The Sarah Jane Adventures s03e08 Episode Script

where Sarah Jane Smith lives, home to things beyond your imagination.
There's an extra-terrestrial super computer in the wall, a genetically engineered boy genius in the attic, a schoolgirl investigator across the road.
And a whole universe of adventure right here on the doorstep.
Ready? Always.
Ashen Hill Manor is reputedly one of the most haunted locations in the UK.
Ghosts do not exist.
My children! Disappearances? Nobody said anything about any disappearances.
EMF readings throughout the house are spiking.
Something's happening.
Aaaahhhh! Where did she go? You crossed my threshold of your own free will and now by my will you shall stay.
You will never leave this place.
You will be with me for eternity.
MrDarkening? Good to meet you.
You're a legend.
Really.
But this is a 'one night only' appearance.
It's not like we're not tempted, but we've got school on Monday Ha ha ha ha! You crossed my threshold.
In a single step you left choice behind.
Now you are in my world.
Your world? You need to get out more, mate.
Er, sorry, you can't.
I forgot, you're a ghost.
A ghost? Is that what you think I am? Child, there's no such thing as ghosts.
Oh, boy, this is worse than The Sixth Sense.
Are you in for a shock! You are mine.
You will not have them.
That's Marchwood! It's a super-spook smackdown! Have you not yet faded into the ether? Not while your shadow still stains the walls of my family, wizard! We exist at different frequencies.
You still cannot harm me, Marchwood.
And your magic cannot hurt me again.
Ha ha ha ha Run! You shall not escape me! No-one escapes me! How do we get out of here? Just keep running.
ECHOES: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Come this way.
Quickly.
Oh, wow! Ghost boy.
Who's here? Whoever you are, whatever you are, I'm neither frightened of you, nor here to hurt you.
If you want to communicate, I'm listening.
Who's there? 'Sarah Jane! Help me! 'Sarah Jane! Help me! 'Sarah Jane! Help me!' Professor Rivers? Celeste, is that you? 'Sarah Jane! Help me! 'Sarah Jane! Help me!' I will.
I will help you, I promise.
'Sarah Jane! Help me! 'Sarah Jane! Help me!' He's coming for you! Professor Rivers.
Oh! Sarah Jane! What on earth are you doing in the fire place? We found Erasmus Darkening! He seemed pretty lively for a ghost.
He's not a ghost, I've seen him, too.
Whatever is going on in this house, it is far more dangerous than a haunting.
There's this technology, ancient, but it shouldn't have been here There's a secret passageway in the control room.
You must leave this place.
Lord Marchwood! Hey, your lordship.
Thanks for earlier.
He helped us escape from Darkening.
Yes, he saved me, too.
Whatever you do, don't go into the grounds.
There's something out there.
There is still time.
The creature needs time to reassemble.
We can't leave.
Not without our friend.
Your friend is lost to Darkening.
As is everyone who comes here.
As am I.
As are my children.
Your children helped us escape out of the tunnel.
You've seen Elizabeth and Joseph? So have I.
They're here? In this house? They're looking for you.
I have searched for over 300 years.
Darkening says you exist at different frequencies.
So that's how he separated you from your children.
He is a curse upon my house.
Upon my family.
He has taken the very land of my ancestors and turned it against us.
And I am responsible.
You didn't die here, did you? Neither did your children.
No-one died here, did they? His curse is more than death itself.
Miss Smith! CRACKLING You should see this.
CRACKLING I was coming to look for you and they were justthere.
It's all the people who've disappeared in the house.
You poor, poor souls.
Still say there's no such thing as ghosts, Miss Smith? You said you wanted to help us.
I do.
You're all trapped here? He trapped us.
Erasmus Darkening? He's as much a part of this house as the bricks and mortar.
He took my whole family away.
PROFESSOR RIVERS: Is anybody there? Can anybody help me? What about Professor Rivers? She hasn't been fully absorbed yet.
Absorbed? By the house.
There's still time to get her back.
Please.
Help us all.
Joseph and I, we miss our father, we want him back.
He's OK, we've seen him.
Release us from this purgatory.
SPARKING What treachery is this? I grant to all life eternal and this is how you honour my beneficence? Darkening, no! Be gone! What are you, Erasmus Darkening? I am lord of this place and all who cross its threshold, and step into my dominion.
I am Erasmus Darkening, lord of magic! You really shouldn't believe your own press.
Maybe people believed in magic when you were conning Lord Marchwood that you could make gold from lead, but not any more.
Mmm.
The passage of 340 years has bequeathed humankind with a little more wisdom, I see.
Are you saying you're not human? You're an alien? Alien? What are you talking about? These are ghosts, not aliens.
This is an emissary of the afterlife.
Call me what you will.
Know only that this is my world, that I rule all who cross its threshold, and that this night I will come for you all.
CRACKLING Well, he knows how to leave you wanting more, I'll give him that.
So if he's responsible for the Professor vanishing, why didn't he take us when he had the chance? Because he's playing with us, trying to scare us.
We don't scare that easily.
Listen to me, Darkening! I have fought the worst things from the darkest corners of the universe.
You don't stand a ghost of a chance! DARKENING: Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I'm not sure that was entirely wise.
Come on.
Show me how to get to Darkening's chamber.
Well, can't say I'm looking forward to this.
Hold on.
If Darkening catches us all in his lab, we're gonna be in trouble.
She's got a point.
When he found us down there before, it wasn't exactly what you'd call a magical moment.
You need someone to keep him busy.
No.
It's out of the question.
It's far too dangerous.
And all of us piling into Darkening's lab isn't? Even a ghost can't be in two places at one time.
Not even an alien ghost! If me and Clyde are keeping him busy, there's no way he can stop you looking at that thing down there.
The logic is undeniable.
All right.
But stay together.
And, whatever you do, don't go outside.
OK.
You be careful.
Don't worry about me.
I've got Toby here.
Come on.
So how do you distract a ghost? Youfind him a prettyghoulfriend? Tell me, why are you so determined to believe in the supernatural? You're a scientist.
Your father was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics.
You must know it's nonsense.
When I was six years old, something used to come into my room.
Something? Something grey, with no face.
It stood and watched me, all night.
And don't try to tell me it was a dream, like my father did.
I pleaded with him to let me sleep in another room.
I begged him and I cried, but he wouldn't let me.
I've never forgiven him for that.
It's OK.
Hey, Darkening! Ssh! Where are you hiding? We've come to bust you! Yeah, well, I'd feel a whole lot better, if I was wearing a Ghostbusters proton pack right now.
Yeah.
I know what you mean.
They even made boiler suits look cool.
Talking of which, is it getting cold in here? I thought that was just me.
Sarah Jane would say it's psychological.
I suppose she is right, isn't she? About ghosts.
If Darkening is an alien, I mean, he looks just like us.
Some aliens are like us.
The Doctor looked human.
EXPLOSION What was that?! I don't know.
Noisy neighbours? It's getting closer! Come on! I think it's following us! CRASHING SQUEAKING Something tells me we're not alone in here.
I think Darkening's got us right where he wanted us.
Yeah, we're snookered all right.
Get down! We have to get out of here.
No, no, wait! Not that way! Whatever chased us in here is still out there! Oh, it's stuck! Come on, come on! Got it! Clyde! Look out! I'm never playing pool again! What was it Sarah Jane said we shouldn't do? Whatever happened? Don't go outside.
GROWLING It's locked! Hey! Let us in! Sarah Jane's in the tunnels, she can't hear you.
SCREECHING What was that? Could just be afox.
Or whatever Sarah Jane said was out here.
GROWLING Come on! There's got to be another way in.
Nobody home.
That's a good start.
It's freezing.
We're underground.
What is that? Exactly what I expected, alien technology.
It's like a computer built from brass and iron.
I don't think it's a computer.
I've seen something like it before.
I think it's a trans-dimensional accelerator.
I don't understand.
This entire house has been turned into a portal to another galaxy.
We're locked out! With whatever attacked Sarah Jane.
This is not good, Clyde.
GROWLING No.
That's not good.
Come on! The pavilion! It all makes sense.
Erasmus Darkening is an alien.
And over 300 years ago, he was trapped here on Earth.
So he pretended to be an alchemist, finding the secret of turning the lead into gold? All the time he was building this - a way to get home.
It works by bending one dimension over another, and opening a doorway through.
A portal.
Professor Rivers has what? Gone through it? I think something went wrong it's been malfunctioning ever since.
And Darkening's somehow manipulating the accelerator's powers, he's channelling it.
You're saying all these ghosts Are living people? Trapped between dimensions.
What happens if we turn it off? The disappearances will stop, but those people will be lost for ever.
Including Celeste Rivers.
Quickly, Clyde.
GROWLING It's not exactly the Alamo.
I hope not.
They got into the Alamo.
Yeah.
Well, it'll have to do.
There was something in those bushes, I'm sure.
Tonight, it doesn't matter what you shut out, you never know what you're locking yourself in with.
Great(!) Thanks for that thought.
I'm sorry.
I just hope we gave Sarah Jane a chance to fix whatever's going on here.
Is there some way of reversing it? Possibly.
I've seen trans-dimensional accelerators before.
I travelled in something that used the same principle for years.
You did what? Oh, there are so many things out there more exciting than ghost hunting, Toby.
Who exactly are you? Nobody special.
Wherever he is now, Erasmus Darkening must once have been a very, very clever scientist.
My mind is a colossus, Miss Smith.
Time is meaningless to me.
I have contemplated the mysteries, the physics of the universe, of time, of life itself.
Every being that has become part of my dominion feeds my existence.
You mean the accelerator is powered by the lives of the people it takes.
No-one dies here.
I thought you understood that.
The accelerator's malfunction transformed this house into a gateway to eternity.
It's not a gateway, it's a trap.
You're using the accelerator to steal life energy to give you immortality.
And so you, you two shall be taken unto me.
No-one can escape the house.
And it is a better fate than that faced by your young friends.
Clyde and Rani? Where are they? The accelerator was not entirely successful, but it did open a gateway for something.
The creature outside! Oh, no, in the grounds.
If there was anything out there, I think it's gone.
Maybe we should make a break for it? Sarah Jane might need us.
Yeah.
GROWLING What was that? There's something up there.
GROWLING GROWLING Oh, that's it, we're getting out of here.
TAPPING GROWLING I reckon that's what Sarah Jane was talking about.
TAPPING Well, at least it's polite.
GROWLING What is it? DOOR RATTLES I don't know.
But I'm pretty sure it's not from round here.
DOOR RATTLES Clyde, it's gonna get in any minute.
We need a plan.
No, not a plan.
What we need are a couple of oars.
Right.
Whatever's out there, it's not exactly bright, is it? I mean, it could get through that door, no problem.
You're right, we can take it.
RATTLING Whatever it is.
Wherever it's from.
GROWLING It's him 'oar' us.
GROWLING Are you ready? Bring it on.
What's going on? Time runs short.
Oh, Sarah Jane.
Oh, Rani! Thank heavens you're all right.
Lord Marchwood saved us, and brought us back into the house.
You are Lord Marchwood? Nothing dies in Darkening's dominion and nothing lives.
I have done what I could to save people from this cursed house and from Darkening's power.
You tried to save us by scaring us away? The poltergeist activity.
It was you? Look at these EMF readings.
Wow, your lordship, you are smoking! If this was a seismometer and you were a volcano, we'd all be running away with our hair on fire.
Let me look at that.
That's extraordinary.
What is this sorcerer's box? Oh, this isn't sorcery, this is science.
That's right.
It's given me an idea how we can defeat Darkening.
But, Lord Marchwood, we're going to need your help.
I have brought this curse upon my house, and my family.
I would do anything to lift it.
Toby, how much electrical cabling do you have? Darkening! Hear me, magician! The curse you have cast upon this house ends tonight.
For over 300 years I have sought my children and watched you take soul after soul.
But no more! And you will stop me? Was it not you, Marchwood, that brought all this upon your house? It was your hand that took innocent people from the village, and cast them into whatever infernal place they went, your hand that took Elizabeth and Joseph.
My children! It was your hand that sought to strike me and take my life and founded my dominion.
You attacked me, you damaged my device.
You caused all that has happened here.
You took my children.
I wanted only to return home.
But you stopped my experiments.
Lord Marchwood has to get Darkening to step into the electro-magnetic field.
You took innocent people and despatched their living souls to the netherworld.
But tonight I end this curse.
Energy can neither be created or destroyed, only changed.
Every time Lord Marchwood attacked that creature outside he absorbed its energy.
That's why the EMF meter spiked.
The electricity creates its own magnetic field.
It will trap Darkening and absorb him.
Turn him into electricity? But he has to step into our trap.
What about Marchwood? If he's in it, he'll be destroyed.
Meet me, Darkening.
You cannot harm me, Marchwood.
Then meet me.
I know that you are not a man.
But perhaps just this once, act like one.
Ha ha ha ha ha! Did you think I would be so easily vanquished, Miss Smith? I told you, my intellect is a colossus.
How could you think I would not see through so transparent a stratagem? You disappoint me, Sarah Jane Smith.
I never like to disappoint.
Get back! Eternity! I have lost eternity-y-y-y-y-y-y! Are you all right? I'm fine, thank you.
Darkening, has he gone? I think so.
The magnetic field blew his fuse.
That's the trouble with having a colossal intellect, you think you're cleverer than everyone else, never consider what other people might be hiding up their sleeves.
Lord Marchwood and his children, have they gone? Professor Rivers? What have you done with my equipment? Do you have any idea how much this equipment is worth? I know, Professor.
I'm sorry.
We have just witnessed the most amazing phenomena in this house and do we have any record of it? No.
But, Professor, it wasn't paranormal, it was alien.
I give up.
I give up.
The accelerator was synchronised with Darkening's energies.
When the magnetic field destroyed him, it overloaded, sending Professor Rivers back.
But what about all the others? They wanted to be released.
At least their nightmare is over.
Well, I can't leave Darkening's device as it is.
I have to take care of it.
Permanently.
What about Lord Marchwood and his children? Do you think they found each other? I don't know.
Come on.
Well, I'm not sure that exercise proved or disproved anything as regards the paranormal.
But it certainly was interesting.
I'll look forward to the next time.
Me, too.
I just wanted to thank you, Miss Smith.
What for? Let's say you've broadened my horizons.
Maybe I shouldn't be looking for ghosts, I should be looking to the stars instead.
It's a wonderful universe, Toby and no matter how much you think you know, it will always have one more surprise for us.
Don't ever forget that.
I won't.
ENGINE STARTS So that's it, then? No more haunted house.
Weren't you paying attention? There never was a haunted house.
It was just an alien with a trans-dimensional accelerator on the blink.
So, no such thing as ghosts then, Sarah Jane? That's right.
No such thing as ghosts.
Tomorrow morning this entire class will be the first to see The Mona Lisa.
Ha ha ha ha ha! The Mona Lisa has been stolen! When I act like a teenager you want me to be perfect, the way the Bane made me! Whatever we're dealing with it's more than just an art thing.
Sarah Jane! Mum! Ahhh!