Impossible Podcasts
- Description:
- Lively discussion of the fiction of the fantastic on television, in books and in films, including Doctor Who fan commentaries
Homepage: http://www.impossiblepodcasts.com/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ImpossiblePodcasts-DoctorWhoUniverse
- Episodes:
- 194
- Average Episode Duration:
- 0:0:05:04
- Longest Episode Duration:
- 0:1:43:06
- Total Duration of all Episodes:
- 0 days, 16 hours, 23 minutes and 57 seconds
- Earliest Episode:
- 26 June 2011 (9:30pm GMT)
- Latest Episode:
- 19 May 2013 (12:03am GMT)
- Average Time Between Episodes:
- 3 days, 13 hours, 37 minutes and 17 seconds
Impossible Podcasts Episodes
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Doctor Who Review - Season 7.13, 'The Name of the Doctor'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
It’s here – our last (ever?) Doctor Who review. James Willets hammers the final nail into the coffin of Series 7b. Can it make up for the past six weeks of disappointment?I think we're going to face a problem here, because there are essentially two things to consider with ‘The Name Of The Doctor’. The first is the episode itself; the plot driven bit that sought to wrap up the loose ends of the last few episodes, in particular the status of Clara as The Impossible Girl scattered through time. The second is the ending of the episode; not the culmination of the plot itself, although we'll discuss that too, but the very final surprise, a moment which is going to overshadow the rest of the episode somewhat.
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Doctor Who Review – Season 7.13, ‘The Name of the Doctor’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIt’s here – our last (ever?) Doctor Who review. James Willets hammers the final nail into the coffin of Series 7b. Can it make up for the past six weeks of disappointment?I think we’re going to face a problem here, because there are essentially two things to consider with ‘The Name Of The Doctor’. The first is the episode itself; the plot driven bit that sought to wrap up the loose ends of the last few episodes, in particular the status of Clara as The Impossible Girl scattered through time. The second is the ending of the episode; not the culmination of the plot itself, although we’ll discuss that too, but the very final surprise, a moment which is going to overshadow the rest of the episode somewhat.
-
Doctor Who Review – Season 7.13, ‘The Name of the Doctor’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIt’s here – our last (ever?) Doctor Who review. James Willets hammers the final nail into the coffin of Series 7b. Can it make up for the past six weeks of disappointment?I think we’re going to face a problem here, because there are essentially two things to consider with ‘The Name Of The Doctor’. The first is the episode itself; the plot driven bit that sought to wrap up the loose ends of the last few episodes, in particular the status of Clara as The Impossible Girl scattered through time. The second is the ending of the episode; not the culmination of the plot itself, although we’ll discuss that too, but the very final surprise, a moment which is going to overshadow the rest of the episode somewhat.
-
Doctor Who Review - Season 7.13, 'The Name of the Doctor'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIt’s here – our last (ever?) Doctor Who review. James Willets hammers the final nail into the coffin of Series 7b. Can it make up for the past six weeks of disappointment?I think we're going to face a problem here, because there are essentially two things to consider with ‘The Name Of The Doctor’. The first is the episode itself; the plot driven bit that sought to wrap up the loose ends of the last few episodes, in particular the status of Clara as The Impossible Girl scattered through time. The second is the ending of the episode; not the culmination of the plot itself, although we'll discuss that too, but the very final surprise, a moment which is going to overshadow the rest of the episode somewhat.
-
Doctor Who Review - Series 7.13, 'Nightmare in Silver'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
In our last review before the Series 7 finale, James Willets revisits ‘Nightmare in Silver’.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before tomorrow’s episode!
Neil Gaiman is rightly lauded as a titan of genre writing, the guy behind enduring classics like Sandman, Neverwhere, Stardust and Coraline. He's written extensively for young adults and comics, and won numerous awards for his fiction.
It's hard to overstate the impact Sandman had on me. It was one of the titles that first got me into comics – the gateway drug that drew me into the wider four colour world, back when I had a sneering disdain for the garish funny books from the big two. Without them I wouldn't have discovered the world of non-cape comics; no V for Vendetta, no Transmetropolitan, no Y: The Last Man or Ex Machina or Walking Dead.
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Doctor Who Review – Series 7.13, ‘Nightmare in Silver’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIn our last review before the Series 7 finale, James Willets revisits ‘Nightmare in Silver’.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before tomorrow’s episode!
Neil Gaiman is rightly lauded as a titan of genre writing, the guy behind enduring classics like Sandman, Neverwhere, Stardust and Coraline. He’s written extensively for young adults and comics, and won numerous awards for his fiction.
It’s hard to overstate the impact Sandman had on me. It was one of the titles that first got me into comics – the gateway drug that drew me into the wider four colour world, back when I had a sneering disdain for the garish funny books from the big two. Without them I wouldn’t have discovered the world of non-cape comics; no V for Vendetta, no Transmetropolitan, no Y: The Last Man or Ex Machina or Walking Dead.
-
Doctor Who Review – Series 7.13, ‘Nightmare in Silver’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIn our last review before the Series 7 finale, James Willets revisits ‘Nightmare in Silver’.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before tomorrow’s episode!
Neil Gaiman is rightly lauded as a titan of genre writing, the guy behind enduring classics like Sandman, Neverwhere, Stardust and Coraline. He’s written extensively for young adults and comics, and won numerous awards for his fiction.
It’s hard to overstate the impact Sandman had on me. It was one of the titles that first got me into comics – the gateway drug that drew me into the wider four colour world, back when I had a sneering disdain for the garish funny books from the big two. Without them I wouldn’t have discovered the world of non-cape comics; no V for Vendetta, no Transmetropolitan, no Y: The Last Man or Ex Machina or Walking Dead.
-
Doctor Who Review - Series 7.13, 'Nightmare in Silver'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIn our last review before the Series 7 finale, James Willets revisits ‘Nightmare in Silver’.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before tomorrow’s episode!
Neil Gaiman is rightly lauded as a titan of genre writing, the guy behind enduring classics like Sandman, Neverwhere, Stardust and Coraline. He's written extensively for young adults and comics, and won numerous awards for his fiction.
It's hard to overstate the impact Sandman had on me. It was one of the titles that first got me into comics – the gateway drug that drew me into the wider four colour world, back when I had a sneering disdain for the garish funny books from the big two. Without them I wouldn't have discovered the world of non-cape comics; no V for Vendetta, no Transmetropolitan, no Y: The Last Man or Ex Machina or Walking Dead.
-
Doctor Who Review - Episode 7.12, 'The Crimson Horror'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
Just two days left until ‘The Name of the Doctor’ and James Willets continues his rundown of Series 7b. Was he tickled pink by ‘The Crimson Horror’?There’s still time to get your hands on the brand new Moffat Bingo cards.
‘The Crimson Horror’ marks the return of Victoriana, the Paternoster gang, and that gnawing sense that Mark Gatiss may be the most hit-and-miss Doctor Who writer since Chris Chibnall. You may remember that I really loved ‘Cold War’. I thought it was fan-pleasing without being introvertedly self-referential, action packed without being over the top, and in a setting that felt historically real enough that the cracks in the likelihood of eccentric Soviet professors knowing much about English electro-pop bands didn't really matter too much.
This certainly isn't to suggest that ‘Crimson Horror’ approaches the levels of ‘Fear Her’ or the inaccurately named World War Two shocker, ‘Victory of the Daleks’, in being a bad episode. Quite the opposite in fact; I found it hugely enjoyable, even on a second viewing. It's simply uneven in a way that many of his episodes seem to be.
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Doctor Who Review – Episode 7.12, ‘The Crimson Horror’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsJust two days left until ‘The Name of the Doctor’ and James Willets continues his rundown of Series 7b. Was he tickled pink by ‘The Crimson Horror’?There’s still time to get your hands on the brand new Moffat Bingo cards.
‘The Crimson Horror’ marks the return of Victoriana, the Paternoster gang, and that gnawing sense that Mark Gatiss may be the most hit-and-miss Doctor Who writer since Chris Chibnall. You may remember that I really loved ‘Cold War’. I thought it was fan-pleasing without being introvertedly self-referential, action packed without being over the top, and in a setting that felt historically real enough that the cracks in the likelihood of eccentric Soviet professors knowing much about English electro-pop bands didn’t really matter too much.
This certainly isn’t to suggest that ‘Crimson Horror’ approaches the levels of ‘Fear Her’ or the inaccurately named World War Two shocker, ‘Victory of the Daleks’, in being a bad episode. Quite the opposite in fact; I found it hugely enjoyable, even on a second viewing. It’s simply uneven in a way that many of his episodes seem to be.
-
Doctor Who Review – Episode 7.12, ‘The Crimson Horror’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsJust two days left until ‘The Name of the Doctor’ and James Willets continues his rundown of Series 7b. Was he tickled pink by ‘The Crimson Horror’?There’s still time to get your hands on the brand new Moffat Bingo cards.
‘The Crimson Horror’ marks the return of Victoriana, the Paternoster gang, and that gnawing sense that Mark Gatiss may be the most hit-and-miss Doctor Who writer since Chris Chibnall. You may remember that I really loved ‘Cold War’. I thought it was fan-pleasing without being introvertedly self-referential, action packed without being over the top, and in a setting that felt historically real enough that the cracks in the likelihood of eccentric Soviet professors knowing much about English electro-pop bands didn’t really matter too much.
This certainly isn’t to suggest that ‘Crimson Horror’ approaches the levels of ‘Fear Her’ or the inaccurately named World War Two shocker, ‘Victory of the Daleks’, in being a bad episode. Quite the opposite in fact; I found it hugely enjoyable, even on a second viewing. It’s simply uneven in a way that many of his episodes seem to be.
-
Doctor Who Review - Episode 7.11, 'The Crimson Horror'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsJust two days left until ‘The Name of the Doctor’ and James Willets continues his rundown of Series 7b. Was he tickled pink by ‘The Crimson Horror’?There’s still time to get your hands on the brand new Moffat Bingo cards.
‘The Crimson Horror’ marks the return of Victoriana, the Paternoster gang, and that gnawing sense that Mark Gatiss may be the most hit-and-miss Doctor Who writer since Chris Chibnall. You may remember that I really loved ‘Cold War’. I thought it was fan-pleasing without being introvertedly self-referential, action packed without being over the top, and in a setting that felt historically real enough that the cracks in the likelihood of eccentric Soviet professors knowing much about English electro-pop bands didn't really matter too much.
This certainly isn't to suggest that ‘Crimson Horror’ approaches the levels of ‘Fear Her’ or the inaccurately named World War Two shocker, ‘Victory of the Daleks’, in being a bad episode. Quite the opposite in fact; I found it hugely enjoyable, even on a second viewing. It's simply uneven in a way that many of his episodes seem to be.
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Doctor Who Review - 7.11, 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
As we count down to the Series 7 finale this weekend, James Willets continues his reviews of the last half-season.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before Saturday!
At what point does a TV series reach a critical mass of recycled plotlines and a bloated parody of itself, reflecting enough of the bits that you used to long for to make you hope that it'll be good, but never quite managing to regurgitate enough substance to satisfy? Because I think Doctor Who has reached that point.
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Doctor Who Review – 7.11, ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsAs we count down to the Series 7 finale this weekend, James Willets continues his reviews of the last half-season.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before Saturday!
At what point does a TV series reach a critical mass of recycled plotlines and a bloated parody of itself, reflecting enough of the bits that you used to long for to make you hope that it’ll be good, but never quite managing to regurgitate enough substance to satisfy? Because I think Doctor Who has reached that point.
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Doctor Who Review – 7.11, ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsAs we count down to the Series 7 finale this weekend, James Willets continues his reviews of the last half-season.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before Saturday!
At what point does a TV series reach a critical mass of recycled plotlines and a bloated parody of itself, reflecting enough of the bits that you used to long for to make you hope that it’ll be good, but never quite managing to regurgitate enough substance to satisfy? Because I think Doctor Who has reached that point.
-
Doctor Who Review - 7.11, 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsAs we count down to the Series 7 finale this weekend, James Willets continues his reviews of the last half-season.Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before Saturday!
At what point does a TV series reach a critical mass of recycled plotlines and a bloated parody of itself, reflecting enough of the bits that you used to long for to make you hope that it'll be good, but never quite managing to regurgitate enough substance to satisfy? Because I think Doctor Who has reached that point.
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Doctor Who Review - 7.10, 'Hide'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
James Willets continues his run-down of Series 7b, but ‘Hide’ isn’t chilling him for the right reasons.Have you downloaded our brand new Moffat Bingo cards yet? Grab them before the series finale this Saturday!
‘Hide’ is one of those weird episodes that happen every series or so, when the team in charge of Doctor Who get bored of the usual sequence of historical-alien-future adventure serial, and decide that what the show needs is a good old retreat into other genres; primarily horror. And as with all of those episodes before it, the classic horror setting and tropes are abandoned two thirds of the way through to explain that it's all just another sci-fi baffler, and that's not a Werewolf, or a vampire, or a ghost, or a great pumpkin; it's an alien pitched up on Earth.
These episodes usually aren’t all that great - ‘Vampires in Venice’ stands out for its campy attempts to create an accurate flavour of medieval Venetian life, if medieval Venetian life had included the threat of consumption by horny cosmic piranha girls. Add to that the 'witches' from ‘The Shakespeare Code’, the 'Werewolf' from ‘Tooth and Claw’ and the Evil Living Scarecrows from the ‘Family of Blood’ two-partner, and you start to build up a picture of Doctor Who struggling to do the monster mash in an enjoyable or sensible manner.
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Doctor Who Review – 7.10, ‘Hide’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsJames Willets continues his run-down of Series 7b, but ‘Hide’ isn’t chilling him for the right reasons.Have you downloaded our brand new Moffat Bingo cards yet? Grab them before the series finale this Saturday!
‘Hide’ is one of those weird episodes that happen every series or so, when the team in charge of Doctor Who get bored of the usual sequence of historical-alien-future adventure serial, and decide that what the show needs is a good old retreat into other genres; primarily horror. And as with all of those episodes before it, the classic horror setting and tropes are abandoned two thirds of the way through to explain that it’s all just another sci-fi baffler, and that’s not a Werewolf, or a vampire, or a ghost, or a great pumpkin; it’s an alien pitched up on Earth.
These episodes usually aren’t all that great – ‘Vampires in Venice’ stands out for its campy attempts to create an accurate flavour of medieval Venetian life, if medieval Venetian life had included the threat of consumption by horny cosmic piranha girls. Add to that the ‘witches’ from ‘The Shakespeare Code’, the ‘Werewolf’ from ‘Tooth and Claw’ and the Evil Living Scarecrows from the ‘Family of Blood’ two-partner, and you start to build up a picture of Doctor Who struggling to do the monster mash in an enjoyable or sensible manner.
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Doctor Who Review – 7.10, ‘Hide’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsJames Willets continues his run-down of Series 7b, but ‘Hide’ isn’t chilling him for the right reasons.Have you downloaded our brand new Moffat Bingo cards yet? Grab them before the series finale this Saturday!
‘Hide’ is one of those weird episodes that happen every series or so, when the team in charge of Doctor Who get bored of the usual sequence of historical-alien-future adventure serial, and decide that what the show needs is a good old retreat into other genres; primarily horror. And as with all of those episodes before it, the classic horror setting and tropes are abandoned two thirds of the way through to explain that it’s all just another sci-fi baffler, and that’s not a Werewolf, or a vampire, or a ghost, or a great pumpkin; it’s an alien pitched up on Earth.
These episodes usually aren’t all that great – ‘Vampires in Venice’ stands out for its campy attempts to create an accurate flavour of medieval Venetian life, if medieval Venetian life had included the threat of consumption by horny cosmic piranha girls. Add to that the ‘witches’ from ‘The Shakespeare Code’, the ‘Werewolf’ from ‘Tooth and Claw’ and the Evil Living Scarecrows from the ‘Family of Blood’ two-partner, and you start to build up a picture of Doctor Who struggling to do the monster mash in an enjoyable or sensible manner.
-
Doctor Who Review - 7.10, 'Hide'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsJames Willets continues his run-down of Series 7b, but ‘Hide’ isn’t chilling him for the right reasons.Have you downloaded our brand new Moffat Bingo cards yet? Grab them before the series finale this Saturday!
‘Hide’ is one of those weird episodes that happen every series or so, when the team in charge of Doctor Who get bored of the usual sequence of historical-alien-future adventure serial, and decide that what the show needs is a good old retreat into other genres; primarily horror. And as with all of those episodes before it, the classic horror setting and tropes are abandoned two thirds of the way through to explain that it's all just another sci-fi baffler, and that's not a Werewolf, or a vampire, or a ghost, or a great pumpkin; it's an alien pitched up on Earth.
These episodes usually aren’t all that great - ‘Vampires in Venice’ stands out for its campy attempts to create an accurate flavour of medieval Venetian life, if medieval Venetian life had included the threat of consumption by horny cosmic piranha girls. Add to that the 'witches' from ‘The Shakespeare Code’, the 'Werewolf' from ‘Tooth and Claw’ and the Evil Living Scarecrows from the ‘Family of Blood’ two-partner, and you start to build up a picture of Doctor Who struggling to do the monster mash in an enjoyable or sensible manner.
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Doctor Who - Moffat Bingo 2.0
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
It’s here! All new Moffat Bingo, ready for the Series 7 finale and the 50th Anniversary special!The original Moffat Bingo is still one of our most consistently popular posts, spreading far and wide via Twitter and Pinterest. But the departure of the Ponds last year means it’s no longer fit for purpose so, after a bit of faffing, here’s the newly revised edition, just in time for ‘The Name of the Doctor’!
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Doctor Who – Moffat Bingo 2.0
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIt’s here! All new Moffat Bingo, ready for the Series 7 finale and the 50th Anniversary special!The original Moffat Bingo is still one of our most consistently popular posts, spreading far and wide via Twitter and Pinterest. But the departure of the Ponds last year means it’s no longer fit for purpose so, after a bit of faffing, here’s the newly revised edition, just in time for ‘The Name of the Doctor’!
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Doctor Who – Moffat Bingo 2.0
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIt’s here! All new Moffat Bingo, ready for the Series 7 finale and the 50th Anniversary special!The original Moffat Bingo is still one of our most consistently popular posts, spreading far and wide via Twitter and Pinterest. But the departure of the Ponds last year means it’s no longer fit for purpose so, after a bit of faffing, here’s the newly revised edition, just in time for ‘The Name of the Doctor’!
-
Doctor Who - Moffat Bingo 2.0
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsIt’s here! All new Moffat Bingo, ready for the Series 7 finale and the 50th Anniversary special!The original Moffat Bingo is still one of our most consistently popular posts, spreading far and wide via Twitter and Pinterest. But the departure of the Ponds last year means it’s no longer fit for purpose so, after a bit of faffing, here’s the newly revised edition, just in time for ‘The Name of the Doctor’!
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Doctor Who Review - 7.09, 'Cold War'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
We’re catching up on our Doctor Who reviews this week, ahead of the Series 7 finale. Today, James Willets dives deep into ‘Cold War’…‘Cold War’ is the first episode so far this season, and probably the first Mark Gatiss episode ever, that I can overwhelmingly say I loved. I think it's hard not to like an episode that doesn't overcomplicate the horror movie concept at its heart and is content to be story about a monster in the dark.
There are a couple of neat twists that stop this from being a totally generic episode, although there is plenty here that we have seen before.
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Doctor Who Review – 7.09, ‘Cold War’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsWe’re catching up on our Doctor Who reviews this week, ahead of the Series 7 finale. Today, James Willets dives deep into ‘Cold War’…‘Cold War’ is the first episode so far this season, and probably the first Mark Gatiss episode ever, that I can overwhelmingly say I loved. I think it’s hard not to like an episode that doesn’t overcomplicate the horror movie concept at its heart and is content to be story about a monster in the dark.
There are a couple of neat twists that stop this from being a totally generic episode, although there is plenty here that we have seen before.
-
Doctor Who Review – 7.09, ‘Cold War’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsWe’re catching up on our Doctor Who reviews this week, ahead of the Series 7 finale. Today, James Willets dives deep into ‘Cold War’…‘Cold War’ is the first episode so far this season, and probably the first Mark Gatiss episode ever, that I can overwhelmingly say I loved. I think it’s hard not to like an episode that doesn’t overcomplicate the horror movie concept at its heart and is content to be story about a monster in the dark.
There are a couple of neat twists that stop this from being a totally generic episode, although there is plenty here that we have seen before.
-
Doctor Who Review - 7.09, 'Cold War'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsWe’re catching up on our Doctor Who reviews this week, ahead of the Series 7 finale. Today, James Willets dives deep into ‘Cold War’…‘Cold War’ is the first episode so far this season, and probably the first Mark Gatiss episode ever, that I can overwhelmingly say I loved. I think it's hard not to like an episode that doesn't overcomplicate the horror movie concept at its heart and is content to be story about a monster in the dark.
There are a couple of neat twists that stop this from being a totally generic episode, although there is plenty here that we have seen before.
-
Doctor Who Review - 7.08, The Rings of Akhaten
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
A little later than scheduled, our reviewer James Willets is here to pick over the bones of one of New Who’s most divisive episodes in ages.
There was a point about halfway through ‘Rings’ when I thought (realised?) that this was going to be one of my favourite episodes for a long time. After journeying to an intergalactic version of Camden Lock and rescuing this week's plot-relevant moppet, we got a sequence so wonderfully constructed and unusual, it made me realise how rarely we get to see something different in Doctor Who.
This was the first episode in years that felt truly alien. For all its sci-fi trappings, Doctor Who can often feel like a trip though other programmes the BBC does - lashings of period drama, becostumed thespians and CGI Macguffinery and very little in the way of actual world building.
-
Doctor Who Review – 7.08, The Rings of Akhaten
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsA little later than scheduled, our reviewer James Willets is here to pick over the bones of one of New Who’s most divisive episodes in ages.
There was a point about halfway through ‘Rings’ when I thought (realised?) that this was going to be one of my favourite episodes for a long time. After journeying to an intergalactic version of Camden Lock and rescuing this week’s plot-relevant moppet, we got a sequence so wonderfully constructed and unusual, it made me realise how rarely we get to see something different in Doctor Who.
This was the first episode in years that felt truly alien. For all its sci-fi trappings, Doctor Who can often feel like a trip though other programmes the BBC does – lashings of period drama, becostumed thespians and CGI Macguffinery and very little in the way of actual world building.
-
Doctor Who Review – 7.08, The Rings of Akhaten
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsA little later than scheduled, our reviewer James Willets is here to pick over the bones of one of New Who’s most divisive episodes in ages.
There was a point about halfway through ‘Rings’ when I thought (realised?) that this was going to be one of my favourite episodes for a long time. After journeying to an intergalactic version of Camden Lock and rescuing this week’s plot-relevant moppet, we got a sequence so wonderfully constructed and unusual, it made me realise how rarely we get to see something different in Doctor Who.
This was the first episode in years that felt truly alien. For all its sci-fi trappings, Doctor Who can often feel like a trip though other programmes the BBC does – lashings of period drama, becostumed thespians and CGI Macguffinery and very little in the way of actual world building.
-
Doctor Who Review - 7.08, The Rings of Akhaten
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsA little later than scheduled, our reviewer James Willets is here to pick over the bones of one of New Who’s most divisive episodes in ages.
There was a point about halfway through ‘Rings’ when I thought (realised?) that this was going to be one of my favourite episodes for a long time. After journeying to an intergalactic version of Camden Lock and rescuing this week's plot-relevant moppet, we got a sequence so wonderfully constructed and unusual, it made me realise how rarely we get to see something different in Doctor Who.
This was the first episode in years that felt truly alien. For all its sci-fi trappings, Doctor Who can often feel like a trip though other programmes the BBC does - lashings of period drama, becostumed thespians and CGI Macguffinery and very little in the way of actual world building.
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Doctor Who Commentary - 7.07 'The Bells of Saint John'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 1 hours, 1 minutes and 46 seconds
Happy birthday to us!!! It’s been five long years since our very first Doctor Who commentary and, to mark the occasion, here’s our latest – ‘The Bells of Saint John’.Caleb and P.G. find plenty to talk about as Clara finally joins the Doctor full-time. Has her (re-)introduction been too long coming? How does she compare to her previous incarnations? And what clues to her identity have we found so far? All this, plus the question of souls; the spectre of Russell T Davies; the brilliant Celia Imrie and Jumping the Shard. (Geddit?)
We also open with a very important announcement about the future of the podcast that you really don’t want to miss, and finish with a look ahead to the 50th Anniversary. So let’s get cracking!
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Doctor Who Commentary - 'An Unearthly Child' - The First Doctor
Episode Duration: 0 days, 1 hours, 43 minutes and 6 seconds
We start counting down to Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary in November by looking back over the history of Doctor Who, from 1963 down to the present! In this episode, Caleb and Swithun go right back to the very beginning, to discuss An Unearthly Child, (or if you prefer, 100,000BC or The Tribe of Gum, Hartnell overall story titles being what they are…)William Hartnell was the original Doctor – but is he the original and best? We consider how the Doctor evolved from mysterious and unreliable mad scientist into the unconventional action hero he is today. Plus, how has the role of the companions changed since the original TARDIS crew of Ian, Barbara and Susan, as played by William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carole Anne Ford.
Join us as we celebrate the classic opening episode where it all began, plus reconsider those neglected cavemen episodes that follow… or should we skip to the Daleks already?
How do you feel An Unearthly Child holds up after all these years? Are you a fan of the First Doctor, and what are your favourite stories from his era? If you’re a recent Doctor Who fan who came to it since it’s 2005 return, what is it like to go back and uncover Doctor Who’s past? Let us know your thoughts below!
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Doctor Who Commentary - 7.06 'The Snowmen' Christmas Special
Episode Duration: 0 days, 1 hours, 19 minutes and 34 seconds
After something of an extended break, Caleb and Sarah are back with our verdict on The Snowmen, the 2012 Doctor Who Christmas special! With a new title sequence, new TARDIS and above all new companion, the feisty Clara, ably played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, there’s plenty for us to talk about… not to mention abominable snowmen, Victorian values, lesbian interspecies marriage, the place of Sherlock Holmes in the Whoniverse, and Matt Smith sporting a specially fine hat!Stay tuned for our anniversary-year coverage of Doctor Who, as we celebrate each of the eleven Doctors from the last 50 years, one per month, and count down to the big day on 23rd November 2013!
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Doctor Who Review - 7.5 'The Angels Take Manhattan'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
To follow our ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too. Come along Pond!
So, goodbye Ponds. Over the course of the last two and a half seasons you've been exceptional. You and Matt Smith have consistently been the best things about nearly every episode of Doctor Who for the last few years, and I will sorely miss you.
From Amelia Pond waiting in her garden, to the introduction of Amy proper, waiting for her Doctor to return for her entire life, making the choice of Rory over the Doctor, then Rory and the Doctor - at the heart of Karen Gillan’s portrayal of Amy Pond has been true character growth. It's easy to feel like Amy really has grown up with the Doctor over the last few years, and she's turned into a kick-ass woman and half of one of the best relationships in sci-fi (up there with Han and Leia, Adama and Roslin or Zoe and Wash).
(more…)
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Doctor Who Review – 7.5 ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsTo follow our ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too. Come along Pond!
So, goodbye Ponds. Over the course of the last two and a half seasons you’ve been exceptional. You and Matt Smith have consistently been the best things about nearly every episode of Doctor Who for the last few years, and I will sorely miss you.
From Amelia Pond waiting in her garden, to the introduction of Amy proper, waiting for her Doctor to return for her entire life, making the choice of Rory over the Doctor, then Rory and the Doctor – at the heart of Karen Gillan’s portrayal of Amy Pond has been true character growth. It’s easy to feel like Amy really has grown up with the Doctor over the last few years, and she’s turned into a kick-ass woman and half of one of the best relationships in sci-fi (up there with Han and Leia, Adama and Roslin or Zoe and Wash).
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Doctor Who Review – 7.5 ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsTo follow our ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too. Come along Pond!
So, goodbye Ponds. Over the course of the last two and a half seasons you’ve been exceptional. You and Matt Smith have consistently been the best things about nearly every episode of Doctor Who for the last few years, and I will sorely miss you.
From Amelia Pond waiting in her garden, to the introduction of Amy proper, waiting for her Doctor to return for her entire life, making the choice of Rory over the Doctor, then Rory and the Doctor – at the heart of Karen Gillan’s portrayal of Amy Pond has been true character growth. It’s easy to feel like Amy really has grown up with the Doctor over the last few years, and she’s turned into a kick-ass woman and half of one of the best relationships in sci-fi (up there with Han and Leia, Adama and Roslin or Zoe and Wash).
(more…)
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Doctor Who Review - 7.5 'The Angels Take Manhattan'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 secondsTo follow our ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too. Come along Pond!
So, goodbye Ponds. Over the course of the last two and a half seasons you've been exceptional. You and Matt Smith have consistently been the best things about nearly every episode of Doctor Who for the last few years, and I will sorely miss you.
From Amelia Pond waiting in her garden, to the introduction of Amy proper, waiting for her Doctor to return for her entire life, making the choice of Rory over the Doctor, then Rory and the Doctor - at the heart of Karen Gillan’s portrayal of Amy Pond has been true character growth. It's easy to feel like Amy really has grown up with the Doctor over the last few years, and she's turned into a kick-ass woman and half of one of the best relationships in sci-fi (up there with Han and Leia, Adama and Roslin or Zoe and Wash).
(more…)
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Doctor Who Commentary - 7.05 'The Angels Take Manhattan'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 1 hours, 3 minutes and 51 seconds
Time runs out for Amy and Rory Pond, as The Angels Take Manhattan! Caleb, Sarah and Suzie try not to blink as we discuss Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill’s exit from Doctor Who, as well as the return of the Weeping Angels and River Song. With Amy and Rory being the longest serving companions since the series returned in 2005, is this a fitting end to their story?Steven Moffat said “If the Ponds’ departure doesn’t make you openly weep, I haven’t done my job.” Did he succeed for you? Let us know what you thought!
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Doctor Who Spoiler-Free Speculation - 7.5 'The Angels Take Manhattan'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 24 minutes and 12 seconds
The Weeping Angels are back! No episode preview this week so Caleb and Sarah discuss what they think The Angels Take Manhattan may mean for The Doctor and the departure of Amy and Rory. They also discuss some of your comments on The Power Of Three - don't forget to download our commentary and read James' review too!
Come along Pond!
Are you looking forward to The Angels Take Manhattan? Let us know your expectations in the comments, or via Twitter, Facebook or email, and come back on Sunday for our commentary!
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Doctor Who Review - 7.4 'The Power of Three'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
The Power of Three is, for the most part, an absolute cracker of an episode, of the kind that we haven't had in quite a while. Whilst it may not have ended up being a Blink or a Midnight – an episode that will be talked about for years to come – it certainly marked a great improvement on the hum drum tone so far. It also felt much more like a classic Doctor Who episode than any other this series, and certainly more than many from the quiet relaunch under Moffat.When I say Classic-Doctor Who I admittedly refer to it purely as something that, like Professional Wrestling or Star Trek, I find more interesting as a programming concept than an actual show. I'm still to watch much of the pre-relaunch Doctor Who – I've seen one full story and snippets of others and if I'm honest it's not something that I feel any need to go back to. (more…)
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Doctor Who Commentary - 7.4 'The Power of Three'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 56 minutes and 25 seconds
Caleb, Sarah and Nat are back on earth for the year of the slow invasion…that’s new! The Doctor moves in with the Ponds as small black cubes appear all over the world. We discuss UNIT: The Next Generation, musical deadly cubes and the return of Brian!
Did the Ponds make the right decision? Were the Shakri a genuine threat? And was this episode better than Dinosaurs on a Spaceship?
Cube anyone?
Don't forget to keep an eye on the website for James' review of The Power of Three, coming soon!
And once you've heard what we have to say, let us know what you think in the comments, or by email, Twitter or Facebook.
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Doctor Who Spoiler-Free Preview - 7.4 'The Power Of Three'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 15 minutes and 18 seconds
Caleb, Sarah and Nat preview The Power Of Three by Chris Chibnall. They also discuss some of your comments on A Town Called Mercy – don't forget to download our commentary and read James' review too!
This week The Doctor moves in with the Ponds during the year of the slow invasion! The human race wakes up to find the world littered with small black cubes – where did they come from and more importantly are they dangerous?
Cube anyone?
Are you looking forward to The Power Of Three? Let us know your expectations in the comments, or via Twitter, Facebook or email, and come back on Saturday for our commentary!
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Doctor Who Review - 7.3 'A Town Called Mercy'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
To follow our ‘A Town Called Mercy’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too.
With three episodes of the series shown I'm pretty comfortable calling this. This will not be a season to remember.
‘A Town Called Mercy’ is the Back to the Future 3 of the series. Back to the Future was all nostalgic cool, goofy and fun that had something for everyone, like Dinosaurs. Back to the Future Part 2 took a darker tack, like Daleks. Back to the Future 3 was really, really Westerny. Like Mercy.
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Doctor Who Commentary - 7.3 'A Town Called Mercy'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 59 minutes and 35 seconds
Caleb, Sarah and new contributor Nat Slow don their stetsons and ignore the keep out sign as they explore ‘A Town Called Mercy’. Daleks, dinosaurs and now a cyborg gunslinger. As Doctor Who meets a western we discuss guns, tic-tac spaceships, moral complexities and The Doctor’s mercy.
Did The Doctor make the right decision with Kahler Jex? Would The Doctor have used the gun? Where did The Doctor learn to speak horse? And who gave Amy a gun!
Keep out?
Don’t forget to keep an eye on the website for James’ review of A Town Called Mercy, coming soon!
And once you've heard what we have to say, let us know what you think in the comments, or by email, Twitter or Facebook.
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Doctor Who Spoiler-Free Preview - 7.3 'A Town Called Mercy'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds
Caleb and Sarah preview A Town Called Mercy by Toby Whithouse with brand new contributor Nat Lowe. They also discuss some of your comments on Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - don't forget to download our commentary and read James’ review too!
This week The Doctor gets a gun, a Stetson and a cyborg! The Doctor ignores the keep out sign on a visit to A Town Called Mercy – will you too?
If you want a few more hints, read on...
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Doctor Who Review - 7.2 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'
Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds
To follow our commentary on last night’s Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, James is back with his review. Were the dinosaurs up to scratch and was David Bradley’s character a depart from tradition for a Doctor Who villian? Beware spoilers!Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is pretty much hardwired to be something I enjoy. It's got Dinosaurs, comedy and enough sci-fi in-jokes to choke a T-Rex. And unlike last weeks episode it actually has a plot, with a clear start, middle and end.
So on one level, this is the best episode of the series, a welcome return to form after the Daleks did their best to kill off Doctor Who as a programme (if not The Doctor himself). On the other hand, it has some of the worst CGI of new Who, some horrifically written jokes and adds very little beyond its key concept of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.
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Doctor Who Commentary - 7.2 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'
Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 57 minutes and 17 seconds
Caleb, Sarah and Emma sink their critical teeth into Dinosaurs on a Spaceship in true velociraptor fashion! But will the friendly triceratops of entertainment survive the attacks of the bounty hunter of dodgy gender politics?Tortured metaphors aside, we discuss the importance of characterisation, the almost-return of the Silurians, and the alarming possibility of Chris Chibnall as Doctor Who showrunner. Listen now to what we had to say!
And once you’ve listened to our opinions, let us know what you think in the comments, or by email, Twitter or Facebook.
