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The Legacy of Liz Sladen

TommyR01D

TommyR01D

Captain
Captain
I was a little surprised that we didn't already have a thread on her.

Elisabeth Sladen died on 19th April 2011. With her died The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was clear that Smith was the most popular of the classic companions and the actress's death affected multiple generations of fans (and people actually involved in the franchise itself) on a level not matched by many other cast deaths before or since.

Fifteen years on, what is her legacy?
 
Sarah Jane was the quintessential Doctor Who companion. In my mind, there was no better choice of companion to be the first import from classic Who to new Who. No other companion could have carried their own show the way Sarah Jane did. Elizabeth Slayden's death was a tragedy in more ways than one. May her story go on... Forever.

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:weep::adore:
 
TommyR01D said:
I was a little surprised that we didn't already have a thread on her.

Elisabeth Sladen died on 19th April 2011. With her died The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was clear that Smith was the most popular of the classic companions and the actress's death affected multiple generations of fans (and people actually involved in the franchise itself) on a level not matched by many other cast deaths before or since.

Fifteen years on, what is her legacy?
Click to expand...
Basically, that we all still love her.
 
Turtletrekker said:
Sarah Jane was the quintessential Doctor Who companion. In my mind, there was no better choice of companion to be the first import from classic Who to new Who. No other companion could have carried their own show the way Sarah Jane did. Elizabeth Slayden's death was a tragedy in more ways than one. May her story go on... Forever.

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:weep::adore:
Click to expand...
Don't forget this one:

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I like Liz and Sarah, but I think she only has the profile among Who companions she does because of the age of the fans who rose to prominence running the show.
To an extent I also think that’s why Chibs went to Tegan and Ace, he’s young enough not to be so overtly T.Baker influenced, and even if he was it’s going to be later Baker.

Sladen herself was a great person from what I have seen and read in interviews, and was certainly always ready to come back to the show and to Sarah, and her passing is sad. We lost many Who companion actors in a similar way.
F cancer.
On behalf everyone, not just Who actors, obviously.
 
Lis Sladen wasn't just another companion. First spinoff, first classic companion to appear on the new series, and then another spinoff... not bad.

Before the Sarah Jane Adventures she also starred in eleven episodes of a Big Finish audio series, Sarah Jane Smith, aimed at a more adult audience. Her reappearance in TV Who brought a somewhat premature end to the audio series, but it wasn't too bad a trade-off.

As for her current legacy... one of her co-stars in the Sarah Jane Smith audios was her daugher, Sadie Miller. A few years ago Miller agreed to play Sarah Jane in new Big Finish audios. The character lives on, and while some may not like the idea of recasting the character, if anyone can do it with knowledge and respect, Sladen's daughter seems like a reasonable choice.
 
Steve Roby said:
Lis Sladen wasn't just another companion. First spinoff, first classic companion to appear on the new series, and then another spinoff... not bad.

Before the Sarah Jane Adventures she also starred in eleven episodes of a Big Finish audio series, Sarah Jane Smith, aimed at a more adult audience. Her reappearance in TV Who brought a somewhat premature end to the audio series, but it wasn't too bad a trade-off.

As for her current legacy... one of her co-stars in the Sarah Jane Smith audios was her daugher, Sadie Miller. A few years ago Miller agreed to play Sarah Jane in new Big Finish audios. The character lives on, and while some may not like the idea of recasting the character, if anyone can do it with knowledge and respect, Sladen's daughter seems like a reasonable choice.
Click to expand...

I do think K9 and Company was more about bringing the robot dog back than Sarah at the time.
But my comment isn’t about doing either the character or actress down. She did a sterling job whenever she returned to the role, which she was doing before anyone else was doing so with the Radio stuff.
Sophie Aldred is very much in that same role, always willing to come back to Ace whenever asked.
 
I wasn't reacting negatively to your comments, just kind of rhapsodizing. I don't know that I'd say she was my personal favourite, but on the other hand, I remember the day I found out she'd died, and I usually don't remember that kind of thing.
 
I'm actually in the middle of her time on the original show on BritBox, and she was a fantastic character and actress. I think it really says a lot about her that she kept coming back so often.
 
I think she was a great actress and it was always nice having Sarah Jane Smith on screen, but having seen all of her time as companion honestly I don't think I'd rank SJS that highly. Its Liz Sladen's acting that puts Sarah Jane into legendary status, while the writing alone for her is just kind of average even in great serials like genesis of the Daleks.

I think that with any other actress Sarah Jane wouldn't be as highly thought of, she kind of just fills the role of "moderately competent female companion". Not an airhead like her predecessor Jo Grant but outside of sometimes being a reporter she doesn't have much of a hook as a character. Leela and Romana are much more interesting and have more going on with the 4th Doctor, and Liz Shaw to me is the definitive 3rd Doctor companion (even if she didn't get to go on the same type of adventures).

To be clear I do like sarah Jane and have a lot of respect for Sladen, but I think Sladen's acting and post Classic Who legacy kind of raise the character of Sarah Jane Smith higher then she'd deserve to be just based off the characters time as a companion in Classic Who.
 
It's weird. The super-young Tennant in Series 2 doesn't look "right" to my anymore.

The clip also reminded me of how much I disliked the scene because of how artificial it felt. The first teacher Sarah introduces herself to just happens to be the Doctor, she just happens to muse about her Doctors when he says his name is "John Smith." It's a scene written for the audience, especially the Old School Fans, and not for the characters inside the dramatic moment.

I don't mean to harsh on "School Reunion." As a fan who grew up with a childhood crush on Lis Sladen, I loved it. I'm not sure it's actually a good episode, though.
 
Allyn Gibson said:
It's weird. The super-young Tennant in Series 2 doesn't look "right" to my anymore.

The clip also reminded me of how much I disliked the scene because of how artificial it felt. The first teacher Sarah introduces herself to just happens to be the Doctor, she just happens to muse about her Doctors when he says his name is "John Smith." It's a scene written for the audience, especially the Old School Fans, and not for the characters inside the dramatic moment.

I don't mean to harsh on "School Reunion." As a fan who grew up with a childhood crush on Lis Sladen, I loved it. I'm not sure it's actually a good episode, though.
Click to expand...
I agree that first scene is awkward and artificial but, for me, it's worth it because then we get this scene:

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I still get teary-eyed every time I watch it. Yes, it's geared towards the Old School Fans but this scene hits all of the right notes.
 
Allyn Gibson said:
It's weird. The super-young Tennant in Series 2 doesn't look "right" to my anymore.

The clip also reminded me of how much I disliked the scene because of how artificial it felt. The first teacher Sarah introduces herself to just happens to be the Doctor, she just happens to muse about her Doctors when he says his name is "John Smith." It's a scene written for the audience, especially the Old School Fans, and not for the characters inside the dramatic moment.

I don't mean to harsh on "School Reunion." As a fan who grew up with a childhood crush on Lis Sladen, I loved it. I'm not sure it's actually a good episode, though.
Click to expand...

For me it didn’t help that everything else was basically CBBC stuff. Dark Season, but all just there to serve nostalgia bait. And wastes Tony Head, because he’s essentially overshadowed by Sarah and K9.

All that being said, I thought the SJA were wonderful for kids, pitched squarely at kids during a time where the main show was already starting to struggle with balance as a family show, and Torchwood was pushing in very different direction.

And yes, childhood/teen crushes will oddly paper over cracks in stories… I am oddly forgiving of Power of the Doctor for some reason. Can’t fathom why. Isn’t it great when Ace base jumps?
 
I've been writing about every Doctor Who episode on their 20th anniversary and I just reached School Reunion today. You can have a link if you're in the mood to read 6000 words: School Reunion review link

Basically, as someone who didn't grow up with Doctor Who and started watching in the Matt Smith era, I really liked the episode. The music's a bit over the top and the premise of child-eating bat aliens taking over a school to find the cheat codes to reality is a bit ridiculous, but it's all about the character scenes and they delivered. Having Anthony Head as the villain in such a Buffy-like episode was genius and bringing Sarah Jane back to say "It's true, all of it" and confirm the previous 26 seasons are canon was brilliant. Exactly the right companion for the episode, especially considering how her time on the series ended.
 
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