In which I catch up with Sarah Jane Squee
Oct. 31st, 2009 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsDoctor Who: Planet of the Dead convinced me that all of the specials are going to be just marking time until the big blowout in which the Emo Lord from the tragically lost planet of Emofry in the constellation of ClusterEmoBus finally exits stage left, pursued by an Emo. Tongue cannot tell how anxious I am to see Doctor Who in the hands of Mr. "Everybody lives!" simply for the change of pace.
And then after Torchwood: Children of Earth derailed into a snuff film - RTD, dude, do NOT get up in my grill about drama; even Shakespeare's bloodiest plays don't slowly kill children onstage for my "entertainment" - I've been outright worried that there was going to be some horrible way that the Sarah Jane Adventures was going to be screwed into the ground.
Prisoner of the Judoon was cute; I adore the entire Chandra family the more we see them. Madwoman in the Attic was kinda meh. But my squee has been restored fresh and shiny by The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
Clyde being the most competent one and the hero instead of the comic relief! Mr. Smith and K-9 snarking at each other! The Hareshes (I'm fast becoming a Gita fangirl.) And the Doctor! Calling Sarah Jane wonderful!!
I'm not bothered by the sniffing about "nobody over the age of 22 should [kiss] in public" because I felt the same way at their age. Nor Sarah Jane being swept off her feet so quickly; she's never been known for her impulse control.
I am a bit bothered by the Doctor snarling at the Scooby gang wanting to see the TARDIS - he was setting up the "sure, c'mon in" moment, but I still wish Sarah Jane had kicked his ass for it. I'm also rather sorry that they worked the notion that Sarah Jane did spend decades pining uselessly, as hinted in School Reunion, although I suppose both are inevitable while we're being hit with big falling anvils about How Emo It All Is Really. The bit about School Reunion was in my mind ameliorated by their *not* working in Big Finish canon as well, because I can handwave her pining - (How would you go back to a normal life after having been abruptly stripped of everything exciting *and* losing your best friend to boot? It's bound to have been a bit weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable) - but I can't handwave, much less handle, the idea that she was stripped of reputation, career, home, and even name. The TV canon has been pretty kind to Sarah Jane when compared to Big Finish's notion of her life back on Earth!
I'm also a bit taken aback that this is the second SJA plot that boils down to "you must commit suicide for the sake of the Earth." That's pretty dark and heavy for any show, much less the kiddie one, even if it's pointed out that he's technically already dead.
But overall - the squeemeter's pegging pretty high. The things I adore outweigh the things I don't. (I even loved the whole comedy bit about the dormant alien being sold on eBay and Rani and Clyde charging around after it. Sometimes I don't *want* drama: just a little song, a little dance, and a little seltzer down the pants.)
ETA due to discussion about Sarah Jane's love life: I don't think any meaning can be attached to Sarah Jane wearing white other than she was making a point of following normal traditions for Peter and a white wedding is simply expected - regardless of the prior activities of the woman inside the dress.
To be graphically short, I sincerely doubt Sarah Jane was a virgin bride.
Classic SJ was far too fond of being in control of her own life, and back in those days, that meant her love life as much as anything else. The undeniable chemistry between Sarah, Harry, and the Doctor was certainly the same that's sparking off all kinds of Nine/Rose/Jack speculation. Even if the Doctor played clueless in private as well as public, Sarah was certainly the sort of woman who'd haul Harry off into dark corners when she wanted a little something... and Harry was far too chivalrous to disappoint a woman!
I'm also not hearing the line "You're the only man I ever loved" to mean that Sarah Jane has seriously never loved any man before Peter. I think she just hadn't loved another man *that way.* There are lots of kinds of love. The love of a good friend (even a friend with benefits) is not the same as the love of a lover. Sarah Jane was willing to consciously, happily, give up her lifestyle for Peter to make him happy. It's a sacrifice she was not willing to make for anyone else - and, as Peter pointed out, she made it *before* she put on the Trickster's ring.
Even the School Reunion line "You were my life" wasn't a pledge of deep emotional ties; Sarah Jane had just pointed out how much she had loved her life*style* with the Doctor. Classic Sarah Jane was obviously an adrenaline junkie, which the Doctor fed in a manner nobody else ever could. To expand on what I said above about weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable - look at what Sarah Jane lost all on one fell swoop:
- extraterrestrial adventures (it was fairly clear the Doctor wasn't coming back this time)
- best friend. Even if you don't think they were friends-with-benefits, they had gone on episode after episode talking about how they were best friends. You lose that, you miss that!
- and to some degree, although she's never mentioned it, she has to have lost some of her own self-esteem. The woman who loudly cut all ties with the patriarchy, the woman who believed in woman power had put her lifestyle and her life in the hands of a man... who one day took it all away without her input or appeal.
School Reunion upsets a lot of people, but what would be the human reaction after that? To curl up in a corner and rock back and forth for a while. It would be too much of a shock for anyone to shrug off. But then, despite her words about not tracking aliens in School Reunion, she very obviously did get on with her life. She went back to reporting. She wrote a book about UNIT. And she didn't find the new Team TARDIS at the school because the Doctor invited her, she found them because she had picked up a crowbar and broken in.
She became the woman she always said she'd wanted to be. She never once in classic Who mentioned wanting home, hubby, and kids.
But Peter - when you think about it in conjunction with the Doctor waltzing in and out of her life, her sudden, overwhelming attraction to Peter rather makes sense. The Doctor excites her, he fills her with adrenaline, and then he goes away again... and again... and again. It makes complete sense to me that Sarah Jane would want to know at least once what it would be like the other way around, to give up the adrenaline, but to give it up for someone who would always be there, always stay with her.
And that's how she could love him - love him like she had loved no one else - and still be our same old Sarah Jane.
There's already a vid for it.
ETA2: I totally want "Gita (or Gita & Haresh) meets UNIT" fic for Christmas. Fluttering around the Brigadier and giving romantic advice to Mike Yeats? Trying to set Liz Shaw up and asking Jo if she can grow anything for Dr. Jones? Oh, that would be delightful!
And then after Torchwood: Children of Earth derailed into a snuff film - RTD, dude, do NOT get up in my grill about drama; even Shakespeare's bloodiest plays don't slowly kill children onstage for my "entertainment" - I've been outright worried that there was going to be some horrible way that the Sarah Jane Adventures was going to be screwed into the ground.
Prisoner of the Judoon was cute; I adore the entire Chandra family the more we see them. Madwoman in the Attic was kinda meh. But my squee has been restored fresh and shiny by The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
Clyde being the most competent one and the hero instead of the comic relief! Mr. Smith and K-9 snarking at each other! The Hareshes (I'm fast becoming a Gita fangirl.) And the Doctor! Calling Sarah Jane wonderful!!
I'm not bothered by the sniffing about "nobody over the age of 22 should [kiss] in public" because I felt the same way at their age. Nor Sarah Jane being swept off her feet so quickly; she's never been known for her impulse control.
I am a bit bothered by the Doctor snarling at the Scooby gang wanting to see the TARDIS - he was setting up the "sure, c'mon in" moment, but I still wish Sarah Jane had kicked his ass for it. I'm also rather sorry that they worked the notion that Sarah Jane did spend decades pining uselessly, as hinted in School Reunion, although I suppose both are inevitable while we're being hit with big falling anvils about How Emo It All Is Really. The bit about School Reunion was in my mind ameliorated by their *not* working in Big Finish canon as well, because I can handwave her pining - (How would you go back to a normal life after having been abruptly stripped of everything exciting *and* losing your best friend to boot? It's bound to have been a bit weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable) - but I can't handwave, much less handle, the idea that she was stripped of reputation, career, home, and even name. The TV canon has been pretty kind to Sarah Jane when compared to Big Finish's notion of her life back on Earth!
I'm also a bit taken aback that this is the second SJA plot that boils down to "you must commit suicide for the sake of the Earth." That's pretty dark and heavy for any show, much less the kiddie one, even if it's pointed out that he's technically already dead.
But overall - the squeemeter's pegging pretty high. The things I adore outweigh the things I don't. (I even loved the whole comedy bit about the dormant alien being sold on eBay and Rani and Clyde charging around after it. Sometimes I don't *want* drama: just a little song, a little dance, and a little seltzer down the pants.)
ETA due to discussion about Sarah Jane's love life: I don't think any meaning can be attached to Sarah Jane wearing white other than she was making a point of following normal traditions for Peter and a white wedding is simply expected - regardless of the prior activities of the woman inside the dress.
To be graphically short, I sincerely doubt Sarah Jane was a virgin bride.
Classic SJ was far too fond of being in control of her own life, and back in those days, that meant her love life as much as anything else. The undeniable chemistry between Sarah, Harry, and the Doctor was certainly the same that's sparking off all kinds of Nine/Rose/Jack speculation. Even if the Doctor played clueless in private as well as public, Sarah was certainly the sort of woman who'd haul Harry off into dark corners when she wanted a little something... and Harry was far too chivalrous to disappoint a woman!
I'm also not hearing the line "You're the only man I ever loved" to mean that Sarah Jane has seriously never loved any man before Peter. I think she just hadn't loved another man *that way.* There are lots of kinds of love. The love of a good friend (even a friend with benefits) is not the same as the love of a lover. Sarah Jane was willing to consciously, happily, give up her lifestyle for Peter to make him happy. It's a sacrifice she was not willing to make for anyone else - and, as Peter pointed out, she made it *before* she put on the Trickster's ring.
Even the School Reunion line "You were my life" wasn't a pledge of deep emotional ties; Sarah Jane had just pointed out how much she had loved her life*style* with the Doctor. Classic Sarah Jane was obviously an adrenaline junkie, which the Doctor fed in a manner nobody else ever could. To expand on what I said above about weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable - look at what Sarah Jane lost all on one fell swoop:
- extraterrestrial adventures (it was fairly clear the Doctor wasn't coming back this time)
- best friend. Even if you don't think they were friends-with-benefits, they had gone on episode after episode talking about how they were best friends. You lose that, you miss that!
- and to some degree, although she's never mentioned it, she has to have lost some of her own self-esteem. The woman who loudly cut all ties with the patriarchy, the woman who believed in woman power had put her lifestyle and her life in the hands of a man... who one day took it all away without her input or appeal.
School Reunion upsets a lot of people, but what would be the human reaction after that? To curl up in a corner and rock back and forth for a while. It would be too much of a shock for anyone to shrug off. But then, despite her words about not tracking aliens in School Reunion, she very obviously did get on with her life. She went back to reporting. She wrote a book about UNIT. And she didn't find the new Team TARDIS at the school because the Doctor invited her, she found them because she had picked up a crowbar and broken in.
She became the woman she always said she'd wanted to be. She never once in classic Who mentioned wanting home, hubby, and kids.
But Peter - when you think about it in conjunction with the Doctor waltzing in and out of her life, her sudden, overwhelming attraction to Peter rather makes sense. The Doctor excites her, he fills her with adrenaline, and then he goes away again... and again... and again. It makes complete sense to me that Sarah Jane would want to know at least once what it would be like the other way around, to give up the adrenaline, but to give it up for someone who would always be there, always stay with her.
And that's how she could love him - love him like she had loved no one else - and still be our same old Sarah Jane.
There's already a vid for it.
ETA2: I totally want "Gita (or Gita & Haresh) meets UNIT" fic for Christmas. Fluttering around the Brigadier and giving romantic advice to Mike Yeats? Trying to set Liz Shaw up and asking Jo if she can grow anything for Dr. Jones? Oh, that would be delightful!
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 04:22 am (UTC)That was obviously a case where the character was not representing the opinions of the creators, not in the least because Daniel Anthony, who plays Clyde, is exactly 22 years old IRL.
What's your take on the little debate I've inadvertently started with
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 12:25 pm (UTC)I dunno, with all the arguments about ageism... but they are all mostly predicated on Donna not being allowed to get her groove on, which seems to have been played for laughs; how can you claim it's ageism that Jack won't make a play for Donna seconds after he's been all over SJS?
Anyway, I'd love to know if the number 22 was thrown in by Daniel, joking about his own age, or if he just read the line written for him. The fact that he is 22 may not really have Hidden Secret Meaning.
Considering what a point Sarah Jane made of being liberated from patriarchal norms, and considering how comfortable she was with Harry and the Doctor, I'm thinking that she is/was a proponent of free love.
*heads over to your journals to see the debate*
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-04 06:02 pm (UTC)Dude, that crap is SO last century. My mother didn't even complain that I wore a white dress back in 1987, and I'd been living with my husband-to-be for 3 years at that point.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-04 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:30 pm (UTC)I love your take on Sarah Jane and Peter; I was so happy to discover that he wasn't a bad man because I just loved that she really loved him and he wasn't the Doctor in any respect.
I want Clyde in the TARDIS very very badly. K-9 and Mr. Smith were snarktastic; I could do with an episode where they have a subplot of their own.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 03:29 pm (UTC)Yes and yes. She wasn't using him as a substitute and she wasn't forced into it.
I wonder if they're leading up to Clyde in the TARDIS. It could happen!
I think Mr. Smith and K-9 will end up having a subplot of their own; I think they're working up to it.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 11:15 pm (UTC)I don't know what to make of the snarling. Maybe since he doesn't have a companion around to remind him We Do Not Lick the Potty, he's forgetting little things again.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 12:36 am (UTC)I adored this episode, pretty much for all of the reasons listed.
Maybe since he doesn't have a companion around to remind him We Do Not Lick the Potty, he's forgetting little things again
*amused snort* Maybe it's not the character so much as the actor realizing it's the last time he'll be able to say "My TARDIS."