The Doctor In The TARDIS

Sarah Jane Smith was a journalist who travelled with the Doctor in his third and fourth incarnations and was also acquainted with his tenth and eleventh. Together with her friends she met and battled aliens that came to Earth.

At age 23, when working for Metropolitan magazine, Sarah posed as her aunt, a famous virologist, in order to infiltrate a UNIT-controlled facility where some scientists had gone missing. She met Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT's unpaid scientific advisor, the Third Doctor. Suspicious of the Doctor's activities, Sarah Jane stowed away in the Doctor's TARDIS and traveled back in time with him to 13th century England, to defeat a Sontaran known as Linx, who had kidnapped the scientists.

Along with another human companion, Harry Sullivan, Sarah Jane and the Doctor traveled off on other adventures in time and space. The Doctor, in his new incarnation, had less interest in Earth, yet he seemed to have a closer relationship with Sarah Jane herself. She was present on the planet Skaro during the creation of the Daleks by Davros and the Doctor's attempt to change or prevent it.

Finally, after many trips with him, the Doctor received a summons to return to Gallifrey, his home world; as a human, she could not accompany him. The Doctor attempted to deposit her near her flat in South Croydon, but mistakenly left her in Aberdeen, Scotland, instead.

As a companion, Sarah Jane was confident, inquisitive and possessed a sharp mind and a sharp tongue. She was also something of a feminist; she was infuriated when the Third Doctor asked her to make coffee and she often verbally sparred with fellow companion Harry Sullivan over his chauvinistic and unintentionally patronising attitude towards her. Her feminism was more practical than fanatical, and did not get in the way of forming close friendships with Harry, or later with the Doctor himself. She shared a strong rapport with the Doctor, and her subsequent life has been shaped by her finding him a tough act to follow; she stops short of saying that she had fallen in love with the Doctor, though several of her exchanges with him after their reunion, in addition to the context of one of her conversations with Rose, strongly implies that she indeed had developed feelings for him. Despite the passage of time she maintained her can-do personality, and since reuniting with him, remained a close friend of the Doctor.

Rani once pointed out to the Tenth Doctor that Sarah Jane doesn't like being called just "Sarah", though he replied that "she does by me." Indeed, during her years traveling in the TARDIS the Doctor, along with a few other individuals such as Harry, and even Mike Yates, referred to her numerous times simply as "Sarah". To date, the Doctor remains the only person to still regularly call her this without her objection.

Sarah received training in evasion tactics from her UNIT days, which she never forgot, she stated "U.N.I.T training, never forgot it, just getting a bit older". She gained superb leadership skills from her time with the Doctor and was very good with her Sonic lipstick. She was intelligent and very knowledgeable about many types of aliens.

Please use this thread to discuss Sarah Jane Smith

This story's a reminder, if any's needed, about just how great a character Sarah Jane is and how well Lis played her.  The contrast between the usual Sarah and the possessed Sarah was beautifully shown.  And all in a silly costume 8)

Incidentally, it's occurred to me that Sarah Jane was actually possessed/hypnotised more often than any other companion - Planet of the Spiders, Masque of Mandragora, Hand of Fear.

She was brilliant throughout. And I loved the outfit. Stuff like that is very in right now. I didn't realise how much comic timing she had either. I've still only seen a tiny bit of SJA and her appearances in NuWho so I am not overly familiar with the character, but she always struck me as being more of a serious person, but she was quite witty at times in this.

That outfit is in now?? :o It's a brave woman who tries to pull that off :P I actually didn't mind the outfit too much. It sort of suited her character, especially given how much she had mellowed over her time in the show.

Lis Sladen, as always, put in a blinder of a performance throughout this story. She had a great way of mixing emotional and serious and funny and making them all believable and I think it paid off in this story which at times required all three. It's not my favourite story with her as companion, and it's not her most stellar performance ever, but she brings everything that she needs to to the character along with that little bit extra Lis Sladen magic and it all works brilliantly. There are times in some serials where SJ can get a tad grating, but she was spot on in this one.

I always liked Sarah Jane, but I don't think she has ever been one of my favourite companions. At times she was brilliant, but for me I have always thought that there were several better companions for various reasons. I do love the younger, more playful Sarah Jane though. She had a good wit and some great one liners. She isnt my favourite but I can certainly understand why she was and is so popular

I always liked Sarah Jane. She was fiesty but playful and I thought LS always played the role brilliantly. It's easy now to see her in amongst all the companions and make comparisons, but I think at the time she only ever needed to be 'not Jo Grant'. There is nothing wrong with Jo, of course, but I think it was more important to make sure that they both had seperate identities so that LS didn't just come in and continue with the same character.

SJS (and TB too) is once again at her best in this story and it is a shame that it was her last.

I agree, I think it was important for her to set herself apart from Jo, who in her own right was a very popular companion. In many ways they were very similar, but I think that LS played SJS so brilliantly that it never felt that she came from the same mould, and that is definately credit to the actress

I love Sarah Jane and I think in this story she really shows why she is so brilliant as a companion. Her loyalty is unending and she is resourceful and quick to think on her feet. She also manages to fill the companion role of falling into danger without ever making it seem like she needs to be continuously rescued, if that makes sense?