Androvax The Destroyer comes to Sarah requesting help to rescue the rest of his race from The Vault of Secrets, a hidden establishment underneath an abandoned hospital. Androvax seems genuine enough and refusing his request would be equal to committing an act of genocide. But does Androvax have a secret agenda and what are the risks posed by helping him break into The Vault of Secrets? Meanwhile Gita joins BURRPS, a small group of UFO spotters who all claim to have had close encounters with aliens.
The Vault of Secrets is a solid, if unremarkable story. The plot stands up to scrutiny, although the pacing of Episode One is a bit slow and the plot resolution is a tad convenient but at least the device used to resolve it was foreshadowed. The subplot with Gita and her alien hunting friends is cleverly tied into the main plot and Gita borders on being hilarious in this story. As a teenager of the 90's I particularly liked the Men in Black references and the classic Dr. Who story The Pyramids of Mars gets a brief look in. Fans of Luke will be pleased to see him put in a brief appearance, albeit on a computer screen. Sarah, Clyde and Rani are all written perfectly, although the lack of character exploration sticks out after the superb Nightmare Man.
The moral dilemma at the centre of the story is quite compelling. Basically, if Sarah refuses Androvax's request it equates to genocide because she'd be condemning an entire race to extinction. But given Androvax's history the risk of him destroying the human race is quite real too, so what is the right course of action?
Even so there are several fundamental problems with this story. Firstly, we're never given any insight into Androvax's species or their culture. Asides from his claim that they were a peace-loving race the audience is given nothing to sympathise with. Sarah Jane Adventures doesn't have the budget to depict an entire world of lizard people laughing and playing but a few lines of dialogue would have added to the emotional drive behind the plot. Secondly, a brief recap of who Androvax was and why he became "the Destoryer of Worlds" would have gone a long way. It's been over a year since I saw Prisoner of the Judoon and the details of this story's villain were hazy in my memory. Together these issues significantly dilute the strength of this otherwise very good story.
The Vault of Secrets is a standard Sarah Jane Adventures story. It's well written, plotted, produced and acted. Even so, nothing in particular stands out about these episodes. So just sit back, enjoy the story and have a good laugh. It looks like the special stuff has been saved for next week...
4/5
This week's song is by Birds of Tokyo. It has a wonderful, sombre but upbeat feel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owk3oqUjgh4
