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It's another exciting week of the Doctor Who interregnum of 2026 and we have exciting Gallifrey One guest updates, another great Rachel Talalay video involving Mondasian Cybermen, Bill Potts, and mirrors, some cryptic BBC App news we don't fully understand, the usual Big Finish artwork overexamination, and the second part of our Nick Hurran Miniscope, featuring "Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Angels Take Manhattan"!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Ian McNeice, Kai Owen, Ricco Ross added to Gallifrey one guest list
• Go behind the scenes as Fourth Doctor Tom Baker receives his MBE
• Doctor Who Magazine 625
• BFI Warriors of the Deep screening Feb 28, tickets on sale Jan 15
• The War Between overall viewing figures
• BBC Studios expands pay model to the BBC App in the US
• Rachel Talalay: What to do when the plans don't work? Bill Potts-Cyberman reveal
• Big Finish Audio Novellas The Time-Splitters and Dimension 13 released
• Big Finish Doctor Who – The Eighth Doctor and Charlotte Pollard: Series One coming January 22
• Gregory de Polney (D84 in Robots of Death) died Jan 1

Miniscope:

• Nick Hurran, Part 2
• Asylum of the Daleks
• The Angels Take Manhattan

In this episode of the Who's He? Podcast....

Random Who - The Ice Warriors

In a freezing cold UK, Phil & Scott decided to warm themselves up by returning to their Random Who series with The Ice Warriors. In this partly animated story featuring the Ice Warriors for the very first time, the Doctor in the form of Patrick Troughton battles a new ice age, monsters with massive heads and a massively hysterical base commander who has been renamed Clench for the listeners pleasure.

You can currently find us on X, Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook. Don't miss an episode by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, plus many other podcatchers of your choice.

WISH:

• Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Nine One featuring Josh, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into a (sort of) NEW Doctor Who story, discussing the final two episodes episode of Ncuti Gatwa's second series as the 15th Doctor, in The Story and the Engine! Let the banter begin!

LINKS:

• @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com
• @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com
• @StarTrekRBG: startrekrbg.libsyn.com
• Mostly Harmless Cutaway Patreon: patreon.com/MHC

WARNING:

• This discussion contains miscellaneous K-9 and Company, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Sherlock, Class, new WHO, and/or classic SPOILERS pertaining to Doctor Who. If you are 100% spoilerphobic to new & classic episodes not yet seen, do NOT complain to us. This episode is MOSTLY HARMLESS & contains EXPLICIT ideas, and as always expect strokes of innuendo throughout.

DISCLAIMER:

• This episode was recorded on June 6, 2025.

DON'T PANIC

Host/Producer: Eric @BullittWHO Prognosis Negative Movie Reviews Podcast Star Trek: Romulans Bearing Gifts Podcast

Co-host: Josh @whomeJZ

Co-hostess: Cat @fancyfembot Sci-Fi Party Line Podcast

Co-host: Sean @HomrigSean The Cabot Cove Confab: A Murder, She Wrote Podcast The Best Picture Podcast

Co-host: Carl @robominister

Co-host/Editor: Caleb @CalebAlexader The Novice Elitists Film Podcast Bending the Elements: An Avatar Podcast

Mostly Harmless Cutaway @DoctorWhoMHC Email: Guidetothewhoverse ~at~ gmail ~dot~com Website: guidetothewhoverse.libsyn.com/site Patreon: patreon.com/MHC Tumblr: doctorwhomhc.tumblr.com Facebook: facebook.com/DoctorWhoMHC

Art: H.B. Lockwood @hayleyglyphs Eponymous opening by Emily K. @emilyooo MHCTheme created by E.A. Escamilla

For the 58th episode of THE LIST MAKERS, we discuss our top nostalgic stories from Doctor Who. These are the stories which resonate alongside our personal history with the show and thus push all the right nostalgia buttons for us.

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

Contact us:

X / Twitter: @theDWshow
Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow
Email: hello@theDWshow.net

  Stranger Things Season 2 (Fall 1984) deepens the mystery of the Upside Down, focusing on Will Byers being haunted and possessed by a massive shadow entity, the , which uses him as a spy to spread its influence in Hawkins through underground tunnels, while Eleven discovers her past and reunites with friends, and the gang faces new threats like Demodogs, leading to a fight to close the gate and save Will and the town. New characters, including the pragmatic Max Mayfield, join the crew, and storylines explore the aftermath of Season 1, including Barb's legacy and Hopper's secret with Eleven.    Key Plot Points: : Will suffers from terrifying visions of the Mind Flayer after a tentacle attaches to him, becoming a puppet for the monster's hive mind. The Mind Flayer's Plan: The shadow monster tries to expand the Upside Down into their world, creating tunnels beneath Hawkins. : El lives hidden with Hopper but eventually leaves to find her mother and learns about her origins, returning to help her friends. New Threats: The group encounters  (Demogorgon pups), and Dustin adopts a creature he names , a pollywog from the Upside Down. New Faces:  (Max) arrives as a new student, challenging the group dynamic, while Joyce dates Bob Newby. : Nancy and Jonathan team up with conspiracy theorist  to expose the truth about Barb's death.   

Thank you for downloading the Trap One Podcast.

On this episode UK Jason, Si, Frazer and Simon Fox mark the armistice between the land and the sea with the series finale - The End of the War.

Contains spoilers.

You can pre-order the series on DVD and blu-ray here #ad

Happy New Year to all you delightful listeners (not you, Bob), and welcome to the first Stace & Barry In The Morning of 2026.

Cor blimey, do we have a jam-packed episode to kick your year off with a geeky bang! Barry finds that Stranger Things can happen as Stacey espouses her enjoyment of Nirvanna The Band The Show, and the dynamic duo are absolutely returning in Avengers: Doomsday. All this, plus music from Nine Inch Nails and James Newton Howard, a bit of Benoit Blanc, and a (cautious) recommendation for Sorry, Baby.

Grab a nice hot drink to warm your donnies, and enjoy!

This week the new series re-watch returns with Doctor Who: The Timeless Children, an episode that proved quite controversial on first airing.

You may wish to contribute to the show's running costs, it's Patreon is here https://www.patreon.com/tdrury

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This week, David & Matt sit down to discuss the first three episodes of the 2025 Doctor Who spinoff 'The War between the land and the sea'. Doctor Who theme by Ron Grainer, arranged by Alexander Erben.

Talk to us! Email: timenorspacepod@gmail.com Twitter: @timenorspacepod

ARES:

• It's Prognosis Negative Episode Five Nine.B, featuring Isaac, Carl, Eric and Caleb. Join us as we tack on a final addendum for our Tron retrospective where Caleb joins the crew to discuss the recently released Tron: Ares! Dive in and discover if we go type O Neg or Pos!

• This is a Non-canonical ProgNeg.

• This discussion was recorded on Nov. 16th, 2025.

WARNING:

• This discussion contains miscellaneous SPOILERS pertaining to the film(s) discussed and possibly Doctor Who! If you are 100% spoilerphobic to films not yet seen, do not complain to us. This episode is mostly negative (though often that is a misnomer) and contains EXPLICIT terms, concepts, and as always expect strokes of innuendo throughout.

THE BALCONY IS YOURS

Host/Producer: Eric @BullittWHO Prognosis Negative Movie Reviews Podcast Star Trek: Romulans Bearing Gifts Podcast

Co-host: Sean @HomrigSean The Cabot Cove Confab: A Murder, She Wrote Podcast The Best Picture Podcast

Co-host/Producer: Chris @dubbayoo Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

Co-host/Producer: Caleb @CalebAlexader The Novice Elitists Film Podcast Bending the Elements: An Avatar Podcast

Co-Host: Carl @robominister

Co-Creator: H.B. Lockwood @hayleyglyps hayleyglyphs.tumblr.com instagram.com/hayleyglyphs

Prognosis Negative @ProgNeg Email: guidetothewhoverse ~at~ gmail ~dot~com Website: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com/site Patreon: patreon.com/ProgNeg Tumblr: progneg.tumblr.com Facebook: facebook.com/ProgNeg

ProgNeg Theme originally compiled by H.B. Lockwood

  The first season of the American    television series  premiered worldwide on the streaming service  on July 15, 2016. The series was created by , who also serve as executive producers along with  and Dan Cohen. This season stars , , , , , , , , , and , with , , and  in recurring roles. The first season of Stranger Things received critical acclaim, in particular for its originality, homages to the 1980s, characterization, tone, visuals, and performances (particularly those of Ryder, Harbour, Wolfhard, Brown, Heaton and Modine). Premise The first season begins on November 6, 1983, in a small town called Hawkins. Researchers at Hawkins National Laboratory open a rift to the "Upside Down," an alternate dimension that reflects the real world. A monstrous humanoid creature escapes and abducts a boy named  and a teenage girl. Will's mother, , and the town's police chief, , search for Will. At the same time, a young  girl who goes by the name "Eleven" escapes from the laboratory and assists Will's friends, , , and , in their efforts to find Will. Cast and characters See also:  Main cast  as   as   as   as  ("El")  as   as   as   as   as   as  Recurring  as   as   as Barbara "Barb" Holland  as Ted Wheeler  as Lonnie Byers  as Officer Powell  as Officer Callahan  as Scott Clarke  as Connie Frazier  as Terry Ives  as Becky Ives Peyton Wich as Troy Tony Vaughn as Principal Coleman Charles Lawlor as Mr. Melvald Tinsley and Anniston Price as Holly Wheeler Cade Jones as James Chester Rushing as Tommy H. Chelsea Talmadge as Carol Glennellen Anderson as Nicole Cynthia Barrett as Marsha Holland Jerri Tubbs as Diane Hopper Elle Graham as Sara Hopper  as Benny Hammond Tobias Jelinek as lead agent Robert Walker-Branchaud as repairman agent Susan Shalhoub Larkin as Florence ("Flo") Episodes See also:  " The Duffer Brothers July 15, 2016 On November 6, 1983, in Hawkins, , a scientist is attacked by an unseen creature at a U.S. government laboratory. 12-year-old  encounters the creature and mysteriously vanishes while cycling home from a  session with his friends ,  and . The following day, Will's single mother  reports his disappearance to the police chief , who starts a search but assures Joyce that almost all missing children are quickly found. The lab's director, Dr. Martin Brenner, investigates an organic substance oozing from the lab's basement, claiming that "the girl" cannot have gone far. A nervous young girl wearing a hospital gown wanders into a local diner. The owner, Benny, finds a tattoo of "011" on her arm and learns that her name is . Brenner, monitoring the phone lines, sends agents to the diner after Benny calls social services. The agents kill Benny, but Eleven manages to escape using  abilities. Joyce's phone  after receiving a mysterious phone call that she believes is from Will. While searching for Will in the woods, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas come across Eleven. 2 2 "Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street" The Duffer Brothers The Duffer Brothers July 15, 2016 The boys bring Eleven to Mike's house, where they disagree on what to do. Mike formulates a plan for Eleven to pretend to be a runaway and seek help from his mother, Karen. Eleven refuses, however, revealing that "bad men" are after her. Will's brother Jonathan visits his estranged father Lonnie in  to search for Will, but Lonnie rebuffs him. Hopper's search party discovers a scrap of hospital gown near the lab. After recognizing Will in a photograph and demonstrating her telekinesis, Eleven convinces the boys to trust her, as they believe she can find Will. Using the Dungeons & Dragons board, Eleven indicates that Will is on the "Upside Down" side of the board and is being hunted by the "" (the creature). Mike's sister  and her friend Barbara 'Barb' Holland go to a party with Nancy's boyfriend . Searching for Will near Steve's house, Jonathan secretly photographs the party. Joyce receives another call from Will, hears music playing from his stereo, and sees a creature coming through the wall. Left alone by the swimming pool, Barb is attacked by the Demogorgon and vanishes. 3 3 "Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly" Jessica Mecklenburg July 15, 2016 Barb awakens in the Upside Down: a decaying, overgrown alternate dimension. She attempts to escape but is attacked by the Demogorgon. Joyce believes Will is communicating through pulses in light bulbs. Hopper visits Hawkins Lab, and the staff permits him to view doctored security footage from the night Will vanished, leading Hopper to investigate Brenner and discover his involvement with  and that a woman named Terry Ives alleged years earlier that Brenner took her daughter. Eleven recalls Brenner, whom she calls "Papa," punishing her for refusing to hurt a cat telekinetically. Steve destroys Jonathan's camera after discovering the photos from the party. Nancy later recovers a photo of Barb, simultaneously realizing that Barb is missing. Returning to Steve's house to investigate, Nancy finds Barb's untouched Volkswagen and encounters the Demogorgon but manages to escape. Joyce paints an alphabetic board on her wall with Christmas lights, allowing Will to sign to her that he is "RIGHT HERE" and that she needs to "RUN" as the Demogorgon comes through the wall. Believing Eleven knows where Will is, the boys ask her to lead them to him. Eleven leads them, to their frustration, to Will's house. From there they follow emergency vehicles to a nearby quarry just as Will's body is recovered from the water. 4 4 "Chapter Four: The Body" Shawn Levy Justin Doble July 15, 2016 Joyce refuses to believe that the body found at the quarry is Will's. Mike feels betrayed by Eleven until she proves that Will is still alive, channeling his voice through Mike's . The boys theorize that Eleven could use a  at their school to communicate with Will. Nancy notices a figure behind Barb in Jonathan's photo, which Jonathan realizes matches his mother's description of the Demogorgon. Nancy tells the police about Barb's disappearance. She later fights with Steve, who only cares about not getting in trouble with his father. Hopper has suspicions regarding the authenticity of the body found in the quarry when he learns that the usual coroner was sent home. Hopper confronts the state trooper who found it and beats him until he admits he was ordered to lie. The boys sneak Eleven into their school to use the radio, while Joyce hears Will's voice through her living room wall. Tearing away the wallpaper, she sees him. Eleven uses the radio to channel Will talking to his mother. Hopper goes to the morgue and finds that the body is a fake, and, suspecting that Brenner is responsible, breaks into the lab. 5 5 "Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat" The Duffer Brothers Alison Tatlock July 15, 2016 Hopper searches the lab before being knocked out by the lab's guards. The boys ask their science teacher, Mr. Clarke, if it would be possible to travel between alternate dimensions, to which he answers that there could be a theoretical "gate" between dimensions. Hopper awakens at his house and finds a hidden microphone, realizing that Joyce was right the whole time. The boys follow their compasses, searching for a gate that could disrupt the Earth's . Eleven recalls memories of being placed in a  to telepathically eavesdrop on a man speaking Russian; while listening, she came across the Demogorgon. Fearing another encounter with the Demogorgon, Eleven redirects the compasses. Lucas misinterprets this as an act of betrayal, leading Mike and Lucas to fight and Eleven to telekinetically fling Lucas away from Mike. While Dustin and Mike tend to the unconscious Lucas, Eleven runs off. Nancy and Jonathan formulate a plan to kill the Demogorgon. While searching in the woods, they come across a small gate to the Upside Down. Nancy crawls through it but inadvertently draws the Demogorgon's attention. Jonathan unsuccessfully tries to look for Nancy, as the gate to the Upside Down begins to close. 6 6 "Chapter Six: The Monster" The Duffer Brothers Jessie Nickson-Lopez July 15, 2016 Jonathan pulls Nancy back through the gate. That night, Nancy is afraid to be alone and asks Jonathan to stay in her bedroom. Steve, attempting to reconcile with Nancy, sees them together through her bedroom window and assumes they are dating. Joyce and Hopper track down Terry Ives, who is catatonic and tended by her sister Becky. Becky explains that Terry was a  participant while unknowingly pregnant and that Terry believes Brenner kidnapped her daughter Jane at birth due to her supposed telekinetic and  abilities. Nancy and Jonathan stockpile weapons to kill the Demogorgon, theorizing that it is attracted by blood. Steve is brutally beaten up in a fistfight with Jonathan after he insults Will and calls Nancy a slut. Jonathan is arrested and held at the police station for beating up Steve and inadvertently punching one of the responding officers in the face. Eleven walks into a grocery store and shoplifts several boxes of Eggo waffles. Searching for Eleven, Mike and Dustin are ambushed by two bullies but are rescued by her, as she uses her powers to break one bully's arm after he attempts to kill Mike. Eleven collapses and recalls being asked by Brenner to contact the Demogorgon and, in her terror, inadvertently opening the gate. She tearfully admits to Mike that she is responsible for allowing the Demogorgon to enter this dimension. Lucas sees agents, who have tracked down Eleven, preparing to ambush Mike's house. 7 7 "Chapter Seven: The Bathtub" The Duffer Brothers Justin Doble July 15, 2016 Lucas warns Mike that agents are searching for Eleven. Mike, Dustin, and Eleven flee the house. Eleven telekinetically flips one of the vans that block their path as the kids escape. Lucas reconciles with Mike and Eleven, and the kids hide in the junkyard. Nancy and Jonathan reveal their knowledge of the Demogorgon to Joyce and Hopper. Hopper also learns that Eleven is with the kids. The group contacts the kids, and everyone meets at the Byers' house. Joyce and Hopper realize that Eleven is Jane Ives. The group asks Eleven to search for Will and Barb telepathically, but her earlier feats have weakened her. They break into the middle school and build a makeshift sensory deprivation tank to amplify Eleven's powers. After telepathically entering the Upside Down again, Eleven finds Barb dead and Will alive, hiding in the Upside Down version of his backyard fort. Realizing that the gate is in the basement of the lab, Hopper and Joyce break into the lab and are apprehended by security guards. Nancy and Jonathan sneak into the police station to retrieve the weapons they purchased previously, planning to lure and kill the Demogorgon. In the Upside Down, the Demogorgon breaks into Will's fort. 8 8 "Chapter Eight: The Upside Down" The Duffer Brothers Story by : Paul Dichter Teleplay by : The Duffer Brothers July 15, 2016 Hopper, haunted by the death of his daughter Sara from cancer years earlier, gives up Eleven's location to Brenner, who in exchange allows Hopper and Joyce to enter the Upside Down to rescue Will. Nancy and Jonathan cut their hands to attract the Demogorgon at the Byers' house. Steve, intending to apologize to Jonathan about their fight, arrives just as the Demogorgon appears. Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan fight the Demogorgon and light it on fire, forcing it to retreat to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, Eleven and the boys hide in the middle school when Brenner and his agents arrive to kidnap Eleven; she kills most of them before collapsing from exhaustion. As Brenner and his remaining agents pin Eleven and the boys down, the Demogorgon appears, attracted by the dead agents' blood, and attacks Brenner and the remaining agents as the boys escape with Eleven. Hopper and Joyce enter the Upside Down's version of the Hawkins library, where they encounter several corpses of the Demogorgon's victims, including Barb, and find Will unconscious with a tendril down his throat. Hopper revives him using  after removing the tendril. The Demogorgon corners the kids, but Eleven recovers from her exhaustion and disintegrates it, causing them both to disappear. Will recovers in the hospital, reuniting with his family and friends. One month later, it is Christmas and Nancy is back together with Steve, and both are friends with Jonathan. Will coughs up a slug-like creature and has a vision of the Upside Down, but hides this from his family. Production Development Ross (left) and Matt Duffer, the creators of the series  was created by Matt and Ross Duffer, known professionally as the . The two had completed writing and producing their 2015 film , which they had tried to emulate the style of , however, due to changes at , its distributor, the film did not see a wide release and the Duffers were unsure of their future. To their surprise, television producer  approached them, impressed with Hidden's script, and offered them the opportunity to work on episodes of  alongside Shyamalan. The brothers were mentored by Shyamalan during the episode's production so that when they finished, they felt they were ready to produce their own television series. The Duffer Brothers prepared a script that would essentially be similar to the series' actual pilot episode, along with a 20-page  book to help shop the series around for a network. They pitched the story to a number of , all of which rejected the script on the basis that they felt a plot centered around children as leading characters would not work, asking them to make it a children's show or to drop the children and focus on Hopper's investigation in the paranormal. In early 2015, Dan Cohen, the VP of , brought the script to his colleague . They subsequently invited The Duffer Brothers to their office and purchased the rights for the series, giving full authorship of it to the brothers. After reading the pilot, the streaming service  purchased the whole season for an undisclosed amount; the show was subsequently announced for a planned 2016 release by Netflix in early April 2015. The Duffer Brothers stated that at the time they had pitched to Netflix, the service had already been recognized for its original programming, such as  and , with well-recognized producers behind them, and were ready to start giving upcoming producers like them a chance. The brothers started to write out the series and brought Levy and Cohen in as executive producers to start casting and filming. The series was originally known as Montauk, as the setting of the script was in  and nearby  locations. The brothers had chosen Montauk as it had further Spielberg ties with the film , where Montauk was used for the fictional setting of Amity Island. After deciding to change the narrative of the series to take place in the fictional town of Hawkins instead, the brothers felt they could now do things to the town, such as placing it under quarantine, that they really could not envision with a real location. With the change in location, they had to come up with a new title for the series under the direction from Netflix's Ted Sarandos so that they could start marketing it to the public. The brothers started by using a copy of Stephen King's  novel to consider the title's font and appearance and came up with a long list of potential alternatives. Stranger Things came about as it sounded similar to another King novel, , though Matt noted they still had a "lot of heated arguments" over this final title. Writing The idea of Stranger Things started with how the brothers felt they could take the concept of the 2013 film , detailing the moral struggles a father goes through when his daughter is kidnapped, and expand it out over eight or so hours in a serialized television approach. As they focused on the missing child aspect of the story, they wanted to introduce the idea of "childlike sensibilities" they could offer and toyed around with the idea of a monster that could consume humans. The brothers thought the combination of these things "was the best thing ever". To introduce this monster into the narrative, they considered "bizarre experiments we had read about taking place in the Cold War" such as , which gave a way to ground the monster's existence in science rather than something spiritual. This also helped them to decide on using 1983 as the time period, as it was a year before the film  came out, which focused on Cold War paranoia. Subsequently, they were able to use all their own personal inspirations from the 1980s, the decade they were born, as elements of the series, crafting it in the realm of  and . The Duffer Brothers have cited as influence for the show (among others):  novels; films produced by , , , ,  and ; films such as  and ; Japanese  such as  and ; and  such as  and . With Netflix as the platform, The Duffer Brothers were not limited to a typical 22-episode format, opting for the eight-episode approach. They had been concerned that a 22-episode season on broadcast television would be difficult to "tell a cinematic story" with that many episodes. Eight episodes allowed them to give time to characterization in addition to narrative development; if they had less time available, they would have had to remain committed to telling a horror film as soon as the monster was introduced and abandon the characterization. Within the eight episodes, the brothers aimed to make the first season "feel like a big movie" with all the major plot lines completed so that "the audience feels satisfied", but left enough unresolved to indicate "there's a bigger mythology, and there's a lot of dangling threads at the end", something that could be explored in further seasons if Netflix opted to create more. While explaining their intentions for the show, the Duffers adamantly stated their intentions to not explain the mythology in the show so they could leave a mystery and lot for the audience to speculate over their lack of understanding by the , which they accepted but asked to be explained about at the very least, which they found like a really good exercise as they spent quite a bit of time with their  figuring out exactly what the Upside Down would actually consist for, writing a 20-page mythology document whose details wouldn't be clarified for the audience until the show's . Regarding writing for the children characters of the series, The Duffer Brothers considered themselves as outcasts from other students while in high school and thus found it easy to write for  and his friends, and particularly for .  was fashioned after 's character Roy Neary in , as she appears "absolutely bonkers" to everyone else as she tries to find her son . Other characters, such as Billy in the second season, have more villainous attributes that are not necessarily obvious from the onset; Matt explained that they took further inspiration from Stephen King for these characters, as King "always has really great human villains" that may be more malicious than the supernatural evil. Casting The Duffers cast  as Sheriff Hopper believing this was his opportunity to play a lead character in a work. In June 2015, it was announced that  and  had joined the series as Joyce and as the unnamed chief of police, respectively. The brothers' casting director Carmen Cuba had suggested Ryder for the role of Joyce, which the two were immediately drawn to because of her prominence in . Levy believed Ryder could "wretch up the emotional urgency and yet find layers and nuance and different sides of [Joyce]". Ryder praised that the show's multiple storylines required her to act for Joyce as "she's out of her mind, but she's actually kind of onto something", and that the producers had faith she could pull off the difficult role. Upon being offered the role, Ryder felt intrigued at being given the pilot's script due to know knowing what streaming was and finding it "terrifying", with her sole condition to the Duffers for accepting the role being that, if a  sequel ever materialized as she and  had been discussing since 2000, they had to let her take a break to shoot it, a condition the Duffers agreed and ultimately proved to work out when  was greenlighted years later. The Duffer Brothers had been interested in Harbour before, who until Stranger Things primarily had smaller roles as villainous characters, and they felt that he had been "waiting too long for this opportunity" to play a lead, while Harbour himself was thrilled by the script and the chance to play "a broken, flawed, anti-hero character". Additional casting followed two months later with  as Mike,  in an undisclosed role,  as ,  as ,  as , and  as ]]. In September 2015,  joined the cast as Karen Wheeler, followed by  as  a month later. Additional cast who recur for the first season include  as Will,  as Barbara "Barb" Holland,  as , and  as Lonnie Byers, among others. Actors  for the children's roles read lines from . The Duffer Brothers estimated they went through about a thousand different child actors for the roles. They noted that Wolfhard was already "a movie buff" of the films from the 1980s period and easily filled the role, while they found Matarazzo's audition to be much more authentic than most of the other audition tapes, and selected him after a single viewing of his audition tape. As casting was started immediately after Netflix greenlit the show, and prior to the scripts being fully completed, this allowed some of the actors' takes on the roles to reflect into the script. The casting of the young actors for Will and his friends had been done just after the first script was completed, and subsequent scripts incorporated aspects from these actors. The brothers said Modine provided significant input on the character of Dr. Brenner, whom they had not really fleshed out before as they considered him the hardest character to write for given his limited appearances within the narrative. Filming The brothers had desired to film the series around the Long Island area to match the initial Montauk concept. However, with filming scheduled to take place in November 2015, it was difficult to shoot in Long Island in the cold weather, and the production started scouting locations in and around the , Georgia area. The brothers, who grew up in North Carolina, found many places that reminded them of their own childhoods in that area, and felt the area would work well with the narrative shift to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. The filming of the first season began on September 25, 2015, and was extensively done in Atlanta, Georgia, with The Duffer Brothers and Levy handling the direction of individual episodes.  served as the basis of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Other shooting locations included the  as the Hawkins National Laboratory site, ,  in , for the middle and high school scenes, Emory University's Continuing Education Department, the former city hall in , , the probate court in , Old East Point Library and East Point First Baptist Church in , ,  Park, , and . Set work was done at Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta. The series was filmed with a  Dragon digital camera. Filming for the first season concluded in early 2016. While filming, the brothers tried to capture shots that could be seen as homages to many of the 1980s references they recalled. Their goal was not necessarily to fill the work with these references, but instead to make the series seem to the viewer like a 1980s film. They spent little time reviewing those works and instead went by memory. Matt further recognized that some of their filming homages were not purposely done but were found to be very comparable, as highlighted by a fan-made video comparing the show to several 1980s works side by side. Matt commented on the video that "Some were deliberate and some were subconscious." The brothers recognized that many of the iconic scenes from these 1980s films, such as with , was about "taking a very ordinary object that people deal with every day, their television set, and imbuing it with something otherworldly", leading to the idea of using the Christmas light strings for Will to communicate with Joyce. The brothers attributed much of the 1980s feel to set and costume designers and the soundtrack composers that helped to recreate the era for them. Lynda Reiss, the head of props, had about a $220,000 budget, similar to most films, to acquire artifacts of the 1980s, using  and searching through flea markets and estate sales around the Atlanta area. The bulk of the props were original items from the 1980s with only a few pieces, such as the Dungeons & Dragons books made as replicas. Visual effects To create the aged effect for the series, a  was added over the footage, which was captured by scanning in film stock from the 1980s. The Duffers wanted to scare the audience, but not to necessarily make the show violent or gory, following in line with how the 1980s  films drove the creation of the . It was "much more about mood and atmosphere and suspense and dread than they are about gore", though they were not afraid to push into more scary elements, particularly towards the end of the first season. The brothers had wanted to avoid any  for the monster and other parts of the series and stay with . However, the six-month filming time left them little time to plan out and test practical effects rigs for some of the shots. They went with a middle ground of using constructed props including one for the monster whenever they could, but for other shots, such as when the monster bursts through a wall, they opted to use digital effects. Post-production on the first season was completed the week before it was released on Netflix. The title sequence uses closeups of the letters in the Stranger Things title with a red tint against a black background as they slide into place within the title. The sequence was created by the studio Imaginary Forces, formerly part of , led by creative director Michelle Doughtey. Levy introduced the studio to The Duffer Brothers, who explained their vision of the 1980s-inspired show, which helped the studio to fix the concept the producers wanted. Later, but prior to filming, the producers sent Imaginary Forces the pilot script, the synth-heavy background music for the titles, as well as the various book covers from King and other authors that they had used to establish the title and imagery, and were looking for a similar approach for the show's titles, primarily using a typographical sequence. They took inspiration from several title sequences of works from the 1980s that were previously designed by Richard Greenberg under R/GA, such as  and . They also got input from Dan Perri, who worked on the title credits of several 1980s films. Various iterations included having letters vanish, to reflect the "missing" theme of the show, and having letters cast shadows on others, alluding to the mysteries, before settling into the sliding letters. The studio began working on the title sequence before filming and took about a month off during the filming process to let the producers get immersed in the show and come back with more input. Initially, they had been working with various fonts for the title and used close-ups of the best features of these fonts, but near the end the producers wanted to work with , requiring them to rework those shots. The final sequence is fully computer-generated, but they took inspiration from testing some practical effects, such as using Kodalith masks as would have been done in the 1980s, to develop the appropriate filters for the rendering software. The individual episode title cards used a "fly-through" approach, similar to the film , which the producers had suggested to the studio. Music Main articles:  and  The Stranger Things original soundtrack was composed by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of the electronic band . It makes extensive use of  in homage to 1980s artists and film composers including , , , , , , and . According to Stein and Dixon, The Duffer Brothers had been fans of Survive's music, and used their song "Dirge" for the mock trailer that was used to sell the show to Netflix. Once the show was green-lit, the Duffers contacted Survive around July 2015 to ask if they were still doing music; the two provided the production team with dozens of songs from their band's past to gain their interest, helping to land them the role. Once aboard, the two worked with producers to select some of their older music to rework for the show, while developing new music, principally with character motifs. The two had been hired before the casting process, so their motif  were used and played over the actors' audition tapes, aiding in the casting selection. The show's theme is based on an unused work Stein composed much earlier that ended up in the library of work they shared with the production staff, who thought that with some reworking would be good for the opening credits. The first season's original soundtrack, consisting of 75 songs from Dixon and Stein split across two volumes, was released by . Digital release and streaming options were released on August 10 and 19, 2016 for the two volumes, respectively, while retail versions were available on September 16 and 23, 2016. In addition to original music, Stranger Things features period music from artists including , , , , , ,  and , as well as excerpts from Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter and Vangelis. In particular, The Clash's "" was specifically picked to play at pivotal moments of the story, such as when Will is trying to communicate with Joyce from the Upside Down. Music supervisor Nora Felder felt the song "furthered the story" and called it an additional, unseen, main character of the season.

It's the first podcast in this, the space year 2026, and the Three Who Rule have emerged from their New Year's slumber to cogitate on new Gallifrey One announcements, recreated sets for The Feast of Steven and Rachel Talalay Youtube videos, a surfeit of Big Finish news, Toby Hadoke's annual foray into memoriam with Absent Friends, and the first of our three part Miniscope series on Doctor Who director Nick Hurran, featuring "The Girl Who Waited" and "The God Complex"!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Gallifrey One Guest and Programming Update
• The Feast of Steven Lost Sets Recreated: Doctor Who's Missing Christmas Episode Revealed
• Rachel Talalay: Bonus: Unaired footage from Director's Cut of Heaven Sent (with explanation)
• Rachel Talalay: More questions and behind the scenes on my TARDIS experiences.
• Sophie Aldred on Celebrity Mastermind (Specialist Subject: Sylvester McCoy)
• Celebrating 25 Years of Bernice Summerfield at Big Finish
• Big Finish annual Paul Spragg Memorial winner "The Wednesday that Wasn't" available free
• Big Finish The Worlds of Doctor Who – Zygon Century: Transformation due Apr 2026
• Toby Hadoke's Absent Friends 2025 – The 7th Dimension – Part 1
• Toby Hadoke's Absent Friends 2025 – The 7th Dimension – Part 2
• Toby Hadoke's In Memoriam video

Miniscope:

• Nick Hurran, Part 1
• The Girl Who Waited
• The God Complex

Summary:

• 00:00 – Intro and theme tune.
• 01:00 — Welcome!
• 02:04 – News:
• 02:18 — Doctor Who: New production team announced.
• 05:22 — Star Trek: Strange new Bones and Sulu.
• 07:18 — Gil Gerard: DEAD!
• 10:24 — Amanda Brotchie: DEAD!
• 12:06 – Annual Predictions:
• 12:34 — 2025 Predictions.
• 15:40 — 2026 Predictions.
• 24:44 – The War Between the Land and the Sea: episode 5.
• 39:22 – Hopes and Dreams:
• 39:36 — 2025 Hopes and Dreams.
• 43:19 — 2026 Hopes and Dreams.
• 47:31 – Audio quiz: Sci-fi TV themes.
• 53:07 – Fears:
• 53:10 — 2025 Fears.
• 55:41 — 2026 Fears.
• 61:21 – Emails and listener feedback.
• 70:03 – Farewell for this podcast!
• 70:41 — End theme, disclaimer, copyright, etc.

Vital Links:

• Staggering Stories.
• BBC: Doctor Who.
• Star Trek.
• Wikipedia: Gil Gerard.
• Wikipedia: Amanda Brotchie.
• Wikipedia: The War Between the Land and the Sea.
• Wikipedia: Stranger Things.
• Facebook: Staggering Stories Group.

Doctor Who Literature extends a warm welcome to Anthony and Alasdair from the brilliant Too Broad and Too Deep podcast, which covers Jason's beloved Doctor Who New Adventures novels of the 1990s.

This week we are discussing Dragonfire, the final story of Doctor's 24th season, the swan song for Bonnie Langford's Mel (until the 21st century), and the debut of Ace. There's a lot to discuss here, and Anthony & Alasdair bring their "A" game.

You can find Alasdair here and here, and you can find Anthony here.

Jim Sangster wrote and recorded this week's song.

Graeme' Burk's The Comics Code is well worth its seven episodes, and not only because Jason's voice acting is featured.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube athttps://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

"Doctor Who – Dragonfire" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

Please e-mail the pod at DrWhoLiterature@gmail.com.

You can catch all past episodes athttps://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

After nearly a decade in the Upside Down, Stranger Things is finally complete and on this episode of Alternate Galaxies, we sit down to take in the whole saga, from the very start to the closing moments of the final episode. 

With the full story now on the table, we look at how the show evolved, what it was building toward (if it even knew itself), and how it holds together when viewed as one complete narrative rather than 9 years of waiting on a story that lasted 4 years in-universe.

We talk characters, themes, tonal shifts, nostalgia overload, ageing kids, big swings, weird choices, and whether the ending actually earned it. 

An affectionate but honest look at one of the defining genre TV shows of the last decade, now that we finally know how it all ends.

Contact us:

X / Twitter: @theDWshow
Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow
Email: hello@theDWshow.net

Gav, Giles and Paul join Richard for the second half of our discussion about some actual missing episodes. In this moment of Film is Fabulous getting close to some missing episodes which still exist in film collections, Gav had the idea of each of us picking two standalone missing episodes to try to unravel some enduring mysteries. Originally there weren't going to be any Dalek episodes, but Gav and Richard forgot that part of the brief.

In this half of the discussion we look at The Massacre episode 4, The Celestial Toymaker episode 3, The Power of the Daleks episode 4 and The Highlanders Episode 3. 

Please like or share our podcast with people who will enjoy it, so we can build our listener base high for happiness. You can rate us directly on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser.com

Gav's excellent YouTube series Terry Nation Army can be found here: https://youtube.com/user/Dalek6388. Also, next time you're in the North West, check out his new venture - West Kirby Escape Room: The Jurassic Factor westkirbyescaperoom.co.uk

Head over to https://www.bigfinish.com/, where we all love Paul's stories. You can find his latest Companion Chronicle The White Ship here as part of the Families box set: https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-the-companion-chronicles-families-3001

Giles is a published author with many books, primarily related to science and astronomy. check out his work here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Giles-Sparrow/author/B001IXOESC, at all good bookshops, and a few bad ones too.

Richard's other podcast "If It's Hurting, It's not Working" is currently on hiatus, but it's a fun and informative look at work - why we work, how we work, and what makes a great job. And also what makes a great workplace, how to turn things round when we're not enjoying our work and, in the end, how we can all make our work better. We've moved - for all episodes, now go to https://open.spotify.com/show/4c8RB62kyKkfMPixhM7MmG.

The Something Who logo, which features prominently on all our cover art was designed for us by Bea Garrido. She's a really talented artist, who you can find by following this link: https://beagarridoart.weebly.com/, where you can buy prints of some remarkable paintings of characters from Doctor Who.

The opening music is Three Guitars Mood 2 and, yes, that is Richard playing the ukulele and kazoo on possibly the worst ever version of the Doctor Who theme tune at the end.

Download Episode TMDWP is back, but not here. You can find my video content over on http://youtube.com/lukeoverthinks

Thank you for downloading the Trap One Annual 2025 - Volume 2.

it’s the Christmas Special! Luke and Michael share a love for the 1983 film starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. T-shirts can be found here –  Follow us on twitter  Like us on  Review us on  Email the show – 

Look, It's Christmas and I'm lazy.

It's both parts of our invasion review stuck together - we know they've only been out for two weeks at this point but I'm really tired and bereft of ideas.

Merry Christmas

 

Doctor Who theme by Ron Grainer, arranged by Alexander Erben. Talk to us! Email: timenorspacepod@gmail.com Twitter: @timenorspacepod

Resolution; Adam, Kirby and Mary see out 2025 and fill in with a seasonal special. The BBC could not afford more than one Dalek and to afford to credit the Skaroians in the title of the episode. We follow this with the usual stuff.

We discuss the abrupt end to Ncuti Gatwa era with a review of his concluding 2-part story Wish World and The Reality World and the speculate briefly about what may be ahead for Doctor Who. Opening and closing music is "Monsters" off of Blue Öyster Cult's 1980 studio album Cultösaurus Erectus. We recorded this episode on 24 July 2025.

WAR:

• It's Prognosis Negative Episode Five Nine, featuring Isaac, Carl and Eric. Join us as we take a look at the final entry in our Tron retrospective with the recently released Tron: Ares! Dive in and discover if we go type O Neg or Pos!

• This is a Non-canonical ProgNeg.

• This discussion was recorded on Oct. 25th, 2025.

WARNING:

• This discussion contains miscellaneous SPOILERS pertaining to the film(s) discussed and possibly Doctor Who! If you are 100% spoilerphobic to films not yet seen, do not complain to us. This episode is mostly negative (though often that is a misnomer) and contains EXPLICIT terms, concepts, and as always expect strokes of innuendo throughout.

THE BALCONY IS YOURS

Host/Producer: Eric @BullittWHO Prognosis Negative Movie Reviews Podcast Star Trek: Romulans Bearing Gifts Podcast

Co-host: Sean @HomrigSean The Cabot Cove Confab: A Murder, She Wrote Podcast The Best Picture Podcast

Co-host/Producer: Chris @dubbayoo Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

Co-host/Producer: Caleb @CalebAlexader The Novice Elitists Film Podcast Bending the Elements: An Avatar Podcast

Co-Host: Carl @robominister

Co-Creator: H.B. Lockwood @hayleyglyps hayleyglyphs.tumblr.com instagram.com/hayleyglyphs

Prognosis Negative @ProgNeg Email: guidetothewhoverse ~at~ gmail ~dot~com Website: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com/site Patreon: patreon.com/ProgNeg Tumblr: progneg.tumblr.com Facebook: facebook.com/ProgNeg

ProgNeg Theme originally compiled by H.B. Lockwood

New Years Eve Special 2025 into 2026

Hello and welcome to our mini episode letting you all know what is coming in 2026. Happy New Year all.

 

This time part two of my personal review of the year, only a modicum of politics here so hopefully plenty to enjoy. This was recorded whilst I was battling through an anxiety attack so please be patient with me.

You may wish to contribute to the show's running costs, it's Patreon is here https://www.patreon.com/tdrury

or buy me a coffee here https://ko-fi.com/timdrury

The show is also on Facebook please join the group for exclusive behind the scenes insights and of course also discuss and feedback on the show https://www.facebook.com/groups/187162411486307/

If you want to send me comments or feedback you can email them to tdrury2003@yahoo.co.uk

or contact me on twitter where I'm @tdrury or send me a friend request and your comments to facebook where I'm Tim Drury and look like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdrury/3711029536/in/set-72157621161239599/ in case you were wondering.

In this episode of the Who's He? Podcast....

The War Between The Land And The Sea - Summing Up

Do you want to spend an hour of New Years Eve listening to two podcasters being grumpy? Well, all your dreams have come true as Phil and Paul sum up The War Between The Land And The Sea, the Doctor Who spin off show, which is also the last of the Disney era content.

But where does the Whoniverse go from here? Is there even a Whoniverse or is it time to draw a line under this iteration of Doctor Who? The lads give their opinion on what could or should happen (in their opinion), which leads Phil to contradict himself on more than one occasion!

We want to wish all our listeners a Happy New Year and thanks for listening to us in 2025!

You can currently find us on X, Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook. Don't miss an episode by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, plus many other podcatchers of your choice.

Jump on board the DWP Campervan for it’s final spin of 2025. Michele returns and instantly takes over the driving, giving James plenty of time to navigate the (very loose) review of Doctor Who in 2025. In reality, it’s more of a Who-related geekout as Michele and James catch up!

Many thanks to everyone who everyone who has listened to us this year – or indeed at any time in our long history. We wish you a very Happy New Year and a wonderful 2026!

We’ll be back in early 2026 with our annual Who & Company crossover, this time focussing on the latest animated story, The Savages. See you next year!

The Three Who Rule closes out 2025 with a diverting left turn into camp with a commentary for the Blake's 7 episode "Gambit", possibly the most outrageous sci-fi production the BBC produced in the 1970s. And who else to join us on this journey than Sarah and Sam of the Is It Camp?! podcast, where we ask the question: is this camp? (Spoilers: yes.)

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Blake's 7 "Gambit"
• Is It Camp?!

  This title was released in November 2025. It will be exclusively available to buy from the Big Finish website until 31 December 2025, and on general sale after this date. Exploring with best friends Audacity and Charley, the Doctor delights in showing them the wonders of the universe. But something dogs their footsteps... Lost Amongst the Stars by Rochana Patel The Doctor wants to find a challenge for Charley and Audacity. All of time and space awaits, with wonders beyond their wildest dreams and darkest nightmares, but are they truly ready to venture further out amongst the stars? The Time You Never Had Parts 1-2 by Tim Foley The yesterday of opulence Tomorrow soft and ironclad Beyond the merry Oculus: The time you never had.   **Please note: the collector's edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,500 copies**

Well, here we are dear listener, at the end of 2025 - and the end of our 10th journey around the sun as a podcast.

In more recent years we've done something light and fluffy for the holidays, so tonight we continue that tradition and look at two 'fun' episodes from Nu Who - The Unicorn and the Wasp, and Time Heist.

The Unicorn and the Wasp is the seventh episode of the fourth series, which was aired on BBC One on 17 May 2008.

Time Heist is the fifth episode of the eighth series, which aired on BBC One on 20 September 2014.

Before then, all the usual news and short topics you’ve come to expect and, after the episode reviews we have listener feedback and what we’ve been watching this past month. Enjoy!

Contact us:

X / Twitter: @theDWshow
Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow
Email: hello@theDWshow.net

Thank you for downloading the Trap One Annual 2025: Volume 1.

The hosts of the podcast and many contributors look back over 2025.

Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss volume 2 on News Year Day!

 

This week my personal review of the year part 1.

You may wish to contribute to the show's running costs, it's Patreon is here https://www.patreon.com/tdrury

or buy me a coffee here https://ko-fi.com/timdrury

The show is also on Facebook please join the group for exclusive behind the scenes insights and of course also discuss and feedback on the show https://www.facebook.com/groups/187162411486307/

If you want to send me comments or feedback you can email them to tdrury2003@yahoo.co.uk

or contact me on twitter where I'm @tdrury or send me a friend request and your comments to facebook where I'm Tim Drury and look like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdrury/3711029536/in/set-72157621161239599/ in case you were wondering.

MERRY CHRISTMAS one and all! Or should that be…..Merry Quizmas?! Join the DWP team in the Campervan on this MOST festive of days! Singing, cracker jokes, burnt turkeys and festive goodness is the order of the day – as well of course, as our Doctor Who trivia showdown! Who will be victorious?! You’ll have to tune in to find out. 🙂

Have a wonderful Christmas and join us again next week when we’ll be back with our review of the year.

Once again, Merry Christmas to everyone at home!

Merry Christmas one and all!

For something a little different David and Matt have a little fun delving into the new Doctor Who Trivia book, some self generated quiz and a lot of Christmas chatter!

Doctor Who theme by Ron Grainer, arranged by Alexander Erben.

Talk to us! Email: timenorspacepod@gmail.com Twitter: @timenorspacepod

Journal, Incredible Excuses for the Podcast Delay, EXORDIUM, I Swear, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Predator: Badlands, Frankenstein, Significant Other, The Running Man, Violent Night, Down Cemetery Road, Stranger Things, The War Between the Land and the Sea, Tom Baker MBE, Wheelie Yellow

O spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea chega ao fim... mas a que custo?

Saiba o destino de nossos personagens principais, Barclay (Russell Tovey) e Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), além de uma reviravolta vivida por Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave).

O que o futuro reserva para a UNIT, para os Homo Aqua e para a humanidade? Dá o play e vem com a gente!

In this episode of the Who's He? Podcast....

Who's He? At The Movies | Scrooge

In the final podcast before Christmas, Phil sits down in front of roaring fire and talks about his favourite Christmas film, Scrooge. Starring Alastair Sim as Ebeneezer Scrooge, this version from 1951 is (according to Phil) the definitive take on this classic Charles Dickens ghost story. And is the moral of the story still relevant today?

From all of us at the Who's He? Podcast, we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

You can currently find us on X, Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook. Don't miss an episode by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, plus many other podcatchers of your choice.

Thank you for downloading the Trap One Podcast.

 

On this episode Mark D and Nathan join Mark M for a look at Rob Shearman's novelisation of his festive Doctor Who tale, The Chimes of Midnight.

Nathan can be heard on Flight Through Entirety and you can find our more about him and his regular podcasts here.

You can hear our episode on the Dalek Target book by Rob Shearman here.

You can purchase The Chimes of Midnight book here #ad

 

Joe and Toni discuss Time Crash & Angels and Robots in the Doctor Who episode Voyage of the Damned.

If you're interested in being a Friend of Rassilon, click here.

Download • YouTube • RSS • Patreon • iTunes • Google Play • ESO Network

(Our review of The War Between The Land and The Sea episode 5 is from 4:28 – 1:00:35) It's the final episode of The War Between The Land and the Sea and with it our final review of this clash between Dirt and Wet for the future of…Doctor Who? Thrill to our musings along with David Tennant appearing on the Whoniverse Show, more Rachel Talalay video fun on the making of The Star Beast, Film is Fabulous hinting at new old things returning, upcoming Big Finish releases, and more!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Review: The War Between the Land and the Sea, Part Five
• Interview with Gugu Mbatha-Raw about becoming Salt
• 'The War Between the Land and the Sea' coming to UK Blu-ray on Feb 23
• Blue Zoo Animation Studio wins pitch to produce Doctor Who CBeebies animation
• Interview with composer Lorne Balfe
• New episode of The Whoniverse Show with David Tennant
• Rachel Talalay: Part 2: Original footage and details on the 'impossible' shot
• Doctor Who: A trio of mysteries in The Ice Warriors
• Film is Fabulous to catalogue three more collections in 2026
• Most of the Matt Smith era era now on Hoopla
• Doctor Who: Stormcage due Feb 12
• Big Finish The Lost Stories: The Collected Sixth Doctor 1 due Feb 2026
• Big Finish UNIT Eras due Apr 2026
• Amanda Brotchie died
• Gil Gerard died

  The War Between the Land and the Sea is a British  television . The series was created by  for  and  as part of the  franchise, known as the . Starring  and , the series features  in their attempt to prevent a global war caused by the return of the , now known as "Homo Aqua". , , Alexander Devrient and  reprise their respective roles from Doctor Who and its franchised series. The series was first reported on in July 2024, and filmed from August to December 2024 across Wales, Cardiff and Spain. Of the five episodes, the premiere and finale were written by Davies, with the other three by . The War Between the Land and the Sea premiered on BBC One on 7 December 2025 with its first two episodes, and is scheduled to be released on Disney+ in 2026. The series has received generally positive reviews from critics for its performances (particularly Redgrave's) and its similarities to . Premise  must take action to prevent a global war once an ancient species, the , comes out from the sea, revealing itself to humanity. Cast Main  as Barclay Pierre-Dupont, a low-level  transportation arranger who is unexpectedly appointed as humanity's ambassador.  as Salt, the Ambassador of the . Recurring  as , the commander-in-chief of UNIT. Redgrave reprises her role from .  as General Austin Pierce, a high-ranking American UNIT officer. McFarlane reprises his role from . Alexander Devrient as Col. Christofer Ibrahim, a senior UNIT officer who is part of Kate's personal staff. Devrient reprises his role from .  as Shirley Anne Bingham, UNIT's fifty-sixth scientific advisor and part of Kate's personal staff. Madeley reprises her role from .  as Jonathan Hynes, a politician initially appointed as humanity's ambassador.  as Harry Shaw, the . Steward Alexander as General Oscar Gunsberg, a high-ranking American general acting as the US envoy and a key ally of Shaw. Barbara Probst as General Dominique Dussolier, a high-ranking French general acting as the French envoy and a key ally of Shaw.  as Sir Keith Spears, a key ally and donor of Shaw. Francesca Corney as Sgt. Hana Chakri, a UNIT soldier assigned to protect Barclay. Ann Akinjirin as Barbara Pierre-Dupont, Barclay's estranged spouse. Cat Gannon as Kirby Pierre-Dupont, Barclay and Barbara's teenage daughter.  as Trinity Wells, an American news reporter. Wells reprises her role from . Samuel Oatley as Tide, a Homo Aqua who succeeds Salt as ambassador. Guest  as Min Tso, a member of UNIT. Waleed Hammad as Col. Tariq Hashim, a UNIT field officer. Hannah Donaldson as Captain Louise Mackie, a UNIT company officer.  as Ted Campbell, an ambassador selected to represent his nation. Episodes 1 "Homo Aqua" 7 December 2025 4.31 Transport clerk Barclay Pierre-Dupont is contacted by  after the discovery and killing of a  by fishermen. The creature that had been discovered at sea is recaptured by its own kind, killing two UNIT soldiers in the process. UNIT immediately initiate  between the two species. Both agree to a treaty of , and the Homo Aqua simultaneously reveal their presence to humanity worldwide, desiring to speak to all humans. A meeting is set up in  and several members of the Homo Aqua are seen for the first time. They introduce their humanoid , Salt, who requests that Barclay serves as the human ambassador. Barclay agrees. 2 "Plastic Apocalypse" Dylan Holmes Williams 7 December 2025 3.56 , the commander-in-chief of UNIT, agrees to work with Barclay to carry out diplomatic negotiations with Homo Aqua, who wish for worldwide  to cease. Barclay's estranged family is brought into UNIT custody for safety while UNIT scientists examine eggs breed by the Homo Aqua that had been affected by pollution. At the next meeting, Salt requests water from the  for Barclay to drink. Due to the water's contamination, Barclay refuses and, against UNIT instruction, chooses to acknowledges humanity's mistakes instead. Humanity presents a plan to reduce pollution within forty years, which Salt disagrees with. In response, a storm releases all the plastic from the world's waters back onto land. When world leaders challenge Salt, Barclay agrees to meet with the Homo Aqua under the  in the . 3 "The Deep" Dylan Holmes Williams Pete McTighe 14 December 2025 TBD A UNIT team, consisting of Barclay, General Austin Pierce, Min Tso, Captain Louise Mackey, and diplomatic representatives Ravi Singh and Ted Campbell, are assembled for the underwater meeting; Campbell brings a globe as a gift for Salt. During their submarine descent, Kate meets at  with Prime Minister Harry Shaw and General Oscar Gunsberg with tensions rising over who owns the world’s water. A new war plan named "Severance" is prepared without the knowledge of UNIT. Under the water, the submarine team exit into an environment created for them by the Sea Devils. UNIT colonel Cristofer Ibrahim is  while with Kate on the surface, by an unknown assailant. Once the submarine team are stood in front of the Homo Aqua assembly, Campbell presents the globe as a gift, only to reveal that he is a  and the globe is a concealed bomb which he detonates. 4 "The Witch of the Waterfall" Dylan Holmes Williams Pete McTighe 14 December 2025 TBD The entire submarine crew, with the exception of Barclay, are killed by the detonation. As Salt safely returns Barclay to land, a  video of her is shown to the public, threatening any human who enters the water. Salt is captured by UNIT, until Barclay rescues her, both immediately becoming fugitives. Shaw is pressured into moving forward with Severance, spearheaded by Gunsberg. Meanwhile, Kate meets Salt's successor, Tide, who informs Downing Street that Salt is considered a traitor for saving a human and is subject to execution. Salt and Barclay go on the run from both UNIT and Severance while Kate struggles to cope with the death of Ibrahim. Barclay contacts his wife Barbara and requests they rendezvous with a vehicle on , with a plan to meet an ally in North Wales and attempt contact with Kate. They are ambushed by UNIT and Severance operatives. When it is revealed that the video of Salt is a deepfake, Kate orders UNIT to fire at Severance just as Salt releases a vocal high-pitched shriek, giving her time to escape into the Thames. In retaliation, Tide threatens to use  to end humanity. 5 "The End of the War" Dylan Holmes Williams Russell T Davies 21 December 2025 TBD Disagreements continue to occur over the . Kate  Colonel Ibrahim. She requests her therapist for an increase of her prescription for , but is threatened with being signed off. Kate bribes her in response. Barclay is medically assessed and begins secret nightly visits to , calling for Salt in the sea. Kate presses Prime Minister Shaw for information about the word 'severance', who denies having any knowledge of it. After blocking a signal disruptor used to prevent Salt contacting Barclay, they finally meet. Salt tells Barclay to use the word 'accord', which has ancient meaning. Barclay informs Kate and they plan to disguise the message throughout the oceans. Dead Sea Devils begin to show up at shores and at the surface of lakes, rivers and oceans throughout the world. Kate deduces that this is Severance. At Downing Street it is revealed that the virus is engineered to only affect nine out of every ten Sea Devils. The Sea Devils surrender and inform humanity that they have won the war, but to be wary of water in the future. Kate drives Barclay to the sea, who finds Salt there. Salt gives Barclay , and they swim away together. A man drops a plastic bottle, who after refusing to pick it up, Kate threatens with a gun. Production Development In July 2024,  reported a new  spin-off titled The War Between the Land and the Sea was set to begin filming in September.  confirmed later that month at  that production would begin in August. Produced by  and , Davies served as  along with , Joel Collins, , and . Edoardo Ferretti took on the role of  with  underway by July 2024. Casting  and  lead the series with  and Alexander Devrient reprising their roles from Doctor Who as  and Colonel Ibrahim, respectively. Tovey and Mbatha-Raw previously played Alonso Frame and  in Doctor Who.  also returns from Doctor Who, playing Shirley Anne Bingham.  reprises his role as General Austin Pierce, a character first introduced and last seen fifteen years prior in the  of , another Doctor Who spin-off. , , , Francesca Corney and  were announced as additional cast members in October 2024. Writing The five-part series was written by Davies and . According to McTighe, Davies had already devised the series' concept and scripted its first episode prior to writing the , which marked the beginning of his second tenure on the series as writer and showrunner. After McTighe delivered the first draft of "", his episode of the  (and third for the show as a whole), Davies asked him to collaborate on the remainder of the spin-off in 2023. The two split writing duties across the programme, with Davies writing the finale in addition to his existing opening script, and McTighe the second, third and fourth episodes; Davies initially stated he had co-written the fourth with McTighe, but was subsequently not co-credited in the episode itself. Following filming wrapping on series 15 of Doctor Who, the first read-through for all five episodes occurred on 19 August 2024. Filming Some filming took place internationally, including on . All episodes were produced in one block, compared to the two to three blocks that would usually be used for five episodes.  began on 29 August 2024 in  and , both in . Filming continued into September in various locations across Wales, including at the Welsh Government Building, City Arms pub, Hodge House, and . In October, the series was spotted filming at  and . November filming occurred

In this episode of the Who's He? Podcast....

The War Between The Land And The Sea - Knee Jerk Reaction - Part 5

Phil and Scott give you their initial reaction to part 5 of The War Between The Land And The Sea, the Doctor Who spin off.

Will Phil and Scott find this to be a satisfying conclusion, or was this a soggy end to the Disney era of the Whoniverse?

You can currently find us on X, Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook. Don't miss an episode by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, plus many other podcatchers of your choice.

This week I review the pleasingly satisfying conclusion to The War Between the Land and the Sea.

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Diddly Dum hosts old and current gather for our traditional Christmas podcast of fun, games and quizzes.

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SHOW NOTES

(00:00:00) Only Connect – The Rev showed his fellow podcasters the clues for this quiz via a Powerpoint presentation. To enable you to see all the screens with each clue, we’ve converted this into a video so that we could post it on our YOUTUBE CHANNEL. You won’t be able to follow these screens synchronised to listening to the podcast unfortunately. And the clips in the music round are a little mixed up. But we hope it gives you some idea of what we were seeing screen by screen. We’ve also included the Missing Vowels Round which we didn’t have time to do on the podcast.

(00:53:59) Custom Figure Pudding – We’ve put pictures of all thew fan-made custom figures used in this round onto our TUMBLR PAGE here.

(01:20:30) Gold Run – The Gold Run gamescreen can be seen on all of the various platforms which we inhabit and is also at the top of this very blog screen.

The Diddly Dum Podcast acknowledges the copyright of anyone we’ve pinched anything from.