on role models and Sarah Jane Smith
Aug. 5th, 2008 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dbskylerI've been thinking lately about just why Sarah Jane Smith remains far and away my favorite-ever companion on Doctor Who. No doubt some of it comes from the fact that she was the companion when I first started watching the show, and one is probably biased towards one's first companion just as one is definitely biased towards one's first Doctor. But, I think it's more than that. I identified like crazy with twenty-something Sarah when I was an adolescent, and I identify with her older self now that I'm middle-aged. I think that I will always love this character and Lis Sladen's portrayal of her, and I feel lucky that she has come back to television and I get to spend new time with her (and with much, much better storytelling than "K-9 and Company," which I really wanted to like but just couldn't because let's face it, it was lame).
Funny thing is, I don't even know how old I was when I first came across Doctor Who and Sarah Jane. I know it was when my local PBS station started showing Tom Baker episodes, which was probably some time after they were broadcast in the UK, but I have no idea how long "some time" was -- it could have been several years. Most likely I was in middle school or the early years of high school when I first started watching, and I have just a few memories that help to clarify how old I was and my mindset at the time:
1) I remember being extremely frightened by "Ark in Space," especially the scene where the leader starts to turn into a Wirrn. When I recently saw that episode again for the first time in ages thanks to Netflix, I was laughing at the bubblewrap. But I definitely wasn't laughing back then.
2) I remember getting a high school friend to watch "Terror of the Zygons" with me, and I had seen it already so it must have been a repeat or perhaps an early VCR recording (I don't remember when my parents first got a VCR, but it may have been towards the end of my high school years). My friend laughed at the aliens in the rubber suits and dubbed the Zygons "lasagna people," which admittedly is a pretty fair description.
3) I remember the first time I saw "Brain of Morbius" and being absolutely stunned when the Doctor lost the mind-duel. Back then, the heroes on television never lost at anything as important as that. I know that Battlestar Galactica started to break some of those conventions as well (that would be the original Battlestar Galactica for all of you youngsters out there), but in my memories "Brain of Morbius" came first. Battlestar Galactica came out when I was in high school.
4) I remember being so sad when I saw "Hand of Fear." And although it's possible to argue that the end is a goodbye and the "'till we meet again" is a vague promise and Sarah shouldn't have been actively waiting for the Doctor to come back for her, I had no problems accepting the premise in "School Reunion" because I fully expected the Doctor to go back for her. As in, right away. As in, as soon as "Deadly Assassin" was over, I really, really, really expected that the very next episode would have him going back for Sarah. I mean, I really did. And I spent the entire "Face of Evil" episode wondering why the hell the Doctor was even there at all instead of back on Earth to get Sarah. So I was too young to understand that the character was leaving until it hit me in the face. Poor Leela; I really resented her for a long time for not being Sarah.
So as I said, I don't know how old I was, but I was definitely at an age where I was ready for a role model, and Sarah fit the bill perfectly. I remember admiring her so much. She was independent. She was smart. She was curious. The Doctor respected her. She respected him but didn't idolize him. She teased him when he deserved it. She knew he had faults. And I know that many, many people have said this before, but there really was a very special chemistry between them. Just by watching, you knew how much they cared about each other. You knew they were best friends. And anyone who was a best friend of the Doctor was an important person indeed.
And I think one of the other reasons why this one character made such a strong impression on me back then, and therefore remains so important to me now, is that back then there really weren't other strong, independent, respected and yet utterly normal female characters on TV. She wasn't "Wonder Woman," or the "Bionic Woman," or "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" (yes, I admit it, I used to watch that one, too). She was Sarah Jane Smith from South Croydon, and I didn't know where that was but it sounded like the type of place that I could be from, too. And if Sarah could be smart and independent and respected . . . well, so could I.
Funny thing is, I don't even know how old I was when I first came across Doctor Who and Sarah Jane. I know it was when my local PBS station started showing Tom Baker episodes, which was probably some time after they were broadcast in the UK, but I have no idea how long "some time" was -- it could have been several years. Most likely I was in middle school or the early years of high school when I first started watching, and I have just a few memories that help to clarify how old I was and my mindset at the time:
1) I remember being extremely frightened by "Ark in Space," especially the scene where the leader starts to turn into a Wirrn. When I recently saw that episode again for the first time in ages thanks to Netflix, I was laughing at the bubblewrap. But I definitely wasn't laughing back then.
2) I remember getting a high school friend to watch "Terror of the Zygons" with me, and I had seen it already so it must have been a repeat or perhaps an early VCR recording (I don't remember when my parents first got a VCR, but it may have been towards the end of my high school years). My friend laughed at the aliens in the rubber suits and dubbed the Zygons "lasagna people," which admittedly is a pretty fair description.
3) I remember the first time I saw "Brain of Morbius" and being absolutely stunned when the Doctor lost the mind-duel. Back then, the heroes on television never lost at anything as important as that. I know that Battlestar Galactica started to break some of those conventions as well (that would be the original Battlestar Galactica for all of you youngsters out there), but in my memories "Brain of Morbius" came first. Battlestar Galactica came out when I was in high school.
4) I remember being so sad when I saw "Hand of Fear." And although it's possible to argue that the end is a goodbye and the "'till we meet again" is a vague promise and Sarah shouldn't have been actively waiting for the Doctor to come back for her, I had no problems accepting the premise in "School Reunion" because I fully expected the Doctor to go back for her. As in, right away. As in, as soon as "Deadly Assassin" was over, I really, really, really expected that the very next episode would have him going back for Sarah. I mean, I really did. And I spent the entire "Face of Evil" episode wondering why the hell the Doctor was even there at all instead of back on Earth to get Sarah. So I was too young to understand that the character was leaving until it hit me in the face. Poor Leela; I really resented her for a long time for not being Sarah.
So as I said, I don't know how old I was, but I was definitely at an age where I was ready for a role model, and Sarah fit the bill perfectly. I remember admiring her so much. She was independent. She was smart. She was curious. The Doctor respected her. She respected him but didn't idolize him. She teased him when he deserved it. She knew he had faults. And I know that many, many people have said this before, but there really was a very special chemistry between them. Just by watching, you knew how much they cared about each other. You knew they were best friends. And anyone who was a best friend of the Doctor was an important person indeed.
And I think one of the other reasons why this one character made such a strong impression on me back then, and therefore remains so important to me now, is that back then there really weren't other strong, independent, respected and yet utterly normal female characters on TV. She wasn't "Wonder Woman," or the "Bionic Woman," or "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" (yes, I admit it, I used to watch that one, too). She was Sarah Jane Smith from South Croydon, and I didn't know where that was but it sounded like the type of place that I could be from, too. And if Sarah could be smart and independent and respected . . . well, so could I.
