To help celebrate the 48th birthday of Doctor Who, below we’re featuring the trailer for the upcoming Christmas special!  It looks sooooo good!

I can’t wait for Christmas!  I’m so excited, I won’t be able to sleep a wink on Christmas Eve!

Click here if you are unable to view the embedded video above.

For news of her passing, visit the Doctor Who News Page.  Those folks will do an excellent job providing all the newsworthy details of her death.  While they report the news, I’m going to focus on my own personal feelings.

Hearing the news about Elisabeth Sladen really shook me.  Just a few short months ago we lost Nicholas Courtney and now this.  I realize death is part of life, but c’mon!  This isn’t fair!  This has totally blown any anticipation I had for this Saturday’s Doctor Who season opener.

I’ve been watching Doctor Who for nearly 30 years now.  Hands down, Sarah Jane Smith is my favorite companion.  Always has been, always will.  I first encountered Sarah Jane in Genesis of the Daleks in 1982, my very first glimpse of the show.  The early Tom Baker years were the first episodes I saw on a regular basis, so like most other young men I totally crushed on Sarah Jane.   She was everything a 10 year old boy wanted from a girlfriend.  Her smile lit up the room, she went on adventures, she fought evil, she constantly needed rescuing, she was so very sweet and friendly, and she always stuck by her best friend.   She was cool!  She wasn’t just a companion, she was a hero!

When I was older and re-watched several of her episodes, I was surprised just how likable she was as a character.  This was entirely due to Elisabeth Sladen’s fantastic performance.  Sladen’s Sarah Jane was warm, friendly, and believable.  Seeing Sarah Jane in later stories such as The Five Doctors or Dimensions in Time just reaffirmed how excellent the character was. While I can find something to like about every companion, Sarah Jane was THE premier Doctor Who companion as far as I was concerned.  Re-watching episodes like Genesis of the Daleks or Ark in Space, I can now see just how foxy she was as well!

When Elisabeth Sladen returned to Doctor Who for the episode “School Reunion” in 2006, I was overjoyed.  That episode was a real tear-jerker for me.  Seeing one of my favorite characters back in action after so long really pulled on the heartstrings.  Shortly after that, BBC announced The Sarah Jane Adventures.  Good for Elisabeth Sladen!  Nearly 30 years after leaving Doctor Who, she was granted her own spin-off (for a second time if you remember K-9 and Company)!  It’s not often an actor or actress can walk away from a role, then turn around 30 years later and make it even more popular!

She was really a great actress, even in her more recent appearances.  In the Doctor Who episode “Journey’s End”, Sarah Jane starts to cry and quiver with fear after hearing Davros’ voice again after 30 years.  Every time I watch Elisabeth Sladen cry, I start to tear up as well.  Also, it’s a testament to Sladen’s performance that the character of Sarah Jane Smith has worked so well with numerous Doctors (Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, David Tennant, and Matt Smith).  She made you believe these actors were playing the same character that she traveled with all those years ago.  She was so good!

I’ve only seen Elisabeth Sladen in a few interviews, but she always seemed like an absolutely wonderful lady.  From everything I’ve read about her, she was a talented and dynamic actress who was always friendly.  I had hoped to meet her one day at a convention, but now that can never happen.  Such an amazing woman and character.  She will be sorely missed.  The following cartoon speaks for itself…

When I was a child I thrilled to the adventures of the Doctor and Sarah Jane.  One of my greatest Doctor Who-related joys is that 30 years later and my own children have been able to thrill to their new adventures!  Elisabeth Sladen and Sarah Jane Smith… rest in peace.

UPDATE:

This post was a sort of catharsis for me. I had a lot of feelings roiling around about Elisabeth Sladen’s death and I had to work through them somehow. Upon re-reading this entry, I really didn’t convey what a wonderful actress Sladen was, what a great character Sarah Jane was, and the empty hole left behind by her passing.

My friend Ed sent a link to an article about Elisabeth Sladen on io9. I highly recommend you go read it. Some of the quotes and comments started me tearing up again.

http://io9.com/#!5793664/rip-elisabeth-sladen-doctor-whos-apprentice

This insanely cool Star Trek and Doctor Who mash-up was done for Wizard Magazine by Mike Mayhew and Rain Beredo.  Click the image to enlarge.

So you gotta ask yourself, is this just an awesome image, or is this the beginning of some terrible fan fiction?  Assume for a moment that it’s a story, it goes without saying that Kirk would make out with Amy.  Would it then become “slash fiction”, or is that just so obvious that it’s not a problem? 

My thanks to Ed from THE UNIQUE GEEK listserv for directing me to this image.  Check out Mike Mayhew’s deviantART page by clicking here.  Visit Rain Beredo’s deviantART page by clicking here.

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2011/03/10/star-trek-vs-doctor-who/feed/ 3 http://onceuponageek.com/2011/02/11/900-years-old/ http://onceuponageek.com/2011/02/11/900-years-old/#comments Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:45:47 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=4863

I absolutely love this!  Original can be found at Comixed.com.

My thanks to SGhoul for sending this my way.

BBC America ran a special Doctor Who teaser recently just for us folks here in the United States!  Check it out below!

Yee-haw!  And if you missed the complete trailer for next season, check it out below.

It looks soooo good!  I can’t wait for next season!  Geronimo!

Oh yeah, Happy New Year too!

Here is the inked version before coloring.

I couldn’t resist posting this insanely awesome picture here!  Drawing by Dan McDaid with colors by Dean Trippe.  Found via HeroPress.net.

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2010/12/17/doctor-who-children-irl/feed/ 0 http://onceuponageek.com/2010/12/16/craig-ferguson-doctor-who/ http://onceuponageek.com/2010/12/16/craig-ferguson-doctor-who/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:45:28 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=4708

Matt Smith recently appeared on the Craig Ferguson show.  Below you’ll find the unaired musical number that was produced for the episode.  It’s funny, bizarre, and a fairly accurate description of Doctor Who.  This made the rounds on the interwebs a couple weeks ago, but I’m just now getting around to posting it here.

If you’re unable to view the embedded video above, please click here.  This was sent to me by about a dozen people. My thanks to all of you!  You know who you are.

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the airing of the very first Doctor Who episode. It was Saturday, November 23, 1963 at 5:15pm GMT when an unheard of children’s program appeared on BBC television. It featured two school teachers, an oddball student, and a grumpy old man. Humble beginnings!

It’s surprising to me how popular the show is nowadays. The show originally ran from 1963–1989. There was an American-made TV movie in 1996 which didn’t perform well. Then Doctor Who returned to the airwaves as a weekly TV series in 2005. Go back in time six years to 2004 and Doctor Who was still remembered as a joke by most people. Now it’s one of the most popular television shows in the world with two spin-offs. Just crazy!

We’re going to celebrate Doctor Who’s birthday today by watching the trailer to this year’s Christmas special – A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Happy birthday to that lonely old Timelord meandering around the universe in that rickety old Police Box!

My thanks to Ed for directing me to the new trailer!