Archive for the 'Companions' Category

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.

Oh God No, Not Again

Karen Gillan: lover of anagrams.

Karen Gillan: lover of anagrams.

Here we are again, the start of the end.

It would appear that the new Doctor Who production team loves anagrams as much as Russell T Davies.

Shit.

BUt we here you ask, how do we know this information? From whence did the revelation come?

Well, blame The Guardian – which it seems is the hot place for Doctor Who info these days – they’ve got an interview with Karen Gillan and in it she describes the audition process and her recall, which is where the anagram nonsense comes to light.

Young Ms Gillan comes clean and reveals just how auditioning for Doctor Who works.

Then I got the recall, the second audition. That was when I started sweating. This huge thing. And it was so secretive I couldn’t even tell BBC reception where I was going, had to pretend it was for something called Panic Moon, which is an anagram of companion.

Panic Moon? Jesus.

Let’s hope it’s just for the audition process and they abandon it in the show, huh?

Still at least a bit of hope comes from the fact that young Gillan admits that she’s not a huge follower of Doctor Who. This can only be a good thing after all who wants her trying to be all cow-eyed like Billie Piper or dim and shouty like Catherine Tate?

There Once Was Hope…

In view of the relaunch of Doctor Who – with the wonderful Matt Smith – we thought it was about time that we discussed some of the moments that excited us during Russell T Davies tenure at the helm.

As odd as it sounds – coming from us at least – there were a few incidents that reminded us of classic Who and offered a glimmer of hope that things might have gotten better.

They were few and far between but it’s only fair that we list them. This shouldn’t take too long… Continue reading ‘There Once Was Hope…’