on a much lighter and happier note - there is slash in my children’s programming
I am talking of course, about the rather frightening level of subtext displayed between Maria and Sarah Jane in the first/second season of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
If you know the story of how I got into slash (namely I realised that there was something going on between Touya and Yukito (but with their English names) in Cardcaptor Sakura when I was eleven) then you should assume that I have no problem with such a thing as slash in children’s programming. I’m all for subversive messages that promote liberal thinking, especially if they’re a bit of a parental bonus.
But, there was just something creepy with the way that Maria is apparently the person Sarah Jane trusts the most (keeping in mind they’d known each other for maybe… three months at this point) and they routinely shrug off the boys in order to have a little heart to heart. Oh, and Sarah Jane is about 45 years older than Maria. And I am also slightly frightened by the fact this subtext might have been ACCIDENTAL.
And as much as Maria might’ve been/might be Designated Love Interest for Luke, and as much as I think Luke thinks that too, there is little to nothing between them aside from that ‘Teach Me To Be Human’ relationship. (Why yes, I am thinking in tropes today.) So that just makes Maria and Sarah Jane just that bit more possible. *shudders*
So I was a little thankful when Rani came along and became a Giggly Girl-Friend to Sarah Jane. It’s a little over the top sometimes, part of the reason probably being this is a kids show (more on that later) and the other being that Sarah Jane needs a few ‘Teach Me To Be Human’ lessons too.
It helps of course, that Rani is definitely shippable with Clyde; they’re snippy with each other and when they’re teamed up, they do work rather well together. (I of course completely fail to see how people could ‘ship Clyde/Luke, except possibly to tie up the loose ends present with Maria around.)
Of course, Sarah Jane/Luke is a squishy little parent!ship that is both epically cute, yet desperately saddening when you realise that Luke’s ~15 and Sarah Jane will only have around 3 years with her ‘son’ before he’ll (likely) go off to university and that nearly isn’t enough time for all the squish they should have. (And to push the knife in even further, Sarah Jane realises this too somewhere in season 3.)
I’d almost be tempted to properly ship it, because extraneous fluff is quite common in ‘cest fic, except no one does, so therefore there is no fluff!fic and no advantage to reading ‘cest fic. (The absence of general fluff!fic for the two makes me quite sad though. They’re adorable!)
Sarah Jane of course has heartbreakingly sad but beautiful not-quite-requited love for the Doctor. (Because he does love his companions, though not usually in the way they want, but he doesn’t quite do enough follow up treatment after he leaves them and I suspect that if Martha hadn’t gone in with UNIT or Mickey (lalalalala, not listening to the married bit) she would’ve ended up in the same emotional state.) It’s brought up now and again, basically whenever she talks about the adventures she had in space and the wonderful and crazy man she had them with. So, basically every other episode.
So I almost ship Sarah Jane/Doctor, but that’s mostly because I’ve read too much fic with that in it and haven’t watched enough of Elisabeth Sladen get all teary over the Doctor which is about as gorgeous and heartbreaking as Yuuko getting all melancholy over Clow/her being dead. And yes, there are kind of parallels, and oh god I’ve bunnied myself.
Finally, because of the two above ships and because Luke is pretty much a mini!Doctor, I do think ≥10!Doctor would make an EPIC foster father for Luke. They could talk about brainy kinds of things and it would be the most ADORABLE babbling of meta-physics you would ever see. (Lookit the last picture on this page! And then the comments right under it. I tell you, I have no idea why this doesn’t exist already.) I desperately wish there were more adventures with 10, as two cameos and one episode are simply not enough. (That and I’m not entirely sure how 11 would/will interact with Luke.)
Shipping isn’t probably what you wanted to hear about the Sarah Jane Adventures though.
It is a kid’s show. As such it has ham-ish over acting, Aesop’s of varying degrees and a monster of the week format. Not that the last ever stopped adult shows doing the same thing. *coughs* *looks at Torchwood season 1* And really, that last one isn’t so bad, seeing as how I kind of hated Torchwood as it steadily became delusioned with the idea that it should have plot over many episodes.
Actually, The Sarah Jane Adventures has become rather better over its three seasons; partly because of a) character development which isn’t plot driven (one of the benefits of writing teen characters I assume), b) increased emotional ties and c) pure getting to play in the Doctor Who universe.
It’s mostly the Aesop’s that rub me the wrong way though, as I suppose they do to anyone who has an even vaguely developed sense of morals. Because, you know, the over acting is kind of cute, especially mother!Sarah Jane, evil!Sarah Jane, clueless!Luke, clever!Rani and snoopy!Gita/Chrissie and the monster of the week isn’t that bad really. * looks pointedly at the aspirations of Torchwood season 2 & CoE*
Oh and one last thing. Rani, I know your actress is my age (19), and girls who are the age you’re playing probably do it, but there is no need to stick your chest out like that. They may be very nice boobs, but they are a bit large for a sixteen year old, even if they are enhanced by one or two of your great-grandparents not being Indian. This also goes for Maria, who suffered quite a bit more from this and was ambiguously brown, which was something I was never quite able to figure out and confused me.
BECAUSE I actually managed to watch all of the episodes released thus far (and the DVDs are out over here too, though I’m not entirely sure if I would want to own them) and some of them TWICE even, I shall do an episode by episode comment or two.
1.X - I am kind of very glad that Kelsey did not stick around. She was rather annoying. Also, I am a little sad that they changed Sarah Jane’s outfits after this special. I kind of liked the dress and not the boots, shirt and waistcoat. (Even if the waistcoats and boots are indeed very nice.)
1.1-2 - Dots. Really, that’s all I have. The science behind Slitheen being only vulnerable to ACETIC ACID makes my head hurt. Why not citric or tartaric? (My kitchen is obviously the place to go to though, seeing as we have a 5 litre carton of vinegar sitting there.)
Also, British households apparently do not have vinegar for cooking, but instead have pickled onions, pickled eggs, pickled EVERYTHING.
1.3-4 - No comment, except there is a crazy fan theory lurking about that Bea was a companion of the Doctor that is appealing.
1.5-6 - This is pretty much the Bleach episode 4 for me. Watched it three times. I have no comments on it aside from that. (Oh and that it is rather cheesy.)
1.7-8 - Yeah, this is that episode where things between Maria and Sarah get uncomfortably close. Not in a dodgy way, just the waves of femmeslash are almost palpable. Also, I dislike the fact that Maria appeared to have travelled back in time and met a younger version of Sarah Jane but yet nothing is said about this meeting! I suppose it could just be a handwaved ‘It never really happened’ but it still just bothers me. Also, the Trickster is a bastard.
1.9-10 - ;_; Sarah Jane has to cope with loosing Luke. Albeit only temporarily and I always forget what happens in the second episode, but she’s distraught over it and only saved from a night in a prison cell because she has a history with UNIT.
2.1-2 - No real comment on this, except that if you did like the idea of Maria/Luke, this would be the episode for it. Oh and Chrissie is awesome and I wish she’d show up, seeing as she’s still in England.
2.3-4 - No comment here either, except there’s a whole load of foreshadowing and that there were some very obvious tropes.
2.5-6 - Not much to say here either. (Which is a bit telling that the second season wasn’t quite as good as either the first or the third.) Oh, aside from the fact we kind of figure out when everyone’s birthday is.
2.7-8 - We find out Clyde has a dad. Oh and if you are a Cluke shipper, the first episode is what you should be interested in. (And some scenes in the previous story.) They have a sleepover. Except of course Clyde doesn’t call it that, but Luke is kind of right.
2.9-10 - ;_; Sarah Jane goes back to the day her parents abandoned her but it’s a trap laid by the Trickster. So many moments where you want to cry for Sarah Jane. (But also some funny ones, as it involves dressing up, using Victoria and David Beckham as pseudonyms and Rani popping up on fifties England wearing modern day clothes.)
2.11-12 - There is this one line, where Mrs. Wormwood is trying to convince Luke to become a prince of the universe, if only he’d join her, where she says: “Luke, I am your mother.” I love how much fun the scriptwriters have with his name. I vaguely amused myself watching this the second time around by figuring out how you’d be able to cosplay that outfit. (In short, very easily. Just some purple stretch jersey, a few hair pins, a partial hairpiece and one of those large jewel rings that is in fashion currently.)
Also, there are slashy vibes between Sarah Jane and Mrs. Wormwood.
3.1-2 - Elisabeth Sladen does evil very well. That and that this is a very good season opener is all I can say. (Oh and that the alien ship built by the nano-robots? Same design as the spaceship in Dreamland.)
3.3-4 - EVE! I like her. She reminds me of Jool in Farscape because of her hair and the way her ears are flat to her head. Also, major crossing over into Doctor Who because her race were also time sensitive and could see timelines.
3.5-6 - The Doctor meets the gang on Bannerman road. This story is filled with awesome. Even if I am a bit sad that Luke gets surveillance duty and doesn’t get to spend as much time with the Doctor as Rani and Clyde. Also, poor Sarah Jane gets her heart broken TWICE. ;_;
3.7-8 - There are ghosts. And an alien trapped in the eighteenth century. Not much to comment on really. Aside from the fact there is no Luke. (Yay for RL.)
3.9-10 - Art saves the day and proves that Clyde is not an expy of Mickey.
Although I do think the two would get along wonderfully, if only because Mickey has travelled in space and time and shot guns at aliens, which would make him the coolest person ever in Clyde’s view. (I’m sure that Captain Jack would provoke the same reaction, perhaps even more so, seeing as he’s FROM THE FUTURE, but Clyde’s almost sixteen, so JUST NO.)
3.11-12 - And the Raxacoricofallapatorians are back, except they aren’t defeated by vinegar, but by sonic resonance instead! (I was kind of getting sick of the vinegar…)
Oh and there’s an adorable bit of Sarah Jane + Luke interaction where he almost dies and it is adorable.
Yes, the Trickster is a regular monster. So are the Slitheen. Actually, my dad suspects that they have a lot of rubber suit monsters so that the kids can clearly identify the bad guys. Except the other third have a human appearance, so well… that doesn’t quite work out.
But I like the regularity of not-so humanoid aliens, because sometimes I’m sick of them in Doctor Who. (And I wish that the BBC would shell out for some EPIC puppets, because I am spoiled by Farscape and my own imagination. (Space whales! Liquid gas mermaids! Telekinetic fat blobs! Enormous slime creatures!))
So yes. My general opinion is that the Sarah Jane Adventures are fun and the fandom is free of wank (but is almost nonexistent) because no one watches it because it’s a kid show. But people should watch it because it is fun, doesn’t try too hard and is really only half the length of the other shows in the same universe.
Also, Elisabeth Sladen is one of those hot grandmothers and while I dislike the repetitiveness of the shirts, boots and waistcoats, they’re very well tailored. (And I want them~)
If you know the story of how I got into slash (namely I realised that there was something going on between Touya and Yukito (but with their English names) in Cardcaptor Sakura when I was eleven) then you should assume that I have no problem with such a thing as slash in children’s programming. I’m all for subversive messages that promote liberal thinking, especially if they’re a bit of a parental bonus.
But, there was just something creepy with the way that Maria is apparently the person Sarah Jane trusts the most (keeping in mind they’d known each other for maybe… three months at this point) and they routinely shrug off the boys in order to have a little heart to heart. Oh, and Sarah Jane is about 45 years older than Maria. And I am also slightly frightened by the fact this subtext might have been ACCIDENTAL.
And as much as Maria might’ve been/might be Designated Love Interest for Luke, and as much as I think Luke thinks that too, there is little to nothing between them aside from that ‘Teach Me To Be Human’ relationship. (Why yes, I am thinking in tropes today.) So that just makes Maria and Sarah Jane just that bit more possible. *shudders*
So I was a little thankful when Rani came along and became a Giggly Girl-Friend to Sarah Jane. It’s a little over the top sometimes, part of the reason probably being this is a kids show (more on that later) and the other being that Sarah Jane needs a few ‘Teach Me To Be Human’ lessons too.
It helps of course, that Rani is definitely shippable with Clyde; they’re snippy with each other and when they’re teamed up, they do work rather well together. (I of course completely fail to see how people could ‘ship Clyde/Luke, except possibly to tie up the loose ends present with Maria around.)
Of course, Sarah Jane/Luke is a squishy little parent!ship that is both epically cute, yet desperately saddening when you realise that Luke’s ~15 and Sarah Jane will only have around 3 years with her ‘son’ before he’ll (likely) go off to university and that nearly isn’t enough time for all the squish they should have. (And to push the knife in even further, Sarah Jane realises this too somewhere in season 3.)
I’d almost be tempted to properly ship it, because extraneous fluff is quite common in ‘cest fic, except no one does, so therefore there is no fluff!fic and no advantage to reading ‘cest fic. (The absence of general fluff!fic for the two makes me quite sad though. They’re adorable!)
Sarah Jane of course has heartbreakingly sad but beautiful not-quite-requited love for the Doctor. (Because he does love his companions, though not usually in the way they want, but he doesn’t quite do enough follow up treatment after he leaves them and I suspect that if Martha hadn’t gone in with UNIT or Mickey (lalalalala, not listening to the married bit) she would’ve ended up in the same emotional state.) It’s brought up now and again, basically whenever she talks about the adventures she had in space and the wonderful and crazy man she had them with. So, basically every other episode.
So I almost ship Sarah Jane/Doctor, but that’s mostly because I’ve read too much fic with that in it and haven’t watched enough of Elisabeth Sladen get all teary over the Doctor which is about as gorgeous and heartbreaking as Yuuko getting all melancholy over Clow/her being dead. And yes, there are kind of parallels, and oh god I’ve bunnied myself.
Finally, because of the two above ships and because Luke is pretty much a mini!Doctor, I do think ≥10!Doctor would make an EPIC foster father for Luke. They could talk about brainy kinds of things and it would be the most ADORABLE babbling of meta-physics you would ever see. (Lookit the last picture on this page! And then the comments right under it. I tell you, I have no idea why this doesn’t exist already.) I desperately wish there were more adventures with 10, as two cameos and one episode are simply not enough. (That and I’m not entirely sure how 11 would/will interact with Luke.)
Shipping isn’t probably what you wanted to hear about the Sarah Jane Adventures though.
It is a kid’s show. As such it has ham-ish over acting, Aesop’s of varying degrees and a monster of the week format. Not that the last ever stopped adult shows doing the same thing. *coughs* *looks at Torchwood season 1* And really, that last one isn’t so bad, seeing as how I kind of hated Torchwood as it steadily became delusioned with the idea that it should have plot over many episodes.
Actually, The Sarah Jane Adventures has become rather better over its three seasons; partly because of a) character development which isn’t plot driven (one of the benefits of writing teen characters I assume), b) increased emotional ties and c) pure getting to play in the Doctor Who universe.
It’s mostly the Aesop’s that rub me the wrong way though, as I suppose they do to anyone who has an even vaguely developed sense of morals. Because, you know, the over acting is kind of cute, especially mother!Sarah Jane, evil!Sarah Jane, clueless!Luke, clever!Rani and snoopy!Gita/Chrissie and the monster of the week isn’t that bad really. * looks pointedly at the aspirations of Torchwood season 2 & CoE*
Oh and one last thing. Rani, I know your actress is my age (19), and girls who are the age you’re playing probably do it, but there is no need to stick your chest out like that. They may be very nice boobs, but they are a bit large for a sixteen year old, even if they are enhanced by one or two of your great-grandparents not being Indian. This also goes for Maria, who suffered quite a bit more from this and was ambiguously brown, which was something I was never quite able to figure out and confused me.
BECAUSE I actually managed to watch all of the episodes released thus far (and the DVDs are out over here too, though I’m not entirely sure if I would want to own them) and some of them TWICE even, I shall do an episode by episode comment or two.
1.X - I am kind of very glad that Kelsey did not stick around. She was rather annoying. Also, I am a little sad that they changed Sarah Jane’s outfits after this special. I kind of liked the dress and not the boots, shirt and waistcoat. (Even if the waistcoats and boots are indeed very nice.)
1.1-2 - Dots. Really, that’s all I have. The science behind Slitheen being only vulnerable to ACETIC ACID makes my head hurt. Why not citric or tartaric? (My kitchen is obviously the place to go to though, seeing as we have a 5 litre carton of vinegar sitting there.)
Also, British households apparently do not have vinegar for cooking, but instead have pickled onions, pickled eggs, pickled EVERYTHING.
1.3-4 - No comment, except there is a crazy fan theory lurking about that Bea was a companion of the Doctor that is appealing.
1.5-6 - This is pretty much the Bleach episode 4 for me. Watched it three times. I have no comments on it aside from that. (Oh and that it is rather cheesy.)
1.7-8 - Yeah, this is that episode where things between Maria and Sarah get uncomfortably close. Not in a dodgy way, just the waves of femmeslash are almost palpable. Also, I dislike the fact that Maria appeared to have travelled back in time and met a younger version of Sarah Jane but yet nothing is said about this meeting! I suppose it could just be a handwaved ‘It never really happened’ but it still just bothers me. Also, the Trickster is a bastard.
1.9-10 - ;_; Sarah Jane has to cope with loosing Luke. Albeit only temporarily and I always forget what happens in the second episode, but she’s distraught over it and only saved from a night in a prison cell because she has a history with UNIT.
2.1-2 - No real comment on this, except that if you did like the idea of Maria/Luke, this would be the episode for it. Oh and Chrissie is awesome and I wish she’d show up, seeing as she’s still in England.
2.3-4 - No comment here either, except there’s a whole load of foreshadowing and that there were some very obvious tropes.
2.5-6 - Not much to say here either. (Which is a bit telling that the second season wasn’t quite as good as either the first or the third.) Oh, aside from the fact we kind of figure out when everyone’s birthday is.
2.7-8 - We find out Clyde has a dad. Oh and if you are a Cluke shipper, the first episode is what you should be interested in. (And some scenes in the previous story.) They have a sleepover. Except of course Clyde doesn’t call it that, but Luke is kind of right.
2.9-10 - ;_; Sarah Jane goes back to the day her parents abandoned her but it’s a trap laid by the Trickster. So many moments where you want to cry for Sarah Jane. (But also some funny ones, as it involves dressing up, using Victoria and David Beckham as pseudonyms and Rani popping up on fifties England wearing modern day clothes.)
2.11-12 - There is this one line, where Mrs. Wormwood is trying to convince Luke to become a prince of the universe, if only he’d join her, where she says: “Luke, I am your mother.” I love how much fun the scriptwriters have with his name. I vaguely amused myself watching this the second time around by figuring out how you’d be able to cosplay that outfit. (In short, very easily. Just some purple stretch jersey, a few hair pins, a partial hairpiece and one of those large jewel rings that is in fashion currently.)
Also, there are slashy vibes between Sarah Jane and Mrs. Wormwood.
3.1-2 - Elisabeth Sladen does evil very well. That and that this is a very good season opener is all I can say. (Oh and that the alien ship built by the nano-robots? Same design as the spaceship in Dreamland.)
3.3-4 - EVE! I like her. She reminds me of Jool in Farscape because of her hair and the way her ears are flat to her head. Also, major crossing over into Doctor Who because her race were also time sensitive and could see timelines.
3.5-6 - The Doctor meets the gang on Bannerman road. This story is filled with awesome. Even if I am a bit sad that Luke gets surveillance duty and doesn’t get to spend as much time with the Doctor as Rani and Clyde. Also, poor Sarah Jane gets her heart broken TWICE. ;_;
3.7-8 - There are ghosts. And an alien trapped in the eighteenth century. Not much to comment on really. Aside from the fact there is no Luke. (Yay for RL.)
3.9-10 - Art saves the day and proves that Clyde is not an expy of Mickey.
Although I do think the two would get along wonderfully, if only because Mickey has travelled in space and time and shot guns at aliens, which would make him the coolest person ever in Clyde’s view. (I’m sure that Captain Jack would provoke the same reaction, perhaps even more so, seeing as he’s FROM THE FUTURE, but Clyde’s almost sixteen, so JUST NO.)
3.11-12 - And the Raxacoricofallapatorians are back, except they aren’t defeated by vinegar, but by sonic resonance instead! (I was kind of getting sick of the vinegar…)
Oh and there’s an adorable bit of Sarah Jane + Luke interaction where he almost dies and it is adorable.
Yes, the Trickster is a regular monster. So are the Slitheen. Actually, my dad suspects that they have a lot of rubber suit monsters so that the kids can clearly identify the bad guys. Except the other third have a human appearance, so well… that doesn’t quite work out.
But I like the regularity of not-so humanoid aliens, because sometimes I’m sick of them in Doctor Who. (And I wish that the BBC would shell out for some EPIC puppets, because I am spoiled by Farscape and my own imagination. (Space whales! Liquid gas mermaids! Telekinetic fat blobs! Enormous slime creatures!))
So yes. My general opinion is that the Sarah Jane Adventures are fun and the fandom is free of wank (but is almost nonexistent) because no one watches it because it’s a kid show. But people should watch it because it is fun, doesn’t try too hard and is really only half the length of the other shows in the same universe.
Also, Elisabeth Sladen is one of those hot grandmothers and while I dislike the repetitiveness of the shirts, boots and waistcoats, they’re very well tailored. (And I want them~)