Doctor Who: Memories of the Brigadier

Nicholas Courtney, the actor who played the legendary Doctor Who character Brigadier Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, passed away two days ago at the age of 81 following a long battle with cancer.  Although the Brigadier wasn't an official companion who chose to travel in time and space with the Doctor, he was about as close as you could get, often acting as a version of Dr. John Watson to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes.

Unlike most fans who were introduced to the Brigadier during the Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker eras, my first experience watching the character was in the Peter Davison episode "Mawdryn Undead."  Having retired from the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), Lethbridge-Stewart took a position as a A-Levels mathematics teacher at Brendon Public School.  He suffered, we soon learned, from a state of partial amnesia, caused by the Blinovitch Limitation Effect when two Brigadiers, one from 1977, another from 1983, touched and created an energy discharge. 

My own Doctor Who experience had been a whole twelve weeks old by this point, but I recall being very taken with the character and after seeing the brief flashback where the Brigadier regains his memories, I gathered there were earlier appearances with previous Doctors that I wanted -- no, needed -- to learn more about.  This curiosity about the Brigadier was sealed when I next saw him in "The Five Doctors," finding his scenes with the Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton, to be very entertaining and showcasing his relationship as a the Doctor's longtime friend and ally.

The local PBS station airing weekly Doctor Who stories, WVIZ out of Cleveland, Ohio, then went back and cycled through the Tom Baker era again, which allowed me to catch up on some earlier Brigadier appearances.  (Remember, back in the Stone Age of 1985, there was nothing so convenient as the internets and YouTube or iTunes to feed a specific Doctor Who fix at will using a few clicks of a mouse.)  I watched "Robot," the first Tom Baker story, and saw the Brig's reaction to the Doctor regenerating, revealing that he knew about, but hadn't seen, another previous regeneration.  I gathered this was the regeneration from Troughton to Pertwee, but again with such limited resources of the time, all I could do was wonder, wait and hope that I would eventually find out the circumstances behind the comment.

After cycling through the Davison stories again and then Colin Baker's, where I was dismayed that there was no appearance by the Brigadier, WVIZ finally aired the Jon Pertwee era.  Although the Pertwee era isn't one of my top favorites, it still has a number of must-watch stories, starting off with the classic "Spearhead from Space."  At long last, I was able to see the newly-regenerated Third Doctor be exiled to Earth by the Time Lords and hook up with the Brigadier and UNIT out of a mutually beneficial arrangement.  It was here and in several episodes that followed, where the core of the Doctor's friendship with the Brig was formed, even when the Doctor was being written as the liberal Dove-like ideological opponent to the Brigadier's conservative, Hawkish viewpoint.  Despite their occasional arguments, the Doctor knew he could rely on the Brigadier to order "Five rounds rapid" whenever some alien menace needed to be shot at, regardless of how futile the gesture ultimately was.  The Brigadier was the perfect solider, something the Doctor seems to need at times, as we eventually learn with future companion Martha Jones.

WVIZ cycled through the rest of Pertwee's episodes, then went back to the very beginning with WIlliam Hartnell and "An Unearthly Child" and cycled all the way through the entire series, understandably skipping past the incomplete or entirely missing Hartnell and Troughton stories.  Ultimately, though, I was finally able to watch the Brigadier in the Sylvester McCoy era story "Battlefield," his final official appearance on Doctor Who.

Although I had become used to the notion of the Brigadier getting older after seeing "Mawdryn Undead," it now seems strangely fitting that "Battlefield" was his final Doctor Who story.  He had retired and settled down with his second wife, Doris, but came back for one last adventure to help the Seventh Doctor and his UNIT successor, Brigadier Winifred Bambera.  The story was a great showcase for Nicholas Courtney, who got a proper sendoff for his beloved character even if we didn't know it at the time.  I later learned that there was talk about killing the Brigadier off in this story, but that was thankfully changed, if only so we had the potential to see him again somewhere, somewhen, down the road.

Even with Doctor Who's cancellation in 1989, there were several more appearances by the Brigadier in various novels, comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine, Big Finish audio adventures (where he met the Eighth Doctor in "Minuet in Hell"), and even the non-canonical adventure "Dimensions in Time" for the Children In Need charity telethon.  If nothing else, this poorly-executed story was good for keeping Courtney's streak of meeting the First through Eighth Doctors alive, however brief the actual meeting turned out to be.  These were some wonderful nods to fandom, to be certain, but they obviously paled in comparison to another full-fledged TV appearance by the Brigadier.

In 2008, we saw the last televised appearance of Brigadier -- now Sir -- Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures entitled "Enemy of the Bane."  Despite the occasional mention on the current series of Doctor Who that started in 2005, Courtney never returned to the series, much to many fans' disappointment.  He did, however, get a reunion with former Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen in her Sarah Jane Smith spinoff series, which revealed that the Brigadier was now considered a "Special Envoy" for UNIT, serving on diplomatic missions.  At his advanced age, the Brigadier is merely a plot device to advance the story, but he does provide the necessary charm of nostalgia to make the story more special, especially in his scenes with Sarah Jane.

Sadly, unless the role is recast at some point, this will probably be it for the Brigadier as a Doctor Who character.  Thankfully, Nicholas Courtney left behind a large number of very entertaining episodes for his fans to enjoy over and over again.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Brigadier, I heartily recommend checking out the episodes listed above and learning for yourselves what a vital part he was in Doctor Who's history.

Splendid fellow...all of him.

Doctor Who: Memories of Sarah Jane Smith

Oh, this one really hurts.

It hasn't been two months since Doctor Who fans lost Nicholas Courtney and now actress Elisabeth Sladen, who played the Doctor's definitive companion Sarah Jane Smith, has passed from cancer at the age of 63.  Sarah Jane is the only original series companion so far to return to Doctor Who since it relaunched in 2005 and she received two spinoffs of her own, the pilot episode for K-9 and Company and the considerably more successful series The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Although I didn't start watching Doctor Who regularly until the late Tom Baker era story "The Keeper of Traken," my first memories of Sarah Jane were from the story "The Seeds of Doom."  The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane were walking around a dark and snowy Antarctica and there was considerable concern over someone mutating into a Krynoid.  Even with only a 14-year-old's casual interest in what was going on, I noticed how spunky Sarah Jane was as she traded lines with the Doctor and how she could really belt out a scream of absolute terror as only the original series companions from back in the day could.

About a year later, I saw Sarah Jane again in "The Five Doctors" 20th anniversary special.  I hadn't seen her exit from the series, so I remember being a little thrown by seeing her with K-9.  As far as I knew from my preliminary research into the series, Sarah Jane never traveled with K-9, but I figured there had to be an explanation in the many Tom Baker episodes I hadn't seen.  Of course, the explanation was in K-9 and Company, but I wouldn't know that for a couple more years later.  In any case, it seemed odd to see Sarah Jane paired with the Third Doctor (whose episodes I also hadn't seen yet) instead of the Fourth and even then, the sight of her rolling down a not-very-steep hill intended to be a deep chasm was pretty amusing.  Still, the scene with the Raston Warrior Robot encounter was fun and it was nice to see her shake hands and introduce herself to Tegan Jovanka.

Eventually, though, my local PBS station, WVIZ out of Cleveland, Ohio, went back to the first Tom Baker story "Robot" after finishing with Peter Davison's era, so I was able to catch up on Sarah Jane's earlier exploits with the Fourth Doctor and finally see "The Seeds of Doom" good and proper.  The characters obviously had chemistry with one another and it was good to see Sarah Jane getting some quality screen time in stories such as "Genesis of the Daleks," "The Masque of Mandragora" and her final Doctor Who story (at the time), "The Hand of Fear."  I remember her going on about how "Eldrad must live" and all that, but Sarah Jane's exit where the Doctor accidentally drops her off in the wrong location still sticks out in my mind to this day.

WVIZ cycled through the Davison stories again and then Colin Baker's era, but then they finally went back and aired Jon Pertwee's.  It took four seasons of episodes with Liz Shaw and Jo Grant, but eventually I saw Sarah Jane's first story, "The Time Warrior."  At the time, I was struck at how much of a hardened feminist she was initially, although watching a 1973-74 story in 1987 probably made that stand out even more.  However, I finally understood why the Third Doctor and Sarah were paired together in "The Five Doctors," especially after learning the reason why Tom Baker had not appeared in the story.  Pertwee and Sladen complemented one another well enough, but I knew by now that the best was yet to come.  I later watched as a ginormous fake spider jumped on Sarah Jane's back in "Planet of the Spiders" and saw her tears as theThird Doctor regenerated at the end of the story.  And then, at that important series moment, I finally had the missing piece that enabled me to picture Sarah Jane's full story -- and an important period in Doctor Who's history -- in my mind.  The whole series just clicked in my head at that point, creating the framework that I would keep adding memories and information to year after year.

I figured that was pretty much it for Sarah Jane after that.  I eventually saw K-9 and Company, painful though it was, but appreciated it for one last adventure with Sarah Jane.  It was after 1989 by this time and Doctor Who, as much as we knew at the time, was never going to return to TV screens again except in reruns on PBS or VHS tapes.

And then in 2006, something wonderful happened...

A year after Doctor Who was introduced to an entirely new generation of fans with the Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, his successor David Tennant took over and the Doctor was soon reacquainted with a couple of old friends.  In the episode "School Reunion," we caught up with Sarah Jane and K-9 as they encountered the Krillitanes.  The 2006 Sarah Jane (now looking a bit MILFy, or CILFy if you will) was still investigating after all these years, as it should be, although we learned she harbored some resentment at not having a proper goodbye after leaving the TARDIS.  She also had issues with the considerably younger Rose Tyler, which quickly turned into a somewhat bitchy "missus and the ex" confrontation.  Thankfully, Sarah Jane resolved her issues with Rose and the Doctor and even encouraged the Doctor to take on Mickey Smith as a full-fledged companion.  The episode was a great return for Sarah Jane and also a great farewell for the character...or was it?

It turned out the success of "School Reunion" paved the way for a Doctor Who spinoff series geared toward younger viewers, The Sarah Jane Adventures.  Debuting in 2007, the series developed Sarah Jane like never before, giving the character an actual setting and "graduating" her to the lead heroine with her own son named Luke and a set of young companions in addition to K-9 and a sentient computer named Mr. Smith.  The series managed to add to the overall Doctor Who mythos, bringing back villains such as the Sontarans, the Judoon and the Slitheen, as well as characters like the Brigadier and Jo Grant (Jones).  Most importantly, it featured a reunion story with the Tenth Doctor and another featuring Sarah Jane's only encounter with the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith.

We had a few more appearances by Sarah Jane on Doctor Who in the midst of her own series.  She returned in "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" with her son Luke when Davros and the Daleks transported Earth across the universe.  As she left the TARDIS once again following the adventure, she waved goodbye to the Tenth Doctor and also to the audience, it seemed, not knowing if they (and we) would ever meet again.  Thankfully, we got one final glimpse of her in part two of "The End of Time," where she exchanged one last, meaningful look with the dying Tenth Doctor after he saved her son Luke from being hit by a car.  Being David Tennant's final episode, the scene was particularly bittersweet but appreciated nonetheless.

And now, Elisabeth Sladen and her iconic character Sarah Jane Smith are gone but definitely not forgotten.  As Sarah Jane once said, "The universe has to move forward.  Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love.  Whether it's a world, or a relationship...Everything has its time...and everything ends."

Thanks for the memories, Elisabeth.  Rest in peace.

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 338: "Rose: Regenerated" Is Up!

 
"What did you say your name was?"
"I told you -- The Doctor."
"Yeah, but, Doctor what?"
"Just The Doctor."
"The Doctor?"
"Hello!"
"Is that meant to be impressive?"
"Sort of, yeah."
-- Rose Tyler and the Ninth Doctor, Doctor Who: "Rose"

Hello again, everyone! My partner in time Jesse Jackson and I are back for another new episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast! This time, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of New Who as we regenerate our discussion of "Rose", the first episode from Doctor Who Series One in 2005, introducing Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, and Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith, and featuring the return of the Autons!

In this episode, Jesse and I discuss things like this being the third time we've discussed "Rose", recording on the actual 20th anniversary of "Rose", Jesse's memories of watching "Rose" for the first time, finally getting the new Season 2/Series 15 episode titles, the new trailers have a more serious tone than last season, the joy that seeing a new episode of Doctor Who brought to my life in 2005, my watching a bootleg version of "Rose" downloaded really slowly with a dial-up modem, Jesse's reaction to seeing Star Trek on the big screen in 1979, the anticipation of news building up to "Rose", getting used to Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper's accents, a new generation of Doctor Who fandom spreading all over the world, Mark Benton returning as Clive in Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon, Paul McGann being willing to return for a regeneration scene, Russell T Davies offering Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright the opportunity to direct "Rose", "Rose" giving a nod to the original series debuting one day after the Kennedy assassination, "Rose" being leaked early onto the internet, the BBC releasing a statement from Eccleston that wasn't an official statement, the Ninth Doctor's first word being "Run!", Star Trek nerds looking down on Doctor Who fans, the moment that hooked Jesse as a fan, wondering why Rose couldn't be bothered to notice that Mickey had obviously been replaced by an Auton, my empathy for Mickey being kicked to the curb by Rose, Rose and the Doctor needing one another, the Ninth Doctor and Rose have a more emotional connection than classic era Doctors and their companions, Jesse's first impression of Jackie Tyler, the exploration of what happens to companions' lives and the people they leave behind to travel with the Doctor, the Autons having a basic plan to help introduce the show, the classic era being unable to compete with bigger budget shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Russell T Davies cutting "Rose" down to the bare Doctor Who essentials to make the show accessible to people who didn't know anything about Doctor Who, our favorite quotes of the story, new listener feedback from Holly Mac, Dave Proctor, Sandi from Oregon, and Xan Sprouse, watching "Fury from the Deep" right before getting new Doctor Who to discuss, and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

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We now have a BRAND NEW Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, which you can find on TeePublic RIGHT HERE!  This spiffy shirt looks great when you're listening to your favorite Doctor Who podcast and travelling through time and space! Or you could order all sorts of cool Next Stop Everywhere merch there as well!

Be sure to come back in two weeks for the next episode of Next Stop Everywhere as Jesse and I discuss "Fury from the Deep", the sixth serial from Doctor Who Season 5 in 1968, featuring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon, and the final appearance of Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield!

DOCTOR WHO: Memories of the War Doctor

"Great men are forged in fire.  It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame, whatever the cost."
-- The War Doctor, Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor"

Three days ago, the world lost noted English actor Sir John Hurt, better known to Doctor Who fans as the War Doctor, although his death at the age of 77 wasn't announced until yesterday.  Hurt's career spanned six decades, including such classic films as The Elephant Man, 1984, Alien, Spaceballs, V for Vendetta, Hellboy, Contact, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Snowpiercer, and the Harry Potter films.  The man, quite simply, was a legend, which made his decision to become such a integral part of the Doctor Who mythos so wonderful.

We got our first glimpse of the War Doctor in 2013's "The Name of the Doctor", the Series Seven finale, where Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor and his companion Clara Oswald encounter a mysterious stranger the Doctor ominously describes as "The one who broke the promise". Clara suddenly collapses from exhaustion, and as the Doctor picks her up, the stranger addresses the Doctor, saying "What I did, I did without choice...in the name of peace and sanity", to which the Doctor replies angrily, "But not in the name of The Doctor."  As the Doctor carries Clara away, the stranger turns around to reveal an elderly bearded man and an on-screen caption states "Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor."  Needless to say, fans (including myself) who watched this on BBC America were stunned by the cliffhanger and positively squirmed at the idea of having to wait six months to find out what that damn caption meant.

On November 23, 2013, Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", finally revealed the War Doctor as a previously unknown and unmentioned incarnation of the Doctor between Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor and Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor.  Created by writer and showrunner Steven Moffat as a replacement character because Eccleston declined to return for the anniversary special, the War Doctor fought in the Time War as a warrior and was responsible for the planet Gallifrey's destruction, an act which tormented his later incarnations. Hurt's war-weary and grumpy performance won fans over quickly, especially when he began interacting with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors and felt like a character "worthy" of being one of the Doctor's incarnations.  At the end of the special, we were sad to see the War Doctor regenerate into the Ninth Doctor, officially connecting the Eighth and Ninth Doctors in continuity, and simply hoped he might return someday, however unlikely that was.

In 2014, the War Doctor turned up again, this time in his first Doctor Who novel, Engines of War, written by George Mann.  Yeah, this wasn't as good as seeing the War Doctor on television again, but at least it was something with the character. With so much of the Time War still unrevealed, there was a lot of untapped potential to be explored and it was fun to get a proper War Doctor adventure at last.  In the story, the TARDIS crashes on the planet Moldox following a battle with Dalek saucers, where the Doctor meets a human resistance fighter Cinder, a young woman whose family were killed by the Daleks when she was a child.  The Doctor learns that the Eternity Circle, a group of Daleks created by the Dalek Emperor, have produced temporal weapons which they plan to use against the Time Lords, removing them from history.  Travelling to Gallifrey to warn the Time Lords, he finds them preparing to counterattack using a weapon that will cause the death of billions, Dalek and non-Dalek alike.  Mann's novel was satisfying, in my humble opinion, but it still wasn't the same as hearing Hurt's gravelly voice once again.

Big Finish Productions came to our collective rescue in 2015, with John Hurt reprising his role of the War Doctor at long last in a series of three audio adventure sets.  The first War Doctor audio adventure, "The Innocent", arrived with the first set, Only the Monstrous, and gave the War Doctor his own militaristic theme arrangement by Howard Carter and a supporting character in the form of a manipulative Time Lady, Cardinal Ollistra.  The Big Finish audios essentially created a War Doctor "TV season" of twelve stories total where Hurt was able to develop his Doctor beyond the 50th anniversary story.  The final set of three audio adventures, Casualties of War, is slated to be released by Big Finish in February, including Hurt's final story as the War Doctor, "The Enigma Dimension".

Unless the role is recast at some point in the future, there will probably be "No more" adventures of the War Doctor.  Although the character's time with us was short and sweet, if a bit grumpy along the way, John Hurt's performances will be cherished by Doctor Who fans all over the world for decades to come.  

DOCTOR WHO: Memories of Time and Space

Forty-seven years ago today, in the first episode of the story "An Unearthly Child," two schoolteachers followed a strange teenaged girl and her curmudgeonly grandfather into a British police box and television history was made.  Doctor Who became a worldwide phenomenon in the years that followed, going through eleven lead actors, umpteen companions and all sorts of aliens and monsters, ultimately earning the record for the world's longest-running science-fiction series.

I first discovered Doctor Who in early 1984 at the age of 14.  My parents and I were visiting my aunt and uncle in Columbus one evening and while the adults were off playing Euchre, I was left alone to my preferred world of watching television while reading a stack of comic books.  As my fellow members of Generation X know, television options in 1984 were pretty damn slim, especially since my aunt and uncle didn't yet have cable television.  So I manually turned the channel knob (Yes, children...manually) in the hopes of finding something I could tolerate while reading my comics.

Since there were all of six stations -- ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and a couple of independent stations -- this didn't take very long but I ultimately settled on PBS as soon as I heard some spooky music and decided it was the most interesting thing on.  Some guys were digging around in a raging snowstorm and uncovered some sort of strange pod thing that they took back to their camp.  Satisfied enough with my programming selection, I stretched out on the living room floor and started reading one of my comics, but then became distracted when something weird happened on the television.  One of the guys was stung by a tentacle that erupted from the pod and he ended up becoming covered from head to toe in a creepy green fungus.  Also, some curly-haired guy in a big hat and a long scarf and his short brunette friend seemed pretty bothered about it, but whatever was going on, it was pretty weird and cool.  As I later learned, this was the classic Tom Baker era story "The Seeds of Doom," featuring Elisabeth Sladen as definitive companion Sarah Jane Smith.

Now, I would love to tell you what I thought about the rest of the episode, but my family's card game had ended and my parents and I left to go back home to Medina.  That could have been it for my lifelong Doctor Who obsession, but as fate (or general probability) would have it, I ended up in similar circumstances later that summer after turning 15.  On a boring Saturday afternoon, I was flipping channels at home (at least we had a TV with a remote), desperately looking for something to watch.  I looked through the newspaper channel guide and saw that Doctor Who, that strange show I saw before, was about to come on my local PBS station with an hour and a half long episode called "The Keeper of Traken."

As soon as I heard the opening starburst of Peter Howell's arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music, I became hooked forever.

That howling, synthesized music introduced me to the world of the Doctor, now looking older in Tom Baker's seventh and final season, his new companion Adric and the blue phone booth-looking machine called the TARDIS.  From there I met a young girl called Nyssa, who would soon become a companion as well, and learned about the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master.  And when the story ended (in a cliffhanger of all things, the bastards!) with Nyssa's father Tremas becoming a newly regenerated Master, my jaw dropped and I simply had to tune in next week to find out what happened next.  Remember, back in the Stone Age, there was no handy-dandy internet where you could download the next episode or instantly look up what happened on Wikipedia or numerous Doctor Who reference sites.  No, you had to bloody wait an entire seven days.

So with seven days being a relative eternity to a 15-year-old, I somehow managed to tune in again for "Logopolis," Tom Baker's final adventure as the Fourth Doctor.  Once again, that crack-addictive theme music howled ooooooweeeeoooooooo in the living room and I was introduced to the Australian "mouth on legs," Tegan Jovanka, and a mysterious white figure called the Watcher who turned up at various ominous moments.  The Doctor and Adric received warnings from the TARDIS' Cloister Bell that something dangerous was going to happen, but for some reason, the Doctor was focused on fixing the TARDIS' Chameleon Circuit through something called block-transfer computation and I have no idea what all that means but it's awesome!  Eventually, Nyssa returned and joined Tegan and Adric to see the Fourth Doctor have a showdown with the Master atop a very slowly rotating satellite dish platform.  The Doctor disconnected a power cable that he ended up hanging precariously from and then suddenly, bizarrely, he saw Sarah Jane and some other people, along with the Master and some other villainous people.  And then -- Holy crap! -- he fell!  There he was, dying with his three companions surrounding him, until the Watcher came up and merged with him somehow, turning the Doctor into a younger, fair-haired guy who smiled and sat up like nothing had happened.

In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves...WHOA.

And that, as they say, was that.  From "Castrovalva" onward, I became a diehard fan of the Fifth Doctor -- my Doctor -- played by Peter Davison.  Davison's era became my defining period as a full-fledged Whovian, encouraging me to learn about all seven Doctors, all the companions, all the villains and monsters, and all the episodes.  I watched every week in full fan-obsessed mode, sitting through interminable PBS pledge drives, videotaping every episode the station was generous enough to air and tracking down any potential Doctor Who thing I could find, which in northeast Ohio, wasn't a whole lot.  And then, after my family briefly moved to Florida in 1989, my heart broke after learning that the show had been cancelled for some insanely stupid reasons.  It was the end...and the moment had not been prepared for. 

I received a brief glimmer of hope in 1996 with the TV Movie starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, but that faded upon learning that the backdoor pilot did poorly in the ratings and wasn't going to be picked up by FOX or the BBC.  With only Doctor Who Magazine to keep Whovians going during the Dark Times, Doctor Who fandom fully regenerated on September 26, 2003, when we got the announcement was made that Doctor Who was returning in 2005...

....and Rassilon willing, to stay.

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 239: "Asylum of the Daleks" Is Up!

 
"Is there a word for 'total screaming genius' that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"
"Doctor. You call me The Doctor."
"I see what you did there."
-- Oswin Oswald and the Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who: "Asylum of the Daleks"

Hello again, everyone!  I'm back with a new episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast!  Celebrating Next Stop Everywhere's 7th anniversary, special guest companion Holly Mac and I discuss Jodie Whittaker & Chris Chibnall leaving Doctor Who, along with “Asylum of the Daleks”, the first episode from Doctor Who Series 7 in 2012, featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, and Jenna Coleman as Oswin Oswald!

In this episode, Holly and I discuss things like Holly being the one who finally picked "Asylum of the Daleks" to discuss, our mutual surprise that Chris Chibnall is leaving Doctor Who the same time as Jodie Whittaker, our skepticism that Chibnall made a "pact" with Jodie to leave after three seasons, Doctor Who fans who keep asking for previous Doctors to return to the show whenever the latest Doctor leaves, my rundown of how Jodie Whittaker's final nine episodes will be scheduled, previous season-long overarching stories "The Key to Time" and "The Trial of a Time Lord", Jenna Coleman playing Lady Johanna Constantine in the upcoming TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, my rundown of which classic Doctor Who stories were referenced with the Intensive Care Daleks, Steven Moffat lifting "Eggs-Stir-Min-Ate" from Paul Cornell's comic story for the 1993 Doctor Who Yearbook, the Prequel to "Asylum of the Daleks", the Daleks kidnapping the Doctor and his companions to deal with their problem with a planet full of insane Daleks, Holly's reaction to the first time she saw the episode, Amy and Rory being this close to divorcing, Amy revealing that she was left sterile because of something the Silence and Madame Kovarian did to her at Demon's Run, getting of preview of Jenna Coleman before she became the next companion, Steven Moffat's twist reveal that Oswin was turned into a Dalek, Oswin erasing the Daleks' memories of the Doctor, the Doctor as David Caruso from CSI: Miami, our favorite quotes of the episode, my Reverse the Polarity segment, new feedback from Dave Proctor, John Takacs returning to discuss "The Ark", and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

Apple Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE
Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn -- RIGHT HERE
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Be sure to come back in two weeks as I'm joined by special guest companion John Takacs as we discuss "The Ark", the fifth serial from Doctor Who Season 3 in 1966, featuring William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet, and Inigo Jackson as Zentos!

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 156: "Turn Left" is Up!

"That doctor."
"You knew him."
"Did I?  When?"
"I think you dream about him sometimes.  There’s a man in a suit.  Tall, thin man.  Great hair.  Some…really great hair."
-- Donna Noble and Rose Tyler, Doctor Who: "Turn Left"

Hello again, everyone!  Special guest companion Holly Mac from The Five(ish) Fangirls Podcast returns to Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast to help me discuss "Turn Left", the eleventh episode of Doctor Who Series 4 in 2008, featuring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, and Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott!

In this episode, Holly and I discuss things like Doctor-lite vs. Doctor Light, how "Turn Left" appealed to Holly, Donna winning over Holly, Wilf being the best grandpa ever, waiting for the big Cosmic Reset Button after Donna's memories of traveling with the Doctor are removed, Russell T. Davies announcing his departure and the ambiguity over David Tennant's departure, the plan for the return of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, more of Doctor Who companion mothers being horrible, Chipo Chung as Chantho, Wilf favoring his granddaughter over his actual daughter, wondering how Sylvia turned out the way she did, Rule 2 of Doctor Who, the Fortune Teller persuading Donna to take the road not taken, wondering why the Doctor can't regenerate if he drowns, Holly's momentary panic about seeing the Doctor die, Wilf realizing how bad "labor camps" can be, Sylvia sliding into depression, the alternate outcomes of previous Doctor Who episodes, the Trickster never appearing on Doctor Who, Rose guiding Donna toward restoring the original timeline, the awkward moment when Donna materialized two miles away from meeting herself with only two minutes to change things, Donna's self-sacrifice to reset the timeline and free herself from the Time Beetle, the moment when the Doctor realizes that Donna met Rose, the return of Bad Wolf graffiti, our favorite quotes of the episode, my Reverse the Polarity segment, new feedback from David K. Proctor, Holly's fellow Five(ish) Fangirl Rachel Frend, and more!

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In honor of our 5th anniversary, we now have a NEW Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt with our current logo, which you can find on TeePublic right HERE!  This spiffy new shirt looks great when you're listening to your favorite Doctor Who podcast and travelling through time and space!  Or your could order all sorts of cool Next Stop Everywhere merch there as well!

And hey, if you'd like to pick up our classic logo Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, you can also find it on TeePublic right HERE!  Help support the show and feel free to post pictures on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back next week, as new special guest companion Rachel Frend from The Five(ish) Fangirls Podcast joins me on Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast to discuss "Vengeance on Varos", the second serial of Doctor Who Series 22 in 1985, featuring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown, and introducing Nabil Shaban as Sil!

DAMN Good Television -- DOCTOR WHO: "Asylum of the Daleks"

The Series Seven premiere featured a number of mysteries and surprises, so River Song Spoilers are in full effect.  Consider yourselves warned.

It's been far too long of a wait since the last full Doctor Who episode, "The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe," aired last Christmas.  Whovians all over the world have been forced to survive on BBC America Best Of specials, talk show interviews, convention appearances, blog posts (Cheers, everyone!), Doctor Who Magazine, Big Finish audio adventure CDs, podcasts, YouTube videos, Twitter, Tumblr, and other assorted whatnot for the past eight months, so was all of that worth it just for another Dalek story?

Oh, yeah.  Totally worth it.

We open "Asylum of the Daleks" on the planet Skaro, homeworld of the Daleks, that was previously thought to be destroyed by the Seventh Doctor in "Remembrance of the Daleks," only to turn up again at the beginning of the 1996 TV Movie, and then was supposedly devastated during the Time War as revealed in "Daleks in Manhattan."  So okay, the Eleventh Doctor turns up on Devastated Skaro inside a giant monument of a Dalek (No monument for you, Davros) and is captured by a new Dalek Puppet humanoid agent capable of extending Dalek eyestalks from their foreheads.  And because the Doctor needs companions, Amy and Rory Pond are abruptly interrupted from their angsty, uncomfortable divorce paper signing and captured by Dalek Puppets as well.

The opening credits are tweaked a bit with mixed results.  Now with a slight greenish tint to the temporal vortex, the whooshing block letters listing the lead actors' names have been replaced by a more mysterious font that materializes into view on screen.  The annoying DOCTOR [DW] WHO series title graphic has finally been replaced with just DOCTOR WHO, but for some silly reason, the letters now feature a look designed to fit the episode theme, this time with Dalek bumps.  The [DW], meanwhile, now appears right afterward by itself and still spins into the TARDIS resuming her journey through the vortex as the episode title materializes into view.  So you win some, you lose some.

Anyway, it turns out that the Parliament of the Daleks have gathered together on a spaceship for DalekCon or SkaroCon or whatever and want the Doctor, Amy and Rory to go down to a planet called the Asylum.  A ship called the Alaska has crashed there, rupturing the planet's force field that prevents the Really Insane Daleks from escaping.  The Parliament now want to turn off the force field so they can destroy the Asylum, but because they're apparently total wusses, they want the Doctor and his companions to do it for them.  Everybody got that?

Well, it seems there's a survivor from the Alaska crash, a smart, sassy young brunette named Oswin Oswald, played by actress Jenna-Louise Coleman.  But wait a second, wasn't Coleman supposed to debut as the Doctor's new companion in the 2012 Christmas episode?  And wasn't her character supposed to be named Clara Oswin instead?  Surprise, here she is in the season's first episode...or is she...?  So here's Oswin, who has somehow managed to fend off the Daleks for an entire year and has a fondness for "Habanera" from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen as well as baking soufflés without actually having any milk.  What the--?!

The Doctor and Amy are separated from Rory during transport down to the Asylum, so that they can be attacked by Dalek zombies while Oswin flirts with almost-single Rory over an intercom.  Amy loses her Dalek Puppet Virus protection device in the process, which causes her to gradually lose her memory.  After she and the Doctor reach Rory, the Ponds argue over who loves the other more, with Rory playing his "I waited for you for 2,000 years" trump card and Amy confessing that she is unable to have more children after "A Good Man Goes to War" and knows that Rory wants kids, so she gave him up.  Awwwww...

The Doctor, meanwhile, ventures through the "Intensive Care" section that contains Daleks that fought him in classic Doctor Who stories and hate him the most.  It's here that writer Steven Moffat attempts to restore some of the lost sense of menace to the Daleks, making them feel creepier and more threatening at a single moment.  Just as things look grimmer than grim, Oswin saves the Doctor by deleting the Daleks' memories of him (More memory stuff, hmmm...)  And then, Moffat throws out a Major Plot Twist by revealing that Oswin, it turns out, was actually converted into a Dalek shortly after the Alaska crashed.  Oswin deactivates the force field, with her final words to the Doctor (and us, with a knowing smile) being "I am Oswin Oswald.  I fought the Daleks and I am human.  Remember me.  Run, you clever boy, and remember."

So the Doctor, Amy and Rory escape the Asylum just in time for the Parliament to blow it to bits, but back on the spaceship, the Daleks are all "Doc-tor who?  Doc-tor WHO?"  Yes, Oswin not only erased the memories of the Intensive Care Daleks but all Daleks everywhere.  The Doctor drops Amy and Rory back off at their townhouse in London, at least until the next episode, and then goes off in the TARDIS alone, reveling in the Daleks' question -- The same question that must never be answered -- "Doctor who?"

Once again, Steven Moffat is playing the long game with Whovians.  Did we see the ultimate end of Clara Oswin Oswald before we actually meet her, just as we did with River Song?  And why is remembering so important?  I mean, I'm sure there were some villains that had something to do with memory, if only I could remember them...

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 269: "Davros" is Up!

 
"Baynes was clear. We are to work together."
"Well, we are working together. I'm pleasantly surprised just how well you're fitting in as my assistant. Now, I'm going to be a bit busy, do mind making tea?"
(Davros snarls in frustration)
"Oh, come on, Davros. Making tea shouldn't be beyond you. After all, you can't say team without saying tea."
-- Davros and the Sixth Doctor, Doctor Who: "Davros"

Hello again, everyone! My partner in time Jesse Jackson and I are back with a new episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast! This time, we're joined by special guest companion Rachel Frend as we pay tribute to the late Bernard Cribbins and discuss "Davros", the second audio drama from Big Finish Productions' celebration of Doctor Who's 40th Anniversary in 2003, featuring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Terry Molloy as Davros, and Wendy Padbury as Lorraine Baynes!

In this episode, Jesse, Rachel and I discuss things like Texas being hit with rain, why Rachel selected "Davros" to discuss, paying tribute to the passing of Bernard Cribbins, the Big Finish synopsis for Davros not being accurate to what the story is about, Davros being powered by hatred, Davros not being able to keep himself from going off the rails even when he's trying to become a better person, Bernard Horsfall as the same Time Lord in "The War Games" and "The Deadly Assassin", Big Finish's Doctor Who 40th anniversary stories doing deep dives on villains, the Sixth Doctor operating alone while Peri is off elsewhere at a botany symposium, the Sixth Doctor and Davros both trying to be the Smartest Person in the Room, wondering if the Sixth Doctor experienced memories of working for UNIT while in exile on Earth during his third incarnation, Terry Molloy's return as Davros, Arnold and Lorraine Baynes being a horrible power couple, Lorraine being a complete sycophant for Davros, Davros being worse than Arnold Baynes, the rich and powerful vs. the media trying to expose them for what they are, Kim taking herself off the board so the Doctor wouldn't be hesitant about crashing Davros' ship, Shan being revealed as the one who came up with the idea for the Daleks, Davros being That Guy at Work who steals credit for the accomplishments of others, Davros being jealous of Shan fraternizing with Councilor Valron, Davros making up "evidence" to have Shan and Councilor Valron arrested and executed, Davros thinking there could be only one greatest scientist in Skaro history, Doctor Who predicting the future again, out favorite quotes of the episode, my Reverse the Reverse the Polarity segment, new feedback from Holly Mac, Rachel returning soon to discuss her second-favorite Doctor, our upcoming discussion of "The Happiness Patrol", and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

Apple Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE
Google Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE
Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn -- RIGHT HERE
Spotify -- RIGHT HERE
Stitcher -- RIGHT HERE

Next Stop Everywhere's Facebook page

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We have a NEW Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt with our current logo, which you can find on TeePublic right HERE!  This spiffy new shirt looks great when you're listening to your favorite Doctor Who podcast and travelling through time and space!  Or your could order all sorts of cool Next Stop Everywhere merch there as well!

And hey, if you'd like to pick up our classic logo Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, you can also find it on TeePublic right HERE!  Help support the show and feel free to post pictures on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back in two weeks for the next episode of Next Stop Everywhere as Jesse and I are joined by special guest companion Holly Mac to discuss "The Happiness Patrol", the second serial from Doctor Who Season 25 in 1988, featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Dorothy "Ace" McShane, and Sheila Hancock as Helen A!

DOCTOR WHO: Memories of the First Romana

Another one gone now, far too many.

Just less than two months after the death of Doctor Who actress Caroline John, Whovians around the world are once again in mourning following news of Tom Baker era actress Mary Tamm, who played the first incarnation of the Fourth Doctor's Time Lady companion Romana.  Tamm passed away this morning at the age of 62 from a reported 18-month battle with cancer.

As I've mentioned in previous "Doctor Who Memories" posts, I didn't start watching the series until very late in the Tom Baker era, so I missed both Romanas the first time.  I had to wait until my local PBS station, WVIZ out of Cleveland, cycled through the entire Peter Davison era and then about halfway through a repeat showing of Tom Baker's era before watching my first Romana story, "The Ribos Operation."

I liked her right from the start.  Although deliberately cold and haughty at first, the character Romanadvoratrelundar quickly settled down into a clever and charming companion for the Doctor.  Here at last was a companion not only capable of being on the Doctor's level, but occasionally surpassing it.  However, because Romana was centuries younger than the Doctor and less experienced in fighting all sorts of alien monsters, the mentor/student relationship kept the character from taking the series' focus away from the Doctor.  And okay, it didn't exactly hurt that she was one of the most attractive companions in the series' history.

I was disappointed to find out that Tamm's Romana only lasted one season, the entire "Key to Time" story arc of Season 16.  There were some solid Doctor Who classics in this season -- the aforementioned "The Ribos Operation," Douglas Adams' "The Pirate Planet," "The Androids of Tara," and the final story of the first Romana, "The Armageddon Factor."  The less said about "The Power of Kroll," however, the better.

"The Androids of Tara" was the true spotlight story for Tamm, where she acted once again as Romana, but also as physical match Princess Strella and both of their android doubles.  Wearing a distinctive purple outfit that Tamm supposedly designed herself, she stole as much attention as anyone could away from Tom Baker.  She gets to do some very Doctorish things like facing the monster and finding the segment to the Key to Time early on, but because she's a companion, of course, it's not long before she's twisting her ankle and ends up on an operating table about to have her head cut off.  I did, however, quite like the bit where Romana tries to "start" a horse.

At the time, it was a little frustrating as a fan to see Lalla Ward take over as Romana at the beginning of "Destiny of the Daleks" and also a bit weird, considering Tamm and Ward had shared scenes together in "The Armageddon Factor" with Ward playing Princess Astra.  The idea of Romana being able to try on different bodies before settling on her second incarnation's appearance seemed pretty frivilous and convenient, but hey, you just have to roll with these things sometimes with Doctor Who.  Later on in 2007, I read that Tamm was willing to come back a film a regeneration scene but wasn't invited to do so, another tragically missed opportunity for the series.

So one season and done for Mary Tamm's Romana, apart from appearances here and there in Fourth Doctor novels and Companion Chronicles audio adventure stories from Big Finish.  Thankfully though, Tom Baker's recent agreement to create new Fourth Doctor audio adventures has resulted in seven new Fourth Doctor and First Romana stories, with Tamm reprising her role.  The first one, "The Auntie Matter" is scheduled for release in January 2013, followed by "The Sands of Life," "War Against the Laan," "The Justice of Jalxar," "Phantoms of the Deep," "The Dalek Contract" and "The Final Phase."

It's going to be a bit sad though, listening to those audio adventures recorded prior to Tamm's death and realizing these seven stories will be the last we'll get to hear of her Romana.  In the meantime, if you haven't watched "The Key to Time" season (and shame on you big time if you haven't), I definitely recommend seeing for yourselves what made Mary Tamm's Romana such a wonderful, and far too brief, addition to the series.