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Sarah Jane SmithElizabeth 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)