Elisabeth Sladen...

Somewhat late, but I felt I couldn't allow the passing of Elisabeth Sladen to go without comment of my own.

As a ten-year-old, Sarah Jane Smith was the first of The Doctor's companions that I can really recall, travelling first with Jon Pertwee and then Tom Baker in that amazing blue box.

At teatime every Saturday we'd watch as their adventures unfolded, the cliffhanger invariably involving Sarah Jane either screaming or calling "Doctor!" in panic. Yet the character was both strong and resourceful, on more than one occasion rescuing the Time Lord himself from almost-certain death.

Thus it was a treat to see Elisabeth Sladen return to reprise her role with David Tennant's Doctor (even with K-9) and even more so when she got her own show, which ran for four seasons and introduced her and the character she brought to life to a whole new generation of young fans.

The success with which the character of Sarah Jane returned to the consciousness of fans everywhere is a tribute to the actress and, indeed, what makes Ms. Sladen's passing all the more poignant. Her death last week, from cancer at the relatively young age of 63, took most by surprise.

Russell T Davies, the man responsible for bringing Elisabeth Sladen (and Sarah Jane Smith)back to the Doctor Who universe, said that "...The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith and the world was lucky to have Lis."

Both will be missed.

One Law To Rule Them All, One Law For Us...

In a bizarre turn of events, the website Blastr.com, part of the Syfy group, owned by NBC Universal, has posted a spoiler for the post-credits "Easter Egg" to be found following the forthcoming 'Thor' movie.

(I'd post the link here, but it shares the whole thing - go to www.blastr.com and search for Thor...)

Does anyone but me find it odd (and not a little hypocritical) that a studio should be pointing people towards a video which would appear (from the posted screenshot) to have been recorded illegally, for a movie by a competitor that does not go on release in the USA until April 27th?

In cinemas and on DVDs there are anti-piracy adverts that warn of stiff penalties for piracy of movies. Here we appear to have a case where a studio-owned website is endorsing the practise at the expense of a competitor.

The lawyers are circling - there's blood in the water...

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night...

It's about time Hal got his own movie, and on June 17th, he will.

The good people at Film School Rejects released the following WonderCon footage, which I felt ought to be propagated a bit:



Beware his power...