Secrets of the Stars

"The stars work in mysterious ways."

Writer: Gareth Roberts 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 20th-27th October 2008

Series: SJA 2.03

Featuring: Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, Rani

Synopsis 

Astrologer Martin Trueman causes a stir with his uncanny insights and predictions. Sarah doesn't believe in astrology, but she does believe that all is not as it seems with Trueman. Around her, people are falling under Trueman's sinister spell and even Mr Smith doesn't understand what's going on.

Verdict 

Secrets of the Stars was an incredible story to continue the second series of the Sarah Jane Adventures! In what is probably surprising, it now ranks as my all time favourite story from the spinoff series and sees the show finally get a perfect rating. It's certainly been coming with the recent high standard and I'm very glad to have finally been able to award the perfect ten to a SJA story. I thought part one was absolutely flawless and part two wasn't very far behind but I had no qualms in awarding the story the full marks. The idea behind the plot was simply genius and a story based heavily on astrology was a great move. In the Doctor Who universe, I think it was about time that it got explored and the Sarah Jane Adventures was the perfect platform for it. The heavy focus on the signs of the Zodiac was excellent and I liked how at the start of the story we saw Martin Trueman admit that he was indeed a fraud. He made his astrology and predictions up and took money for it. Cheryl had fallen for his claims but soon ended up serving him after the Ancient Lights made their return to the universe after 13 billion years. Mr Smith failing to identify the power that Trueman possessed was really intriguing and I then loved that Luke worked out that the power came from a universe that no longer existed. The one that was present prior to the Big Bang. That immediately caught my intention and although I've never been big on astrology (I'm a firm non believer), the concept playing out in the story was superb. I must say I thought Russ Abbott was absolutely brilliant as Trueman and his performance really was a large reason in my decision to give this story the full marks. It absolutely deserved them. I really liked the references to The Hand of Fear and The Lost Boy and I thought the flashback to School Reunion was very good in showing viewers that Sarah Jane had a past relationship with the Doctor. I do wish they'd show a flashback to her travels with the Third or Fourth Doctor and I'm sure they'll get there in good time so I'm happy to remain patient. When the story quality is as good as it was here though, hoping for flashbacks is not going to concern me. Trueman's knowledge of the Doctor was fantastic and the reaction that brought out of Sarah Jane was absolutely brilliant. She didn't want it known and she couldn't quite believe that he'd come to it so easily. Rani was wonderful in the story and it's terrific to see how quickly she's established herself as a main character. Sarah Jane has taken a liking and Maria already seems to be forgotten about which I think is definitely a bonus. There's no doubt that I enjoyed Maria, but Rani has replaced her now and she's who we should be talking about. I really enjoyed the mention of Draconia and it was also interesting to see some emotion from Luke regarding his lack of birthday. I can see why that bothered him and for the first time it seemed that his being different was having an adverse effect on him. It was great though that his lack of being born but rather activated in Invasion of the Bane was the reason for stopping the Ancient Lights and their hold on Trueman. Sarah had been laughed at for her attempts to thwart him but Luke worked out how Clyde was stopped and that was because Luke had no star sign. He wasn't born and that saved the day in an excellent resolution. It was nice that Luke wanted this to be celebrated in place of his birthday and it was a nice touch to finish on. Overall, a simply superb story!

Rating: 10/10