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Sarah Jane SmithElisabeth Sladen |
The [Fourth] Doctor's Finest Companion by Carl Malmstrom 11/5/97
Sarah Jane Smith arguably the best companion the Doctor had throughout the series. I'd have to flip a coin between her and Ace to give you a definitive answer, though. I won't even try to get in to which of the two would be the greatest Doctor/Companion team ever. That would be even closer. Sarah Jane was everything the ideal companion of that era should have been: intelligent, pretty, strong-willed, and every so often, one step ahead of the Doctor.
The odd thing is, though, was that she and the Fourth Doctor worked together, in my opinion, much better than she and Pertwee's Doctor. You'd think it would be the other way around as Pertwee's Doctor was much more in line with Sarah Jane's calm, stable, caring exterior, but something between her and Doctor Number Four just seemed to click. Maybe it was the way that the kind of balanced each other out. Maybe it was that they just seemed to understand each other better for some reason. Whatever it was, they made an incredible team.
Sarah was one of the few companions I actually felt bad to see leave the TARDIS. Even with some of my other favorite companions, seeing them leave the TARDIS just made you think: I wonder who's next?. With Sarah, though, it was closer to: we'll never see her like again. It would have been nice for her and Tom Baker's Doctor to have had a few more adventures together, but the companions have always been much more short-lived than the Doctors. Even so, she ran for more seasons (if not episodes) than some Doctors did (notably Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy). She even had her own abortive spin-off series and she came back for The Five Doctors and Dimensions in Time. To me, that's the greatest testament to any Doctor Who character after they've left the TARDIS: how well they live on.
Ditto by Dennis McDermott 26/5/97
I've been pleasantly surprised on the differences of opinion that have shown up on our list of favorite doctors that I wonder if that will be true of the companions. Is there anyone out there that wouldn't put Sarah Jane on top of the list? I'm eager to find out. Otherwise, I'll simply second Carl's endorsement of Sarah. Perhaps we ought to figure out our second favorite companion (now that would be a challenge).
"Why don't you take off that ridiculous costume and go home to your butcher's shop!" by Joe Ford 28/4/03
There are several 'accepted' things in Doctor Who fandom, Colin Baker, for example was a HUGE mistake to be chosen to play the Doctor, JNT returned Doctor Who to it's dramatic roots before killing the show forever, seasons five and seven cannot be faulted oh and Sarah Jane Smith is the best companion ever. All of these could be argued over for the those who disagree with (I don't really agree with any of them) except that last one. Sarah Jane is my favourite companion as well so for once i'm joining up with the masses (hey I haven't got the lurgy!) to compliment this fantastic companion.
What is it that makes Sarah so special? Outwardly despite her bolshie entrance (she spends her first two stories being quite rebellious individual!) she does little more than hang out with the Doctor and make the usual mistakes (you know tripping over, screaming, asking stupid questions...). Certainly she is not as smart or resourceful as Zoe or as close to the Doctor as Susan or even as funny as Leela. So why? Why do we champion this character?
For a start she has an incredible fortune to be written into the show during a period of creative genius and confidence. The run of stories from The Time Warrior to The Hand of Fear is exceptional, there are relatively little clunkers (maybe two) and tons and tons of classics (Genesis, Seeds, Morbius, Pyramids). No companion had ever been this fortunate to appear in so many GOOD stories and I feel their reputation did Sarah's rep no harm at all.
But it's more than that, I feel the strongest aspect of Sarah is the talent of her performer, the delightful Elisabeth Sladen. Her confidence and charisma bubbles out on the screen, despite all the screams Sarah always comes across as real and that is vital. Her reaction to Keeler-monster in Seeds of Doom is fantastic, she's clearly horrified but utterly humane or even better is her relationship with K1 in Robot, she develops strong feelings for the machine and adds so meat to the story. The joy of Sarah was that Lis Sladen could make these more emotional scenes work, when she squirms at the sight of the Wirrin grub we are scared despite it's absurd appearance, her little "Thankyou" to Sevrin (in Genesis) is inconsequential but speaks volumes and the fact that she is blinded and terrified (Brain of Morbius) she STILL heads down the stairs towards the creepy voice that is echoing through the corridors of Solon's castle... it is Sarah all over. Inquisitive, intelligent and brave.
Lis Sladen is such a lovely lady in real life you can just see her enthusiasm in interviews, it's the same enthusiasm she used to put on screen. Sarah worked just as well as an action hero and she would sometimes do more physical work than the Doctor himself. Watch her chasing around the grounds of Harrison Chase's house pursued by guards with rifles, climbing the rocket gantry to escape from the Thal guards, fleeing from the Vogans in a speed boat in underground tunnels, Sarah was always reading jump into action when it was needed. She was quite a dynamic lady.
Even better is her chemistry with the two Doctors. Jon Pertwee must have liked her a lot to replace his affections of his Katy Manning and they have five good stories together. More than Tom Baker he is physically close to her, the way he strokes her face in Death to the Daleks says much more than script and he's always putting his arm around her. He likes to protect his girls and that works fine because Sarah doesn't want to be molly-coddled and leads to lots of good scenes ("You can't sink on Florana!" "I can sink anywhere!"). On reflection, her relationship with Tom Baker's Doctor might be less physical but they are clearly very good friends with a deep respect for one another. Indeed her reactions to his 'death' (in every second story) proves to be quite emotional.
Sarah is so normal it is odd that she is singled out for special attention but because so many Doctor Who companions can be labelled artificially (the savage, the dimwit Scots, the moany aussie)... with Sarah it's a lot harder to do this. She has a job, a solid base in 'real time', she has friends (her contacts are spoken of), she can hop off the TARDIS when she chooses (Zygons) and she's not above reminding us of her human complaints ("Oh I could murder a cuppa tea!" "I want a bath!"). She's so unusually not special that makes her very special.
Her opening story is an absolute delight, a comedy written by the assured hand of Robert Holmes and Sarah gets some of her best moments right from the start. She thinks the Doctor is behind the disappearances of the scientists and sets out to captures him and force his allegiances elsewhere. "This isn't a rescue Doctor, it's a capture!" she screams. Later on she aids the Doctor and hears his amazing story of origin ("Galactic ticket inspectors?") and helps to send the enemy to sleep by any means necessary ("Look at that GREAT spider!"). Not forgetting of course her delightful attempts to justify Irongron's castle.
Considering the aim of Sarah was to create a very different sort of companion she ended up being quite a safe bet indeed, a safe companion during a safe period. It that is why we love her, not because of any great shakes or amazing qualities she had because she represented what we would be like in those adventures. You could take out Sarah in practically any of her stories and slot me in and the result would not be much different (except you'd have to glare at my ugly mug instead, bleaugh).
Such a wonderfully entertaining person to watch and with a leaving scene that makes you want to grab a kleenex and your other half to give you a big hug, Sarah tops many polls as best companion and deserves it. It is her strength of character and Lis Sladen's incredible performance that paved the way for her own five part audio series which introduced an older, crabbier Sarah. Probably much more fascinating then the one we knew on telly because her life is no longer safe and predictable, she has made lots of enemies thanks to her journalistic honesty and the world is out to get her. It is great to have Sarah as a central character without the arrogance of the Doctor smothering her, she proves to be even more dynamic, reckless even and at times frightening paranoid. In ever way, a great start for a hero.
One of two woman on telly I've fancied too and that's quite a mind bender for me!
The Uber-Companion by Terrence Keenan 29/8/03
When I think about companions in Who, the first one that comes to mind is Sarah Jane Smith.
Why?
Simple. Every conceivable trait that goes into a companion was in Sarah. Lungpower? Yep. Best screamer, bar none -- listen to her let it rip in Pyramids of Mars and Genesis of the Daleks. Likeability? Check. She's a contemporay working girl. The kind you might acutally meet at the pub. Determination? Uh Huh. She might be menaced every five seconds, but it doesn't stop her from helping out. Bootyliciousness? Definitely. She's number three on my list behind the Romanas. And trust me, bootyliciousness counts. Think back to yonder days of puberty....
Anyhoo... The character got one of the better debuts in Who courtesy of Robert Holmes's The Time Warrior. Kibitzing, mixing it up with the locals, the occasional feminist diatribe, initial mistrust and most of all, jumping in with both feet. In the remainder of season 11, she has good rapport with the Doctor and the UNIT family, but gets treated as a Jo clone, especially in The Monster of Peladon and Planet of the Spiders.
A switch in Doctors was a big help. Sarah's relationship with the 4th Doctor is more buddy-buddy than paternal. She also has Harry to bounce off of. The Modern Woman and the Old Fashioned Man. The other big helping hand was having Holmes and Hinchcliffe running the show. Sarah was allowed to develop her own personality. She became a running double act with the Doctor, especially from Planet of Evil going forward.
And this is why Sarah is so much fun. The little bits, the bickering and joking with the Doctor. She loves him and better, knows him. Knows when he shams death. Knows he makes bad jokes in a crisis. Knows his moods and feelings like no other companion before. And by the time she leaves in The Hand of Fear, we have a companion who has managed to grow, yet remain constant at the same time.
Much credit and adoration goes to Lis Sladen. Her motivation for Sarah might have been wonderfully simple: doing everything for your best friend (check out the 30 Years video for the full quote). Also, her acting is rock solid. She's always on. In fact, only in The Monster of Peladon is she not up to her normal standards (in her defence, the script sucked rocks).
So, for three and a half seasons, we got to have this reporter from South Croyden to be our link to the universe. And damn if she wasn't great.
Not just great, the best.
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 27/11/03
Sarah Jane Smith is arguably one of the most popular companions and this is largely due to the enthusiasm of Elisabeth Sladen. The character is a continually developing one and for her first two seasons this is a positive thing as she gets stronger throughout. However once the series takes a darker turn under Philip Hinchcliffe, she degenerates into a screamer, often being captured and falling over. Initially, the premise of the character as a journalist is a good one and her working with UNIT (including Harry Sullivan) generally help both her and the stories; perhaps it is unsurprising then she eventually landed spin off series both from Big Finish and alongside K-9.
GREATEST MOMENT: The Time Warrior, she not only uses her initiative in infiltrating UNIT but also sets herself against the Doctor (something that wouldn`t be repeated until the arrival of Turlough)
"Women going their own way" by Thomas Cookson 25/4/16
The news Sarah Jane was returning in 2006 was very exciting. It was fandom's dream come true. Sarah back in the flesh, canonised by New Who. A validation of her character after all these years we thought we'd never see her again.
She was perhaps the natural choice of classic companion to bring back, being the most well-remembered for her run alongside the iconic Tom Baker, she'd had a conveniently Earthbound departure, and The Five Doctors had provided a precedent for her return.
My idealised notion of Sarah was as a very classy, strong, mature character.
I remember Planet Skaro's philistine scum approving titbits of how School Reunion would show older Sarah as being jealous at the sight of the nubile Doctor with Rose on his elbow. Gushing over how this Footballer's-Wives-style writing would be more 'emotionally realistic'. How little they understood Sarah's character they'd project their own sordid pettiness onto her?
It nagged me whether this fan response was indicative of Classic Sarah being far from the classy lady I remember or more a malleable cipher who could be moulded into this neurotic state and it'd somehow constitute growth. If her beloved fans thought so, maybe it was true.
This compounds an alienation I've long felt from fandom, having grown up in the 90's where books like The Discontinuity Guide seemingly existed to extinguish my enthusiasm and curiosity about old episodes which were argued as nearly all crap by thoroughly listing everything wrong with them.
New Who's inherent malaise is that it's produced by 'fans' for whom liking the show isn't enough. They want it to be loved and adored at the sacrifice of its integrity and self-respect, and want to dictate how the show's loved by the rest of fandom, meaning they must own the show completely. Terry Nation used to stall the Daleks' first appearance for cliffhanger impact. When RTD did this, it was to accommodate celebrity cameos and Reality TV crap first.
Frankly, having already suffered half a season of Jackie Tyler, comparatively getting only 45 minutes of Sarah seemed barely enough. Surely Sarah was more deserving of appearing in The Christmas Invasion than Jackie.
Clips of School Reunion in the trailer excited me anew. Tennant pointing his screwdriver, threatening "Give her back to me", and Anthony Head snarling with delight in a manner evoking the Master.
My mind raced with possibilities. Perhaps the Master's swallowed essence had survived and Rose opening the TARDIS' heart had unleashed him. We'd seen Tennant's Doctor exhaling TARDIS energy during sleep. Perhaps it'd turn out this airborne energy found another human host.
I anticipated the Master taking Sarah hostage, forcing the Doctor to destroy him. For Tennant's 'no second chances' Doctor who sacrificed everything to ensure the Daleks would never take another innocent life, neutralising the Master's threat would be no game to him.
I was excited over the show being back, offering new possibilities for old companions and foes, but hopefully whilst exercising a lean, satisfying quality control that Classic Who often lacked.
But the more I learned about School Reunion, the more I dreaded it. Couldn't RTD let us enjoy this brief fan treat without souring it with Rose's petty jealousy and bitching, scowling and sniping at the fact Sarah Jane exists and she's not the centre of attention for once? She's apparently shocked that during the Doctor's many centuries alive he's surprisingly shared other female company.
It seemed such a disservice to Sarah to be welcomed back this vindictively. Rose had previously expressed frustration how she couldn't describe her life with the Doctor to anyone who'd understand. So shouldn't she be overjoyed at meeting someone who's been there too and knew the past Doctors?
But School Reunion seemingly wasn't written with that wonder in mind, but for viewers that RTD clearly couldn't envision actually being interested in Classic Who. He'd instructed Toby Whithouse (who's Being Human series specialised in reducing mythical beings to angsty emos) to write Sarah's return like a Sex and the City episode.
Back in The Five Doctors, Sarah was nursing no broken heart and was actually getting on with her life. In fact, being whisked away into outer space adventures again was an unwanted inconvenience to her. Watching at age 11, that seemed sadly true to how inevitably we all grow up and turn away from our fun-loving childhood selves.
But School Reunion saw Sarah's independent, contented 1983 self erased in favour of portraying her instead as a complete drip. Having diced with Sutekh, Morbius and Davros, Sarah now gets this soap drivel, suddenly moping over her past crush on the Doctor she never overcame, and entering a bitch-spat with some possessive peroxide college dropout.
Elisabeth Sladen alone makes School Reunion a triumph. How could it fail with her presence? She could've done likewise for any prior, better 'Sarah returns' fanfiction out there had they filmed that instead. This'd be nothing special without her.
Sarah doesn't get material there that suits her character strengths because New Who's made with the conceit that classic Sarah never actually had any because she was a cipher.
Even this bitch-spat could've reasserted the old 'heart of a lion' Sarah who ferociously tore strips off Scorby whilst at gunpoint. That Sarah would've verbally destroyed Rose in seconds, reducing her to a quivering sobbing wreck on the floor, surrendering the TARDIS keys.
Old Sarah wouldn't be taken in by Rose's phoney "Oh how silly we're being." She'd be mortified that the Doctor ever considered someone so selfish, malicious and spoilt as good companion material, and might've warned him not to trust this troublesome, possessive little twit.
Even Tegan occasionally apologised to the Doctor after her temper tantrums. Rose offers none to Sarah. In fact, RTD seemed to love rubbing in Rose's taunt at Sarah about the Doctor never mentioning her, by subsequently showing Tennant croon over Rose's absence constantly, just to devalue Sarah further.
To clarify why Tennant and Rose's romance nauseates many older fans, the audio story Arrangements for War saw Colin's Doctor chaperoning a Romeo & Juliet couple whose secret, forbidden romance might provoke war if made public. Colin finds it impossible curbing these young hearts' from sweet-talking each other or keeping their hands off each other for a minute.
But the story's tragic ending actually provokes our sad nostalgia for their tacky displays of affection. How happy they were together doing what people in love naturally do, and wishing people could've let them enjoy their love that did no-one any harm.
Tennant and Rose's romance was never anything so benevolent. Rose is needlessly hurtful to Sarah, and their cliquey giggling together seemed always at someone else's expense.
Sarah must lose the fight to Rose and admit she's too old now, even though she isn't. They're forced to kiss and make up like they're on some team-building exercise about finding womanly ways of getting along in the worker's clique, developing a good team-minded personality and sucking up to the right people. Adhering to the modern feminized work environment of being touchy-feely, huggy and nicey-nicey, and where anyone who's excluded from the workplace clique must've been at fault or failed to use their best emotional capacities to make amends. If we can work together, it proves those who can't cut the work environment must be antisocial undesirables or sponges.
Sorry, you thought Doctor Who was about saying 'screw that', daring to be different and adventurous like Sarah, Leela and Romana were? Doctor Who doesn't do strange or outside the box anymore. It's no longer the same show where 1963's The Daleks hijacked and rewrote the zeitgeist from the outside in.
Nonetheless, we did gain the Sarah Jane Adventures from this and a surge of interest in Sarah's classic stories from youngsters who previously couldn't have cared less. Sarah's run with Tom Baker could work perfectly as its own TV series and is very accessible to curious younger viewers.
Sycophantic fan editorials claim School Reunion gave Sarah more characterisation than her entire 1970's run did. I really don't get how RTD became trumpeted as a master of character, given he constantly invokes the most shallow, horrific stereotypes, whether in his obsession with making the Doctor an alpha male or his frankly vile remarks about autistic fans.
But, nonetheless, fans would have you believe RTD was the first writer
to give the companions a family life, as though Elisabeth Sladen herself even agreed now that Classic Who's
characterisation of Sarah was miniscule and that her character was
thankfully much more full-blooded. She'd often lamented in fact how
Sarah's headstrong beginnings gradually gave way to her becoming another
screaming female companion. But was this a sexist trope or the makers
simply writing Sarah with realistic, human fear responses? Again, her
confrontation with Scorby is a perfect illustration of her being fiercely
brave even against her fear.
It's admittedly true that Classic Who's rushed script schedule
rarely afforded time to implement more character or emotion. But New
Who suffered similar rushed rewrites, except with RTD now
forcefully cramming in the heavy-handed mawkish emoting wherever he could.
Personally though, Genesis of the Daleks' 'Do I
have the right?' scene taught me far more about Sarah's character than
RTD's era ever did. I learned that she possesses the imagination and
empathy to envision alien worlds and cultures and feel concern for their
populations living under the Daleks' terror. That's what is consciously
going on in her head.
When Tom hesitates, seemingly emotionally affected by the creature's
bite for survival, it's a stopper for us. It's as much Sarah's scene as
the Doctor's. She could snatch the wires from him and kill them herself,
but she needs the Doctor to help her understand why he won't. If he won't
do it, she might never be able to understand or trust him again. It's an
argument of such personal magnitude that her friendship with him might not
survive it. That's a lot from one scene. Even first-time viewers would
benefit enormously in terms of emotional investment and understanding who
Sarah is: that she'll sometimes challenge the Doctor morally, out of
concern for her fellow sentient beings and an overriding moral sense that
you don't let psychotic pitiless murderers spawn if you've a chance of
stopping them.
Despite all those horrific events and deaths, Genesis ends with Sarah being still her usual jolly,
stoic self. Has the experience meant nothing to her?
Well it's simply how these characters live. Being used to living amidst
danger and death with a stoicism and unflappable optimism. She's
experienced history at its most horrific but gained an appreciation of her
own life and of what has lived on.
Elisabeth Sladen once described the many frightening, torturous
experiences Sarah endured, and she nailed how being companion required a
certain degree of masochism and willingness to test her own mettle.
Because Sarah had the aptitude for the adventure, and the passion to keep
going at it, like any sports fanatic.
Sarah didn't just have sex appeal, she had guts and spirit. For any
young boy, she was the perfect girl, who could be as tough as one of the
boys and made you wish your female peers were more like her.
You wouldn't know this from New Who though.
The Sarah Jane Adventures reduced Sarah to the same emotional level as
its child cast. Sometimes she was her tough-as-boots old self, but mostly
she was characterised as a temperamental wet blanket (egregiously so in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End), rendering her far
less centred and, dare I say, insipid. Elisabeth Sladen's delicacy of
performance often felt sorely abused by the indelicate, forcefully
tear-jerking characterisation she got.
Classic Sarah was far more steely and brave, chiefly because her
adversities were far nastier and deadlier than New Who's.
Ultimately though, RTD's mawkish additions to her character actively made
Sarah into less than the sum of her parts.