Trivia / The Sarah Jane Adventures, S4 E11&E12: "Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith"

• Deleted Scene:
  • There was originally a scene on Bannerman Road in which Ruby, Clyde and Rani were attempting the trap Travast Polong.
  • There was originally a scene in Ruby's cellar after Sarah Jane requested that Mr Smith perform a med-scan, which would have confirmed the Qetesh's sinister nature. Russell T Davies felt that this prematurely gave away the cliffhanger reveal.
• What Could Have Been: Originally, the writers were asked to include only a small role for Luke, so he remained in his dorm room at Oxford and instructed Mr Smith to send a hologram of the Dark Horde into the dreams of every sleeping person on the planet (including Haresh Chandra, who fantasised that he was defending Gita from the aliens). Early drafts also had Mr White fake a message from Sarah Jane which would be beamed into outer space, daring other races (such as the Slitheen, the Sontarans and the Sycorax) to invade the Earth. The writers also decided to tone down the character of Ruby White, who was initially much more comically over-the-top; they came to feel that a sombre tone best suited the story they were telling.
  • Originally, the story would’ve written out Rani by sending her to an internship in Manchester, while baby Sky would be introduced at the end. This would’ve led into a Christmas Episode that went unmade. Later drafts, after Anjli Mohandra decided to stay on for series 5 has said Christmas Episode as Yet Another Christmas Carol.
  • Originally, the finale would’ve featured the return of the Spiders from their eponymous planet, facilitated with the reveal that the Queen had been subtly possessing Sarah Jane since then and that Mr. Smith was a crystal that could be used to synthesise the Metebelis crystal’s effect on Earth’s spiders. This was dropped when Russell T. Davies thought that the Bannerman Road gang defeating the Spiders that killed the Third Doctor would be Villain Decay.

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