When the Doctor travels to the past he obviously has a great deal of foreknowledge about what’s taken place and, moreover, what must take place in order for history as we know it to be preserved. It’s refreshing, then, to see that same idea applied to future history in The Waters of Mars, a thrilling story that uses that device to amplify its impact by an order of magnitude above your typical base-under-siege adventure. When you add a healthy helping of zombie horror and a dark twist at the end, the result is one of the most adult Doctor Who episodes ever made — one that might even be considered a modern classic. Best put in a silly robot then.

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Pull To Open: The Waters of Mars

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Guests: Rob and Liam from The Cloister Bell Podcast

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

Matt Smith’s Doctor is known for being a few notches higher on the Bonkers Scale than his predecessors, a measure that arguably reaches its peak in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. His captivating antics early in this story — where he takes a London family on a tour of a country manor that he’s upgraded with with playrooms, hammocks and taps that spout lemonade — underscore the 11th Doctor’s “mad man in a box” appeal, and set the stage for a emotional story with surprising weight. The script almost blows it, though, but, as we discuss, showrunner Steven Moffat adds a key ingredient to perfect this pleasing Christmas treat. Hint: It’s not the wood.

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Pull To Open: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

As Doctor Who’s ultimate monsters, the Daleks have been rebooted more times than a MacBook doing a janky system update. The most recent revamp came via Revolution of the Daleks, where the children of Davros got a new look inspired by the previous holiday special, Resolution, complete with sleek black casing and his and hers colored LEDs. But Dalek design isn’t the only thing up for revision here: we also get new takes on a pair of Jacks — Harkness and Robertson — who both try on something different as they return to the familiar. That’s basically the new Daleks’ plan here, too, and though it may not have worked out great for them, you can’t question what this story did for Doctor Who’ production values. VICTORY! VICTORY!

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Pull To Open: Revolution of the Daleks

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

The Fifth Doctor’s cricket outfit seemed a bit random at first, but Black Orchid is the story that shows it’s more than just a signature look. In an unusual twist, the Doctor isn’t the mysterious stranger seemingly come to save the day — he’s completely expected, and the thing he’s expected to do is play cricket. Of course, he does so like a boss who’s had centuries to hone his bowling skills, and then serves up an encore by solving a double murder at the estate of an aristocratic English family right out of Downton Abbey. No, this isn’t your typical Doctor Who. Thank goodness.

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Pull To Open: Black Orchid

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

Entering the pocket reality of a powerful entity that loves to play games isn’t something that happens every day, but if you’re a character on Doctor Who, it’s an occupational hazard. The Celestial Toymaker is the first realization of that idea onscreen, made more interesting by the revelation that it’s not the first time the Doctor has met this potentially problematic villain. In Who canon, the story is well-remembered if not revered — for the implied history between the two characters, for the clever morphing of kids’ games into deathtraps, and, if we’re being honest, the tumultuous goings-on behind the scenes. Is it really a classic, though, or is its reputation pure nostalgia, amplified by the unfortunate fact that most of the story is missing? Let’s play the re-evaluation game.

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Pull To Open: The Celestial Toymaker

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

When Pull To Open debuted three years ago, we didn’t even have a rating system — just a sound of drums in our heads, convincing us to bring thoughtful commentary about Doctor Who stories from the perspective of longtime fans who are also journalists. As we went deeper into the show and installed the key component in our journey — the Pull To Open Randomizer — we developed a shorthand for signaling if we considered an episode good (a Dalek) or not so good (an Ogron). Eventually we created ratings for unsuccessful stories that were instructive (a Professor Hayter) and the absolute best of the best (the coveted Viscount Banger). Completists that we are, we felt the need to go back and retcon our old ratings with our current system to ensure our newly upgraded Pull To Open Codex stays fully armed and operational. Come with us as we cross our own timeline to fix the past. Because that’s always a good idea.

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Pull To Open: The Retcon Episode

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

If you’re a time-traveling alien with a toothache, obviously your first stop is going to be the Old West. It’s not just because of the oddly easy-to-find dentistry services, but the chance of getting mixed up in a farcical case of mistaken identity with lots of gunplay is quite high. Doctor Who’s first (and for a long time, only) attempt at a western is arguably a bold experiment and unquestionably a high-quality production, but like the gunslinging Clantons themselves, The Gunfighters has become infamous over the years. Is it really as bad as its reputation? Or could it be the irritating “Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon” that’s tainting an otherwise passable story? Saddle up, pardners — this one’s going to be a ride.

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Pull To Open: The Gunfighters

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

By Series 3 of NuWho, showrunner Russell T. Davies was two-for-two at successfully re-introducing classic bad guys in the Daleks and the Cybermen. To complete the trifecta, Davies naturally turned to the Doctor’s ideological opposite, the Master, and he raised the stakes with the new series’ first three-parter in Utopia, The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords — a story that sees the Earth not just threatened, but conquered and subjugated. That’s a lot to work with when your job is to craft some epic Doctor Who, but did Davies give himself too much rope? We dare to climb up that rope to pass judgment from on high… which looks a lot like a flying aircraft carrier.

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Pull To Open: Utopia | The Sound of Drums | Last of the Time Lords

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

As alien baddies go, the Zygons are one of the more nuanced races that have tried to take over the Earth. Turns out they want to just live in peace and chill, man — just like the rest of us. That’s some nice background for The Zygon Invasion/Inversion, a story that focuses on the extremists among us who are determined to stir up animosity to further their own idealized vision of how society should be. Kinda sounds relevant, but it’s going to take a speech for the ages, delivered by a leading actor in top form, to really get us to fully absorb it. Something tells us it’s gonna be OK.

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Pull To Open: The Zygon Invasion | The Zygon Inversion

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada

Is there a better episode to introduce new viewers to Doctor Who than Blink? Sure, it’s a little unrepresentative of the show considering the Doctor is barely in it, but the essential elements are there: a fantastical world, a normal person pulled slowly into it, and a monster for the ages. Blink had both hardcore Whovians and casual fans buzzing when it debuted in 2007, but has it been long enough that cracks are starting to show in the stone facade? We dare to climb the pedestal where Blink stands to look closely at whether it’s just as epic as it ever was. We’ll try not to… close our eyes briefly.

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Pull To Open: Blink

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada