Sarah Jane and her Teenage Troupe

Episodes five and six of “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith,” from The Sarah Jane Chronicles season three

Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) has had an interesting life. To say the least, she has traveled through time and space with several incarnations of The Doctor. Her adventures have been some of the most iconic episodes of Doctor Who, specifically the “Genesis of the Daleks” episodes where the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) went back in time in an attempt to stop Davros from creating the universe’s greatest enemy – the Daleks.

30 years later, Sarah Jane has her own series where weekly, with her band of companions and adoptive alien son Luke, she saves the universe from alien invasions; not to mention the things that go bump in the night. In “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith” from season 3, Smith finally has a chance at happiness. After being a time traveler and experiencing worlds as only a select few have, how can one top that? However, it can get tiring defending the universe without companionship, without someone to love. And Sara Jane has come to a point in her life where maybe it’s time give up protecting the world from itself. Perhaps it is now time for Sarah Jane to look out for Sarah Jane.

That said anyone from the Doctor Who family can tell you that happiness is near impossible to come by. In the series Torchwood, Captain Jack loses his lover in the third season to a group of aliens addicted to the chemicals generated by children. During the incarnation of the 10th doctor Rose finds a form of contentment with a “clone” of the Doctor in an alternate world. Donna Noble, perhaps one of the most underestimated of companions marries, yet has to have her mind wiped from her time traveling experience, or else she would according to the Doctor (David Tennant) burn up. So when Sarah Jane decides to marry and give up the world-saving business, you know something is up.

The Trickster who has plagued Sarah Jane her whole life puts a plot in motion that is heart wrenching at the very least. It becomes such a detriment to the world order that the Doctor must make an appearance. Yet it is Sarah Jane who must make the decision – give into the demands of the malevolent being and live a storybook life, or continue to save the world. We know what happens, but it is the well written dialogue and solid acting that makes this more than a kid’s show. It demands you to ask yourself the big questions – and forces you to answer them on the spot.

Still we continue to root for Sarah Jane and her teenage troupe. Someday she will find the happiness she so well deserves, but for now it’s off to save the world from the Sontarans or answer to the Judoon.

About Donna-Lyn Washington 641 Articles
Donna-lyn Washington has a M.A. in English from Brooklyn College. She is currently teaching at Kingsborough Community College where her love of comics and pop culture play key parts in helping her students move forward in their academic careers. As a senior writer for ReviewFix she has been able to explore a variety of worlds through comics, film and television and has met some interesting writers and artists along the way. Donna-lyn does a weekly podcast reviewing indie comics and has also contributed entries to the 'Encyclopedia of Black Comics,’ the academic anthology ‘Critical Insights: Frank Yerby’ and is the editor for the upcoming book, ‘Conversations With: John Jennings.’

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