with Sarah Jane during that time.

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