Top Five Damn Hero Moments: Sky Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)

When it comes to finding Big Damn Hero moments, the youngest Smith is at a disadvantage.  Due to the show’s sadly-truncated fifth season, she’s only in six episodes, and she’s a baby for most of the first one.  That doesn’t leave her a huge amount of time in which to be awesome, but Sky still pulls it off!  (Spoilers.)

Turning from Miss Myers (Series 5, Episode 2:  “Sky – Part 2”)

Sky’s first big moment remains my favorite, just because it’s so lovely.  Born to be a devastating weapon, Sky is expected, by her terrible piece-of-work mother, to end a war she knows nothing about with extreme prejudice.  Sky has only just been aged out of infancy and has a hard time controlling her unstable powers, but in the end, her desire not to be a force for destruction is enough to hold back the other forces within her, and she chooses life in a very uplifting way.

Discovering the Curse (Series 5, Episode 4:  “The Curse of Clyde Langer – Part 2”)

Sky’s alien biology protects her from the curse that causes everyone to turn against Clyde at the sound of his name.  Even though she’s still new to being alive and doesn’t fully get how humans act, she almost immediately twigs that something isn’t right.  With Clyde run out of the neighborhood, she’s on her own as she puts the pieces together, recognizing that it’s his name that’s the key.

Convincing Sarah Jane and Rani of the Curse (Series 5, Episode 4:  “The Curse of Clyde Langer – Part 2”)

Okay, so deciding that repeating Clyde’s name aversion-therapy-style is the key to breaking the curse is something of an intuitive leap that’s more plot shorthand than anything else, but I still like Sky’s tenacity here.  Sarah Jane and Rani are being immovable in their utter detestation of Clyde, but Sky keeps at them until she finds a way to snap them out of it.

Catching Serf’s Glitch (Series 5, Episode 5:  “The Man Who Never Was – Part 1”)

When it comes to Sky, even when her powers are greatly diminished, the show still focuses a lot on her being an alien.  It comes in handy here, as her electrical sensitivity allows her to notice the Serf hologram’s live glitch, tipping her off that the tech mogul isn’t what he seems.  Bonus points for being able to locate the exact moment of the glitch in the security footage, proving to the others that she and Luke are right.

Operating Serf (Series 5, Episode 6:  “The Man Who Never Was – Part 2”)

I already mentioned this in Luke’s Big Damn Hero write-up, but it bears repeating.  Smith kid tag-team for the win!  Sky is terrific running the Serf hologram with her brother while the Skullions are making their getaway.  While Luke handles motor functions, Sky takes care of the speech department, going a little overboard with the cowboy routine when Luke reminds her that Serf is supposed to be American (she’s been watching Toy Story again.)  Ha!