Monthly Archive for April, 2011

The Impossible Astronaut

So it airs tomorrow here in the UK. That means that between 18:00 and 18:45 on Saturday, 23rd April we’ll be tweeting like maniacs.

It looks like it’s going to be pretty special too, with the first location filming for Doctor Who since City Of Death back in 1979! We’ll gloss over the Canadian shot TV movie…

So what do we know – or think we know – about The Impossible Astronaut so far then?

Season 6 - The gang's all here.

Season 6 - The gang's all here.

Well lets see…

  • The Silence feature
  • A lead character will die within the first 10 minutes
  • We find out that River Song is from Earth
  • The Silence might be related to the Cybermen
  • The Stetson wearing Doctor in the trailer is from the future
  • It’s a two-parter

So we don’t know much then really. Oh well, our opinion will be posted here shortly after…

Elisabeth Sladen 1946 – 2011

Sarah Jane Smith and the eleventh Doctor

Sarah Jane Smith and the eleventh Doctor

Sarah Jane Smith was a companion without compare, following Jo Grant’s departure to marry a long haired hippy in The Green Death, she joined the third Doctor on his adventures in the 1973 serial The Time Warrior and then – post regeneration – the fourth Doctor, before finally parting company in 1976′s The Hand of Fear.

During that time she met Sontarans, Daleks, Cybermen, even Davros himself.

Although only in the show – initially at least – for three years, she became popular with the fans and it is this popularity that lead to her later appearances.

She first returned to the role in a pilot for K-9 And Company which although unsuccessful at the time would be reborn decades later in a much more successful format.

Her proper return to Doctor Who though, took place in 1983′s The Five Doctors, where she joined a number of other companions and the first five Doctors in playing the deadly Game Of Rassilon.

This wasn’t the end for Sarah Jane Smith though, it would be a while before she would return again to the role of Sarah Jane Smith but when she did it was explosive.

Riding high on the success of his rejuvenation of Doctor Who and its popularity with a new generation of kids, Russell T Davies brought back Sarah Jane – still an investigative journalist – in the tenth Doctor’s 2006 adventure School Reunion. It was this reintroduction of Sarah Jane that lead to the best kid’s science fiction show ever; The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Elisabeth Sladen played Sarah Jane with conviction and sincerity, without her the character wouldn’t have been as strong and believable. She will be greatly missed.