Sunday 2 April 2017

B is for... Blathereen


When Sarah Jane Smith and her young friends were on the point of being killed by members of the Slitheen family, they were saved by the intervention of a pair of Blathereen - Leef Apple Glyn and Tree Lorn Acre. They were identical to the Slitheen, except that their skin was orange instead of green. They claimed to be enemies of the criminal Slitheen and wanted to make amends for the trouble they had caused to the Earth. Sarah was initially distrustful of them, but invited them to dinner. The Blathereen offered a gift - a plant named Rakweed. This could solve world hunger, and they wanted Sarah to act as intermediary for them in forging a friendship with Earth.
The plant released spores which caused Sarah's son Luke to become dangerously ill. The spores quickly spread and began affecting people all over London. Sarah realised she had been duped. She used her computer Mr Smith to transport herself to the Blathereen spaceship, which was hidden near the North Pole. Here she learned that the Blathereen were not a separate clan but were really the Slitheen-Blathereen. They were addicted to Rakweed, and planned on turning the Earth into one vast Rakweed farm.
Sarah's friends Clyde and Rani discovered that Rakweed was susceptible to sounds at certain high frequencies. They used K9 and Mr Smith to tap every phone and alarm in the infected area to destroy the plants. Sarah escaped back to her Ealing home, but the Blathereen gave chase. Mr Smith used the high frequency sound to excitate the Rakweed permeating their systems, causing them to explode.

Voiced by: Simon Callow (Tree), and Miriam Margolyes (Leef). Appearances: SJA 3.6 The Gift (2009).

  • Callow and Margolyes are huge fans of Charles Dickens, and both have performed solo shows based on the author and his characters. Callow has played Dickens twice in Doctor Who.
  • Inside the suits are regular monster performers Paul Kasey (Leef) and Ruari Mears (Tree).

No comments:

Post a Comment