The production values for kids' shows have gone way up since I was a we'en, haven't they?

Even for all its melodrama and cute widdle tentacled monsters, I'll take the first eps of The Sarah Jane Adventures over the fourth eps of Torchwood, any day.

Particular kudos to whoever cast the gal playing Maria - a young actor who isn't horribly precocious, twee or generally annoying. What a relief.

(and, yes, I squee'd at all the little references and nods - although I, for one, could have skipped some of the sillier tech)