Here's one for the anoraks among us (which must include me, since I'm starting it): spotting subtle references to Doctor Who in The Sarah Jane Adventures. And I mean subtle, not Sarah Jane saying, “I met this alien called the Doctor and travelled in space and time”.
That's very unsubtle.
I mean subtle references like the following:
- “UNIT”
- “The Brig” (he's alive and still working with UNIT!)
- “Slitheens in Downing Street?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ something a friend once said” (reference to new Who. And she thinks of Rose as a friend, which is nice)
That's the most my hazy memory can dredge up from yesterday. Comment below if you spotted any others or want to whip back in time to last week's episode and spot references there, too.
Ah, feel the nostalgia.
Current odds of the Doctor appearing in the final episode of the series, based on off-hand remarks made on-screen and in the press: 10-1
Updates and related entries
October 8, 2007:
What Doctor Who references were there in today's episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
If the Brig is still knocking around, do you think that means he might rock up in the next series of Who?
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Possible, but unlikely. He is a little old and he doesn't fit into new Who very well - having him on would purely be a sop to fans.
That's not to say that Rusty wouldn't want to try: after all, Nick Courtney/The Brigadier's appeared opposite all the Doctors (if you include the Big Finish audios) except for Eccles Cake and David Tennant.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
I believe Nick Courtney dropped a hint or two about some TV work at a recent DW con. Maybe a cameo on SJA?
October 2, 2007 | Reply
The Slitheen namechecked the Blathereen (another Raxacoricofallapatorian family, which the Doctor and Rose encountered in the BBC Book, The Monsters Inside), said they got some of their equipment from the Wallarians (last namechecked in Carnival of Monsters), and exclaimed at one point, "For the love of Klom!" (Love & Monsters).
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Wow! That's hardcore, Scott!
October 2, 2007 | Reply
The Judoon got namechecked
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Oh, I had help with those, believe me. I have no head for such minutiae normally (there are no such 'nods' in my Big Finish short story, for example).
October 2, 2007 | Reply
BTW, have you noticed that your "recent comments" column on the right-hand side isn't displaying user comments after "said:", but the entry body instead?
October 2, 2007 | Reply
You caught me mid-experiment! It doesn't any more.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Jolly good. Back on topic, I wonder whether we'll get such references throughout, or whether they're a byproduct of (a) the start of a series, and an assurance that we're in the same universe; and/or (b) a script from Gareth Roberts, who knows all these references like the back of his hand and can slip them in almost subconsciously.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Probably both. I imagine episode two - at a guess - won't include any, so the series can show it's not just a Doctor Who spin-off. They might start feeding them in subtly over the remaining episodes.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Haven't watched any of the Sarah Jane. But I can spot a reference in that very picture (surely why you chose it): the photo in the top right corner is of Harry Sullivan, SJ's co-companion.
- Well, my doctorate is purely honorary, and Harry here is only qualified to work on sailors.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Got it in one. It's from the New Year episode.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
Just above her head on that beam was a picture of the Brigadier as well.
October 2, 2007 | Reply
And that's K9 underneath Harry!
October 3, 2007 | Reply
Oh, one other connection -- when Maria's mum calls Sarah Jane "Sally Ann", it could be a reference to the fake companion in Gareth Roberts & Clayton Hickman's Big Finish release "The One Doctor", which featured Christopher Biggins and one of the Buckfield twins (forget which one) as conmen posing as the Doctor and companion.
Of course, the use of Sally Ann in that drama had a history, too...
October 3, 2007 | Reply
...and of course the US TV reporter was the same AMNN reporter who cropped up in "Aliens of London" and "Army of Ghosts".
October 4, 2007 | Reply
And how do you know it's not a different report played by the same actress?
Ahhh...
October 4, 2007 | Reply
Are you suggesting that all Americans look alike to me? :)
Besides, I'm still wondering how the Slitheen thought constructing their buildings at the end of tube lines would allow them to vent the heat into the underground tunnels, when most tube lines terminate above ground...
October 4, 2007 | Reply
Indeed. In fact, venting into the Tube is quite a bad idea since there's a considerable problem with venting in the Underground anyway - as anyone who's travelled on it during summer can attest. TfL even ran a competition to see if anyone could devise a new way to vent heat.
Bad engineering in a Doctor Who spin-off show? Who'd have thought it.
Incidentally, the reporters could have been twins - I imagine that idea would appeal to a US news network.
October 4, 2007 | Reply
Weeell, it's a question of authorial intent, really. Mal Loup might be a carefully constructed element of Who continuity, with a fully developed character background and everything.
On the other hand, it might just be a case of lazy casting, with Lachele Carl getting a phone call whenever the script says some variant of "female US news anchor".
Having said that, the First Time Lord from "The War Games" was definitely Chancellor Goth.