A top-secret peace conference is held in a remote Romanian village, and Sarah and Josh encounter things that go bump in the night.
A top-secret peace conference is held in a remote Romanian village, and Sarah and Josh encounter things that go bump in the night.
SARAH JANE SMITH: GHOST TOWN
In any series, tension must vary between episodes. Not every story can be of the earth-shattering variety — even pure arc series like Babylon 5 and later Deep Space Nine had episodes that weren’t as significant as others. The key, however, is to maintain that significance — and the fourth story in the Sarah Jane Smith series, Rupert Laight’s “Ghost Town,” fails in that regard. After the shocking “Test of Nerve,” this story sees Sarah and Josh visiting a haunted old mansion in the mountains of Romania. Naturally, of course, there’s an International Peace Conference being held in this random tiny village, and, well, you can guess the plot from here. Josh frequently makes Scooby Doo jokes, which would be fine if Laight’s script didn’t blindly follow Scooby Doo conventions. There’s absolutely nothing to this story: it lacks a strong theme, it doesn’t have any connection to the previous episodes, and there’s nothing surprising or unpredictable in the entire hour. The acting is strong — Elisabeth Sladen continues to impress, and Robert Jezek is always a treat — and David Darlington’s sound design is his best in the range to this point, but as a piece of fiction this is nothing more than a filler episode. Filler episodes are understandable in an American 22-episode season, but in a “season” of five episodes? “Ghost Town” isn’t actively bad, it’s just completely unmemorable and unnecessary.
4/10