Doctor Who star David Tennant to guest star on "Sarah Jane" spin-off

In what is perhaps a shrewd move on the BBC part, Doctor Who star David Tennant will appear as the Doctor in a two-part episode of the series spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Elizabeth Sladen has already crossed over play Sarah Jane Smith a few times since the revival of the series back in 2005. Now this will be the first time that the Doctor will guest on her show. Of course, this entitles the fans to seeing Tennant a few more times before his swan song as the Time Lord at the end of the year. Plus, one assumes, The Sarah Jane Adventures -heading into season three - should see it's highest ratings yet, if only because while the character has been mentioned on SJA and the other spin-off, Torchwood, the Doctor has actually never appeared on them.

Tennant returns as the Doctor in The Waters of Mars this November, followed by the two-part finale this Christmas and New Years. His appearance on SJA will air in September, however.

Other news comes that indeed, a motion picture version of Doctor Who is in the works. The same production team running the show, will produce a big screen version of the series. However, there is no timetable for release of said film or if it would involve current Who star David Tennant or incoming 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, or something else completely.

Torchwood: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Torchwood's second season launched with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (and for trivia hounds, film critic Pauline Kael came up with this phrase in the 1960's to describe the James Bond movies) and the introduction of someone from Jack's past.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer's James Marsters shows up as another Time Agent named Captain John Hart. While his mission -about some thermal devices - is silly, what he does to the team is much more interesting.

Everyone, still upset about Jack's vanishing act (at the end of season one, he joined the Doctor for three episodes) and his sudden reappearance are even more thrown for loop when Hart arrives and makes things worse.

The pacing of the show got better, but this is the season opener, and the added humor and less back biting from the team is also a reward. Marsters shines as Hart, reminding me many times why Spike on Buffy was so much fun to watch. I guess without using the Previously on...notice, it forced the series to tell all that stuff at the opening, which I find distracting. What's the point of restating the mission statement again and again. Oh. Can't count on the viewers to pay attention.

There appears to be a more overt romance planned for Jack and Inato, and liked how jealous he became when he realized John was everything he wasn't. But Jack did ask Ianto on a date.

And in typical Buffy/Angel style that the series tries so hard to emulate, John let's out a secret for Jack to mull over until his return (seen in the previews) at the last few moments of the episode. Who is Gray and why did Jack go all pale?

The Sarah Jane Adventures begins

After the success of the revived Doctor Who, Russell T Davies created a spin-off around popular guest star John Barrowman. Torchwood is a more adult version of Who, featuring stories that have more violence, sex and swear words.

It was as huge a success as the mother series.

But who would've thought another spin-off could work? Well, with three CSI's, three Law & Orders, why not three shows based around Doctor Who? That third one, The Sarah Jane Adventures, came about due to School Reunion, a second series adventure that featured the return of Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, who ventured with the Third and Fourth Doctor during TOS run back in the 197o's.

Sladen could be considered the series best companion ever created, as she really was the first fully, three-dimensional female traveler of the Doctor. And she certainly remains, after 30 years, one of the most loved companions.

But unlike the very dark, sexualized Torchwood, and the semi-dark whimsey, pop cultural refrences within the new Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures is designed for the younger crowd -maybe, even what TOS was designed to be back in the 1960's.

The new series launched on New Years Day in England with a special episode called The Invasion of the Bane. It's a hoot, with current James Bond Miss Moneypenny, Samantha Bond, just tearing up the scenery as an alien out to convert the world into zombies. And it's amazing in many ways to see Liz Sladen back as the iconic character of Sarah Jane, a role she seems to love playing.

On September 24, the show launched with Revenge of the Slitheen, bringing back the farting family of aliens first introduced in a 2-part Who episode from the first season of the new series.
The show, it seems, was slightly retooled, as one actress was dropped in favor of new one. Which, I think is better.

(I caught both of these episodes off of Youtube).

While the show is geared towards young audience, I liked it, including returning to the old format of Doctor Who, by having the show run a half-hour, with a cliffhanger to get people to return for the next episode.

And while, like Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures are not directly linked to Doctor Who, Sarah does mention him, and UNIT. In the pilot, we saw K9 (though due to copywrite issues and licensing fee's, the robotic dog will not be a part of the series) doing something with a blackhole, which was just odd and very random. But I suppose they could not say anything about him, considering at the end of School Reunion, Sarah is seen walking away with an upgraded verison of K9.

Besides, an animated series featuring K9 is scheduled to debut in 2009, so that may also be the reason why he's not on The Sarah Jane Adventures.