Tagged: Sarah Jane Smith

Tom Baker Returns Again!

Tom Baker Returns Again!

Well, you just can’t keep a good Doctor down.

76 year-old Tom Baker, the longest-running Doctor to date, will once again return to the role of the fourth Doctor in original adventures – this time for Big Finish’s full-cast audio productions. This follows this year’s Baker’s successful six-hour full-cast audio, Hornets’ Nest, for the BBC.

All Baker requested was total control to create his own stories; Big Finish, having worked with Doctors five, six, seven and eight along, agreed. They’re no fools. Thus far Big Finish has produced several hundred hours of original full-cast adventures featuring the Doctor(s) and one or more of his companions, including spin-off adventures featuring Sarah Jane Smith, the Daleks, UNIT and others.

Rumors continue to persist about Baker someday returning to the hit television show, although if you pay attention to the noise it seems he’s more interested in playing a villain than in appearing as the fourth Doctor in a crossover, although charity events might create that opportunity. Until then, we can listen to his new work and let our imagination do the heavy lifting.

All of this is according to Baker’s website, The folks at Big Finish have yet to confirm or deny.

Sarah Jane’s Back Revealed

Sarah Jane’s Back Revealed

After a successful pilot was aired at the end of last year, the second Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, will begin airing in England the end of this month.

Oriented more towards children the way Torchwood is geared towards adults, the ten-episode season will see the return of various Doctor Who villains, including the Slitheen. The production and writing crew will be the same as that for Doctor Who and Torchwood, masterminded by executive producer Russell T. Davies.

Thus far, Sarah Jane Smith is the only continuing human character from the classic series to return to the new Whoverse. Elisabeth Sladen returns to the role she made famous with Doctors three and four, and in nine original audio dramas from Big Finish Productions.

 

Sarah Jane’s Back

Sarah Jane’s Back

The second spin-off from the revived Doctor Who teevee series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, has finally completed casting and is now being written.

The show, starring Elisabeth Sladen as former Doctor Who companion Sarah Jane Smith (she co-starred with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker from 1973 to 1976) plays an investigative journalist with a passion for extra-terrestial stories. Her previous life is only known to a trio of neighborhood children. Whereas the Doctor’s robotic dog K-9 appeared in the pilot, he/it is not expected to have a regular presence in this new series.

The pilot aired in England at the beginning of this year with a somewhat different cast. The Sarah Jane Adventures is oriented towards children in the way Torchwood is oriented towards adults, and is executive produced by Who honcho Russell T. Davies. No air date has been confirmed by the BBC.

Sladen has also played Sarah Jane in eight original full-cast audio adventures by Big Finish Productions.

Hugos for Who?

Hugos for Who?

The 2007 Hugo Awards, most prized of the science-fiction awards, just might wind up in the hands of longest running s-f teevee series of all time

Three episodes of Doctor Who from the past season were nominated in the best dramatic presentation – short form category: "School Reunion," the episode that reintroduced Sarah Jane Smith and written by Toby Whithouse,  Steven Moffatt’s "The Girl in the Fireplace," where the Doctor saves Madame de Pompadour from really neat looking robots, and the season’s two-part finale, "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday," written by executive producer Russell T. Davies and featuring the Cybermen and the Daleks in a battle scene that made 300 look like a Disney flick.

These three shows are up against an episode of Battlestar Galactica ("Downloaded) and an episode of Stargate SG-1 ("200."). As usual, the winner will be announced at the World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Yokohama, Japan from August 30th to September 3rd.

The new season of Doctor Who begins in England this Saturday.