Knock Knock

The iconic ghost story: possibly one of the most popular forms of storytelling for centuries, from elaborate Dickensian novels, to childhood campfire tales. Our beloved Doctor Who program is no stranger to the paranormal yarn, yet we viewers never tire of seeing how the characters will grapple with what appears to be a spectral event but is clearly, surely, undoubtedly something more alien, technological, or just whizzo-science-y than Casper or that lovely couple from Beetlejuice. If we’re so certain of the outcome, […]

Smile

Language, like a living species, is an dynamic construct, ever evolving and subject to the influences of time. Certain rules and applications are introduced or are rendered obsolete as the populace drifts in or out of favor with them, either as a result of generational or regional usage and trend. (Look to the yearly addenda to the Oxford English Dictionary to see the brouhaha that erupts every time a new term is considered for inclusion.) Is it arguable that the emergence and exponential rise […]

The Pilot

There are many different strategies Whovians take when trying to convince a new viewer to delve into the program that they love so dearly. From carefully selected and sequenced primer sets, to take-it-from-the-top viewing marathons, the unique and often fickle nature of each observer could react favorably or adversely to any one of them. We are a subjective species, and our personal experiences have a profound impact on our receptiveness to anything new. With that in mind, if the creators […]

Doctor’s Exit, Stage Left

As we eagerly await the premiere of Series 10, news comes to us from the BBC that hits us like the proverbial ton of bricks: Peter Capaldi will be leaving at the end of this season, exiting alongside showrunner Steven Moffat. This week, Haley and Jay spend time discussing this and other Whovian news, and then wildly speculate about what’s to come in light of it all. News Links: Remembering John Hurt Series 10 Air Date Capaldi leaving after series 10 https://media.blubrry.com/gallifreypublicradio/gallifreypublicradio.com/media.gallifreypublicradio.com/gprnews.mp3Podcast: […]

The Return of Doctor Mysterio

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…and with a year like we’ve had, the lyric could not be more apropos. We’ve been (figuratively) starved for new Doctor Who since this time last year, and so with reckless aplomb, and a massive suspension of disbelief, we point one fist to the skies, leap upward in defiance of gravitational pull, and…pick up where the last Christmas special left off. This week, we find out once again how the Doctor is coping […]

Live from L.I. Who 4

We’ve had returns to alien worlds last seen when humans only perceived the world in black and white, scaly monsters thawed from the icy depths, and accoutrements on the TARDIS console that haven’t had hands jammed into them in over a generation. There’s something magical in realizing that a new episode of Doctor Who is actually using something from the “classic” era. (And hey, with the news today that Rona Munro is coming back to write an episode for Series […]

Continuity Concerns

If you were to take on a writing prompt asking you to compose a five-line scene where two well-known literary characters address a mundane event like a car that won’t start, and then asked another writer to do the same, the odds are extremely high that very little of those brief compositions would bear any resemblance other than the components that adhered to the original guideline. Even within such a microcosmic scope, the number of variables that define a fictional story is so large, […]

An Alien In America

The Doctor has the means and the desire to see the countless wonders of the Universe, from the epicenter of the Big Bang, to the outermost edges. With virtually infinite possible destinations, he certainly spends a lot of time on Earth, doesn’t he? Perhaps that’s just because we’re only privy to those adventures that brush upon our short, planetary-bound lives. Focus the lens a little further, and many of those Terran travels are right within the United Kingdom — again, […]

News Extra: Lost in the Timestream

Already reeling from the weekend’s news regarding Moffat’s step down, Chibnall’s succession and the delay of Series 10 until Spring of 2017, American Whovians were dealt yet another unexpected blow — the loss of Doctor Who content (both “classic” and post-2005) from the major streaming services Hulu and Netflix. Both. At once. Until further notice. In a supplemental reaction cast, Jay and Keir look at the repercussions of this change on accessibility to the program for one of the largest […]