S is for Sarah Jane
Elisabeth Sladen passed away on April 19, 2011 at the age of 63. She was best known for her role as investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith on the long-running scifi series, Doctor Who.
Sarah Jane was the most popular of Doctor Who’s companions, having been a sidekick for the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker). She made guest appearances on the series in later years, and in 2007 proved to an enduring heroine on her own when she starred in the popular spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
It’s hard to express how devastating her loss is to the science fiction community. Sladen was one of the most beloved actresses in the genre. Let’s face it – there aren’t many strong female characters in sci-fi, and she was one of the greats.
Sarah Jane was bold, intelligent, and feminine. She inspired a generation of women, and was inspiring a new generation with her new series.
While the character was well-written, much of Sarah Jane’s popularity came from Sladen herself, who brought the role to life with grace, humor, and charisma. She was also beautiful and many a boy had a crush on her, myself included.
I think the news of her death is more devastating with the fact that Sarah Jane Adventures was hugely popular, and revived interest in the role she played almost 20 years earlier.
In addition, her cancer wasn’t widely publicized until her death. We could go on, but “Slice of Scifi” wrote an excellent and thorough tribute to Sladen that I’m hard pressed to improve on.
Will she be missed? Who was the best Doctor Who companion?
[Image Source: Yr Afr Sanctaidd]This post is “S is for Sarah Jane,” part of the “A-ZBlogging Challenge.” We’ll be posting something on our blog every day in April except for Sundays. The challenge is hosted by ArleeBird , Jeffrey
Beesler, AlexJ. Cavanaugh, JenDaiker, Candace Ganger, KarenJ Gowen, Talli Roland and Stephen Tremp. Visit them today and every day for the next month!
