Jack or Jane?

[altariel]

Inspired by this post by aervir, I'm wondering which former companion you're gunning for: Captain Jack Harkness? Or Sarah-Jane Smith?

[Poll #843762]

Comments

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Depends entirely on which is burdened with the greater freight of RD's Mary Sueishness....

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Surely we all have a little Sarah-Jane in us!

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I hope not!

[aervir.livejournal.com]

My answer is clearly biased by my rooting for a decent kids' show with SJS.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

As opposed to K9 and Company? ;-D

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I know it only from hear-say, but yes, indeed.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I think Torchwood has greater potential, but will likely also be easier to screw up. The Sarah-Jane Adventures seem a bit more idiot-proof, but also less ambitious.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they can do Torchwood on the budget it's likely to have. I shouldn't be so grumpy, Ultraviolet was smashing after all.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I think it's a valid concern, given RTD's comment about how all the Earth-bound episodes were the result of being unable to do alien planets on their budget. Well, okay, but somehow every other BBC SF series has managed it on a fraction of that budget. So it seems to be artificially limiting how high they set their sights.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I like Sarah-Jane more as a character, but I think Torchwood probably has more protential.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

The Sarah Jane adventures are sort of a sure bet. You have a proven actress, a proven character, a premise that demands to be formulaic because of the intended audience. But they're a sure bet because they're not trying to be anything new. Torchwood is being more ambitious, but is unproven characters and a premise that demands a departure from formula - from a lot of applicable formulas, in fact - and it remains to be seen if it can deliver. So Sarah Jane can't miss being the happy medium, but Torchwood will either sink or swim.

[manna]

I think it could go either way, but I think SJA has a narrower bellcurve, while Torchwood is more likely be really, really good, or really, really awful.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*prays it's not Robin Hood style suckage*

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Which is going to be better?

It's impossible to say. The premise for a series counts for much less than how well it is execured.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling gloomy after Robin Hood, so I think that Sarah-Jane might win out. Oh yes, and seeing a Torchwood advert on the side of a double decker bus added to my gloom, as they had Jack in action pose, brandishing a pistol. And if they're trying to sell him as an action hero, they are missing the point. If he had been brandishing a banana, I would be more hopeful.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Because bananas are good.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

And I really enjoyed Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, which was a kids show. Of course, I was watching when I was off sick from university with glandular fever, so its merits may just have been a fever dream. But anyway, I'm holding out hope for Sarah-Jane.

Hmm, I need a Sarah-Jane icon.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I need a Sarah-Jane icon too. But it needs to be the right one for her.

I only saw bits of Maid Marion, but what I saw was great.

[kerravonsen]

Well, at least we know that both John Barrowman and Elizabeth Sladen can act, which is more than can be said for the leads in other Sci-Fantasy shows (Angel, The Pretender...)

I am so put out with RTD, that I'm inclined to say that the one which will be better will be the one that he has less to do with, or at least, writes fewer episodes for.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think after Robin Hood I'm trying not to raise my hopes to high for Torchwood so that when it's great it'll be a pleasant surprise.

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

which former companion you're gunning for: Captain Jack Harkness? Or Sarah-Jane Smith?

We're not talking about actual guns here? If so, Harkness. Bang bang. If not, pity...

In the spirit in which the question was actually put, Sarah Jane. S'got to be...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Poor Cap'n Jack!