Debating Doctor Who

With Caroline firmly established as the River Song of the podcast -- meaning don't expect her on every week! -- Allison and Alasdair take a break from picking guest stars to go through our inbox. We consider some more of the finer points of "Heaven Sent," including the question of whether it and "Hell Bent" ought to switch titles. And what is the deeper significance of the chalkboard and the hybrid? One listener suggests the 12th Doctor has the best arc of any new series incarnation, which is probably true but Allison has a go at arguing for the 10th Doctor's journey. And then we go deep on a very thoughtful, very vulnerable email about what it means to not like Bill Potts.

For the first time ever, all three debaters are on the same episode, as Caroline Siede joins Alasdair and Allison. After some brief discussion of Caroline's rewatch of the most recent few seasons, we dive back into the Russell T. Davies era to pick our favorite guest performances from each season. We have to have a little debate first about just what constitutes a guest performance, and then we dive in on picking each of our favorites for the show's first four seasons, along with plenty of runners-up!

We kick off with some discussion of the latest 13th Doctor promo photo. Sure, it just shows Jodie Whittaker from the same shoot at a slightly different angle, but we still have several minutes' worth of thoughts. Then we officially talk about something other than the new series with a look at the 1996 TV movie, which has its heart(s) in the right place but is so, so misguided at all times. Both longtime admirer Alasdair and new viewer Allison agree Paul McGann shows a ton of potential as the 8th Doctor, but that's close to the only unqualified success of those 90 bonkers minutes. At least it's instructive in showing what "Rose" gets right in introducing the 9th Doctor and Doctor Who in general to viewers, even if the first adventure of the new series has its own bits of silliness. We also pepper in some thoughts on "The Night Of The Doctor," since this is Paul McGann week. Join us next time for the first part of our look at our favorite guest performances from the new series!

We close out our Peter Capaldi retrospective by talking about the most Peter Capaldi episode to ever Peter Capaldi: The one-hander "Heaven Sent." Well, it's technically a two- or three-hander, but who's keeping count? We break down just what about his performance helps make this episode work as beautifully as it does, while also examining how Steven Moffat's script and Rachel Talalay's direction put their star in the best possible position to succeed. We also get into some more general thoughts about where this episode and the 12th Doctor's era as a whole fit in the larger story of the new series. Then join us next week as we do something new, or possibly classic, as we look at two efforts to revive Doctor Who, one failed and one successful: The 1996 TV movie with Paul McGann and the 9th's Doctor's debut adventure "Rose"!

We embark on our two-part celebration of Peter Capaldi's time as the 12th Doctor with two all-time classics, Series 8's "Listen" and Series 10's "Thin Ice." At first glance these are very different stories, one a dreamlike tone piece and the other maybe the best-executed romp in Doctor Who history. Throw in the fact that these catch the Doctor at very different points in his history and you might think the contrasts will overwhelm the parallels, but that's not what Alasdair and Allison find as they dig into this story. Also, we throw in some more thoughts about "Twice Upon A Time," and Alasdair randomly pays tribute to the only two regeneration stories that are clearly better, Peter Davison's "The Caves Of Androzani" and Patrick Troughton's "The War Games." Just the sort of thing you've come to expect from us! Anyway, join us next week for a big look at the best 12th Doctor story of them all, "Heaven Sent."

Alasdair and Allison give their first (and we're already pretty much certain not the last) thoughts on the 12th Doctor's surprisingly reflective regeneration story. We start by mostly discussing the last 10 or 15 minutes of the story, because we're extremely bad at structuring our conversations and also because that's when the episode becomes basically perfect. We reflect on how David Bradley works as the 1st Doctor, touch on returns both expected and unexpected, and generally praise Pearl Mackie and Peter Capaldi once more. What a way to go out, but we've rarely been quite so excited about seeing what the show has in store for us next. And join us this weekend for the first half of our Peter Capaldi retrospective, as we look at two of our favorite episodes: "Listen" from series eight and "Thin Ice" from series 10, with series nine's entry (no points for guessing, but yes it's "Heaven Sent") coming along the week after!

As a Christmas gift to all our listeners, we're releasing this past Saturday's episode to our non-patrons earlier than normal! After all, it's to get ready for "Twice Upon a Time" - which we will podcast about as soon as possible, but the lack of screener means things are a bit up in the air - that we look at the beginning and the end of Peter Capaldi's three series as the 12th Doctor. How much has he changed from "Deep Breath" to "The Doctor Falls"? The answer is basically "oh my goodness what even was he when he started out, where is the Doctor I know." Well, it's not quite that bad, as there are definitely hints of what Capaldi would grow into in his debut outing, but "Deep Breath" very much feels like the follow-up to "The Time Of The Doctor," with all that implies. Plus we check in on "The Doctor Falls" for the third time in the past few months, if only to revel in how beautiful that speech to the two Masters is. We're not yet ready for the Doctor to go, but at least the moment has been prepared for.

With "Twice Upon A Time" little more than a week away, let's look at Steven Moffat's previous attempt to write a regeneration epic. It's... oh goodness, where to even start. Alasdair and Allison try to look at every bonkers element of this story, some of which are misguided, some of which are legitimately gross and offensive, and some of which are just deeply dumb and inexplicable. Also, seriously, whatever happened to Clara's hot dad? And don't worry: Alasdair addresses why he is extremely on record as having loved this story, even as he joins Allison in ripping much of it apart. Just spare a thought for Jenna Coleman and Orla Brady, who do their absolute best to make their parts work.  Note: As a Christmas gift to all our listeners, we will be unlocking this Saturday's look at "Deep Breath" and "The Doctor Falls" on December 25, in time to get everyone ready for "Twice Upon A Time." As for the special, we will get a podcast up as soon as possible, but the lack of a screener makes things tricky.

We open with some thoughts on the upcoming Christmas special and how we’re feeling a couple weeks out. Then we discuss a pair of earlier yuletide episodes, one of which is just so deeply silly and the other is one of the best things the show has ever done. Try to guess which! We won’t keep you in suspense very long, to be fair. “Voyage Of The Damned” has a hugely overqualified cast, if nothing else, and yes that includes the charisma factory that is Kylie Minogue. And “Last Christmas” is just generally excellent in all directions, giving us another opportunity to give Jenna Coleman some appreciation, among many other things to praise. Then join us next week as we go all-in on regeneration stories and focus our entire attention solely on one of the most divisive episodes in new series history: “Time Of The Doctor.”

We start by just sort of basking in the general glow of getting to talk about Christopher Eccleston and the 9th Doctor again. It feels like it's been awhile and we've missed him. We then set to work talking about "The Unquiet Dead," the 9th Doctor's unofficial Christmas episode, and we're generally fans in part because this feels like Doctor Who before it's quite worked out what Doctor Who even is. Plus Simon Callow is seriously brilliant as Charles Dickens. Then we take a look at "A Christmas Carol," and we've got to level with you: There's a lot to like about this episode, but the character of Abigail and how this story thinks about women and romance is... yeah, it's really not great, and we take a good long while digging into why. We do have some nice things to say in the end, especially about Michael Gambon, but "A Christmas Carol" is tricky: When it's great, it's among the greatest, and when it's bad, it's among the worst. We focus a bit more on the latter this time around, but we think this is a serious

Alasdair has had a hankering to talk about the two Russell T. Davies-era spinoffs, so here's the first of a pair of bonus episodes looking at two very different shows. First up, "Talking Who to You" cohost and friend of the show Kevin Koeser joins Alasdair to talk about Torchwood, which can only be described as the horniest show ever made. But what do you expect when you build a show around Captain Jack Harkness, even if he does occasionally try to be all moody and angst-ridden? Alasdair and Kevin have both plenty of praise and plenty of condemnation for the series. The first two seasons: Some good, some staggering awful! The "Children Of Earth" miniseries: Unbelievably excellent! The "Miracle Day" fourth season: A thing that allegedly exists, but you didn't hear that from us! Anyway, we have some general discussion of the show, then run through some specific episodes from the first two seasons to get a more specific sense of what works and what doesn't.

We open with reading an email from David about Rachel Talalay's direction and with acknowledging that David Tennant and Billie Piper have returned as the 10th Doctor and Rose. Then we turn our attention to a pair of stories linked by the rather wonderful guest character Rigsy. Allison remembered "Flatline" as just the tiny TARDIS episode, but it's so much weirder and scarier and better than all that. Then we look at "Face The Raven," which keeps seeming like it's going to be whimsical, yet steadfastly refuses to do anything but keep the audience off-kilter. Mostly, we realize these are two of the very best Clara episodes ever, and it forms part of our unplanned Jenna Coleman tribute tour with a lot of the other recent series eight and nine episodes we've discussed. Then join us next week for the start of some yuletide festivities as we look at a pair of Christmas-set, Charles Dickens-centric stories, "The Unquiet Dead" and "A Christmas Carol"!

We take a look at a pair of two-parters that are all about war, but first we consider all we can from the recently released preview clip for the upcoming Christmas special, "Twice Upon A Time." Overall, we really like what we see from Mark Gatiss and David Bradley, and it goes without saying we're going to be good with pretty much anything Peter Capaldi does at this point. Then, to business! The Sontaran two-parter has some good things going for it, but it has maybe the worst, most obnoxious guest character in the entire new series, and it's all so dumbfoundingly superficial in its ideas about war. That's not a problem the Zygon two-parter has, which maybe isn't quite as clever as it seems to think it is but does do a bunch of legitimately incredible things... including that speech. Yes, Alasdair has thoughts on that speech. And then join us next week for a look at Clara and Rigsy in "Flatline" and "Face The Raven"!

The BBC unveiled Jodie Whittaker's outfit as the 13th Doctor, so we decided to table our discussion of the Sontaran and Zygon two-parters for next time so we could really dig into her look. We had about an hour's worth of thoughts! Short version: We're big fans, and we're excited to see it all in action. (Also we mention some set photos of Jodie Whittaker in the 12th Doctor's clothes, but they may have since disappeared for copyright reasons, we'll keep monitoring.) Then we take on some great reader mail! Dan asks us who we would cast as an American Doctor if we absolutely have to, friend of the show J.G. offers some classic series thoughts, and Delphine has so much to say about the Master that we only get through half of her email, with a promise to continue.

We look at a pair of action-heavy companion introductions, neither of which quite ends with the companion joining the Doctor at the story's end. (Though admittedly Clara needed rather less time to come round.) First up, we consider Donna very much at the rough draft stage for her character, and how she works alongside a 10th Doctor still grieving Rose. There's some good and serious stuff here, but there's also a bunch of deeply silly business with the Racnoss and the Santas and what have you. Then we look at "The Bells Of Saint John," which has some good ideas here and there but has so little sense of character, and what there is just tends to make the 11th Doctor look like a creep. We wrap up with a discussion of Time Lord footwear and how this helps explain which Doctors do and do not work in action movie contexts, because of course we do.

We're overdue to work through our inbox, so Alasdair and Allison get cracking through your amazing emails. We have a bunch of brilliant listener responses to recent episodes, plus some seriously tricky questions to consider. Such as: Has there *ever* been a good companion exit? Like, not just in the new series, but in all 54 years? Maybe not? Plus we consider an outlandish but amazing proposal to spring a legitimate surprise regeneration on fans, and much more!

After weeks of Master-related, extended-length two-parters, we're not complaining about finally getting to keep things simple this week with a pair of standalone stories. Well, tightly linked standalone stories, if we're being technical, as we look at either side of the great mystery of the 12th Doctor's face. Before all that, we read an email from listener Chris following on from our discussion of the expanded TARDIS team promised for series 11. Then we dive into just why both these stories represent historical Doctor Who at its absolute best, with Alasdair vaguely restraining himself from gratuitous Peter Capaldi praise. This... this is not the week for him to try to promise to do that! Anyway, we try to tease out the connections both structural and thematic between these two excellent stories, while also marveling at how different epiodes made seven years apart can feel. Then join us next week for a pair of previously undiscussed companion introductions with "The Runaway Bride" and "The Bells Of Saint John

We reach the end of three-part, in-depth look at the Master with watching just such a ludicrous amount of Doctor Who. Alasdair turns the mike over to Allison for a solid five minutes for her to talk some more about how much she loves "Extremis" (he's also still a fan), but then we mostly focus on what all these episodes have to say about the Master and Missy. Alasdair offers about as impassioned a case for the John Simm Master as you're likely to hear, as we try to dig into how both his incarnation and Michelle Gomez's have arcs that culminate in the Series 10 finale. Then we just generally discuss both parts of "The End Of Time," one of which is flawed but brilliant and the other is just sort of silly and largely unnecessary. Try to guess which! Then join us next week for a much more manageable look at just two episodes that are all about Peter Capaldi's face, "The Fires Of Pompeii" and "The Girl Who Died."

The BBC just revealed the cast members joining Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor for series 11, so Alasdair and Allison did a late-night emergency podcast to talk all about it. Are we really headed for a four-person TARDIS team? Alasdair engages his "absurd encyclopedic facts and figures" mode to talk about past instances of this, though he totally blanks on the name of the companion who replaced Susan. (Vicki, Alasdair! It's Vicki!) Anyway, we look at the actors' filmographies, what this will mean for a presumably very busy series 11 premiere, and much more!

As part of Alasdair's Chicago visit, we take an hour to talk all about dressing up like Doctor Who characters, and who better to bring in for such a chat than cosplay maestro Kate Kulzick? Alasdair reveals he's doing a Halloween costume for the first time in about 15 years, and he's mostly doing it because it's super easy to justify the 9th Doctor's clothes as stuff he'll just add to his regular wardrobe. We then break down the pros and cons of dressing up like other Doctors, the gendered differences in cosplay, and how it's damn near impossible to dress up like most of the companions in a way that anyone will be able to tell who you're supposed to be.