Whatever happened to Sarah Jane?

Roots: Sarah getting erased from history is a stock trope that could have been inspired by hundreds of different stories. Clyde mentions the similarity of the asteroid to the film Armageddon.

Andrea mentions Triffids (The Day of the Triffids, Ave Maria, and Maria Callas. We hear the songs You really got me and Always something to remind me.

Goofs: Maria comments about Sarah being fine with Clyde fighting aliens, but being worried about a bit of skateboarding when (a) it's Luke that Sarah's responsible for, and (b) her dad, who doesn't know about the aliens, is within earshot.

In the July 1964 scenes, we hear You Really Got Me playing on the radio, even though it wasn't released until 4th August – a full three weeks later.

In the changed timeline, why does Chrissie keep coming round to Alan's new house? Without Maria, she has literally no reason to be there.

The Trickster explains that he has “turned away” the alien invaders Sarah has stopped so that, for example, the Bane never came to Earth, But the Gorgon arrived thousands of years before the event that changed the timeline. How did he manage that? [He's simplifying – perhaps he ensured that the Gorgon never recovered the talisman].

Why does nobody try to use the Torchwood weapon that destroyed the Sycorax ship in The Christmas Invasion against the meteor? [It was damaged or destroyed during the events of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.]

When the asteroid is hurtling towards Earth, it is creating a massive wake of black smoke. So why is the sky clear as soon as Mr Smith deflects it?

Technobabble: Spatio-temporal shift caused by extra quantum forces.

Continuity: Alan used to skateboard, and was “King of the Concrete, Romford, 1992”..He still has his old board, and Chrissie was the reason he stopped using it. He isn't big on birthdays claiming that he doesn't like being the centre of attention.

Sarah has a copy of a book called UNIT Fighting forHumankind which she wrote. She tells Maria that she is the person she trusts the most. She was born sometime between 14th July 1950 and 13th July 1951.

Maria can actually remember Clyde's mobile number,which is 07700900792.

Luke does not remember his time in Limbo.He can, however, sense the timeline shifting back.

Mr Smith is capable of detecting asteroids that are in radar blind spots and sending a magnetic pulse which can send them back into space if they are on a collision course with Earth.

The Trickster (a name given it by Alan) has the power to alter the timeline as long as he has (and maintains) somebody's explicit consent. The timeline he creates is more complex than just switching who dies in 1964, as he is able to “turn away” the aliens that Sarah has prevented from conquering Earth. It desires chaos, and thinks of as the Earth being destroyed purposely by a random rock as creating more chaos than the entire impact of humanity's future.

Links: Maria mentions Slitheen (Revenge of the Slitheen) and the Gorgon (Eye of the Gorgon). The Graske previously appeared in Attack of the Graske, which may or may not be the Graske activity a couple of years back that Sarah mentions. The Church of the Tin Vagabond was also mentioned in The Satan Pit.

Location: Westport, 13th July 1964. Bannerman Road, [late 2008 or 2009].

Unrecorded Adventures: Sarah and Maria helped a Verron soothsayer fly home the other week. He left a device which looks like a puzzle box, which enables people to remember people who have been erased from the timeline. Sarah prevented the Patriarchs of the Tin Vagabond from taking over the Earth.

The Bottom Line: 'She's just a normal woman, isn't she? She's a lot more than that.' This is a lovely character piece. Yasmin Paige proves that she would easily be capable of carrying the series on her own.

Discontinuity Guide by Stephen Gray

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