The Eternity Trap
Encyclopedia
The Eternity Trap is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures
which was broadcast on CBBC
on 5 and 6 November 2009. It is the fourth serial of the third series. The story involves the scientific investigation of a haunted castle.
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
which was broadcast on CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
on 5 and 6 November 2009. It is the fourth serial of the third series. The story involves the scientific investigation of a haunted castle.
Part 1
Professor Rivers tells the story of Ashen Hill Manor, which is said to be haunted. She talks of a man named Lord Marchwood and how he employed Erasmus Darkening. Lord Marchwood thought that Erasmus could make gold out of base metals. His two children, Elizabeth and Joseph, spy on Erasmus. He spots them and makes them vanish. Rivers is telling the story to Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani. She and her assistant Toby are making a scientific investigation of the ghostly phenomena. Luke is at home as he has no interest in ghost-hunting. Sarah Jane splits up from the group and finds a book on the history of the manor. She turns round from the book case which she is reading from and unknown to her, the books begin moving. Clyde and Rani go outside and find a dry fountain. All of a sudden the fountain starts and some wet foot prints appear leading in the direction of a shed. Clyde and Rani hear a young girl crying, and enter the shed. The crying stops as Clyde pulls a sheet off a mirror. A strange man's face appears in the mirror. Clyde and Rani run back into the manor and find Sarah Jane. Meanwhile in the control room the camera in the playroom cuts out. Rivers goes to investigate. The baby monitor starts to play, then seconds later the professor vanishes. They all go to investigate and they find that all the toys have started to move on their own. On the mirror in the room a message appears saying "GET OUT". Clyde and Rani begin exploring and find a secret passageway; they go down and find Erasmus' lab. Meanwhile Sarah Jane goes out onto a balcony. A creature in the bushes with red eyes appears and advances towards Sarah Jane. But Lord Marchwood's ghost manifests and fights off the creature. Clyde and Rani find a computer, then when they turn around they see Erasmus Darkening.Part 2
Lord Marchwood arrives to rescue Clyde and Rani. Then they are aided by his children. Sarah Jane hears a recording of Professor Rivers saying "Sarah Jane help me" over and over. Then she sees her. She warns her that "he is coming for you" and then disappears. Sarah Jane reunites with Clyde and Rani and then they find Lord Marchwood. Sarah Jane believes they're not ghosts. Toby, Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani discover all the people that have disappeared except for Professor Rivers who hasn't been absorbed yet. Erasmus arrives and they all disappear. Erasmus tells them he will come for them all. Sarah Jane knows Erasmus is playing with them. Sarah Jane and Toby investigate Erasmus's secret chamber while Rani and Clyde distract Erasmus. Toby tells Sarah Jane about a creature who came into his room and watched him every night when he was younger. Rani and Clyde are chased by something into a game room. When all the games start playing themselves they run outside and get locked out. Sarah Jane and Toby find Erasmus's machine. Sarah Jane suspects that Erasmus was trying to get home to another galaxy with the machine. The machine malfunctioned and all the people that disappeared got trapped between dimensions. Clyde and Rani run into the pavilion. Sarah Jane and Toby get interrupted by Erasmus. Sarah Jane works out that the machine is giving Erasmus and all the people that disappeared immortality. She also works out the creature that attacked her earlier came through the machine. Lord Marchwood once again rescues Clyde and Rani again by slaying the creature. Sarah Jane, Clyde, Rani and Toby reunite along with Lord Marchwood. Sarah Jane comes up with a plan to stop Erasmus. They can turn him into electricity but he has to step into a certain area. Lord Marchwood uses his sword and a wire to connect to it to do it. Erasmus is destroyed and Professor Rivers is returned. Sarah Jane destroys Erasmus's machine with the sonic lipstick. Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani say goodbye to Professor Rivers and Toby. Sarah Jane says that she still doesn't believe in ghosts. They drive away. We then see Lord Marchwood and his children at the window.Continuity
- Thomas KnightTommy KnightThomas 'Tommy' Lawrence Knight is an English actor best known for playing Luke Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Personal life:...
was not available for filming of this episode due to his GCSE exams. This story is therefore the first not to feature Luke Smith. As a result of this absence, Elisabeth SladenElisabeth SladenElisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
becomes the only cast member to have appeared in every episode so far. Other series mainstays such as Mr. SmithMr. Smith-Track Notes:* No Airplay - edited on both the Edited and Explicit Versions of the Album, However the Explicit only backmasks on the song, the Edited version even edits the intro....
, the Smiths' attic and Rani'sRani Chandra (The Sarah Jane Adventures)Rani Chandra is a fictional character played by Anjli Mohindra in the British children's science fiction television programme The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who...
parents do not appear in this story. - Professor Celeste Rivers and the Pharos Institute were previously shown in The Lost BoyThe Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)The Lost Boy is the sixth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the ninth and tenth episodes of the show's first series...
and The Day of the ClownThe Day of the ClownThe Day of the Clown is the second story of Series 2 of The Sarah Jane Adventures The two-part serial was broadcast on 6 October and 13 October 2008; "Part One" on the CBBC Channel at 5.15 p.m. on 6 October; "Part Two" on the CBBC Channel at 5.15 p.m. on 13 October...
. - This is the first episode with scenes set prior to Sarah Jane's birth.
Outside references
- The "Stone Tape Theory" mentioned in this episode is a reference to The Stone TapeThe Stone TapeThe Stone Tape is a television play directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. It was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972...
by Nigel KnealeNigel KnealeNigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
and it's also mention in the Doctor Who Past Doctor Adventure The Eleventh TigerThe Eleventh TigerThe Eleventh Tiger is a BBC Books original novel written by David A. McIntee and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki.-Synopsis:...
. - In Erasmus' lab, Clyde comments: "This is HogwartsHogwartsHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
Tim BurtonTim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
style! It's... Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
has a close shave off Sweeney ToddSweeney ToddSweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
." Later (when being cornered by Erasmus), Rani remarks: "This is worse than The Sixth SenseThe Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
." - Clyde wisecracks, "I ain't afraid of no ghost," a reference to the GhostbustersGhostbusters (franchise)Ghostbusters is a supernatural comedy multi-media franchise created in 1984. Its inception was for the movie Ghostbusters, released on June 8, 1984 by Columbia Pictures. It centered around a group of eccentric New York City parapsychologists who investigate and capture ghosts for a living...
franchise. Later, trying to attract Darkening's attention, he says "We've come to bust you," and Rani adds, "I'd feel a whole lot better if I was wearing a Ghostbusters Proton PackProton packThe Proton Pack is a fictional energy weapon used for weakening ghosts and aiding in capturing them within the Ghostbusters universe. First depicted in the film Ghostbusters, it has a hand-held wand connected to a backpack-sized particle accelerator...
right now."