Doctor Who & Sarah Jane Adventures: How She's Become Him ...
Several fans have already asserted that the version of Sarah Jane Smith who's appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures has long since stepped up to become a female version of the Doctor himself, in all the best ways, but I'd add that we might want to examine which specific incarnation of the Doctor she most closely embodies.
Back when she was still a wide-eyed, fresh-faced ingenue, the first Doctor that Sarah Jane Smith met was the Third Doctor. To my mind, this is important, because I'd argue that the Third Doctor did the most to model the personality traits that Sarah Jane would take in as a younger woman, and take on as she grew into an older woman.
Consider that he was then, and she is now, dashing and adventurous, and yet kind-hearted and (eventually) parentally protective, and even affectionate, toward their respective younger companions, even though both the Third Doctor and SJA Sarah Jane only took on their surrogate parent roles after brief periods of protest to begin with. Compare the Third Doctor's dismay, at being introduced to Jo Grant as his "new assistant," with SJA Sarah Jane's initial refusal to either a) allow Maria Jackson into her life, or b) adopt Luke.
And as a result, both the Third Doctor and SJA Sarah Jane have wound up idolized and romanticized by their younger companions. There's room for debate as to whether the Sarah Jane who first met the Third Doctor harbored sexual feelings for him - although, after recently re-viewing Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen's episodes together, I now find it difficult to see their relationship as entirely absent of an Electra complex, especially with Pertwee's demeanor toward "his girls," which could best be summed up as, "I will take you under my wing gallantly and chastely, but gaze at you with my burning bedroom eyes" - but Jo's feelings for the Third Doctor are ultimately made so overt that her character leaves the series to marry a character who reminds her of a younger version of the Third Doctor. Likewise, while a number of fans have suggested that Maria is nursing an adolescent (and possibly sexual) crush on SJA Sarah Jane, it's pretty clear to me that Alan Jackson adores and admires SJA Sarah Jane at least as much as Jo did the Third Doctor.
Plus, both the Third Doctor and SJA Sarah Jane can rock the '70s-era wardrobes like nobody else. :)
Cross-posted to doctorwho, my_sarah_jane, sarahjane_fic and sjadventures.
Back when she was still a wide-eyed, fresh-faced ingenue, the first Doctor that Sarah Jane Smith met was the Third Doctor. To my mind, this is important, because I'd argue that the Third Doctor did the most to model the personality traits that Sarah Jane would take in as a younger woman, and take on as she grew into an older woman.
Consider that he was then, and she is now, dashing and adventurous, and yet kind-hearted and (eventually) parentally protective, and even affectionate, toward their respective younger companions, even though both the Third Doctor and SJA Sarah Jane only took on their surrogate parent roles after brief periods of protest to begin with. Compare the Third Doctor's dismay, at being introduced to Jo Grant as his "new assistant," with SJA Sarah Jane's initial refusal to either a) allow Maria Jackson into her life, or b) adopt Luke.
And as a result, both the Third Doctor and SJA Sarah Jane have wound up idolized and romanticized by their younger companions. There's room for debate as to whether the Sarah Jane who first met the Third Doctor harbored sexual feelings for him - although, after recently re-viewing Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen's episodes together, I now find it difficult to see their relationship as entirely absent of an Electra complex, especially with Pertwee's demeanor toward "his girls," which could best be summed up as, "I will take you under my wing gallantly and chastely, but gaze at you with my burning bedroom eyes" - but Jo's feelings for the Third Doctor are ultimately made so overt that her character leaves the series to marry a character who reminds her of a younger version of the Third Doctor. Likewise, while a number of fans have suggested that Maria is nursing an adolescent (and possibly sexual) crush on SJA Sarah Jane, it's pretty clear to me that Alan Jackson adores and admires SJA Sarah Jane at least as much as Jo did the Third Doctor.
Plus, both the Third Doctor and SJA Sarah Jane can rock the '70s-era wardrobes like nobody else. :)
Cross-posted to doctorwho, my_sarah_jane, sarahjane_fic and sjadventures.