The Sarah Jane Adventures - Series 4 [DVD]

I have left the 5 stars based on seeing the series on TV I have bought this to watch in the winter months and I can cuddle up with my dogs, chocolates and a drink and enjoy watching Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane.

As a long in the tooth 'Doctor Who' fan my collector genes compel me to buy all the DVDs of the series and its spin-offs. Like 'Who' itself though, 'Sarah Jane' is a great show that can be enjoyed by "children of all ages". In fact, I find it very reminiscent of 'classic' 'Doctor Who'... but with better effects & sets etc. A likeable cast, fun stories which balance humour & drama and production values which rival the parent show. Such a shame that lead-actress Lis Sladen passed away in 2011, but I'm sure repeated viewings of this show will be entertaining kids & adults alike for years to come.

Elisabeth Sladen is probably the best of Dr Who's companions (Catherine Tate the second best). The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 is the last "full series" before Elisabeth Sladen's death. The stories as always in this series will appeal to children as well as adults, this is the appeal of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Adults, children, Dr Who Fans all will find something they will like in this DVD set. This is the best tribute to Elizabeth Sladen, a series with wide appeal across all age ranges. That in itself is a rare thing these days.

The only series that I was missing from the complete set, but no more. Being as that it was about 6 years since these episodes were on TV (or more, depending on which year anyone is reading this), it was fun to revisit them again, but the memory that shall always stick in my mind was the news of Elizabeth Sladen's death in the early months on 2011. Still, strange things can be found wherever we are...

The penultimate series of adventures contain some of the best stories in childrens' entertainment. The stand out episode has to be Death of the Doctor. With Elisabeth Sladen and Katy Manning putting in superb performances. The interplay between the two ex-Dr Who companions brought emotional tears to the eyes. Some of the best acting I have ever seen. There are not many television moments which move me like this. The series has enough scares and monsters for younger viewers and the emotion and storylines for older ones. Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith seems sadly prescient now but the acting is impressive. Not a single story is poor and the young actors give it their all. The special feature of The Pyramids of Mars shows a younger Elisabeth Sladen in her best story from the Tom Baker era and evidences the fact that she may have aged slightly but her enthusiasm has remained as strong as ever. This is a must buy for anyone who likes Elisabeth Sladen and Dr Who in general.

Having bought two copies of Series 4 now, one through Amazon and another through a different seller, it seems that the sound balancing on this pair of DVDs is very poor (except for Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars on disc 2, which has marvellous sound in comparison). The sound level of the dialogue and background music rises and dips inappropriately, sometimes quite precipitously. It sounds like the faders on a mixing board are being pushed up and pulled down for no particular reason. The sound has been very badly mixed in so many places that you feel yourself straining to hear dialogue at times. This is a phenomenon that I have found to affect other BBC DVDs too. Anyway, the phenomenon occurs all the way through the Sarah Jane Adventures on these two DVDs and made for unpleasant listening on my part.

I along with many reviewers of Season 2 and 3 had been disappointed that the large amount of extra features present in the season 1 box set had not appeared. I was therefore expecting nothing in the way of extras for this box set. I was pleasantly suprised to find however a fitting tribute to Elizabeth which was the full Dr Who adventure "Pyramids of Mars" included in the second disk. Add to that the fact that this is the best series of the show to date and you have a couple of dvd's that are as good as Series 1 with the extras included. At such a cheap price you are paying very little for a show which has production values that I would argue are now the equal of Dr Who and some actors that have really grown over the years. A superb dvd set.

Good