jason stives remembers the late Elisabeth Sladen, one of the cast members of cult British TV show Doctor Who …
Moments before writing this piece, I had asked a close friend of mine if it was okay to be sad over the loss of someone so minor in your life yet so important. Celebrity deaths are a dime a dozen, with young Hollywood dropping like flies and other greats that are finally leaving this Earth to be immortalized. I have seen many entertainers die in my life. I was there for Princess Diana, for George Harrison, and most recently, Michael Jackson. You understand humanity and its potential to mourn even when they have never physically known someone. It’s like going to the funeral of one of your friends distant relatives — sure you never met them, but through a common connection the sorrow and pain of their loss can be felt all around. This is exactly how I felt after losing my dearest non-friend Sarah Jane Smith, also known by her real name of Elisabeth Sladen.
For the time that I am here on Pop-Break, I have no doubt I will become known as the Doctor Who Guy, between my recent Idiots Guide to the show, as well as an upcoming review of the show’s season premiere this weekend. I have always put much emphasis on my love for the show, as it was in fact the reason I became a writer in the first place. A show with such a sense of wonderment, crisp writing, and dynamic acting, it really painted to me a great sense of what the imagination is capable of. While the time-traveling Doctor himself was such a trusting force, there was always the presence of a human hand in the form of the Doctors companion to lead the relatable viewer along for the ride. Elisabeth Sladen was exactly that human hand of encouragement, dating back to when I was 9 years old.
Liz Sladen played Sarah Jane Smith, level-headed journalist and the Doctor’s longest-serving television companion. In the three and a half years, starting in 1973 with the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, Sladen created one of the most positive female role models in television history. Originally created as an answer to the Doctor’s damsel in distress assistants, Sarah Jane dared to ask the questions that we at home could never physically ask. Scientific jargon and particle gobbly gook were finally given an Earth-bound filter as Sarah could think and sometimes act on the same level as the good Doctor. Brave, funny, and beautiful, Sarah Jane never once questioned her place as woman in this great universe, acting as an intergalactic Lois Lane in pursuit of things only Mulder and Scully could dream about.
After leaving the show in 1976, Sladen never fully left the role, reprising the role in the 20th anniversary story “The Five Doctors,” as well as starring in her own ill-fated spin-off with fellow companion favorite, the mechanical dog K9 in 1981s’ K9 And Company. But over the years, she was still coming back to the people, and when Russell T. Davies relaunched the series in 2005, he wanted Sarah Jane Smith to bridge the gap between the old series and the new, showing the great affect traveling with the Doctor can have on a person. Her return to the screen in the episode “School Reunion” in 2006 brought Sladen back into the spotlight and proved successful enough to warrant her own children’s show spin off in 2006. The Sarah Jane Adventures proved to be highly successful, lasting four seasons and was greatly into filming a fifth at the time of Sladen’s death on April 19 after a long battle with cancer.
The future of The Sarah Jane Adventures is greatly in jeopardy at this point, but this is no time for industry talks, it’s time for remembrance, and I remember Sladen fondly. The first Doctor Who story I watched was the Fourth Doctor’s first story “Robot,” which, while not highly memorable, struck me on later viewings for being a complete contrast to the character of Sarah Jane and her anti-damsel appeal. Greatly in the clutches of a giant robot ala King Kong, Sarah Jane reasons humanity with a metal machine, and still it’s so genuine to watch, as if Sarah Jane Smith was the most genuine human being in all of television. Sladen showed a lot of that off the screen and while growing up and eventually aspiring to be a journalist much like Sarah herself, I had hoped that one day I could interview my first companion. Sadly, this will never be but I still remember the one question I wanted to ask dear Liz the most, and it’s almost fitting now in her loss at the tender age of 63 …
When you leave this Earth, will you be remembered for being Elisabeth Sladen, the actress, or as Sarah Jane Smith, the companion?
Part of me always hoped she would say both, because both the character and the actress herself seemed one in the same. I’ll miss that human hand from my television.
All Photos Credit: BBC America
