The Writers' Room

We've reached the end of another calendar year, which means it's been 5 years of Doctor Who: The Writers' Room! Can you even believe it? In honor of this, we've decided to go slightly outside of our usual parameters of the first 26 years of Doctor Who...all the way to 1996. That's right, we're talking about the TV Movie, written by Matthew Jacobs. The special has a fascinating backstory, and we get in to that along with dissecting if it works, and for whom.

Direct download: Episode_57_-_TV_Movie.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 1:31am EDT

Sorry for the delay this month, but we think you're in for a real treat (?) Erik, fresh off of becoming certified to teach English, and Kyle, fresh off of gallivanting and getting sick, discuss three poor old '80s stories that don't get much love. Is it because they're awful? We'll let you decide. But they talk about "The Twin Dilemma," "Timelash," and "Delta and the Bannermen." So there's that.

Direct download: Episode_56_-_80s_Crap.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 5:56pm EDT

This month, we have another pair of stories that fall into the "well, they don't really fit anywhere else" category, in this instance both being surreal and fantastical stories from the same period of time. '60s Weirdos, we're calling it, and we're talking about "The Celestial Toymaker" and "The Mind Robber." Why? Because we like you.

Also, this month marks Erik's last episode...recorded in the United States. He's moved to Prague and you can find out about his new adventure and help him keep podcasting by visiting his Patreon page (right here)!

Direct download: Episode_55_-_60s_Weirdos.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Break out the feather boas and start calling everything "Jimmy" because this month, Erik and Kyle are finishing their look at the Cybermen in Classic Doctor Who with the 1968 story, "The Invasion." But, oh no, they are not taking on this eight-episode epic alone; they've got the added brilliance of Verity! Podcast's own Deb Stanish to help break down all the ins and outs, from Tobias Vaughn's arrogance to Packer's frazzledness to Isobel's perceived flightiness. Oh, and Cybermen too.

Direct download: Episode_54_-_The_Invasion.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

This month, it's the end of a couple of things: First, the final episode in our Ice Warriors two-parter, focusing on the stories "The Curse of Peladon" and "The Monster of Peladon." Second, it's the last episode in which we have Third Doctor stories to discuss, so Kyle is clearly more sad about it than Erik. Oh, and a third one -- it's the last time we'll let people tell us one of these stories is bad. Which one? Find out soon!

Direct download: Episode_53_-_Ice_Warriors_2.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Hello and good July to you, Whovian friends! This month, Erik and Kyle go Cyber-crazy. They start by talking about the Cybermen as portrayed in the recently concluded Series 10 (poor Bill) and then transition to this month's meat, the Cybermen's fourth appearance, "The Wheel in Space" from 1968 and their sixth appearance, "Revenge of the Cybermen" from 1974.

These stories raise a number of questions, like "How can beings with their emotions removed want revenge?," "Why are they allergic to gold?" and "Do the Cybermen do anything at all in 'Wheel in Space?'" These questions are important!

Direct download: Episode_52_-_Cybermen_2.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT

It'sssssss June, friendsssssss, and that meanssssss Erik and Kyle are going to be talking about the firssssst two (of only four) ssssssstories having to do with the Iccccccccccce Warriorsssss.

I'm really tired of writing it like that, so I'm gonna stop. Anyway, we talk about "The Ice Warriors" and "The Seeds of Death." That's the end.

Direct download: Episode_51_-_Ice_Warriorssssss.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Friends, it's Cyber-May! Or whatever. Anyway, it's our 50th episode, and for this one Erik and Kyle dive into talking about the Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis stories concerning those shiny shysters, the Cybermen. This time 'round, it's "The Moonbase" and "The Tomb of the Cybermen," because as the theme song to The Facts of Life told us, "you take the good, you take the bad..."

Direct download: Episode_50_-_Cybermen_1.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Last month we looked at the two stories that began the 1980s, and this month we're looking at the two stories that began Season 4...but that also means they're the two stories that saw the end of the First Doctor, "The Smugglers" by Brian Hayles and "The Tenth Planet" by Kit Pedler (and Gerry Davis). These two stories couldn't be more different from each other, and it definitely doesn't feel like the same Doctor. But we also get the Cybermen, who--spoilers--we'll see a whole lot more of in the coming months on this podcast.

Direct download: Episode_49_-_End_of_Hartnell.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 8:45pm EDT

As our podcast begins to wind down (still have like a year, people, calm down a bit), we're forced to look at things that don't really have much correlation other than placement. As such, Erik and Kyle are spending this month talking about the beginning of the JNT and Christopher H. Bidmead era with our good friend David Fisher's "The Leisure Hive," and one-timers Andrew McCullough and John Flanagan's "Meglos." Hooo boy, thems sure are stories that exist.

Direct download: Episode_48_-_The_80s_Begin.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 8:43pm EDT

Episode 47 - David Fisher (in the '70s)

Hello and happy February, friends and listening public! This month, Erik and Kyle are in the same room (that's how you know it's Gallifrey One time) to discuss the three stories written in the '70s by David Fisher, who joined in season 16. His two Key to Time stories--"The Stones of Blood" and "The Androids of Tara"--are pretty roundly beloved, but his season 17 story, "The Creature from the Pit," is derided almost categorically. Is this fair? Is he to blame or laud for these stories? We get down on it!

Direct download: Episode_47_-_David_Fisher.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Episode 46 - Terry Nation, No Daleks

We haven't talked about this writer in a while, but it's almost hard to talk about Doctor Who without him -- Terry Nation, the inventor and most prolific writer of the Daleks. We've done all of those, of course, but he also wrote two stories with no Daleks in them whatsoever: from season 1, "The Keys of Marinus," and from season 13, "The Android Invasion." Nation fell into certain traps and narrative tricks when he wrote Daleks; did the same happen without the trundling war machines? Kyle and Erik find out!

Direct download: Episode_46_-_Terry_Nation_No_Daleks.mp3
Category:Doctor Who -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

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