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 seriously worthwhile discussion to have. Then join us next week for more yuletide offerings with "Voyage Of The Damned" and "Last Christmas"!