Where Are They Now? ...Omega

Then:

Megalomaniac Time Lord ruler of an anti-matter universe on the other side of a black hole.

Now:

Canned fish in a dairy shop in New Zealand.

Tears Sarah Jane? No, Not Really.

Pointing at you above is someone who's been making my life a bit more worth living ever since I can remember, yet I've only just noticed.

For though I've never met her, Elisabeth Sladen has always been just there.

The earliest memory that I have of watching Doctor Who comes from Christmas 1974, when I was three years old. I was watching the end of the omnibus repeat of Planet Of The Spiders, and as I did, was also recalling having seen it six months earlier on June 8th. Though the actual moment in my memory is of the third Doctor finally facing-down the Spider Queen, before and after that scene I would have also been watching Elisabeth Sladen as one Sarah Jane Smith.

In fact, I carried on watching her. It would be almost another two years - until 23rd October 1976 - before she would leave that long-running series.

Leave? Well, no. Although absolutely everyone to regularly feature in Doctor Who has left at some point (present company excepted), Elisabeth Sladen never quite managed it. She kept getting asked back, you see. A lot. I guess she was very popular.

Five years on - 28 December 1981 - I found my ten-year-old self spending some of my school Christmas holidays watching her again in K-9 And Company. This was a stand-alone pilot for a spin-off show. Although the BBC bosses of the day chose not to commision a series, it was paradoxically popular enough for a repeat the following year (which I also watched, and audio-taped). The year after that she was back again for Doctor Who's 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors, in scenes which followed on from the failed pilot.

Of course, I assumed that that would be the final good bye too, but no again. Silly me.

The BBC cassette of Genesis Of The Daleks which my dad got me for my birthday kept getting a lot of listens.

Then on 27th August 1993 - when I was 22 and going out to work - she was back again playing the role in the five-part radio series Doctor Who: The Paradise Of Death.

1993 also saw her second return to the TV show proper in Dimensions In Time.

1995 found her appearing in the direct-to-video spin-off Downtime.

1996 - five more radio episodes of Doctor Who: The Ghosts Of N-Space. Despite Doctor Who's TV cancellation seven years earlier, encountering Sarah again was getting to be pretty ordinary.

So ordinary in fact that by now I was buying these cassettes and then leaving them several years before playing them. After all, I was pretty busy watching all the original TV episodes - including her era - on VHS with my mum and dad each week. When Sarah next recorded new material in 2002 - launching a series of original CD adventures for her character - I admit that I didn't even bother. Hey - Sarah was just not that big a deal any more.

The rest I think you may already know. 2006 - while I was a 35-year-old missionary in New Zealand - found her returning to Doctor Who on TV yet again. Then on New Year's Day 2007 I sat with my family watching the launch of yet another new TV series - The Sarah Jane Adventures. With further new appearances in Doctor Who still to come, the idea of her continuing to play the role for the rest of her life would have sounded like a very welcome idea indeed.

Except that, four days ago, she actually did die.

...

It's such a shock because she was only 65, but arguably looked half that age. (see picture above) It's such a shock because we didn't even know that she was ill. It's such a shock because my family and I sit round together to watch her 13 times a year, and were looking forward to doing so again this.

It's such a shock because I'm now 40, and have only now noticed that she's been on the wallpaper of my life for as long as I can remember.

Today I read her co-star Tom Baker's tribute, and learnt that plans were afoot for him to record even more Doctor Who audio productions with her!

Incredibly, she was right at the top of her success in the role, despite having decisively left it a staggering 35 years ago.

She must have been doing something very right indeed.

Thank you Elisabeth Sladen for playing the best - the very best - Doctor Who companion of all time. It was incredibly kind of you to let us have Sarah back again for a few more special years.

Well, actually about 35 more.

Stations Of The Cross 2011

Each year that I attend it, Cession’s Easter art exhibition bewilders me with its creativity. This year (to coin a phrase) it's back, and it's about time...

False Accuser

Monologue (with restored sound) about Jesus' accusers. Performed at our Good Friday service at cession | community church here in Auckland. Thanks to Paul for wrangling the camera!

Wisdom Watchers infomercial sketch

Kudos to Jon, Brett, Nigel, DaNae, Rob and Davester.

Space Cowboys

I guess I’m a bit of a sucker for character movies about the older generation, so when it’s a science-fiction outing too... well.

Space Cowboys gets Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner together on board the space shuttle, and sets them unravelling a conspiracy from the cold war. Along the way, the tirade of gags prove to be just as durable.

Frank: ”Clock’s ticking Bob, and I’m only getting older.”

Jay Leno: ”Now you all have military backgrounds... North or South?”

Frank: ”You know what the worst day of my life was? The day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. I was probably the only person in America who wanted to commit suicide that day.”
Col. Hawkins: ”Well, thanks a lot Frank. We haven't spoken in twelve years and that's basically been the big question on my mind - what could make you commit suicide.”

There are no real surprises in here, but that’s not the point. Space Cowboys radiates enough charm to create its own artificial atmosphere.

New Zealand's Hottest Easter Baker

Well, Cession’s 2011 Easter Egg Hunt certainly went off with a bang.

More specifically, an almighty crash of thunder.

Yes, for most of the morning, it absolutely bucketed down.

Fortunately, you’ll notice that the above sentence contained that word ‘most’. For the exact ten minutes that all the kids had to actually go outside and search for eggs, it held off. Nice timing there, God.

Though numbers were understandably lower than previous years, the morning was undoubtably another success. This despite my appearing in a sketch! Performing indoors didn’t save me from getting my clothes messy though...


Respect: Kristen and Brett.

Wishful Thinking infomercial sketch

Another sketch from Cession church, with thanks to Dave, Brett, DaNae and Paul.

Puhoi There!

Another jolly boys' outing, this time to Puhoi with (from right) Nigel, Steve, and flatmate Dave...


Puhoi Town Library. So tiny, and yet diverse enough to contain a DVD of The Railway Children, as given away free with the Daily Mail in the... UK?!?


One of those composite shots that never quite works, although the thumbnail above seems to get away with it. Still, click to zoom-in and find Nigel, David and Steve waving at you!


Whinneying motorbikes. Yee-har!

Paul (movie)

Tonight, Jamie and I stood outside the only building on the planet to currently contain William Shatner, but alas couldn’t afford to go in. :(

However showing elsewhere on the same block was a film about another big giant head - Paul.


This turned out to be pretty well everything that I expect of a Simon Pegg and Nick Frost road movie, which is mainly a good thing. Drenched in SF knowledge, and I think it may even have had a Shatner lookalike on a TV at one point too, which softened the blow of not being able to see the real thing.

Paul is a grey-type alien who’s been trapped on Earth for decades, bargaining for his safety by offering scientific knowledge in return. And movie ideas. In fact, Paul’s real-life experiences have provided the inspiration for everything from Indiana Jones to The X Files.

Clive: “Agent Mulder was right!”
Paul: “Agent Mulder was my idea!”

It goes without saying that you can’t look at this 2011 deadbeat in alien’s clothing too closely. For example, a being from outside Earth’s culture really shouldn’t be investing quite so much faith in our contemporary theory of evolution, but instead ought to believe a completely unheard of one. (eg. life began in the sun or something) But hey - I can hardly blame the film for having itself been written on Earth in 2010...

If you’re a fan of Pegg and Frost’s work, as am I, then Paul fires-off the pair's usual arsenal of comedy weaponry with dependable accuracy.

Alas, he doesn't narrate spoken-word versions of classic hits though.

Darn it.

(available here)

Guilt Blaster infomercial sketch

Another sketch from Cession church, with thanks to Brett, Paul, Greg and DaNae.

Air New Zealand Tech. Ops. Open Day

... live from Auckland Airport!









With thanks to Warren.

Auckland City 2011