Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Star Poetics

With Christmas just a week away I thought now would be an ideal time to explore some of the gifts that YOU could buy that deviant from The Sarah Jane Adventures. So come with me Smith devotees, and explore the ever growing world of Sarah Jane merchandise. You never know, some of this stuff could very soon be heading to a Christmas stocking near you...

If it's a bargain you're after, selected TK Maxx stores and branches of Home Bargains are selling off Character Option's SJA line, which includes the Sonic Lipstick/Alien Communicator set, as well as a number of action figures. You can pick up double packs that contain a Sarah Jane Smith figure, alongside a monster from the SJA's first series (Slitheen, Graske, Kudlak, and a rather beautiful model of the Star Poet, as seen in "Invasion of the Bane")

There's also the rare to come by SJS and K9 set, released as part of the main Doctor Who line, showing up in a number of Toys 'R Us at a discounted £2.99.

But if toys aren't your thing, then there's plenty else to enjoy besides. Bookworms are lucky in that BBC Children's Books have released novelisations for the first eight SJA stories - "Invasion of the Bane" all the way through to "Day of the Clown". These are written by some of Doctor Who's most legendary prose fiction writers, including Gary Russell and Terrance Dicks. Amazon.co.uk are currently offering the books at £3.45 - bargain!!

Original fiction comes in the form of four audio exclusive adventures ("The Thirteenth Stone", "The Glittering Storm", "The Ghost House" and "The Time Capsule") read by none other than Miss Elisabeth Sladen! The adventures are erfect for plugging the gap between series two, and next Autumn's series three, so what are you waiting for? Another bargain, at roughly £4 each!

The series itself is also available now on DVD (well, series one anyroad...) and contains a number of special features exclusive to these discs, including interviews with the stars, and a collection of cast bloopers! The set has been released across both region 1 and region 2 platforms, so whether British, Canadian, French or American, there's really no excuse! The boxset will set you back a pretty reasonable £16.18/$32.49.

Other DVD releases include the series two and four boxsets of Doctor Who (featuring Sarah Jane's guest appearences in "School Reunion" and the "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" two parter). Infact you can pick up the complete second series - David Tennant's debut - for as little as £30! There's also 10 classic series adventures ("Genesis of the Daleks", "The Hand of Fear", etc) - some as cheap as £7. Sarah-Jane.tv recommends the aforementioned "Genesis..." as well as "The Ark in Space" and "Pyramids of Mars".

For the kids there's also a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle (£6.99).

There's plenty else besides, but so ends this little run down of the basic essentials. Let us know in the comments section below if you're planning on buying anything mentioned, or indeed received it from friends or relatives (who clearly know you well!)

Happy shopping this Christmas time, folks!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

my mums getting me whatever happened to sarah jane and the lost boy books

Nabu San said...

Ooh, I may have a gander at those classic series SJ DVDs! Thanks for the recommendations!

Shame on Amazon for increasing the price of the boxset! It used to be £15.98!

And there's nothing quite like listening to The Ghost House while completing the SJ jigsaw with family! So those would be my own personal recommendations! If only they'd released the board game. :( No matter, I'll yoink the prototype someday :P

Brad said...

Cool post and great site. I'll be buying some of this merchandise especially Genesis.

Brad
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