oh, my Sarah Jane!
Did you guys all watch The Sarah Jane Adventures this season? Because okay, listen, it was seriously great. I didn't post about it as it went along, but almost every episode filled me with extreme glee. If you've never seen the show, here are some reasons why it is awesome and why you might enjoy watching it, in an ordered list:
1) the star and our hero is an awesome unmarried over-fifty lady who fights crime and aliens
2) two of the other stars, who have really stepped up into THE major roles during season four, are people of colour, and they totally get to save the world and be awesome ALL THE TIME. Seriously. Clyde and Rani. I swoon. Plus because they're kids we also get to meet their families, so there are other lovely chromatic characters on the show (I especially love Rani's mom and dad, Gita and Haresh). OCCASIONALLY the show will even talk about race, though never in any depth, but at least it's not all "oh Martha don't be silly of course you have nothing to worry about in Elizabethan England!"
3) the major strategy that our team uses to save the world is TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS. I can't tell you how many times TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS has saved the world. Often it is even TWO BOYS TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS! Also good saving the world strategies: handholding, hugs, boytouching, OT3 love, and teamwork. I'm not even exaggerating: handholding has saved the world.
4) passes the Bechdel test all the time, effortlessly, delightfully, with honours and gold stars and sometimes with the two women in question being two women of colour and sometimes with the two women in question being both of them over fifty. And Sarah Jane and Rani have so many adventures together! Because Rani is her protege. *shiver* um, not everyone is quite as into that as I am (my older-woman-younger-woman-may-december-mentor-student-relationship kink, let me show you it) but probably many people are into it at least a little.
5) K-9! Oh my god I love K-9. K-9 haters to the left.
6) Sarah Jane gets to have all the issues she SHOULD have, and be just as fucked up as she SHOULD be, while still being awesome and saving the world all the time. Oh my gosh. Sometimes when I'm not busy shipping Sarah Jane/Rani I ship Sarah Jane/Clyde because they connect with each other over their ABANDONMENT ISSUES.
7) there's a fabulous OT3! actually there are several of them. basically everyone on the show is great, so there are no bad pairings. I ship Sarah Jane/Rani, Sarah Jane/Clyde, Clyde/Luke, Clyde/Luke/Rani, Clyde/Rani, Sarah Jane/Maria, Luke/Clyde/Maria, and of course K-9/Mr Smith.
So, those are my non-spoilery reasons you should watch the show. Now allow me to babble about some great things that happened this season, in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ORDERED LIST:
(spoilers for the whole season below!)
1) Death of the Doctor: uh, like, I cried. With sheer joy. JO GRANT! AND ELEVEN! Eleven saying "come along, Smith!" !!!!! And Jo Grant being superawesome lusty and funny and scattered and gorgeous and protesty and saving the world all the time too and EEEEEEE when she and Sarah Jane were in that coffin together! The femslash makes me flutter with joy. And their memories being the thing that saves them! It's almost as good as when Clyde, Luke, and Rani holding hands saved the world. I . . . I didn't know what to do with this episode, I loved it so much. I would watch another eight zillion of these. SJA is so much more Old Who-ish than New Who is, and so when they do Old Who callbacks it is EVEN MORE AMAZING than when New Who does Old Who callbacks. This is also the only place that I know of in all of Who canon where anyone talks at all about the Doctor's race. CLYDE ILU OKAY.
2) The Empty Planet: Clyde and Rani save the world all on their own! While being so cute I could just eat them up completely. This episode was amazing - all the running about, the "What Would Sarah Jane Do" coming from Clyde (I love how she is legitimately a hero and a role model for them), the post-apocalyptic feel of things, the way they cling to each other . . . sigh. I was such a happy me. I don't even mind the way they're pushing the Clyde/Rani het ship in canon, because honestly I love both Clyde and Rani so much that a het pairing doesn't annoy me. Plus the fact that they save the world together and rely on and trust each other and no one else in the world could know how they feel, etc. . . . all those are huge happy places for me that outweigh the canonicity and hetroicity of the pairing. I was so impressed at how well these two characters (and these two actors) carried a whole episode by themselves.
3) Lost in Time: UH CAN I PLEASE ALSO SHIP RANI/QUEEN JANE?????? The bit towards the end where they just gazed into each others' eyes and told each other that they were great friends and all . . . jeez, I was actually surprised when they didn't kiss. So. Hot. And Clyde vs Nazis was adorable, if simplistic (I really liked his easy friendship with George, though - it showed off Clyde's skillset, which is often about understanding people and knowing how to talk to them). I sort of loved the bizarre premise, too, the "random guy has sent us to random times to get stuff, we'll never really know why" . . . sometimes this show spends a little too much time setting up a plot, and really I don't care; I'm totally in it for like Rani foiling assassination attempts and Clyde winning WWII. I liked Sarah Jane's plotline, too, though not quite as much. ANYWAY this one was so good yall.
4) The Nightmare Man: The villain was cheesy and the nightmares not terrifically well conceived but okay listen, two things happened that mean I will love this episode 4evs. a) Clyde and Luke and Rani held hands. For justice. And b) K-9 and Mr Smith finally culminated their hot bickering sessions and had USB cable sex. ROBOT SEX! HOW IS EVERYONE NOT SWOONING OVER THIS SHOW?
5) Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith: HI ABBY GRANT HI! I love whatsherface the actress who plays Ruby on Survivors, and I was so excited when I saw she was going to be on the show. Where's the hot Sarah Jane/Ruby dubcon fic? C'mon guys! Man I wish this show had a real fic fandom where all the things that justly should be written about were written about. I thought this was a really brilliant idea, if executed too quickly (imagine if they'd introduced Ruby earlier on in the season, and had a slower buildup - this show needs to learn to do arcs). I love Rani's amazing use of crying and hugging as weapons, and I loved Clyde's final message (sniff!) and I love the "hey, we didn't get splooged for once!" fakeout. Aw and Luke came back of course! BUT NATURALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS EPISODE OTHER THAN THE HOT ENEMIES FEMSLASH IS THAT EVEN CLYDE HAS NOTICED THAT K-9 AND MR SMITH SHOULD BE HAVING SEX! oh gosh my friends when Clyde told them to get a room I loled and loled and then had to rewind and watch again, because it's true okay, K-9/Mr Smith OTP 4EVS. My pairing is canon.
6) I LOVE THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES GUYS
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1) the star and our hero is an awesome unmarried over-fifty lady who fights crime and aliens
2) two of the other stars, who have really stepped up into THE major roles during season four, are people of colour, and they totally get to save the world and be awesome ALL THE TIME. Seriously. Clyde and Rani. I swoon. Plus because they're kids we also get to meet their families, so there are other lovely chromatic characters on the show (I especially love Rani's mom and dad, Gita and Haresh). OCCASIONALLY the show will even talk about race, though never in any depth, but at least it's not all "oh Martha don't be silly of course you have nothing to worry about in Elizabethan England!"
3) the major strategy that our team uses to save the world is TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS. I can't tell you how many times TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS has saved the world. Often it is even TWO BOYS TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS! Also good saving the world strategies: handholding, hugs, boytouching, OT3 love, and teamwork. I'm not even exaggerating: handholding has saved the world.
4) passes the Bechdel test all the time, effortlessly, delightfully, with honours and gold stars and sometimes with the two women in question being two women of colour and sometimes with the two women in question being both of them over fifty. And Sarah Jane and Rani have so many adventures together! Because Rani is her protege. *shiver* um, not everyone is quite as into that as I am (my older-woman-younger-woman-may-december-mentor-student-relationship kink, let me show you it) but probably many people are into it at least a little.
5) K-9! Oh my god I love K-9. K-9 haters to the left.
6) Sarah Jane gets to have all the issues she SHOULD have, and be just as fucked up as she SHOULD be, while still being awesome and saving the world all the time. Oh my gosh. Sometimes when I'm not busy shipping Sarah Jane/Rani I ship Sarah Jane/Clyde because they connect with each other over their ABANDONMENT ISSUES.
7) there's a fabulous OT3! actually there are several of them. basically everyone on the show is great, so there are no bad pairings. I ship Sarah Jane/Rani, Sarah Jane/Clyde, Clyde/Luke, Clyde/Luke/Rani, Clyde/Rani, Sarah Jane/Maria, Luke/Clyde/Maria, and of course K-9/Mr Smith.
So, those are my non-spoilery reasons you should watch the show. Now allow me to babble about some great things that happened this season, in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ORDERED LIST:
(spoilers for the whole season below!)
1) Death of the Doctor: uh, like, I cried. With sheer joy. JO GRANT! AND ELEVEN! Eleven saying "come along, Smith!" !!!!! And Jo Grant being superawesome lusty and funny and scattered and gorgeous and protesty and saving the world all the time too and EEEEEEE when she and Sarah Jane were in that coffin together! The femslash makes me flutter with joy. And their memories being the thing that saves them! It's almost as good as when Clyde, Luke, and Rani holding hands saved the world. I . . . I didn't know what to do with this episode, I loved it so much. I would watch another eight zillion of these. SJA is so much more Old Who-ish than New Who is, and so when they do Old Who callbacks it is EVEN MORE AMAZING than when New Who does Old Who callbacks. This is also the only place that I know of in all of Who canon where anyone talks at all about the Doctor's race. CLYDE ILU OKAY.
2) The Empty Planet: Clyde and Rani save the world all on their own! While being so cute I could just eat them up completely. This episode was amazing - all the running about, the "What Would Sarah Jane Do" coming from Clyde (I love how she is legitimately a hero and a role model for them), the post-apocalyptic feel of things, the way they cling to each other . . . sigh. I was such a happy me. I don't even mind the way they're pushing the Clyde/Rani het ship in canon, because honestly I love both Clyde and Rani so much that a het pairing doesn't annoy me. Plus the fact that they save the world together and rely on and trust each other and no one else in the world could know how they feel, etc. . . . all those are huge happy places for me that outweigh the canonicity and hetroicity of the pairing. I was so impressed at how well these two characters (and these two actors) carried a whole episode by themselves.
3) Lost in Time: UH CAN I PLEASE ALSO SHIP RANI/QUEEN JANE?????? The bit towards the end where they just gazed into each others' eyes and told each other that they were great friends and all . . . jeez, I was actually surprised when they didn't kiss. So. Hot. And Clyde vs Nazis was adorable, if simplistic (I really liked his easy friendship with George, though - it showed off Clyde's skillset, which is often about understanding people and knowing how to talk to them). I sort of loved the bizarre premise, too, the "random guy has sent us to random times to get stuff, we'll never really know why" . . . sometimes this show spends a little too much time setting up a plot, and really I don't care; I'm totally in it for like Rani foiling assassination attempts and Clyde winning WWII. I liked Sarah Jane's plotline, too, though not quite as much. ANYWAY this one was so good yall.
4) The Nightmare Man: The villain was cheesy and the nightmares not terrifically well conceived but okay listen, two things happened that mean I will love this episode 4evs. a) Clyde and Luke and Rani held hands. For justice. And b) K-9 and Mr Smith finally culminated their hot bickering sessions and had USB cable sex. ROBOT SEX! HOW IS EVERYONE NOT SWOONING OVER THIS SHOW?
5) Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith: HI ABBY GRANT HI! I love whatsherface the actress who plays Ruby on Survivors, and I was so excited when I saw she was going to be on the show. Where's the hot Sarah Jane/Ruby dubcon fic? C'mon guys! Man I wish this show had a real fic fandom where all the things that justly should be written about were written about. I thought this was a really brilliant idea, if executed too quickly (imagine if they'd introduced Ruby earlier on in the season, and had a slower buildup - this show needs to learn to do arcs). I love Rani's amazing use of crying and hugging as weapons, and I loved Clyde's final message (sniff!) and I love the "hey, we didn't get splooged for once!" fakeout. Aw and Luke came back of course! BUT NATURALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS EPISODE OTHER THAN THE HOT ENEMIES FEMSLASH IS THAT EVEN CLYDE HAS NOTICED THAT K-9 AND MR SMITH SHOULD BE HAVING SEX! oh gosh my friends when Clyde told them to get a room I loled and loled and then had to rewind and watch again, because it's true okay, K-9/Mr Smith OTP 4EVS. My pairing is canon.
6) I LOVE THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES GUYS
(click to comment at dw || there are
comments right now)