‘Space Lizards Stole My Brain’ is a hugely entertaining sci-fi romp for kids. It features a tyrannical cold-hearted (and cold-blooded) warrior lizard called Admiral Skink whose spaceship gets blown up during a battle. Clever technology preserves his mind in a ‘memory wafer’ which is jetisoned into outer space. His mind is now set to be transferred to the brain of whichever intelligent creature comes along after the memory wafer lands on a habitable planet. Unfortunately for 11-year-old Lance Spratley that just happens to be him.
Lance finds his own mind transported to a virtual reality prison while Admiral Skink gets used to being inside the body of a small, pink-skinned mammal. Skink finds himself having to deal with the horrors of parents, teachers and bullies without the means to blast them into atoms.

He needs to recover the memory wafer in the ‘meteorite’ now placed in a museum so that he can call for rescue. Meanwhile, Lance is being prodded and questioned by unpleasant reptilians seeking to learn more about humanity so they can conquer the Earth. And if you think Admiral Skink will learn anything about human kindness while trapped in Lance’s body, you’ll be wrong – once he’s free of our planet, he fully intends to have it utterly destroyed. Eek!

There’s a bit of peril and plenty of action in ‘Space Lizards’ but mainly it’s a lot of fun. Mark is a seasoned writer of comedy scripts and a big fan of Douglas Adams – and you can tell. If CBBC doesn’t scoop this up for adaptation they’re darn fools. If you’ve got a 10-year-old(ish) who loves Doctor Who and sci-fi, they will adore ‘Space Lizards Stole My Brain’.