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Nutshell: Sarah Jane Smith, one of the most popular companions of the Doctor in the long-running series "Doctor Who", was unceremoniously dumped back on Earth in 1976 by the Time Lord when he was recalled to his home planet of Gallifrey. Sarah Janes continues her career as an investigative journalist, often with the help of K-9 Mark III, her robotic pooch that the Doctor gifted to her.
However, she always longed for her time with her old friend, and (after a brief, allegedly memory-wiped reunion with several incarnations of the Doctor in the 80s) is only able to let go and move on after meeting him at length in 2007. And move on she has!
Now in her late fifties, Sarah Jane nonetheless has maintained her fierce independent streak and agressive investigative skills. Next month, Sarah Jane will return again as the star of her own children's show, tackling crimes and mysteries of all sorts with the help of the neighborhood kids. K-9 is NOT going to be a regular part of the show after the premiere (he'll be written away at least temporarily to avoid confusion with the forthcoming and unrelated K-9-only series), but Sarah Jane will not be gadgetless... She'll be able to get into heaps of trouble with another gift of the Doctor's:
The show promises a more strictly kids-oriented show in the Doctor Whoniverse (versus Torchwood's graphic adult-ness and the family-oriented flagship show). The premise is fine enough as a children's series, and it's not the first time a bunch of kids save the day as part of a group headed by an older maternal figure. Don't think it's been done quite like this though, with said maternal figure being old enough to be their grandmother, yet still looking so damn good. We'll see in a few weeks!
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They seem to be saturating the TV market with these Doctor Who Spin off-Shows and I feel that's bad. I mean won't people get tired of Doctor Who and the Whoniverse?
(Also I see the Trek reference!)
Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Mars Needs Women: They seem to be saturating the TV market with these Doctor Who Spin off-Shows and I feel that's bad.
I can't help but agree. They can just about manage with having Torchwood and Doctor Who concurrently, but adding a cheesy K9 series and a concept that was rejected years ago after a pilot episode too? It's just overkill really, and I can't help but feel that Sarah Jane & K9 won't last to a second series (especially the K9 series, which strikes me as being Stargate Infinity redesigned for Doctor Who...an attempt to redesign a successful series for kids without involvement of the creative staff, and doomed to failure).
Registered: Jul 2006
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WizArtist II
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The Trek reference is...nah...not gonna do it.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
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Okay... I read about this in the Radio Times and got all excited that they were going to do something interesting... and then it turns out its a kids show. Hell, it might still be better than Torchwood.
This said, I must agree. I remember too many times from both the comic book industry and television that the more you spin off, the worse the outcome will be..... Merchanising and franchising are a guaranteed way to kill something.
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My feeling is that Doctor Who has always been grounded in the broad spectrum of family / all-ages programming. Thus, it's easier to go down than up in age range; this is why Torchwood isn't doing great with the older Who fans (though it's apparently found an audience with older, non-Who people), why the novels (which go on REALLY far out tangents to the original concepts) have never been mainstream, and why even the 1996 TV Movie didn't reach a very broad American audience. The SJA series may find an audience, therefore, in the even younger age group than Doctor Who follows.
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Well, most of the audio drama feature really esoteric, often existential material that demonstrates the extremes of the Doctor Who concept (not to mention the extremes of the imagination and no budget limitation for special effects!). The same goes for many of the movels, which were only rarely written as though it could be a familiar television adventure. I was glad to read/listen to the more recent original novels from BBC featuring the ninth and tenth Doctors which while written for young adults, certainly read like they could fit in concurrently with the current series.
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I watched the pilot episode with half an eye while playing Warcraft this afternoon. It definitely looks very colorful, but with a slight edge to it.
I didn't pick up much of the story, but I'm guessing there will be a repeat sometime this week. I do know that sonic lipstick is the future.
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Yes over-saturation with spin-offs might not lead to a good outcome - but at least as mentioned they are spin offs that have different target audiences not just a split of the same target group a la DS9 and Voyager.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
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Who the heck looks at a lipstick and thinks "ooh, this could be a little more sonic"?
Watched it, loved it. It certainly feels like Doctor Who, with a younger and kid-oriented cast tackling the usual unusual alien invasion stuff. Hell, this was probably better than "The Runaway Bride", though not by much IMO. Doctor Who will forever be THE flagship show, but this will help fill in the time when it's not on the air and we're not busy complaining about Torchwood. I'll be watching this one when the regular series picks up later this year (probably after Doctor Who finishes off its third season and before Torchwood begins its second). Notes:
-The CG creature at the beginning is mostly the same model (read: same species) as the one that was making out with Toshiko in Torchwood's "Greeks Bearing Gifts" a few weeks back. This one was sent home by SJ, hopefully without possesing or eating anyone's hearts. It's been noted that they just re-used the model because it was cheaper to do so and the kids in the audience are not likely to be watching Torchwood.
-The evil villainess (who apparently survives) is played by Samantha Bond. That's right, when she's not flirting with James Bond, Miss Moneypenny is a freakin' EVIL ALIEN SQUID!!!
-Mrs. Wormwood is able to detect the residual artron energy that Sarah Jane got soaked with during her time with the Doctor. For a primer on the stuff, try HERE.
-The Bane alien joins a growing list of massive aliens living in the ceiling of large industrial installations. Oddly enough, the Max alien from "The Long Game" was when we first saw the control consoles reused here too.
-Where did SJ get all this STUFF? Presumably a lot of it could have been accumulated during the thirty years after the Doctor dropped her off, but she was mostly without it when we last saw her in "School Reunion" (she only brought along the busted-down K-9). Here, she had her sonic lipstick and a scanner in her watch, and an arsenal of stuff in her attic including the deus-ex computer Mr. Smith. It wouldn't surprise me if she was on the scene right after the Battle of Canary Wharf and scrumped a lot of leftovers from the Torchwood warehouse.
-K-9 only has a cameo appearance here - a year and a half ago, the duo saved the Earth from a Swiss Black Hole. The hole is still there, and K-9 has been busy elsewhere (in another dimension?) closing off the anomaly. He'll be gone indefinitely, which as mentioned above conveniently removes him to be available for his own show next year.
-Among the stuff in the attic are a diagram of a Dalek, and several pictures of herself and the Brigadier. All these pictures are from existing BBC promo photos of them in Doctor Who and the K-9 special from the early 80s.
-The names that SJ suggests for Luke at the end of the episode are Harry and Alastair, presumably a nod to her UNIT friends Harry Sullivan and Alastair-Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
As pilots go, this was very enjoyable and has convinced me to continue. I hope they'll change a few things (less Doctor Who references, less of the annoying Kelsey character), but overall this is a fun addition to the Whoniverse.
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"I can't understand a word she says! She's all noise and ignorance."
That's just a quote I particularly liked. Not an opinion on the show. I actually liked it. I was expecting less from a kids' show, but, aside from the characters' ages, it didn't really seem to be much more "childish" than a lot of what they do on "Doctor Who" these days. The aliens didn't even fart.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I tuned in a little late, so I didn't catch exactly why the boy was wearing a toga type thing, or how SJ had come into contact with the other two kids, but it seemed really good nonetheless. The FX for the aliens were particularly well done considering it's a kids show, but I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that the episode was well written. The BBC has a history of making great scifi adventure series for kids, I remember as a kid some of the best shows to watch were Aquila and The Demon Headmaster.
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Finally watched it. I really enjoyed it. Is there any possibility that she got the Sonic Lipstick thing when travelling with the Doctor?? We didn't always need to see everything. Would like to see more. When is it starting?
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
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This summer (after the third series of Doctor Who is finished, and probably at the same time as Torchwood's second), with ten half-hour episodes comprising five two-part stories. As for the lipstick and watch, the website says that these were in a compartment within the new K-9 and were additional gifts from the Doctor. Guess he figured she'd be getting into heaps of his brand of trouble, and sent her some tools to help her out.
Doesn't explain the huge computer in her attic or why a window to a black hole exists there either...
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