A Tear, Sarah Jane?

I've always maintained that people who get overly depressed over the death of celebrities are somehow broken--they don't know the person, but they act as if their best friend or their own mother has died. The total screaming fits, the rage of tears--I just don't get it. I don't even mourn my family like that.

Consequently, I'm not gnashing my teeth over the death of Elisabeth Sladen, aka Sarah Jane Smith of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. But I am, I admit, a little saddened by it. Lis Sladen entertained me for nearly half my life. By the time I started watching her on Doctor Who, she'd actually been off the show for several years. I was 15, and she was the first Companion I ever saw. And I adored her. When she left the show, I I was a little saddened--Leela was just never as good, in my opinion.

I never got to meet her, but all reports say she was a delightful woman to her fans, and a tireless defender of the values of Doctor Who; what Craig Ferguson describes as "the triumph of intellect and Romance against brute force and cynicism."

When Sladen took on the Sarah Jane adventures, I was ecstatic. At 63 she was vibrant, full of life, and, dare I say, still incredibly beautiful. She was a delight to me, my wife, and our daughter for four seasons of that show.

Thank you, Elisabeth Sladen. Goodbye, Sarah Jane.