meddow

Requested by

minerva_fan. You can read the original here.

The thing about What Happened to Rose Tyler is that it's me writing Sarah writing an editorial, so there's really two authors. And so I did two commentaries:

The Sarah Jane Commentry

Editorial: What Happened to Rose Tyler?
By Sarah Jane Smith There's something about seeing my byline. So many (I'm not saying) years have passed and goodness knows how many articles, and while it does not cause me quite the same level of excitement it once did, there's still something there.

It appears that the truth is emerging about last week’s events at Canary Wharf. Typical that the biggest alien news story of the year happens the week I resign. I had to beg my editor to keep me on for a couple more days and allow me to cover it. The ghosts that so readily became a prominent feature of our lives are quickly being forgotten, just as those cybermen that entered our homes and threatened our families. We shall dismiss what happened that day along with it we shall dismiss those that lost their lives in a battle about which we have no truth. But before we do, someone has to ask: what happened to Rose Tyler? You have to keep in mind that at this point I did believe Rose had died.

Rose Tyler’s name will never appear in the history books. Her name will be there one day, if I have my way. A will a lot of other that have so far been neglected On paper she is on all accounts your average young woman, no different from the people we pass on the street whose names we may never know. And that's what prompted me to write this. I was upset and then angry. She was so young; younger than I was when I travelled with the Doctor. If you ask those that knew her they will tell you how lovely she was, barely twenty-one with a big smile, warm heart and bright mind. Understandably, I wanted people to know her like I did. Of course, I couldn't admit I did know her, or the impact of the piece would have been lost. You may have encountered her when she worked in Henrik’s on Regent Street, or maybe you have not. Well, I wasn't exactly going to meet her and then not look her up. You see, Rose Tyler loved to travel. In her last few years of life her appearances in London were sporadic, always running off somewhere to have an adventure, according her neighbours. In that respect Rose Tyler was special, she was living a life some of us only dream of. Old wounds left open take time to heal. This was before Luke, Maria and Clyde.

Rose Tyler died that day at Canary Wharf. Her name is on the list of the dead besides the name her mother, Jacqueline Tyler. There were some interesting comments about Jackie Tyler from her neighbours. I really should have gone and introduced myself to Jackie. What happened to Rose Tyler? How did she end up on that list? And what happened to Mickey Smith, I wanted to ask. His name didn't appear on the list. From what I found out, he disappeared some time before Rose did. Of course, now he comes and visits every now and again, and receives quite a bit of hero worship from Luke and Clyde.

If you listen to the government, they will say a build up of hallucinogenic toxins in the atmosphere caused by a solar flare led to outbreaks of violence centring on Canary Wharf, and I am certain the majority will believe that version of events. People actually believed that! One of these days I'm going to get Mr Smith to feed the news media something truly ridiculous, like the Dalek invasion and the planet moving was viral marketing for the latest Tom Cruise movie. I know someone will believe it. After all, our apparent group delusion was of such a horrific nature that it certainly makes it easier to go about or lives when we think that it was all just a dream.

But that does not tell us what happened to Rose Tyler or her mother. This was also in the days before Mr Smith, he came along a month later. Like every journalist, I was stuck asking question. Nowadays I can just get Mr Smith to 'ask' UNIT or Torchwood for answers. It does not tell us how so many people vanished into nothingness, for surely if the violence was committed by average people gone mad from the delusion then bodies would have been recovered. Nobody was asking about this but me. Sometimes I despair for my profession. Nor does it tell us what happened to Yvonne Hartman, who graduated with first class honours at Cambridge just to vanish into obscurity, her name not appearing anywhere for twenty years except for on that list. By all accounts Yvonne Hartman was a piece of work. I never met her, but during her tenure I was visited by the 'police' on at least four occasions (it's hard to tell, Torchwood were much better at covering their tracks those days). I hate to say this but it is true: the events have made my life considerably easier. With Torchwood on my back, I wouldn't be able to do half the things I do today. But you cannot help but grudgingly admire what Yvonne was able to achieve. If only she had worked for UNIT instead and didn't happen to hold opinions about the British Empire that expired along with colonialism Nor Adeola Jones or Rajesh Singh or Anthony Keller or Melissa Hubert or any other the other names on the list, many of them with stories similar to Yvonne’s. So many lives were lost that day. What happened to those people? Why are they missing? Just what has been going on underneath our noses?

We do not ask what happened to those nameless people on the street we pass everyday. One person we do not have an answer for means little to us when they are nobody of importance to us. But those people are always somebody to another, maybe for all of us. And just maybe one day it maybe someone you know on that list. One day it may be you. I was thinking about myself at this point. So many times I thought I may never see Earth or my home again. And what happens to those who die on a planet so far from home. We just disappear, no explanations given. To allow our government to lie once gives them permission to do the same again. Things were coming out about Torchwood at this point and a lot of us were angry. I called the Brigadier and even he was surprised by how much funding and power they had. In fact he was furious. Now I've seen the files, and the detail they went through. Things I thought nobody knew - they did. They even had a psychological profile drawn up about me, which has many points I disagree with. Although, in a way, I suppose it's flattering.

But grand conspiracies and precedents aside, what would Rose Tyler have achieved if she had lived? A young life so full of potential lost – that alone should act as motivation for standing up and demanding an answer. Again, I was angry and upset specifically about Rose, but I hope that does not reduce this articles impact. I may be cheating the readers who think I had no connection.

I fear that I shall never know what happened to Rose. I feared the one person who could give me answers would not read this article. It is the job of a journalist to ask power to answer with the truth, but there is only so much we can do. A small group alone rarely can shift the attitude of power. It is a matter up to everyone. If we all demand the truth we shall eventually receive it. Enough people were dissatisfied and group did ask for answers and one man volunteered to be their voice: Harold Saxon. Careful what you wish for, I suppose.

So often our questions fall on ears that will not or cannot listen. I knew the chances of him reading the article with slim to none, but that wasn't going to stop me. I still don't know if he ever did, or if he's ever read anything I've written since we parted ways in Aberdeen. So often we do not receive the answers we demand. I can only hope that if we ask frequently and loudly enough, we will get the truth. And so I am asking from the one podium I have available to me: what happened to Rose Tyler? The Doctor never did reply. But I saw Rose again in the midst of a Dalek invasion. Sometimes things work out in ways you don’t expect or can't predict.

After thirty-five years goodness, that makes me sound old as an investigative journalist, Sarah Jane Smith retires from the field today A retirement that lasted all of a week, although I suppose haven't been a staff reporter since and I haven't be nearly as prolific as I once was – I have been busy to focus on other pursuits. I think everyone thought I was going to switch to writing books We wish her well for the future. I worked with some wonderful people at the Times and I do miss it sometimes.

Commentary by Meddow

Editorial: What Happened to Rose Tyler? The question was the first thing that came to me. Originally this was Whatever Happened to Rose Tyler, but I thought the Baby Jane reference wasn't appropriate given the subject matter. And then, some time after I came up with it, Gareth Roberts came alone with Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane. I want it to be known that I beat him
By Sarah Jane Smith

omniocular did a non-fiction challenge quite a while back and I'd been wanting to give it a try ever since. I love a good bit of fictional non-fiction. I love all those tie-in websites the BBC used to do. It's such a shame they've stopped. Still, I held off posting this for quite a while, it seems just so presumptuous to pretend to be Sarah Jane. I'm so glad people responded well to it.
The fact that Sarah Jane is a journo and thus a writer is seems to be barely explored at all by canon or fandom.

It appears that the truth is emerging about last week’s events at Canary Wharf. This fic taught me how to spell 'wharf'. The ghosts that so readily became a prominent feature of our lives are quickly being forgotten, just as those Cybermen I couldn't decide whether to have Sarah call them Cybermen since she knew that’s what they were, or cybernetic men, since she's pretending to not know what they were. But somewhere in canon someone other than the Doctor called them 'cybermen' so I'm guessing the world knew it was Cybermen, so Cybermen it was. that entered our homes and threatened our families. We shall dismiss what happened that day along with it we shall dismiss those that lost their lives in a battle about which we have no truth. But before we do, someone has to ask: what happened to Rose Tyler?

Rose Tyler’s name will never appear in the history books. On paper she is on all accounts your average young woman, no different from the people we pass on the street whose names we may never know. If you ask those that knew her they will tell you how lovely she was, barely twenty-one with a big smile, warm heart and bright mind. You may have encountered her when she worked in Henrik’s on Regent Street, or maybe you have not. You see, Rose Tyler loved to travel. In her last few years of life her appearances in London were sporadic, always running off somewhere to have an adventure, according her neighbours. In that respect Rose Tyler was special, she was living a life some of us only dream of.

The greatest tragedy of the companions is that they don't get remembered. The Doctor is the Oncoming Storm, the guy looked up in the library, who gets secret government organizations devoted to him and fan groups. All the while the companion is forgotten. There are exceptions to this, season four went out of it's way to have Donna remembered in equal standing with the Doctor, but that was because of Donna's arc. Generally the companion is the plus one, and nowhere is this made more clear in Army of Ghosts, when Jackie steps out of the TARDIS. And this is a tragedy, because companions risk their lives and in some cases have given their lives to save planets, their own and others. Nobody will know about Rose, very few remember what Martha did in the year that never was and the vast majority of Donna's contemporaries will view her as a shallow idiot her like Lance did.

Anyway, I wanted to explore this and Sarah was in the prefect position to do this, having a personal connection to Rose and being a journalist. And I'm having her do something similar in a fic I'm writing at them moment. A minor, minor subplot has Sarah after learning about Donna's memory wipe deciding to write a biography of the people who traveled with the Doctor, because if you think about it, Sarah could get a lot done. She traveled herself with Harry, could call up Mickey, Martha, Jack and the old UNIT crew met Rose and (briefly) Donna, would at least know of Liz and Jo and through the Brigadier learn of Jamie, Victoria, Zoe, Tegan, Nyssa and Ace.

Rose Tyler died that day at Canary Wharf. Her name is on the list of the dead besides the name her mother, Jacqueline Tyler. What happened to Rose Tyler? How did she end up on that list?

Okay, time for a discussion about Rose Tyler. Anyone who reads my journal knows that I don't like Rose very much, although I really try to. But I think there are a lot of interesting things about Rose worth exploring, and her 'death' and what it means to those who knew her and not the truth of that day, is on of those things.

If you listen to the government, they will say a build up of hallucinogenic toxins in the atmosphere caused by a solar flare led to outbreaks of violence centring on Canary Wharf, pseudo-science! and I am certain the majority will believe that version of events. After all, our apparent group delusion was of such a horrific nature that it certainly makes it easier to go about or lives when we think that it was all just a dream.

But that does not tell us what happened to Rose Tyler or her mother. It does not tell us how so many people vanished into nothingness, for surely if the violence was committed by average people gone mad from the delusion then bodies would have been recovered. Nor does it tell us what happened to Yvonne Hartman, I think Yvonne's brilliant. Her death was such a waste, she could have been an excellent reoccurring antagonist, since she and the Doctor would on some matters, agree. And it could lead up to an interesting partnership. I've always wanted to explore her more, and I tried to in Upon the Upland Road but a lot what I intended to put it got cut because it was unwieldy and unnecessary who graduated with first class honours at Cambridge just to vanish into obscurity, her name not appearing anywhere for twenty years except for on that list. One of the things I had about her is that she had a family and children. I wanted to make her more of a Noah Bennet type figure, but I think it just feels tacked on in that fic. Nor Adeola Jones Adeola's last name is apparently not Jones, but I didn't know that at the time or Rajesh Singh or Anthony Keller or Melissa Hubert or any other the other names on the list, many of them with stories similar to Yvonne’s. What happened to those people? Why are they missing? Just what has been going on underneath our noses? I think there are far too many rhetorical questions in this fic.

We do not ask what happened to those nameless people on the street we pass everyday. One person we do not have an answer for means little to us when they are nobody of importance to us. But those people are always somebody to another, maybe for all of us. I don't like this bit. I think it was the bit I had the hardest bit writing. I think it's the bit that comes out the most clichéd. And just maybe one day it maybe someone you know on that list. One day it may be you. I don't like School Reunion for trying to tell us that Rose and Sarah Jane are alike, because of the three major new school companions, the one Sarah is the least like is Rose. But Sarah did seem to see a lot of herself in Rose in that episode.To allow our government to lie once gives them permission to do the same again. Possibly cliché, but I like that line.

But grand conspiracies and precedents aside, what would Rose Tyler have achieved if she had lived? A young life so full of potential lost – that alone should act as motivation for standing up and demanding an answer.

I fear that I shall never know what happened to Rose. This is the bit where I hope the other intended audience Sarah has for the piece becomes clear – it's a letter to the Doctor. It is the job of a journalist to ask power to answer with the truth, but there is only so much we can do. A small group alone rarely can shift the attitude of power. It is a matter up to everyone. If we all demand the truth we shall eventually receive it. I think a lot of my own thoughts about the current state of the world come out in this bit as well.

So often our questions fall on ears that will not or cannot listen. So often we do not receive the answers we demand. I can only hope that if we ask frequently and loudly enough, we will get the truth. And so I am asking from the one podium I have available to me: what happened to Rose Tyler?

After thirty-five years as an investigative journalist, Sarah Jane Smith retires from the field today to focus on other pursuits. We wish her well for the future.This was written after Invasion of the Bane and before SJA started properly. Sarah hadn't made any reference in that episode about what she was doing, and but it became clear later that she was still working as a journalist. I assumed she was working as a freelance alien investigator full-time. Anyway, this was intended to be her last hurrah, and in my personal canon, Sarah wasn't working freelance when in School Reunion, she was on staff. It's never said, but I got that impression. So between School Reunion and Bane, Sarah did resign from her staff position and switch to freelance.

I think that this fic works amazingly well, there's a lot to convey in it: the message to the wider public, the message to the Doctor and Sarah's thoughts on the events at Canary Wharf and what Sarah gets up to between Reunion and Bane, and I think all that gets across in a very economical 700 or so words. I'm very proud of it.