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

Here is the description of the episode from their website:

Scott was busy becoming an official MONORAIL PILOT so Chris invited The Irredeemable Shag to sit in on this special episode focusing on Star Trek: First Contact, the first full Next Generation movie! This is Shag’s first Star Trek episode on Two True Freaks and his enthusiasm shows! Stick around to the end to see exactly how enthusiastic he can get! Continuity issues are hashed out, Oobie Doobie gets played, a Borg Gorn is proposed and so much more!

My thanks to Chris (and Scott) for letting me appear on their show!  I love me some Star Trek and this was a blast to record!  Be sure to check out Two True Freaks!

I stumbled across this book in a Science Fiction Book Club mailer and decided to give it a try.  Here is the description from the Science Fiction Book Club:

Ohio farm boy John Rayburn is in trouble after beating up the high-school bully. But his petty problems fade when his doppelgänger, Prime, appears with a device that lets him travel across worlds. For John, the lure of seeing another universe is too strong: he tries it out…and learns to his horror that the device only works one way—forward—and that Prime stole his life from him! Unable to return home, he settles in a new universe to try and fix the device.

As Prime sets out to cash in on inventions he’s stolen from other Earths—including the Rubik’s Cube—John’s attempts to lie low backfire spectacularly when he inadvertently introduces pinball to his new universe. Unfortunately, both actions draw the notice of other travelers, dangerous people who are exploiting worlds for their own nefarious purposes.

The 2009 novel was expanded from a novella that appeared in the April/May 2006 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.  The novella was nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novella, Nebula Award for Best Novella, Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and won the Asimov’s Readers Poll Award.

The book is a real page-turner.  Give it a try!

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/2011/03/02/listen-up-shira-brie/ http://onceuponageek.com/2011/03/02/listen-up-shira-brie/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:45:34 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=4872 I love me some old Marvel Star Wars comics! Of the 107 issues, I firmly believe the Shira Brie saga spanning issues 60 through 63 were some of the best of the series!  Scott and Chris of Two True Freaks were kind enough to invite me onto their podcast recently to discuss this fantastic storyline!  Scott and I are so passionate about this story, they had to break the episode into two parts because we talked so much!  What’s not to love about these comics?!?!  David Michelinie’s plots and scripts, Walt Simonson’s plots and pencils, with Tom Palmer’s inks.  If you know your Star Wars Expanded Universe lore, then you understand the importance of this storyline.  Pure awesome!

Here are the tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the episodes from their website:

Two True Freaks Episode 173 – Star Wars Monthly Monday #27: Part I

This month, the Freaks are joined by The Irredeemable Shag for their coverage of Marvel Star Wars #60-63. This episode was sooo long it had to be broken into TWO HUGE HALVES! Why so long, you ask? Well, it seems Shag and Scott (two grown men, mind you) love Shira Brie like an emo teen girl loves Justin Bieber.

Listen to them babble on endlessly about their girlfriend Shira Brie. What is her favorite color? Do you think she would like Scott’s new haircut? Shag has never washed his eyes since the first time he saw her in the comics! Honestly, these are “adult”, married men- I don’t know about Shag, but Scott even has kids. How healthy is it for them to have hot pants for a comic book character?

Two True Freaks Episode 173 – Star Wars Monthly Monday #27: Part II

Here’s the second half – featuring issues #62 and 63. Scott and Shag make moon-eyes at pictures of Shira, describe what their “dream date with Shira” would be like, and basically make you wonder which one of them has the bigger creepy Shira Brie shrine in their back shed. Brought to you by RICH POWERS!

My thanks to Scott and Chris for letting me appear on their show to discuss this phenomenal storyline!  Be sure to check out Two True Freaks!

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2011/03/02/listen-up-shira-brie/feed/ 0 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.

John Ostrander started in the comic book business in 1983 and was incredibly successful.  By 1987 he was writing five different monthly titles!  He is best known for his work on SUICIDE SQUAD, GRIMJACK, THE SPECTRE, and STAR WARS: LEGACY.  Ostrander has written hundreds of fantastic comics and was nominated for the Comics Buyer’s Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.  Ostrander wrote 45 issues of FIRESTORM vol II from 1987 through 1990.   Besides Firestorm co-creator Gerry Conway, Ostrander has written the character more than any other author.  Probably his most lasting contribution to the DC Universe was the recasting of the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, into the information and computer specialist Oracle.  Currently he is working on STAR WARS LEGACY: WAR from Dark Horse Comics.

John was kind enough to spend some time discussing his run on Firestorm with me for FIRESTORM FAN.  We discussed how Ostrander broke into the business, his time on the Firestorm comic, and his career in general.

So head over to FIRESTORM FAN.com and check out comic book legend John Ostrander.

Y’know, it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when the future predicted in Back to the Future Part II was more creative than the real future we live in nowadays.  Ugh.

My thanks to Dug from THE UNIQUE GEEK for directing me to this comic on COMIXED.com.