Sarah Jane Smith

[Peri-Peri]

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.

[Roranicus]

I thought Sarah Jane was brilliant in this. She really carried the story. I suppose when it originally aired that would have been even more important because of the change of Doctor. She is the familiarity for the audience. She isn't one of my favourite companions but I do think she always put in a great performance and this story is no different.

[Tardis-Console]

She was ok in this but a bit screamier than I am used to Sarah Jane being. Considering they are often classed as the ultimate pairing I wasn't really feeling it in this. I suppose it was early days though.

[Aneurin]

I think Sarah Jane is great. I just want to get that out of the way first. I do however think something has been lost along the way because I fail to understand the fuss and buzz around her. I'm not saying she is crap and people shouldn't love her or anything like that, but there is SO MUCH love for her and I don't fully understand why. She was a great companion, don't get me wrong, but we have had loads of them and I don't think I can see what others do that makes her stand out so much. Perhaps it's a timing or nostalgia thing? Maybe if I watched when she was current I would understand the hype a bit more? I do think she is better than a lot of other companions, but I do also think that she is on equal or lesser footing than others from the classic or new eras. The same goes for the Fourth Doctor. Everyone always says they are great but never really gives a reason why. I think it's so engrained that they are 'awesome' that people go along with it because it's so built in as an idea. Just like how people slag off Colin Baker and his era without even watching, because it's just sort of acceptable to do among the larger consensus.

[Nyki]

Yes, there are several companions who are higher on my favourites list, though SJ is pretty high.  I think one of the reasons for her reputation is that she was in a great run of stories, especially in the series following this one.  She certainly contributed to that, but I'd say a lot more was down to Hinchcliffe and Holmes.

Actually, I don't know about seeing them at the time - I have a feeling her reputation is higher now than it was then.

[Oh-Wise-One]

It must have been pretty high at the time though. She made the front page when she quit.

[Twisted-Sister]

I think part of it could be off the back of the popularity of Tom Baker. The thing is, in many parts of the world, most notibly in the US, they were the very first partnership that millions of people saw. That's bound to be a big part of it.

[Scott]

Sarah Jane is a great character but I am amongst the few who seem to not understand what the fuss is about. I could name probably 5 or more companions that I think were far better written. She would definately be top 10 though.