I collect fandoms...

[wiseheart]

... like other people collect stamps. I've just watched "Invasion of the Bane" on YouTube, and as a result, not only are my eyes rolling out of my skull, I'm also hooked on "The Sarah Jane Adventures". As if I needed an umpteenth fandom!

I originally started watching it because Sarah Jane, just like Harry Sullivan, will have a big, important part in my CoE fix-it story, and I needed to know who the characters in the series are, what they look like, how they speak and how they move. Now I'm completely lost. *sighs*

At least I might find some SJA DVDs when I go to Vienna next time. I don't have high hopes for any 4th Doctor episodes featuring Harry Sullivan. Too bad, because I loved those, too, to pieces. But watching them on the computer screen is the shortest way to blindness, I fear. *more sighs*

Comments

[songfire3.livejournal.com]

Can't you dl the episodes and burn them on dvds or cd roms and then play them with your dvd player?

I use Burn4Free to convert .avi files to a format I can play in my dvd player...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I love The Sarah Jane Adventures! I haven't really seen any of the old Dr Who, but I thought Sarah Jane was a great character in School Reunion and was very pleased when they made a spin-off with her. What might be helpful for your research is that Maria is only in the first season of The Sarah Jane Adventures; I can't remember now when CoE is set, partly because I found Gwen so annoying I had great difficulties making myself watch Torchwood. You should also keep an eye out for Clyde, who turns up in the first episode after the pilot. I hope you manage to find The Sarah Jane Adventures on DVD!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the helpful suggestion. I'm such a techno-wheenie it isn't even funny, but perhaps when one of my former students comes this way they can help me with it.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

So do I! I've printed out some info from Wikipedia, so I know vaguely who the main characters are. It's a shame that Maria left - she's such a great girl, and his Dad is seriously cute. ;)

Gwen is annoying as hell, yeah. I'm always trying to tune her out when rewatching Torchwood - Ianto is fantastic, Tosh is love, and I've even grown fond of Jack, after a while. Which is why I always write AUs in which Gwen has to face all kinds of unpleasant things and dies a grisly death as a result of her own selfishness/stupidity/insubordination at the end.

Yeah, I'm evil, and I enjoy it. *evil cackle*

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I suppose we should expect annoying main female characters from the team who gave us Rose *shudder*, but I somehow find Gwen even more annoying -- and grating! I loved Martha though to begin with, up until the point where they made her moon over the Doctor, which just didn't a) fit with her character as presented to us and b) make sense in any other way either. I was about to write something about what happened to her later on, but then I realized that I don't know how much of her story you have watched. Wouldn't want to accidentally spoil you, especially in your own journal! I think I can express my points thus: they did redeem their writing of her to some extent later on.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I saw every single episode with Martha, both in Dr. Who and in Torchwood, but I must say I was very unhappy with the increasing Mary Sue-ness of hers. Loved when she left the Doctor, though.

What really annoyed me, however, was how they made her marry Mickey Smith! C'mon, I know I sound like a snob, but first they build her up to super heroine Wonder Woman, give her a suitable boyfriend in a fellow doctor, and then she quits everything, becomes a guerrilla and marries a someone with whom she could never lead a halfway cultured conversation?

Don't misunderstand me, I like Mickey, I even appreciate how much he's grown as a character, but he's on the same level brain-wise and education-wise as Rose was, and that means Martha is light years beyond him. Not to mention that the middle class where Martha comes from is usually a lot more snobbish than the upper class, so no, I can't imagine any circumstances save from partial lobotomy that would make her marry Mickey.

As for Gwen being so much more annoying than Rose: it's the age difference, I think. Rose was a fairly primitive 19-year-old. Gwen was supposed to be beyond 30, a policewoman, and adult. And yet she displayed the same personality traits as Rose. She's the stereotypical dumb blonde without even being blonde.

Don't worry about spoiling me. I'm that rare specimen who loves spoilers, because most of the really cool things always come to us years later... if ever.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

It was the leaving The Doctor, finishing her medical degree and getting herself to a place where she could call the Doctor and actually order him around that I was going to argue was the writers redeeming their description of Martha. I tend to forget/ignore the marrying Mickey and going guerilla; you are quite right it doesn't fit with Martha's background. Not that I don't think there is rebel enough in her or that she can't rough it if needs be, in the living without her accustomed middle-class conveniences sense of the word, but she would not want to go without the cultural and intellectual stimulus. I thought the reason they paired her with Mickey was that they are both black, which seems like such incredible sloppy writing not to mention stereotypical in a really stupid way that I just refuse to allow it into my personal canon.

I hadn't thought of it before, but I think you are right about why Gwen is so much more annoying than Rose. It is somehow possible to forgive a teenager for being a spoilt air-headed brat, especially as she is actually said to be a 'shop girl'. However, someone who is supposed to be a police officer in her 30's should exhibit a bit more self-awareness and experience. Analysing it a bit more, I suppose I am really offended that they think Gwen is someone I would identify with. Granted that is Rose's role in Dr Who, but that is aimed at a younger audience, while they explicitly stated that Torchwood was meant to be for the 'adults'. Hence Gwen should be the adult identify-with character and I just refuse to do that! Getting us back to The Sarah Jane Adventures, they actually do a much better job of the characters on there that I imagine the audience is meant to identify with. Maria/Rani and Clyde are far more intelligent and capable than either Rose or Gwen! Of course watching a children's TV series I also tend to identify with the adult-mentor character and you could do a lot worse than Sarah Jane!

[artemis10002000]

*laughs* Should I congratulate you or say my condolences to you finding yet another fandom obsession? :P I can sympathize with your plight, though!

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

OK, so are we taking bets on how long until you encounter your umpteenth-and-one fandom? [evil grin, followed by sympathetic hugs and a sharp order to Chakotay to get over there, build you a hot tub and give you a massage]

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, please, I'd accept Chakotay any time, even without a hot tub! Granted, the actor has grown a bit old and pouchy in the meantime, but we lust over the character anyway, don't we? ;)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Sorry, belated answer. Sarah Jane is great, actually. Did you know that there's a comm devoted to her and Harry Sullivan?