Invasion of the Bane

**"Invasion of the Bane"** is the first episode of the British science fiction television series *The Sarah Jane Adventures*. It was written by series creator Russell T Davies with Gareth Roberts and was directed by Colin Teague. It was originally broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2007 as a New Year special. Since a full series of the show was commissioned before the script for the episode was written it is not a pilot, despite serving the introductory functions of one.[1]

The episode focuses upon a teenage girl, Maria Jackson, discovering the existence of aliens which intend to conquer Earth using a mind-altering soft drink. She teams up with investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, a former travelling companion of the Doctor in *Doctor Who*, to prevent their plans.

## Plot

Maria Jackson, and her recently divorced father Alan move into a house opposite journalist and former time traveller, Sarah Jane Smith. The night after she moves in, Maria is woken by Sarah Jane conversing with a star poet from Arcateen V.

The next morning, Maria is invited by her neighbour Kelsey Hooper to tour the factory of the soft drink Bubble Shock via a free tour bus. At the factory, a security scanner, surreptitiously collects the DNA of the visitors to be transferred to an artificially created human boy called the "Archetype". The Archetype is designed to study the two percent of humanity that is unaffected by the effects of Bubble Shock. Sarah Jane follows them to the factory, and suggests to Mrs Wormwood, the factory's owner, that Bane, an ingredient unique to the drink, came from outer space. On her way out Sarah Jane escapes from trying to be killed by Mrs Wormwood's secretary. Maria attempts to phone Kelsey, but sets off the alarms, waking the Archetype, transferring the focus upon him. Maria, the Archetype, and Sarah Jane escape out of a window in the women's toilet. The factory's PR representative Davey escorts Kelsey to Sarah Jane's street. Davey transforms into a squid-like form and pursues Sarah Jane into her house, but is repelled.

When Kelsey storms into Sarah Jane's attic, Sarah Jane admits that she finds aliens and prevents hostile incursions, but in a less "guns blazing" manner than what secret organisations do. After she reunited with the Doctor,[N 1] Sarah Jane continued doing what she did when she and the Doctor travelled in space and time together.[N 2] Once Sarah Jane analyses the Bane ingredient is a sentient secretion of an alien called the Bane Mother she contacts Mrs Wormwood with her supercomputer, Mr Smith, and politely requests that she leaves Earth. Mrs Wormwood refuses, and retaliates against the human race, intending to have the Bane Mother turn humanity into more Bane.

Sarah Jane forces the Bubble Shock bus through a wall of the factory. Remembering that factory tour participants had to turn off their mobile phones, Maria activates hers, which causes distress to the Bane Mother. The Archetype uses the much more powerful alien communicator given to Sarah Jane by the star poet, which kills the Bane Mother, and blows up the factory. Mrs Wormwood escapes. Sarah Jane agrees to adopt the Archetype and calls him Luke.