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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

33 Comments

  1. Darren K.
    May 14, 2014 @ 1:57 am

    Sorry to be a pedant – but is Luke going away to college or university? You say college, but that doesn't really make sense. In the UK, college and university are vastly different things and it is very rare that anyone goes away for college – the US equivalent, sort of, of grades 11 & 12. College, as Americans seem to call it, is university in the UK, which (at least in years past, before rising tuitions and shrinking grants), students were expected to go away for.

    Reply

  2. Lewis Christian
    May 14, 2014 @ 3:48 am

    Joseph Lidster wrote more for Wizards vs Aliens – given the very tenuous links to Who (although it's arguable that WvA is a vague spin-off of SJA, in a production crew sort of sense), I'm guessing you're not going to cover WvA?

    Reply

  3. Alan Moore
    May 14, 2014 @ 5:00 am

    Ah, the British education system.

    Let's see: I know some people who went to Deeside College as a sixth-form college (aged 16-18). The same location was also a vocation school for over 16's, adults included.

    I went to Lancaster University, which is a degree-issuing University (three years for an Honours degree in the UK one extra years for a Master's, thankyouverymuch). That's the equivalent of 'college' in the US.

    To complicate things, Lancaster, like Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, is a 'collegiate' university, i.e. split into colleges/houses. I went to Furness College in Lancaster University.

    In later years, my wife went to The Welsh College of Horticulture, which is a sixth-form college, a vocational school and an undergraduate college, but cannot issue its own qualifications. The University of Aberystwyth provides the degrees.

    So…. what kind of college was Luke going to?

    Reply

  4. Lewis Christian
    May 14, 2014 @ 5:20 am

    He's going to Oxford University.

    That was easy! Next question?

    Reply

  5. Lewis Christian
    May 14, 2014 @ 5:24 am

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    Reply

  6. Lewis Christian
    May 14, 2014 @ 5:25 am

    Also, interestingly:

    The BBC had originally approached Russell T Davies and asked him to make a character gay in the show. Davies planned for this character to be Luke, and intended to begin foreshadowing it from The Nightmare Man. However, Davies chose to cut one line which hinted more explicitly at this more development. The line which is cut is from the scene in which Luke saying goodbye to Sarah Jane as he departs for university.

    Sarah Jane: Have a lovely time at university. You’ll grow up, you’ll find a girlfriend.
    Luke: (off-handedly) Oh, could be a boyfriend!
    Sarah Jane: Well, as long as it’s not a Slitheen, I don’t care!

    —Cut lines from "The Nightmare Man," as remembered by writer Russell T Davies.

    That off-hand remark never felt right to me anyway; comes out of the blue and feels 'random' or shoe-horned in, even if the plan was to develop it. But at the same time, it's nice to know they were after a gay character in what was essentially a kids' show.

    Reply

  7. Seeing_I
    May 14, 2014 @ 5:42 am

    Plus, why shouldn't he date a Slitheen? If he were a nice Slitheen, that is. Why couldn't Luke be a chubby chaser?

    Adorable Gay Luke ™ is another thing I'm sad we never got to see with the untimely end of the Sarah Jane Adventures.

    Reply

  8. Anton B
    May 14, 2014 @ 6:56 am

    I so want you to be the 'real' Alan Moore casually outing yourself as a middle class postgrad.

    Reply

  9. Galadriel
    May 14, 2014 @ 7:27 am

    Can we just mention Clyde and Rani's nightmares here? Rani feels torn between her journalistic ambitions and her secret life hunting aliens–a thread that is also used in the SJA audio "Judgment Day."
    Clyde's scenario is fascinating. He's trapped in a dead-end job, compared to Luke, and Sarah Jane is there. She's old, losing her memory–a call back to Mad Old Woman in the Attic, and foreshadowing of Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

    Reply

  10. John
    May 14, 2014 @ 7:47 am

    It seems like it should be at least a pop between realities.

    Reply

  11. Jarl
    May 14, 2014 @ 7:49 am

    Well, I can honestly say I wasn't ready to see this thumbnail when I clicked on the blog bookmark this morning. Especially after several hours of Stalker: Call of Pripyat. The obvious visual link with any villainous clown must be either the Joker at one end or Pennywise at the other, and I'm definitely seeing more of the former (in fact, with the Kubrick stare he's giving, I'd specifically say Ledger's Joker), but my first thought upon seeing it was of the mystery man played by Robert Blake in Lost Highway. Again, maybe I'm just in a frame of mind to get spooked today, I dunno.

    Reply

  12. Daibhid C
    May 14, 2014 @ 8:10 am

    Further confusion:

    I went to Inverness College to get a National Certificate in Science so I could get a physics degree at Edinburgh University. My uni career imploded messily, and I'm currently back at Inverness College doing a HNC in Admin, with the option of continuing to get a degree, also from Inverness College.

    Except that between these courses, Inverness College has become part of the University of the Highlands.

    Reply

  13. Daibhid C
    May 14, 2014 @ 8:20 am

    I feel I should add that I actually have no idea is the UHI is a collegeate university or if something about its procedures or the circumstances of its founding make it a different thing

    Reply

  14. Daibhid C
    May 14, 2014 @ 8:26 am

    a second generation of Bannerman Road residents, for instance, could reinvigorate the show for a year or two

    …although it shouldn't be as blatant as, for example, an episode that revolves around "Look! It's Girl Luke, only younger!" That would probably be a mistake.

    Reply

  15. Alan Moore
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:10 am

    @Anton B
    I am nowhere near old or hairy enough to be the real Alan Moore. Also, I dropped out after 2 years and never got a degree. Sorry.

    Reply

  16. Alan Moore
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:12 am

    My first thought at that picture was 'I'm in your house. Call me'.

    Reply

  17. elvwood
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:15 am

    OK, the next question is, which college? For some people it really matters.

    Reply

  18. BerserkRL
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:37 am

    In the u.s., a college is typically an institution that offers a bachelor's degree or lower. A university typically offers not only a bachelor's degree but graduate degrees as well; the part of the university that offers bachelor's degrees is often called the college. (So for example Harvard College is the undergraduate division of Harvard University.)

    Reply

  19. BerserkRL
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:38 am

    I'd be very surprised if it doesn't get an entry.

    Reply

  20. encyclops
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:38 am

    Is there any boy in the world who has ever outed himself to his mother that casually? Even the coolest mom in the world?

    If so, I envy him.

    Reply

  21. BerserkRL
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:39 am

    So he's not going to college, but he is going to a college.

    Reply

  22. encyclops
    May 14, 2014 @ 9:39 am

    my first thought upon seeing it was of the mystery man played by Robert Blake in Lost Highway

    Mine too. Brrrrrr.

    Reply

  23. elvwood
    May 14, 2014 @ 10:30 am

    Exactly!

    Reply

  24. Seeing_I
    May 14, 2014 @ 10:52 am

    Is there any way to see this in the US?

    Reply

  25. Alan
    May 14, 2014 @ 11:00 am

    "Hi, I've come to apply for the doctor's job. I can assure you my credentials are top-notch, I've just graduated from Harvard College Yale. I aced every semester, and I got an 'A'." — Dr. Liz Asher during her "job interview" at Darkplace Hospital.

    Reply

  26. Lewis Christian
    May 14, 2014 @ 11:32 am

    I didn't know anyone was /that/ specific. He's going to Oxford University; that's blanket statement all we need to know.

    Reply

  27. dirkmalcolm.com
    May 14, 2014 @ 11:25 pm

    " They all went to Oxbridge University, wherever that is, and go poncing round in their great big suits going 'Ooh look at me I work for BBC2 do you like my glasses they're like John Lennon's' "

    – Alan Gordon Partridge

    Reply

  28. Spacewarp
    May 15, 2014 @ 12:42 am

    To be fair certain membes of the UK public do still use the term "college" when they mean "university". I've often heard people saying "oh, he's off to college in September!" when the person is plainly going to Uni.

    Reply

  29. Spacewarp
    May 15, 2014 @ 12:44 am

    "cough" torrent "cough"

    Reply

  30. Spacewarp
    May 15, 2014 @ 12:48 am

    The long established Luke/Clyde shippers would have been pleased at this.

    Reply

  31. quislibet
    May 16, 2014 @ 8:34 am

    He looks like a direct callback to the (known or likely) inspiration for several of the above characters, Conrad Veidt in "The Man Who Laughs."

    Reply

  32. Daru
    May 18, 2014 @ 10:23 pm

    I do love this episode and do find the performance by Bleach quite brilliant – agree with the resonances of Lynch above.

    Reply

  33. Terry Branna
    July 13, 2015 @ 2:31 am

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    Reply

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