Debating Doctor Who

Alasdair is visiting Chicago, so he drops by Allison's place to record an in-person episode. Friend of the show Kate Kulzick joins us for the opening of this, the second edition of our big look at the Master, to discuss the character's origins in the classic series and what has and hasn't carried over to the new series. Then it's just Alasdair and Allison discussing this pair of two-parters, one of which is generally very good with a couple faults here and there, and the other is... ooh boy, where even to begin with the other one? There's a ton of Michelle Gomez praise, as is customary, but we also have more than a few positive things to say about John Simm's incarnation. But then that's just the tip of an especially bonkers iceberg.

Alasdair is in Chicago, so he stopped by Allison's apartment to record a bunch of episodes. First up, here's a half-hour's worth of series 11 discussion with friend of the show Kate Kulzick, in which we break down the recent news that incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall is considering a switch to 10 hour-long episodes instead of the traditional 45-minute format. While this sounds like a simple bit of arithmetic, we use this as an excuse to take a deep look at Chibnall's Who resume, the difference in pacing stories at those various lengths, and what two-parters actually work as 90-minute stories in the first place.

It's the first part of our big look at the Master, so basically we're just going to be praising Derek Jacobi and Michelle Gomez for most of the episode. They are just so, so good at what they do, while "Utopia" and "Dark Water"/"Death In Heaven" are a fascinating mix of obvious flaws and sneaky greatness. The series three episode has fun just letting all its continuity collide and discovering character moments amid all the mess, while the series eight two-parter is a little too keen to tell you the point of all this, but it's frequently brilliant all the same. We'll be back next week with a look at the next round of Master stories, "The Sound Of Drums"/"Last Of The Time Lords" and "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar"!

First up, Pearl Mackie said some stuff about the Christmas special, so our podcast charter requires we drop everything and listen to what the woman behind Bill Potts has to say. Then we take a look at two often overlooked episodes, one of which might be the single most forgettable story in all new Doctor Who. If nothing else, it's got the most ridiculously generic title, which leads to Alasdair listing off equally generic Tom Baker era titles, much to Allison's amusement. We do talk some about the 10th Doctor and Lady Christina de Souza having adventures together, and Allison admits she's actually a bit of a fan of UNIT scientist Dr. Malcolm Taylor. Then, we talk about "Time Heist." Short version: Holy crap, this episode isn't a classic or anything, but we kind of seriously love "Time Heist." It's so fun and cool! And then join us next week as we look at two eras' very different takes on the Master with a look at "Utopia" and "Dark Water"/"Death In Heaven"!

The cohosts of the great new podcast "Talking Who To You" join Alasdair to discuss the Big Finish audios. We offer a beginner-friendly yet still in-depth to the vast world of Doctor Who audios. Which stories should you start with? What should you avoid? We pick some favorite stories and arcs, and we dig into what Big Finish does well and areas where it struggles. If you're at all curious about the audio adventures but aren't sure where to start, this ought to be the podcast for you! And also check out Alasdair's appearance on a recent "Talking Who To You" episode, where he joins Kevin and J.G. to discuss "The Holy Terror."

We take a look at two of Chris Chibnall's more notable contributions to the show before he starts running it next year, even if we do have to negotiate some serious technical difficulties to get through it all. We offer a moderately positive appraisal of the Silurian two-parter, as it's a story that has a lot of neat ideas that it just never quite develops as much as it probably ought to. Still, not bad! And "The Power Of Three" remains a lovely character piece, with one's opinion of it pretty much turning on how much you find the rather unconvincing monster element a problem. And join us next week for a look at the show getting its sleek (or silly, often silly) thriller on with "Planet Of The Dead," featuring a real-live jewel thief as the guest companion, and the early 12th Doctor adventure "Time Heist"!

It's a River Song-stravaganza! We go deep on all things River Song with a look at adventures she had with three different Doctors: her first and final adventure with the 10th Doctor in the library, her wedding with the 11th Doctor, and her heartbreaking swanswong with the 12th Doctor. There's a lot to love about all these stories, even if "The Wedding Of River Song" does leave Allison feeling deeply grumpy. But mostly we're here to praise these stories and all Alex Kingston brought to the role of River across her seven years of appearances on the show. We just try to offer an appropriately raucous and saucy episode to do River proud. And join us next week for a Chris Chibnall preview as we look at two of his efforts and see what they might hint at for series 11 with "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" and "The Power Of Three"! 

First up, are you in the Chicago area and interested in going to a potential live episode on Saturday, October 14? Let us know if you are! Now, to business: We look at a pair of maligned historical Dalek stories, and we mostly conclude that, yeah, these stories deserve some maligning. "Daleks In Manhattan"/"Evolution Of The Daleks" so obviously wants to be a dumb sci-fi B-movie, but it can't quite find the right way to combine its theoretically weighty subject matter with that sense of fun. Also, it's time to roast Andrew Garfield's Tennessee accent, because my goodness. "Victory Of The Daleks," on the other hand, does at least have some really lovely work from Karen Gillan, and Alasdair has a theory to help you find something interesting in this one. Look, neither of these is good, but we had a lot of fun discussing them regardless, so this is well worth the listen. And join us next week for a big three-story River Songstravaganza with "Silence In The Library"/"The Forest Of The Dead," "The Wedding Of River

No, we didn't think "The Crimson Horror" would be our first repeat episode either, but we're kind of happy about it! After all, it's Allison's first time discussing this 11th Doctor and Clara adventure, and she has plenty to say about Diana Rigg and Rachel Stirling's supporting turns. There's a ton in both episodes about trauma and abuse in the context of stultifying Victorian society, and we dig into some of that. "The Next Doctor" features not one but two lovely Doctor performances by people named David, while we're still trying to figure out why the 11th Doctor has totally forgotten about the concept of personal space. It's... it's not great! But there's still a lot to like in both these episodes, as we consider a pair of stories that manage to be rather more than the sum of their occasionally underwhelming parts. Next week: We go for a double feature of early 20th century Dalek silliness with "Daleks In Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" and "Victory of the Daleks"!

We open with a lengthy consideration of the rumor that Bradley Walsh could be the new companion, and what a 57-year-old man would be like as part of the TARDIS team. Also, we take a moment to recognize how seriously great the cast of Law and Order: UK was. Then it's debate time, and for the second straight week the series four entry crushes the series 7B contender, as we both admit we have no idea what's going on in "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS," and not in a cool, "Warriors' Gate" kind of way. At least it often looks pretty. But "Turn Left" has plenty to recommend it, including four great performances. Also, Rose is in it! (We kid Billie Piper, but she's totally right when she's said she forgot how to do Rose's voice.) Anyway, this episode is great. And join us next week for a pair of Victorian romps, as we look at "The Next Doctor" and our first (entirely accidental) repeat pick, "The Crimson Horror"!

Kate Kulzick, the officially recognized Captain Jack Harkness of this podcast, returns to help Alasdair answer a listener's question about how to get into classic Doctor Who! While she admits her advice of "Just watch everything!" might not be the most helpful, we work to break down some of the different strengths and weaknesses of the show's various eras, as well as how to approach watching something that's so completely a product of a different era. We offer some specific story recommendations to get you started, even if there's fierce (if brief) disagreement over the quality of "Carnival Of Monsters." Plus we discuss our favorite classic Doctors, discuss how much showrunners made a difference on the old show, and what stories might be improved by swapping Doctors.

We finish up our picks for the best episode of every season by picking one for each year of the Capaldi era, as well as our favorite from all the specials, Christmas or otherwise. Then we do a deep, deep dive into why "Midnight" is so ludicrously good. We've got a lot of thoughts on this! We have somewhat less to say about "Nightmare In Silver," beyond a begrudging, "Eh, this is fine, basically, but it could have been so, so, so much better." Which, as Allison points out, is somehow worse than it just being outright terrible. And next week the debating continues with a look at "Turn Left" and "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS"!

As promised last week, Allison and Alasdair offer our picks for the best episode of each season... well, we get through the first seven seasons, at any rate. Better than we expected, honestly! Alasdair manages to pull off the seemingly impossible (especially for him) by picking pretty much entirely non-Moffat stories as his favorites from the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctors' eras. Will he and Allison agree on their various picks? What do we look for in series-best episodes? All will be revealed!

Allison has her computer back, so she takes control of this episode! And after she and Alasdair discuss just how the Doctor remembered Clara at the end of "The Doctor Falls," she turns the tables on her co-host by asking Alasdair the same questions he asked her when she first came aboard. It's a reintroduction for those who don't want to dive all the way back into the show's earliest archives, and an opportunity for longtime listeners to see how Alasdair's thoughts have changed. And then, just to keep the theme alive, our final would-be discussion topic gets curtailed when Alasdair runs into his own technical difficulties.

We take a quick moment to discuss our ever more ridiculous raft of technical difficulties, then consider the trailer for the 12th Doctor's swansong, "Twice Upon A Time." After that, we're onto our very first debate of this new era with a pair of celebrity historicals. Spoiler alert: One of these absolutely trounces the other. Allison nerds out over how "The Shakespeare Code" could be so much more Shakespearean than it actually is, and we discuss the episode's glib handling of being a person of color in Elizabethan England. "Vincent And The Doctor," by contrast, is one that speaks to us on a deep level, as we praise its empathy and nuance while opening up a little bit about how personally this episode affects us.

We table our story debate for a week as Allison continues to deal with two (2!) broken computers, but there's still plenty to talk about as we foolishly record a couple hours before Doctor Who's Comic Con panel. We talk about how the endless Kris Marshall casting rumors may just be coming from Kris Marshall himself at this point. We wonder who Mark Gatiss might be playing in the Christmas special. And then we devote most of the episode to reading an amazing email from listener Sam, who discusses her reactions as a woman of color to the casting of the 13th Doctor and people's reaction to it. As ever, these are complicated issues that are okay to have complicated feelings about, and we try our best to sift through it all. Thanks to Sam and all our amazing listeners for continuing to make our show so much more awesome than it has any right to be!

We just couldn't wait to give our thoughts on today's big announcement. Allison recounts exactly how she found out Jodie Whittaker is the first female Doctor, then she and Alasdair discuss why this is exciting and what this could mean for the future of the show. We got a whole bunch of emails from listeners with their overwhelmingly positive takes, and it guides us through a discussion of what we might expect from the 13th Doctor's stories, costume, companion(s), and more!

Original cohost Caroline Siede joins Alasdair to offer her takes on series 10! She didn't connect with this series as strongly as we did, and we try to tease out why. This is a broad, wide-ranging conversation that looks at what exactly is the current Doctor's arc, how he compares with his new series predecessors, how to think about representation in terms of the 13th Doctor's casting (which we didn't know was imminent when we recorded this episode), and a whole bunch of other things!

That’s right everyone, Caroline is back, as we unlock another premium bonus episode! Alasdair exploited a loophole when she said she was done debating Doctor Who by bringing her in to debate Class instead. We’re mostly agreed on the big takeaways: The cast is great! The show’s approach to diversity and representation is a major strength! My goodness are the Shadow Kin the worst monsters in the entire history of all Doctor Who shows, no seriously they’re bad! While we do spoil some kinda major stuff, this is worth listening to even if you haven’t seen Class yet. After all, just this once, Caroline is back!

We built up a big backlog in our inbox, so it’s high time to sort through them. We wonder whether the first Doctor will want to regenerate any more than the incumbent does in the Christmas special. What could the future hold for Peter Capaldi, assuming he really truly is leaving and this isn’t all a big fakeout? (It isn’t, but it’s quite a thought.) We read an email with some sharp critiques of Steven Moffat’s treatment of women characters, especially companions. All that and more as Alasdair and Allison made a doomed effort to get back to inbox zero.