The Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)

''The Lost Boy'' is the fifth serial of the first series of the British science fiction television series ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. It first aired on the CBBC channel in two weekly parts on 12 and 19 November 2007. This episode was intentionally named after Dave Pelzer's '' The Lost Boy''.

In the story, Luke Smith, Sarah Jane Smith's adopted son, is allegedly reunited with his biological human parents, despite prior assumptions that he had been created by the Bane. However, the family is actually a disguised alien family of criminals called the Slitheen, who are attempting to get revenge on Luke for past encounters.

Plot

Alan agrees with his daughter Maria that they will not move away from Sarah Jane's neighbourhood on the condition that Alan is kept up to date with Maria's battles against aliens.

Mr Smith, an alien supercomputer called a Xylok that was freed from under the Earth's surface, concocts a story where Luke is the son of two humans, Jay and Heidi (who are actually Slitheen in disguise), and not created by the Bane. He also fakes a DNA match between the profiles of Luke and the fictional son, Ashley Stafford, as well as a photograph of Luke with Jay and Heidi. Luke is put in the Slitheen's custody. Mr Smith suggests that Sarah Jane visits the Pharos Institute, a research centre where alien technology, whose plans were scavenged by the Slitheen, is being used to harness telekinetic energy. He later asks Sarah Jane to steal one of the telekinetic energiser headsets there, supposedly for analysis.

The Slitheen intend to "bottle" the energy and sell it off, which would kill Luke, whom they blame for killing Slitheen members at his school. The Slitheen test Luke's abilities with another of the institute's headsets, before he escapes. Alan adapts a computer virus that could destroy Mr Smith. Predicting Luke would return to the attic, while double-crossing the Slitheen, Mr Smith holds Clyde hostage, forcing Luke to use his mind and the headset to pull the Moon towards the Earth, to serve Mr Smith's purpose of releasing other Xylok from within the Earth at the cost of the planet. With Mr Smith momentarily distracted by K9, Sarah Jane inserts the virus, which makes Mr Smith forget his purpose. As the Moon gets closer to the Earth, Sarah Jane tells Mr Smith he has a new purpose: to safeguard planet Earth. The Moon returns to its original position, K9 goes back to guarding the black hole, and the Slitheen leave Earth.

Continuity

* The Slitheen reappear in these episodes, this time wearing new slimline skin-suits.
* The Blathereen, cousins and rivals of the Slitheen, wore slimline skin-suits in ''The Monsters Inside''.
* Clips from "Invasion of the Bane", ''Revenge of the Slitheen'' and ''Eye of the Gorgon'' were shown in these episodes. At the beginning of the first episode, Maria discusses the previous adventures she has had with Sarah Jane in order to bring her father up to speed.
* K9 returns briefly in Part Two to distract and battle Mr. Smith. This episode marks his first appearance since "Invasion of the Bane".
* Sarah Jane's membership in UNIT during her original run as a companion of the Third and Fourth Doctors is stated in the report the Chief Inspector reads. Attached to it is a photograph of Sarah Jane from the classic era.
* The UNIT dating controversy is addressed on the report about UNIT that the Chief Inspector reads, and to which Sarah Jane's photograph is attached. The report's second paragraph refers UNIT's "golden period that spanned the sixties, the seventies, and ''some would say, the eighties''."
* When asked by Alan if the Slitheen would ever return to Earth from Raxicoricofallapatorius, Sarah Jane says she imagines so.
* Mr Smith's crystalline self was discovered by geologists at the site of Krakatoa which Sarah Jane describes as "the biggest volcanic eruption civilisation has ever seen." Either the First or Second Doctor was present at the eruption, as was the Ninth Doctor.
* Sarah Jane's monologue in the final scene, "I've seen amazing things out there in space, but strange things can happen wherever you are," reprises her voiceover from the start of the pilot episode, "Invasion of the Bane".

Outside references

*BBC News 24 is once again shown to broadcast 'Breaking News' during the serial, although again without the BBC
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