Boy, they have no idea!
We just moved.
These kids go missing and the police don't have a clue.
Welcome to Spellman's magical museum of the circus.
They're alive. Run! He's sealed the doors.
You are mine to feed on.
Fear me! You are mine!
Don't let him touch you!
Oh, sweet, sweet fear!
Give me a hand! Why are you coming after me?
You have a ticket.
You are mine.
Get away from her! I'm not scared!
But you are scared of me, Sarah Jane Smith.
Of all the things you have seen, of all the things out of the dark
you have fought, it's me that lives in your nightmares.
The painted face of a clown.
Mum!
MOBILE PHONE RINGS
Quick we're out, come on!
Run! He's frozen!
The electromagnetic wave must have
interfered with Spellman's energies. It won't last.
What's going on?!
There is a time and a place for an interview.
And being chased by a clown from outer space is not it!
Rani! Just get in the car.
MOBILE PHONE RINGS
OK, annoying ring tones have their uses.
But they're still annoying!
It's my mum, what do I tell her? That you're on the way home.
You expect me to go home?
You have to tell her.
No. I told you. Both of you.
That phone is doing my head in!
I'm going to offer you a choice, Rani.
Cross over the road, go back to your parents
and your old life.
And nothing will have changed.
Or you can come with me. If you do, nothing will ever be the same again.
I want to know the truth.
Then tell your mum I'm giving you work experience.
This way. This place is huge.
You ain't seen nothin' yet.
And this is where it gets interesting.
How cool is this?
This is where you work?
That's right.
What's this? That's a distress beacon from a scout ship.
Careful! You'll have an inter-galactic rescue team
landing on the corner.
I thought you were a journalist? I am.
Not with alien gizmos, who doesn't bat an eyelid
at a shape-changing alien clown-pied-piper thing?
That's more of a hobby.
Any second now, my alarm will go off and it's my second day
at Park Vale - a new school with your dad as Head Teacher.
Anyone would have nutty dreams. All right,
this is what we do.
When aliens come to Earth, and they do,
all the time, if they're friendly and they need help, we give it.
If they want trouble, we give 'em that, too.
I wouldn't put it like that.
But we have saved the world 12 times now.
No-one is keeping score. Except Luke.
What's important are the rules.
We respect all life, whatever planet it's from,
and we tell no-one what we do.
Do you understand? No-one.
Yes, I understand. Mr Smith, I need you!
What's happening?
It's only Mr Smith.
Yes, how can I help you?
It's a computer! A talking computer!
You've got a talking computer. He's a Xylok.
A crystalline life form - the smartest in the Galaxy.
But computer's close enough.
Tell me everything you know about
the Pied Piper and a clown called Odd Bob.
This has to do with the missing children.
Across America in the period 1932 to 1940 there were disappearances
of children connected to a travelling clown known as Odd Bob.
What about the Pied Piper? I don't think we've been introduced.
This is Rani. She's just visiting.
What about the Pied Piper? A figure
who in 1284 rid the town of Hamelin of rats by a magical tune.
When the town refused to pay him he enchanted away all its children.
Could it be true?
It's a matter of fact that Hamelin lost its children.
You mean it's true?
I want you to scan this, Mr Smith.
I'm detecting an alien energy.
What sort of energy? I can find no comparable data for analysis.
This is something from way off?
Show me the extra-terrestrial records
for Lower Saxony in the Thirteenth Century.
What's that? In the mountains?
A meteorite fragment which landed in 1283.
The year before the Piper arrived.
The Piper was in the meteor! Result!
The meteorite had a diameter of 30.12 centimetres.
An unlikely spacecraft. What do we know about it?
The meteorite is on loan for research
from the University of Munich to the UK.
You mean it's here?
If I were able to analyse a fragment,
I could provide some information.
Of course. Where is it?
The Pharos Institute.
Are you going to get this meteorite?
It might be the key to stopping Spellman.
I have a contact at the Pharos Institute.
I think they'll help me.
I'd like to help you.
The last thing I wanted was for you to get involved
in all of this, in what I do.
Up there, among the stars,
there are fantastic civilizations.
Life forms.
But some are dangerous.
That mean us harm. I stop them.
I've done it for so long. But if I could turn back time,
Luke and Clyde wouldn't be involved.
I don't know if I'll always be able to protect them.
You don't need another kid to worry about. Yes.
But I'm involved.
Odd Bob is after me and every kid that has these tickets.
This is a Vorgatt defence field emitter.
Turn it on, place it in the middle of your room.
It's a force field that will prevent anything harming you.
Make sure that you are never alone. Is that it?
I promise you, I will stop Spellman.
You can't expect me to live across the road
and forget about this.
I expect you to keep it a secret. To never tell anyone.
Not even Mum and Dad?
Do you think they'd believe you?
No. Goodnight, Rani.
It's incredible, isn't it?
The universe. Aliens and everything.
I mean, it's scary. But it's all real.
That's amazing. Yes, Rani.
Yes, it is.
Why do they scare you? Oh. Luke.
Odd Bob, he scared you.
I've never seen that before.
When my Aunt Lavinia brought me up,
my room was full of toys that used to be hers.
One of them was a marionette. A puppet clown.
I never liked it.
It always seemed to be watching me.
One night, there was a tremendous thunder storm.
I screamed the house down.
What happened?
Aunty told me not to be silly.
It was a puppet.
It was a trick of the light in the storm,
perhaps it was.
But it was the first time I ever cried out for my parents.
You see, I never really knew them.
I was a baby when they died.
Rise and shine!
Morning! Mum!
Mum, are you all right?
Oh, I don't know.
Is it one of your migraines coming on? I suppose.
It aches like I walked into a brick wall. It feels like I did!
Maybe you've been over-doing it. Yeah.
Yeah, I suppose. There's your tea.
Hurry up, your breakfast is on.
Miss Smith. So good to see you again.
Professor Rivers. Do come this way.
We owe you a great debt of gratitude
over that business with Nathan Goss.
If anything had appeared in the media,
it would have ended the institute.
There are some things it's best the public don't know.
Oh, thank you. But your interest in the Weserbergland meteorite,
it's not dangerous, is it?
I hope it can help end something that is.
Ah, thank you.
We think it came from deep, deep space.
But the samples we've seen from Mars
offer far more evidence of extra-terrestrial life.
You won't take much?
This is highly irregular.
Normally, I wouldn't allow it but...
You won't notice.
Well, I think it's best if I wasn't here.
If you wish.
What are you doing Miss Smith?
I didn't mean to frighten you.
I'll find out what you are.
We're only scared of what we don't understand.
When I know what you are I will stop you.
Suppose there isn't anything to be understood?
Suppose I am beyond understanding?
Suppose as the thunder crashed and the lightning flashed...
..your aunt's clown really did come to life?
How could you know about that?
It was a trick of the light.
Then why are you still so scared?
You need people to be frightened of you.
That's why you take the children.
That scares us most,
the thing it's almost impossible to understand.
And today, just for you, Miss Smith,
I will chill the blood of a nation.
A thousand families will ache with loss and millions will shudder,
sleepless
with a bone-gnawing fear. What are you going to do?
Are you finished Miss Smith?
I can't believe we're at school with that alien still out there.
Welcome to our world.
We're alien hunters, Defenders of Earth,
but everything stops for school.
So was Maria one of you, then? Yes.
That's what you meant when you said we couldn't be friends
in the same way?
He's here. It's Odd Bob. He's here.
What's going on?
The balloons are controlling of them.
OK, this does not feel good.
Where are the kids?
He's leading them away like the Pied Piper.
The meteorite's from the Jeggora-bax cluster.
I've never heard of it. It's a dark nebula.
What about energy traces? There is a residue
matching the sample I analysed.
Entities in this region are created by emotions like fear.
This energy came here in a meteor
that fell in Hamelin where the people were terrified
by a plague of rats.
Once manifested the entity required more fear for survival.
It took the children. To create fear.
And it's been doing the same thing ever since.
You'd better get down here.
Turn around! You don't know what you're doing!
You're in danger! Don't you understand?!
Come back, where are you going?
They're heading for the circus museum.
This must be what he was talking about,
he's going to make the school vanish.
Don't follow them.
I'll be there as soon as I can.
Mr Smith, I have a job for you.
They won't turn back.
It's like they're zombies.
I think Spellman is controlling them.
But what's he going to do with them?
They'll vanish.
He's not interested in the children,
it's the fear their disappearance causes.
Spellman feeds on fear.
Roll up! Roll up! Welcome to Spellman's Magical Museum
of the Circus. Just step this way!
I don't think so.
I don't think you have any say in the matter.
Perhaps I should phone a friend?
Connecting now.
Oh. It looks like his line's busy.
It must be Mr Smith.
He's scanned the school records and rung every pupil.
The phone signals are interfering with Spellman's power.
You meddle with me at your cost, Sarah Jane Smith!
I'm not scared of you! Or Odd Bob!
You think you have conquered your fear?
I will show you fear!
Sounds like a bad loser to me.
Everyone's going back to school.
Luke? Luke?!
He was right next to me. Where's he gone?
No! I'm not having this!
No, Clyde. You stay here.
You, too, Rani. Luke is my son.
I'm going after him on my own.
No way. We're coming to help you!
I'm not going to risk losing both of you. Stay here!
She's locked us out!
What will we do?
We've got to find another way in!
Spellman, where are you?
I've come for my son!
Help, help!
Luke!
Help! Luke!
Spellman! Where are you?!
Not scared of me, Miss Smith?
I think you are!
If you've hurt my son, I will destroy you!
The fear of a mother for her young, the strongest fear of all.
You better believe it!
Give us a hand. Maybe you should stay here.
It'll be dangerous in there.
Would Maria have stayed out here? No.
Yes.
Come on, Spellman, no more smoke and mirrors.
If you're looking at getting fat on my fear,
you're looking at a lo-cal lunch.
Tastes like fear to me. What have you done with Luke?
He's with the others. The others?
The boy in the stationery cupboard, the boy playing football.
If you want me to count them all,
I would pull up a chair.
It has been over 700 years, don't you know?
Where are they?
Somewhere between this world and another.
They are sleeping.
I don't want to harm them.
I don't need to. All of them?
They're fine?
Well, after a while, they just fade away.
Bring them back now!
Oh, I can't do that.
Can you imagine?
A bogeyman that brings children back from Never Never Land?
Who would be scared of me then? Boo.
I would cease to be.
If you don't exist, the harm you've done is reversed.
The children you have taken will be returned. Luke.
But you cannot destroy me.
No-one can destroy fear.
It is part of you all.
I am part of you all.
How do you fight fear? What can we do?
I'll tell you.
Now, if you are so concerned for your son,
let me take you to join him.
I'm sure your disappearance, in time, will give me much nourishment.
Mr Spellman, listen to this.
Two aerials got married. You should've seen the reception!
Another child, another frightened mother.
You have a ticket, Clyde Langer.
Keep away from him! What do you call a sheep with no legs? A cloud!
Police toilet stolen. The cops have nothing to go on!
A magician was driving down the road and he turns into his house.
What is this? Come on folks,
how about a bit of audience participation?
What's invisible and smells like carrots?
Rabbit farts. I thank you, thank you.
Where would you find a one-legged dog? Where you left him.
She's nicking my material.
Stop this! Stop it now!
Does the sound of laughter upset you?
Does it frighten you? You will fear me!
He's getting weaker! Two fish in a tank, one says,
"Can you drive?"
An Optician tells a guy he's colour blind.
"That's a bolt out of the green!"
How did Count Dracula escape from Transylvania?
He used a blood vessel!
What's wrong? Not game for a laugh?
People have shuddered with fear in my shadow for over 700 years.
And now they're rocking with laughter.
Sarah Jane!
I went to the dentist he said, "Say Aah!" I said, why.
He said, "My dog's dead." Of course that's it!
You can't destroy me with pathetic jokes?
These are classics.
I'm just going to put you back where you belong,
where you don't need anyone's fear to survive.
No!
This is where you belong. The meteor that brought you to Earth.
You were strong enough to resist its pull.
But not any more. The nightmare is over!
Thank you! The joker in the pack.
Every alien-busting team should have one. Good thinking.
Well, it was Rani's idea.
But I told him to be funny.
Mum! Oh, Luke! Luke, Luke you're all right!
What happened? Where's Spellman?
I imagine you could say he's finally paid the piper.
The children taken in recent weeks have all been found.
They have no memory of what happened, but were released
when the energy entity was returned to the meteor fragment.
And that is going in here.
Halkonite steel.
Nothing can get through it.
Not even thoughts.
What happens now? Do you trust me to keep all this secret?
When it comes to getting a glimpse of the universe,
there are two types of people.
Those who refuse to believe, and those that embrace the universe,
and just how special life is, and want it to stay that way
by keeping it safe, and secret.
And that's me?
That's all of us.
Where have you been?
I didn't think you'd get involved in this walk out.
A walk out?
The whole school went walk about then comes back
claiming not to have known what they'd been doing.
A good way of winding up the new Head Teacher.
Cos I'm the joker in the pack, aren't I?
We had free periods.
We've been at the library in town researching for a project.
That's why she didn't answer her phone.
I was at the library myself and brought them home.
I thought I'd try
applying my brain to something other than being funny.
Oh, by the way, I saw it on the news.
All those kids turned up like nothing ever happened,
happy ever after, but I can't help thinking, weird.
Not weird, Mum. Surprising.
The universe is a surprising place.
Anyway, Haresh is making veggie chilli for tea.
You're all welcome to share.
I'd love to, but I have to get on with work. But Luke...
Yeah, please. Come on.
Haresh always cooks too much food.
He's got this thing about Dawn French.
His mother said I was far too skinny.
Look at me with my new Head Teacher cooking me tea!
The universe really is a surprising place.
Yes, it really is.
There's no power in the stars.
He's come from nowhere.
What if there's another universe?
I've got things to do. Such, amazing things.
The Ancient Lights will destroy you.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk