This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I'm a huge Doctor Who fan and so I decided to give this show and Torchwood a try. This one beat Torchwood by a LOT. The writing is almost as good as in Doctor Who, the acting is very impressive for some of the young actors in it. I love all the characters, which I can't even say about Doctor Who (I hated Rose in the second season).If you're looking for something to replace Doctor Who while it's not on, this show is perfect. But it really stands on its own. It doesn't keep tying itself to the Doctor Who universe (except in a few stories, I will admit). It's got more heart than Doctor Who, while Doctor Who might be wittier and more dramatic, The Sarah Jane Adventures is witty but it's also sweet. You'll feel like a kid watching this but in a good way.It makes me ashamed to be an American, quite frankly! If BBC can produce a show aimed at preteens and make it so incredibly good that it has an audience of all ages, and yet America has crap like Hannah Montana... well CBBC must be superior.

A fun show, no question. But what Dr. Who should have been? What the original focus of the old Dr. Who was? Really, did you drink the koolaid? Just because children can enjoy a show does not indicate that they are the target audience. It seems fairly obvious today that they are not the current demographic with the exception of TSJA. I actually enjoy all three shows, for a variety of reasons. But basically TSJA is a show at its heart aimed at children and perhaps tweens at best. Families are not a target audience, subsets of families are. It hasn't been the 50's for fifty years, too many people still act like the standards of behavior were graven in stone about then and any deviation from that perceived pinnacle of cultural development is somehow a degradation of that "perfection". The show is designed to entertain, be entertained. Or watch something else. Like Howdy Doody Reruns.

Many people will have I'm sure missed this show - the scheduling was tooled sensibly towards its target audience but I feel that an early evening repeat would have been warranted.This is superb children's entertainment. Sarah Jane and her three young friends save the Earth several times, in these 6 (so far) stories.Yes, the aliens look like people in rubber suits, and yes it's all rather silly - the episode where a meteor is heading to earth, via a "radar blind spot" for example, but no matter. The thrills are provided in large measure. The aliens are not too scary - but the "Death" type figure in the "Whatever happened to Sarah Jane" story was more disturbing than most. There are some great kids/adults moments - such as the skateboard park.Above all, enjoy with your children, and as always with the revived Doctor Who franchise, ignore the sad old Dr Who fans!

I watched Doctor Who and thought it wasn't too bad. Then I saw Torchwood and didn't think much of it. Maybe because I never liked the character of Captain Jack and couldn't bear watching a whole series dedicated to that flimsy character. So it was with caution that I sat down and watched The Sarah Jane Adventures. The pilot; Invasion of the Bane, was pretty poor and lacklustre; most of the last ten minutes spent laughing hard at the stereotypes of British youth and Samantha Bond's acting.The acting was substandard; especially from the stereotype single dad who will no doubt form a love interest for Sarah Jane; which is quite likely as her only other companion is in space somewhere. I think it was explained but I wasn't paying attention. Samantha Bond; well we all know why she didn't have a large part in Bond. She hams it up more than Goldfinger ever did. And the less said about Harley from Footballer's Wives the better.The local girl's acting was awful from start to end and it ranged from "I've got a hard attitude but I'm only 10" to "I'm going to turn on my mobile phone because I'm hard." yeah right OK. Whatever. Then the archetype; another candidate for banality along with all the others. Actually no I take it back. There was a good character and it was K9. He was the only one with depth. It looks the BBC are trying to infiltrate the entire country because it's the first success they've had on a Saturday night since Strictly Come Dancing (and no I'm not going to mention Robin Hood). We have Doctor Who for the families, Torchwood for the mature audience and this for the CBBC gang. Some other things as well before I forget: - Bubbleshock (SJA) = Slurm (Futurama) - Mrs Wormwood (yeah that was also Matilda's mum but no matter) - The map of the Milky Way; according to Wikipedia its from Star Trek: TNG. - In a vain attempt to look "contemporary" it referenced Jeremy Kyle and James Blunt. In two years when no one remembers who these two are it will just make the show look old. And finally; no one seems to mention that the SONIC LIPSTICK and/or SCREWDRIVER is just the 21st century version of the Batbelt. It can do everything just at that time when it looks like there is no chance for the heroes. Damn. And they say entertainment is evolving.Rating: F-