Luke Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Luke Smith | |
---|---|
The Sarah Jane Adventures character | |
First appearance | "Invasion of the Bane" (2007) |
Last appearance | The Man Who Never Was (2011). |
Portrayed by | Tommy Knight |
Shared universe appearances | Doctor Who (2008, 2010) |
In-universe information | |
Species | Augmented Human |
Family | Sarah Jane Smith (adoptive mother) Sky Smith (adoptive sister) |
Spouse | Sanjay |
Home | Earth |
Home era | Early 21st century |
Luke Smith is a
Within the narrative of the series, Luke is a human archetype, created by alien species the
Character history
Introduction
Luke Smith is introduced as "the Archetype" in the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, the New Year's Day special "Invasion of the Bane" (2007).[5] The Bane known as Mrs Wormwood (Samantha Bond) creates the Archetype from thousands of samples of DNA taken from visitors touring their Bubble Shock! drink factory.[5] This enables the Bane to run tests on an archetypal human.[5] Luke appears to be an ordinary adolescent boy, except for his lack of a navel having been grown rather than gestated and born naturally. He possesses a superhuman intelligence and an exceptional eidetic memory.[5]
During one tour of the factory, an alarm is set off when visitor
Series
Luke, Clyde and Maria assist Sarah Jane against alien Gorgons in their second adventure,
Sarah Jane is forced to give Luke up in series finale The Lost Boy when a couple allege that Luke is their biological son, casting doubts on his original origin.[12] This later transpires to be a plot by the original Slitheen that Luke believed he had killed, who attempt to harness Luke's latent psychic abilities to telekinetically bring the Moon crashing into the Earth. Luke and Sarah Jane are reunited after their plot is foiled.[12]
Luke is mentioned, but does not appear, in the Doctor Who
Following this, Series 2 of The Sarah Jane Adventures (2008) sees Luke part ways with Maria when she moves to America in The Last Sontaran,[16] and befriend investigative new girl Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra) who comes to discover the extraterrestrial activities that he, Clyde and his mother are involved with in The Day of the Clown.[17] In the Series 2 serial, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, Luke meets his grandparents in a time travel plot set up by the Trickster.[18] In Series 3's The Mad Woman in the Attic (2009), an alien shows Luke a vision of the future in which he appears to be graduating from university at a young age.[19] He meets the Doctor in person for the first time in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and assists him in defeating the Trickster for a third time.[20] Luke is entirely absent from the two-parter The Eternity Trap due to Tommy Knight's real-life school exams.[21] In the series finale The Gift, Luke and Sarah's relationship becomes at times strained by the difficulties of parenting a teenager.[22] Due to infectious alien spores, Luke becomes sick for the first time and nearly dies, spurring Sarah Jane to take up arms against their enemy.[22]
In the final part of the Doctor Who special "
"Farewell, Sarah Jane"
Luke makes a further appearance in "Farewell, Sarah Jane" (2020), an epilogue for the series where years after the events of the main series, he has now come out as gay and is happily married and is now working with UNIT. He finds out whilst being in Geneva, that Sarah Jane has passed away and along with Clyde and Rani, he organises her funeral where everyone is celebrating her life.[29][30]
Audio
Knight reprised his role in 2023 for the second volume of Rani Takes on the World, a
Planned character developments
Had the series not been ended by Sladen's death, Davies had intended for Luke to be
Sarah Jane: Have a lovely time at university. You’ll grow up, you’ll find a girlfriend.
Luke: (off-handedly) Oh, could be a boyfriend!
Sarah Jane: Well, as long as it’s not a Slitheen, I don’t care!— Cut lines from "The Nightmare Man," as remembered by writer Russell T Davies.[32]
Luke was selected by Davies because producers "wanted us to have a gay character on children's BBC. Just a normal gay character," and Luke fit this description.[32] Dave Golder of SFX was critical of this reasoning, and felt that a character of non-alien origins or without special abilities, such as Clyde, would have emphasised normality better.[34] By contrast, editors at Hypable felt that "in hindsight," a number of Luke's "socially awkward scenes" from earlier in the series "could be seen to have forecast Luke's sexual orientation, and they even inspired some fan fiction of that sort."[33]
The mini episode Farewell, Sarah Jane, published on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel confirmed Luke's sexuality as he says that he and Sanjay have been married for five years.[35]
References
- ^ a b Writer Russell T Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson (28 June 2008). "The Stolen Earth". Doctor Who. Cardiff. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ a b Writer Russell T Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson (5 July 2008). "Journey's End". Doctor Who. Cardiff. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ Cook, Benjamin (20 August 2008). "Smells Like Teen Spirit: Luke Smith". Doctor Who Magazine (398): 40.
- Anders, Charlie Jane (13 April 2009). "Star Trek Comedy And Doctor Who Tragedy – Revealed!". io9. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Writers Gareth Roberts, Russell T Davies, Director Colin Teague, Producer Susie Liggat (1 January 2007). "Invasion of the Bane". The Sarah Jane Adventures. Cardiff. BBC. BBC One.
- CBBC Channel.
- ^ a b Writer Gareth Roberts, Director Alice Troughton, Producer Matthew Bouch (24 September 2007). "Part One". Revenge of the Slitheen. The Sarah Jane Adventures. Cardiff. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- ^ CBBC Channel.
- ^ "Episode 11 : Turn Left - Credits". BBC. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- .
- ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Charles Palmer, Producer Phil Collinson (31 March 2007). "Smith and Jones". Doctor Who. Cardiff. BBC. BBC One.
- CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- ^ "The Eternity Trap Review". doctorwhoreviews.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ CBBC Channel.
- ^ a b Writer Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat (final scene, uncredited), Director Euros Lyn (25 December 2009 – 1 January 2010). The End of Time Part 2. Doctor Who. Cardiff. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ Jefferey, Morgan (25 August 2010). "Alexander Armstrong ('Pointless')". Digital Spy. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
- CBBC Channel.
- ^ CBBC Channel.
- CBBC Channel.
- ^ CBBC Channel.
- ^ Seddon, Dan (19 April 2020). "Russell T Davies' Sarah Jane Adventures farewell story is the perfect send-off". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- ^ "BBC One - Doctor Who, Farewell Sarah Jane". BBC. 19 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- ^ McArdell, Ian (20 April 2023). "Rani Takes on the World – video trailer and another returnee revealed". CultBox. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
- ^ a b c Davies, Russell T (Doctor Who executive producer, 2005-10); Manning, Katy (actress) (August 2013). Audio commentary for The Green Death: Special Edition (DVD). BBC.
- ^ a b "Russell T. Davies dishes on 'The Doctor Who' Spin-Off: 'The Sarah Jane Adventures'". Hypable. 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
- ^ a b Golder, Dave (4 July 2013). "PURE GOLDER What Was So "Normal" About Sarah Jane Smith's Son?". SFX. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
- ^ Farewell, Sarah Jane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sU45ax2Hs
External links
- Luke Smith on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki