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Is SJA worth a watch?
Sora2311
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I watched some episode when I was younger but found them a little too cheesy/childish for me. Now I'm a bit older and more into the Whoniverse I'm wondering if SJA is worth a watch
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Given a lack of fresh Who during the summer, yes. Get it on catch-up or on the endless CBBC reruns. You need something to entertain yourself during the Whoatus.*
Or why don't you just switch of the television set and go and do something less boring instead? (for those who remember that!)
*Hey! I coined a new word. A portmanteau word from Doctor Who and Hiatus, meaning "The interminable gap between series of Doctor Who both loved and loathed by Whovians."
EDIT
Apparently not such a new word after all.
http://whatculture.com/tv/doctor-who-6-things-to-do-during-the-who-atus.php
"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."
- The Fourth Doctor
I always found them to be cheesy and childish a lot of the time, but there are definitely some good stories in there if you can look past the fact that it is aimed at pre-teens.
Some of the character like the trickster were really good.
Out of interest did they deal with Elizabeth Sladen's passing?
edit for grammer not good
Watch them, if only for the crossover stories...
Where RTD went for a totally different feel with Nu Who (and has made them feel very rushed) SJA with it's shorter episodes and multi-episode stories feel freer and seem to have more room to breathe.
I loved SJA and even though its clearly aimed at a younger audience, the production values are still really high. There's loads in there for Who fans too. The Doctor himself even turns up a few times!
Elisabeth Sladen's death is never addressed in the show. Russell T Davies wanted to leave Sarah Jane and the gang just as they were - fighting aliens from their attic in Ealing!
Agreed. I much prefer the almost Shakespearian maturity of the Doctor chasing after farting aliens or squealing with glee as he rides on the back of a dinosaur...
Have you read much Shakespeare?
The episode i was thinking of was the eternity trap. Really creepy and solid show and luke light which is always a good thing.
I'm sure there's a least one fart in Shakespeare
I think the argument is more that Doctor Who is a family programme that is sometimes childish whereas the Sarah Jane Adventures is a children's programme that is often mature.
I'm probably setting myself up for abuse by picking specific examples but you'd never have seen a Father's Day or a Human Nature in SJA.
"There are more things in heaven and earth than... oh, hahaha, was that you, Laertes?"
What ever happened to Sarah Jane
The Eternity Trap
The mark of the Berserker
The temptation of Sarah Jane
The mad woman in the attic, to name a few.
Like others have said, It doesnt really matter how old you are, Im late 40's and I still enjoyed it and found some stories were better than some Who stories. It's Just a terrible shame that there will be no more..
The Wedding of Sarah-Jane was incredibly moving & so well written. The Mark of The Berserka was also quite a brutal watch.
I was also quite reluctant to watch it at first, but I'm so glad I did. Gutted when it ended.
Shut your fat mouths!
For a spinoff, Sarah Jane did just the right amount of setting its own scenes and standing on its own two feet while still referencing and following on from the parent series and the whoniverse as a whole.
Some Doctor Who episodes are followed up on SJA so it's worth watching just for that, as if you're getting extra chapters from a book you love!
Plus certain notable and much loved Who characters turn up for a bit of a nostalgia-fest with Sarah-Jane occasionally!
There's a great story in season 1 called Eye of the Gorgan, where Sarah Jane meets an old lady in a retirement home called Bea Nelson-Stanley. When they were younger, Bea and her late husband Edgar (an archaeologist) clearly had a lot of adventures and even met the Sontarans at some point. She said they were the "silliest-looking race in the galaxy" and looked like "a baked potato with a ray gun".
I always hoped Doctor Who would follow this story up, with the Doctor materializing in (for instance) 1940s/50s Egypt and meeting a young Bea and Edgar and having the Sontarans adventure with them.
Still, it happens to have great episodes and I am still adamant that the Death of the Doctor is the best Eleventh Doctor story out there. I just can't understand why it is so underrated. . It's a great homage to the new Doctor and the classic series while combining them brilliantly with the Sarah Jane team. What's not to like? (I know some will say the bad guys but I loved them! )
I felt the individual stories got better as time went on but the story arcs lost quality. Series 2 was really good with the story arc where series 4 missed something, although themes and ideas still continued across. I'm sure someone will say that it's the other way around though. Personal taste really.
But yes, I would say it's a great series.
Oh, that wonderful bit when Sarah Jane and Jo are laughing their socks off in the coffin! A wonderful couple of episodes. It really gave you an idea of how great it was for two former companions to meet up and be able to share their experiences with one another - its not as if anyone else could really understand what life with the Doctor is like.