The Sarah Jane Adventures/Recap/S5/E05 E6 The Man Who Never Was

Team Sarah Jane investigates the owner of a computer company. The last two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures, due to Actor Existence Failure on Sarah Jane's part.

Part 1

A female janitor at Serf Computer Systems listens to owner Joseph Serf's advertisement for his new computer, the Serfboard. She resentfully mutters where her billion dollars is. She approaches an elevator and is grabbed by an unseen creature.

Luke returns home from Oxford for a visit, making this his first face-to-face meeting with his new sister Sky. He notices that his old room has been given to Sky. He also shows his friends a special dog whistle he made for communicating with K-9.

Sarah Jane mentions that she has been invited to a rehearsal of the Serfboard's unveiling and invites her children along. At the Serf Systems office, Sarah Jane and her children run into Lionel Carson, her old editor who knows nothing about computers and still uses a typewriter. They are led into an auditorium by Harrison, Joseph Serf's head of public relations. Serf comes out and gives a presentation. His face suddenly pixelates, which Sky and Luke notice. After the rehearsal, all the guests are given a free Serfboard (which for some reason has both a touchscreen keyboard and a conventional keyboard). Lionel, despite his distaste for computers, is inexplicably impressed by the Serfboard. This, plus the "glitch" they saw earlier, makes the Smiths suspicious. Luke stays at the office to spy while Sarah Jane and Sky take the Serfboard home.

Back in the attic, Sky shows Clyde and Rani the video of Joseph Serf. Mr. Smith digs up Serf's background, learning that after a skiing accident, he became reclusive and appeared only publicity images. Team Sarah Jane notes that he never holds anything in his post-accident photos. Sarah Jane realizes that Serf died in the skiing accident and was replaced with a hologram. She calls Harrison to request an interview, dropping hints that she knows Serf's secret. Clyde and Rani stay in the attic while Mr. Smith analyzes the Serfboard. Mr. Smith finds nothing suspicious about the Serfboard. Clyde and Rani switch it on and find that not only is the Serfboard ordinary, it is substandard technology.

Sarah Jane and Sky meet up with Luke back at the Serf Systems office. Sarah Jane meets with Serf and Harrison. Sarah Jane keeps trying to get Serf to reveal that he is a hologram while she and Harrison keep tossing thinly veiled threats at each other.

Sky senses a high level of electricity coming from under the office building. She and Luke find a secret basement filled with one-eyed aliens who control all of the hologram Serf's movements, including his hypnotic powers.

As Sarah Jane keeps asking pointed questions, the aliens controlling Serf begin to panic and make mistakes. They try to hypnotize her but fail and Sarah Jane swipes her hands through Serf, exposing him as a hologram. Harrison points an alien weapon at Sarah Jane. Meanwhile, the aliens in the basement notice that they are being watched by Sky and Luke.

Part 2

The aliens swarm around Sky and Luke, babbling in an alien language. Their leader, speaking English, tells them to escape.

Back in Serf's office, Harrison has Sarah Jane restrained by a security guard. He turns on a video feed to the basement and sees Sky and Luke. He orders security to capture them and presses a switch on his pen, activating the shock collars on all the aliens. He reveals to Sarah Jane that the aliens crash-landed in Central Asia and were sold to him as slaves. He intends to use the Serf hologram's hypnotic powers to get everyone watching the upcoming unveiling to want a Serfboard. He locks Sarah Jane in one room and Sky and Luke in another. Sarah Jane meets Adrianna, the cleaner who ran into one of the slaves earlier. Adrianna says that the slave was trying to escape and she is determined to help them. Sarah Jane and Adrianna trick a security guard, escape, and free Luke and Sky. They return to the hologram control room where the slaves are getting ready for the debut of the Serfboard. Sarah Jane sneaks up to the lobby and uses the phone to call Mr. Smith, who in turn signals a ship from the slaves' homeworld, Skultos.

Meanwhile, Luke uses his dog whistle to send a Morse code message. Though K-9 is too far away to hear it, Mr. Smith detects it and tells Clyde and Rani to grab Mr. Harrison's pen. Rani and Clyde create fake ID's of a married couple on Serf's guest list. They sneak in and pick the pen from Mr. Harrison's pocket. Sarah Jane sees this on the monitor and she and Adrianna lead the slaves to the roof.

Harrison starts the show before the ship has reached the Serf Systems office building. Luke and Sky have to operate the hologram alone, resulting in Serf making unnatural movements and saying strange things. Harrison realizes something is wrong, takes his pen back from Rani, and activates the slaves' shock collars. Sky and Luke turn up the hologram's hypnotic powers and tell everyone in the auditorium to grab Harrison's pen and smash it. They then hypnotically tell everyone that the Serfboard is a ripoff. The hologram then tells "Clani" to head to the roof. Team Sarah Jane reunites on the roof of the building where the ship is coming to pick up the escaped slaves.

Outraged, Harrison runs to the roof and tries to grab one of his escaping slaves, getting "beamed" into the spacecraft with them. The spacecraft flies away with Harrison onboard. Impressed with Adrianna, Sarah Jane gives her a UNIT card and tells her to consider becoming an agent.

Tropes
"Sarah Jane: I'm going to stop you.
 * Americans Are Cowboys: When Sky tries to make Serf sound American.
 * Being Watched: Subverted. Rani says she feels like the Serfboard is watching her. Turns out the Serfboard is just an ordinary computer.
 * Beneath Notice: Sarah impersonates a cleaning woman towards the end.
 * Billions of Buttons: For some reason, the Serfboard has both a conventional keyboard and a touchpad keyboard similar to an iPad.
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Would you like something to drink, Sarah Jane? Coffee? Tea? Anthrax?
 * Continuity Nod: Clyde mentions the Rakweed from "The Gift."
 * "I'm an old hand at hypnotism." This from the companion who holds the record for hypnotism/mind control.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Harrison.
 * Cyclops: the Skultians.
 * Dead All Along: Joseph Serf.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Harrison. The best part:

Harrison: What are you going to do? Hit me with your handbag?"

"Luke: Remember, he's American.
 * Everyone Knows Morse: Justified, as it's the genetically engineered boy genius and the alien supercomputer who know it.
 * Explosive Leash
 * Fantastic Racism: loads from Harrison.
 * Fantastic Slur: Harrison refers to the Skultians as "Scullions", an archaic and quite demeaning British English word for menial kitchen workers.
 * Five-Man Band: First (and last) time the SJ team has five humans in it (not counting Alan Jackson, who was something of a Sixth Ranger).
 * Forgot About His Powers: with a bunch of aliens in danger from shock collars, wouldn't it be great if there was someone around with, you know, electric powers?
 * Very weakened and uncontrollable electric powers.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Luke sends a Morse code message to Mr. Smith. "G-R-A-B H-A-R-R-I-S-O-N-S P-E-N-full stop." Clyde remarks "I've never been so glad to see a full stop before."
 * Glamour Failure: Serf whenever he glitches or the Skullions mess up a command.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: Serf's speech when Sky is at the speech controls.
 * Humans Are Bastards: Not all of them.
 * I Banged Your Mom: A kid-friendly version. Luke is visibly uncomfortable when Lionel starts flirting with his mother.
 * I Know You Know I Know
 * Intangible Man: The Serf hologram.
 * Kick the Dog: Harrison's treatment of his alien slaves are so vile that you'll beg for Sky to zap him.
 * Lampshade Hanging: When Sky's phone is smashed, Luke says "Join the club. I've had seven phones in the last two years."
 * And again when Mr. Smith tries to contact Sarah Jane. "Oh, pick up for once Sarah Jane."
 * Clyde bringing up that Mr. Smith has a history of saying stuff was normal while it wasn't.
 * Last Second Word Swap: When Mr. Smith learns that K-9 did not come home with Luke, he says "Oh, good...ness me what a terrible shame."
 * Mass Hypnosis: How Serf convinces people to support his computer. Does not work on Sarah Jane Smith.
 * Meaningful Name: Skullion sounds like "scullion," a drudge worker. Similarly, a serf was a peasant who worked like a slave on a large estate, and not even the formal abolition of serfdom by Tsar Alexander II improved their lives in any appreciable way.
 * New Media Are Evil: Subverted. The gang finds nothing dangerous about the Serfboard. In fact, it is inferior to most Earth computers.
 * No Biochemical Barriers: Averted. Skullions are burned by liquid water, but have no problem with citric acid.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Serf is obviously an Expy of Steve Jobs, combined with Howard Hughes (reclusive, autocratic, refuses to deal with people).
 * Portmanteau Couple Name: Luke greets Clyde and Rani as "Clani."
 * Projected Man / Mobile Suit Human: Joseph Serf is a hologram controlled from a room by a team of Skullions.
 * Put On a Bus: K-9 is back at Oxford backing up the Bodleian Library.
 * Real Person Cameo: Reporter Jason Mohammad is outside the Serf headquarters.
 * Ripped from the Headlines: There have been a number of news articles about harsh working conditions at Foxconn, one of Apple's suppliers. The worker Adriana alludes to the poor treatment of Eastern European workers in Britain.
 * Series Finale: An unintended one due to Actor Existence Failure. After a montage of clips from all five series, as well as including footage from the School Reunion episode from Doctor Who series 2, a message on screen says that the adventure will continue forever - The Resolution Will Not Be Televised, but the door is left open for continuation in other media such as novels.
 * Shock Collar
 * Shoddy Knockoff Product: The Serfboard.
 * Shout Out:
 * To Toy Story:

Sky makes Serf talk like a cowboy in a Crowning Moment of Funny.

Luke: You've been watching Toy Story again!"


 * To The Prisoner: The pseudonym "Joseph Serf" was used by Patrick McGoohan.
 * The Skullions, like the Jawas, are short aliens with high, chittering voices who wear long brown hooded robes. They also act a lot like the Minions or the Oompa-Loompas.
 * Clyde and Rani try to talk out of earshot of the computer, who can still hear them.
 * Silly Walk: Serf while Luke and Sky are operating him alone.
 * Something Only They Would Say: Clyde and Rani are able to identify Luke twice when he refers to them as "Clani."
 * Stage Whisper: Subverted. Clyde whispers to Rani that Mr. Smith may have been taken over by the Serfboard. Mr. Smith responds "I can hear you and no it hasn't 'got' me."
 * Undercover As Lovers: Clyde and Rani pretend to be a married couple to rescue their friends.
 * What Are Records: Sky asks Lionel what a typewriter is. Justified as she's actually a newborn in a teenager's body.