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On a more serious note. I posted the following on my Facebook wall earlier this evening.
"Elisabeth Sladen has passed away. The Universe mourns. The TARDIS shutters, and the man who is more than he appears to be pauses to wipe a tear from his eye."
Like a lot of fans, I started with the Tom Baker/Sladen episodes via PBS. Thankfully they eventually backtracked to the Jon Pertwee era so I got to see Sarah Jane Smith from the beginning.
Even when "School Reunion" first aired, I could tell Sladen/Sarah Jane had not lost a step.
It is a dang shame that no network here on 'this side of the pond' has aired any SJA episodes beyond season 1. We've missed the final appearance of Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier, Sarah teaming up with both the 10th and 11th Doctors, and who knows what else? Yes I know most of that is available on DVD, but you folks know what I mean.
The show literally can't go on without her, but thankfully we'll always have our memories.
The CBBC channel, which shows the Sarah Jane Adventures in the UK, is planning a special tribute program on Saturday, and both Lis Sladen and Nicholas Courtney will be remembered at some point in the Doctor Who broadcast.
Also, they apparently filmed half of the planned six stories for the fifth SJA series - and one of them may have been the final episode.
Okay. I'm man enough to admit that I'm a bit confused here over these references throughout the web to the "last" Sarah Jane Smith Adventure.
I understand that three full stories (six episodes, since they do two per adventure) were completed of what would have been Season Five this fall.
Yet is there actual proof that Sladen, knowing the end was near, got with the series producers to film a grand finale adventure while she still could?
That doesn't make sense in light of the (confirmed) data I have on hand, especially since she signed to do more Big Finish productions with Tom Baker before she succumbed.