Doctor Who: The Ood Cast

In which we catch up on the past three years, stand roughly in a straight line and buy things off Etsy.

 
Review: The Star Beast by Russell T Davies
Air Date: 25th November 2023
Song: A Space Beast Came Travelling based on A Spaceman Came Travelling by Chris de Burgh
Sketches: Metacrisis Introduction by Chris Mead. Meep Engineering 101 by Chris Mead. Noble Beasts & Where to Find Them by Laura Mead, Chris Mead and Chris Fosten. The Cunning Wrarth Attack Formation by Chris Fosten.

Haiku:
Pasts are catching up/ As furry evil escapes/ Child benefits win

What's making us feel g-ood?
Alpha: Show finale of Brooklyn 99
Loz: Oodies
Sigma: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers 

Additional notes: We're back. And we've forgotten how to use all the equipment, editing software and publishing platforms. Please bear with us as we take our first faltering steps back onto the internet, like podcasting bambis.

"To be honest, a lot of things have made me cry over the past few days but this was a different kind of cry."

Reviews: Message from the Doctor
Air Date: 25th March 2020
Song: Doctor in a Cupboard based on Michael in the Bathroom from Be More Chill
Sketches: Hide & Strax by Chris Mead
Haiku: Even in hiding/ she's saving us from ourselves/ darkness never wins
Additional notes: Even though this is our shortest episode ever (and still approximately four times longer than the thing it's reviewing) this also features the BIGGEST GUEST STAR we've ever had on The Ood Cast. So thank you to Dan Starkey (taking a break from nursing and destroying his enemies in battle).

"Even when her mind is wiped. Even when she's returned to being a child and the Time Lords are trying to integrate her back into society and be a normal boring Time Lord. That name comes back. That same TARDIS comes back. That need to go out and help people comes back. It's so deep within her that even if you wipe her brain and try and start again. She's still going to become that amazing rebel."
 
Reviews: The Ascension of the Cybermen/ The Timeless Children
Air Date: 23rd February & 1st March 2020
Song: There Is No Escape based on You Can Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac
Sketches: Doctor Queue by Chris Fosten. Jimmy Riddle by Chris Fosten. Ko Sharmus by Tom Salinsky. Remember Where We Parked the TARDIS by Chris Mead & Chris Fosten. Shooting the Cybershit by Chris Mead. So I Guess Basically Anyone Can Get Into the TARDIS now? by Chris Mead. Taking the Credit by Michael Gilroy-Sinclair. The Celestial Toy Shop by Chris Fosten. The Master Workshops New Names For A Cyber Patrol by Chris Mead. The Timeless Podcasts by Chris Mead.

Haiku:
Miracle child lives/ while last humans just survive/ unsafe haven waits
The Doctor listens/ surrounded by strip lighting/ tiny death goes large

What's making us feel g-ood?
Loz: Talking about mental health
Alpha: Rule of Three podcast
Sigma: Jagged Little Pill: the musical (recommended by Emily Jenik)

Additional notes: In the old days of the podcast we used to write too much, talk too much and have grandiose ideas that we were never going to pull off. We've calmed down a little over the years but this is a brief return to the grandiloquent Ood Cast of old. We had a blast.

"I don't think I've really seen people on Doctor Who eating ever."

Reviews: The Haunting of Villa Diodati
Air Date: 16th February 2020
Song: Unfinished Cyberman based on Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
Sketches: Taking the Tour by Chris Fosten. Lord Byron Introduces his Latest Work by Chris Fosten. Cyberwoman II: Cyber Boogaloo by Chris Mead.
Haiku: Cellar-based poet/ finds clever metal dollop/ lone tin-man inspires

What's making us feel g-ood?
Loz: Future Man
Alpha: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Sigma: Andrew Ellard's tweetnotes

Additional notes: Bit of behind the scenes info - we all realised we couldn't do our normal recording day, so this episode became a bit of a mission to schedule. When we did finally get into a room together it was a very silly recording session with a lot more tangents and A LOT more talking over each other than normally happens. We think the results are chaotic but fun. Hope you agree?

"She's not tackling her own trauma at all because she's spending all her time entertaining her companions."

Reviews: Can You Hear Me?
Air Date: 9th February 2020
Song: What if Gods Were Arseholes? based on One of Us by Joan Osborne
Sketches: Nightmare Season by Chris Fosten. Alternative Reactions by Chris Fosten.
Haiku: Dark visions point them/ to jailed nightmarish prankster/ they stay bottled up
Additional notes: Laura had a cold recording this episode. In the edit there were A LOT of cuts which were just removing mucus-choked sneezes and coughs. Like a lot a lot. You wouldn't believe how many.

"Do you think the Doctor has got better at steering the TARDIS or do you think the Doctor just hates Adric?"
 
Reviews: Praxeus
Air Date: 2nd February 2020
Song: I am a Bird based on I'm Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado
Sketches: Two Oods Roaming by Chris Fosten. Un Chat by Chris Mead. The Operation by Chris Fosten.
Haiku: Alien virus/ might solve plastic pollution/ goes for birds instead
Additional notes: This is a catch-up episodes and was recorded in two parts because we ran out of battery the first time. The splice is somewhere in the middle of Loz's anecdote about the fish parasites. See if you can spot it. Also, why is the cat French when under 4% of Ontario's population is Francophone? It's because the double-meaning of the title "Un Chat" made us laugh.

"This is an amazing story arc. I think it blows all the previous story arcs out of the water."
 
Reviews: Fugitive of the Judoon
Air Date: 26th January 2020
Song: Ho Flo Blo Ro based on Heart Beats by José Gonzalez
Sketches: The Keepers at the Gate by Chris Fosten & Chris Mead. The Chris Chibnall Gang by Chris Mead. Dead Punny by Chris Mead.
Haiku: Rhino police force/ find new depths to the Doctor/ contract is cancelled
Additional notes: We had such a good time recording this episode. We were also trying to record the next episode at the same time (we're a week behind due to a festival in Amsterdam). We wrote all the extra sketches and songs but were foiled by our recording equipment running out of batteries. We also spoiled our own Doctor Who audio adventure project - The Nth Doctor. Oh well!

"That's a genuinely warm feeling I get when he ... talks about buses."

Reviews: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
Air Date: 19th January 2020
Song: Danger High Voltage (Tesla edit) based on Danger High Voltage by Electric 6
Sketches: Creating Fear by Chris Fosten. No Patents by Chris Fosten. Bread Ahead by Chris Mead.
Haiku: Inventor wanted/ by sparky alien queen/ their end is a shock
Additional notes: Some of us didn't watch the episode itself until a few hours before recording. That makes for some frenzied sketch writing. Also Loz wasn't here this week but still manages to be in the episode a lot. Technology, eh?

"I don't think she's talking entirely to them. And I don't think she's talking entirely about Earth. I think she's talking to herself and she's talking about Gallifrey."

Reviews: Orphan 55
Air Date: 12th January 2020
Song: Benni based on Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson
Additional notes: We will always remain a positive and upbeat podcast about Doctor Who, even when there are parts of an episode that aren't to our tastes. In fact, the more janky bits there are, the more material there is for sketches and songs. Hence, this week, we were extremely happy Oods. BENNI, ARE YOU OKAY?

"Can you slide shambolically?"
"You can - it hurts though. It's hell on the knees."

Reviews: Spyfall Parts I & II
Air Date: 1st January 2020 & 5th January 2020
Song: Spyfall based on Skyfall by Adele
Additional notes: It really doesn't seem that long since we were all together but it is DEFINITELY over a year. Scary how fast time moves but probably appropriate given our subject matter. In terms of amazing making of info for this episode - we've upgraded our editing equipment and lost our sound effects library in the process so the sound of the omelette being whisked was recorded LIVE in the Ood kitchen. Wow!