In our first venture into the world of Doctor Who, guest Andrew Morton adds to Dan's expertise (and Neil's ignorance) to unpack a Fourth Doctor story which has vibes of The Manchurian Candidate and The Matrix (with a bit of a whodunnit and a courtroom drama in the middle). Plus there are fisticuffs!

We take a reverential look at some of the series' tropes, including The Doctor's skill at hiding behind things, the speed at which cliffhangers are negated, stilted deathbed monologues and a villain's inability to finish off his enemy.

We also analyse The Master's ability to turn people into Action Man dolls, short-sighted writers creating continuity nightmares, wonder whether the Timelords would do well to invest in two-factor authentication, and make very early plans for Screen Testing's thirty-year anniversary episode.

Clips from The Deadly Assassin on YouTube (courtesy of BBC Worldwide):

• DVD trailer
• From episode 1: The Doctor's premonition
• From episode 2: Interrogation scene
• From episode 3: The Doctor inside The Matrix
• From episode 4: The Doctor battles The Master

Miscellaneous references:

• BBC News: BBC Store to shut its doors in November
• YouTube: UK Gold - Doctor Who @ 40: The Peter Davison Years (featuring Dan!)
• YouTube: JFK - "back and to the left" scene
• Wikipedia: Mary Whitehouse
• YouTube: Dr. Who and the Daleks trailer (TV movie starring Peter Cushing)
• YouTube: The Sea Devils - The Master watches The Clangers
• YouTube: The Sound of Drums - The Master watches Teletubbies
• Brightpearl
• Eruditorum Press: Far More Than Just (The Deadly Assassin) - essay by Phil Sandifer
• The Memory Cheats podcast
• Radio Free Skaro podcast
• YouTube: The West Wing - Two Cathedrals clip (spoilers)
• YouTube: The Simpsons - Sideshow Bob sings HMS Pinafore
• TestBash Manchester 2017

Doctor Who episodes referenced (ordered by airdate):

• An Unearthly Child (first story, 1963)
• The Daleks (first Dalek story, 1963)
• The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964)
• The Chase (1965)
• The Enemy of the World (1967)
• The Web of Fear (1968)
• The War Games (1969)
• Spearhead from Space (1970)
• Terror of the Autons (1971)
• The Sea Devils (1972)
• Frontier in Space (1973)
• Planet of the Daleks (1973)
• Genesis of the Daleks (1975)
• The Brain of Morbius (1976)
• The Seeds of Doom (1976)
• The Hand of Fear (1976)
• The Face of Evil (1977)
• The Invasion of Time (1978)
• Shada (unfinished due to strikes, 1980)
• The Five Doctors (1983)
• The Caves of Androzani (1984)
• Revelation of the Daleks (1985)
• The Trial of a Time Lord (1986)
• The Mysterious Planet (1986)
• Terror of the Vervoids (1986)
• Time and the Rani (1987)
• The Curse of Fenric (1989)
• Doctor Who (TV movie, 1996)
• The Stolen Earth (2008)
• The Name of the Doctor (featuring The War Doctor, 2013)
• The Day of the Doctor (50th anniversary episode, 2013)
• World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls (season finale, 2017)

We'll be back in a fortnight with Christopher Chant, to discuss one of Neil's all-time favourite movies, WHIPLASH.

Twitters: @TestingChef @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Emails: [email protected]

Intro music: Doctor Who theme Outro music: The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis

Neil and Dan get their teeth into the latest movie in the Star Wars franchise, Rogue One, a prequel to Episode IV which is steadfastly doing its own thing, complete with retconned Death Star powers, penis-tentacled monsters and sarcastic droids.

In a midichlorian-free episode, we discuss whether the Imperials should have discovered the Death Star's fatal flaw, how workplace politics can hinder us from achieving our goals, the nature of Chirrut Imwe's Force-like abilities, and the merits of re-casting versus CGI.

Along the way, Dan proposes a potential spin-off podcast to explore his inner dictator, Neil ponders whether Jon Bon Jovi is in canon, we compare our tenuous connections to Star Wars cast members, and rhetorically wonder why nerds are never satisfied.

In an extended news section at the end, we say goodbye to some of our childhood heroes who we've lost in recent weeks: Roger Moore (Bond), Adam West (Batman) and Andy Cunningham (Bodger).

References:

• YouTube: Skyfall's cold open
• Amazon: Star Wars: Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
• Skellig Islands - as seen in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi
• YouTube: Mon Mothma's deleted scene in Revenge Of The Sith
• YouTube: Tarkin's cameo in Revenge Of The Sith
• Wikipedia: Uncanny valley
• Wikipedia: Ken Adam (Bond set designer - Dan apologises for calling him Guy!)
• YouTube: Doctor Who: "No, not the mind probe!"
• StarWars.com: Chirrut Imwe
• TV Tropes: Retcon (Retroactive Continuity)
• Wikipedia: Confirmation bias
• Chris Kenst: "I find your lack of tests disturbing" (Vader meme)
• Twitter: @swear_trek
• YouTube: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron on Nintendo 64
• YouTube: Canary Wharf tube station (Scarif location)
• YouTube: Blake's 7 ending (spoilers of course!)
• Empire: Interview where Gareth Edwards explains the TIE Fighter's absence
• YouTube: Scenes from the Rogue One trailer which didn't make the final cut
• YouTube: Star Wars Kid
• YouTube: Clerks: Independent contractors on the Death Star
• YouTube: Annihilation Earth trailer
• Radio Times: Interview with Ingvild Deila, Leia's body-double

Closing tributes from YouTube:

• A Bond tribute to Roger Moore
• Lookwell - Adam West TV pilot
• Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders trailer
• Family Guy - Best of Mayor Adam West
• Bodger & Badger - Wash Day

Join us in two weeks' time when we'll be delving into the world of Doctor Who, discussing the Tom Baker story THE DEADLY ASSASSIN, with special guest Andrew Morton!

Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Emails: [email protected]

Intro music: Michael Giacchino - A Long Ride Ahead Outro music: Max Rebo Band - Lapti Nek

HACK THE PLANET! Your regular hosts Neil (aka Integer Overflow) and Dan (Shoe_Gazer) are taking over the airwaves with special guest Matthew Bretten (Mr Null) to pull apart the most 90s film of all-time. We analyse the visuals, the clothing, the soundtrack and the tech, all of which help to make Hackers a hundred times better than Swordfish.

To keep our critical eyes sharp, we debate whether curiosity was really their only crime, whether the hacks still hold up today, and whether the recycle bin is really a good place to store secure files.

Among the oddities we encounter along the way, we talk about the merits of SWAT teams pointing guns at kids, whether Acid Burn's fencing proficiency is a useful weapon, we get pedantic about RAM, and try to avoid talking about Matthew Lillard at all.

References:

• BBC Future: These unlucky people have names that break computers (Jennifer Null)
• Let's Talk About Tests, Baby
• YouTube: 24 season 4 prequel featuring Alberta Watson (with Jack Bauer swearing)
• YouTube: Doctor Who Max Headroom 1987 broadcast signal intrusion incident
• YouTube: CSI "I'll create a GUI interface using Visual Basic"
• DEF CON hacking conference
• The Official Social Engineering portal
• YouTube: Homer's explanation of nerds
• The top 30 worst Ashley Madison passwords
• TV Tropes: MacGuffin
• YouTube: Dactyl Nightmare (Virtuality VR game which The Plague plays)
• YouTube: Ronnie O'Sullivan fails to play pool in VR
• Wikipedia: RISC architecture
• YouTube: GoldenEye - montage of Boris "I am invincible" scenes
• YouTube: Hackers - the final hack scene (featuring all of the dodgy viruses, and Dade's weird eyepiece)
• Wikipedia: Gary McKinnon
• YouTube: Mr Robot scene which references Hackers
• YouTube: ALF's cameo in Mr Robot's bizarre 80s episode
• YouTube: Urban Dance Squad - Good Grief
• TestBash Manchester 2017
• Meetup: North West Tester Gathering (Manchester)
• Meetup: Liverpool Tester Gathering

Security testing resources from Dan:

• GitHub: Dan's security testing learning repository
• GitHub: Ticket Magpie

YouTube clips for some of the nostalgic name-checking in this episode:

• 1984 (featuring John Hurt)
• Early PowerBook commercial
• Wipeout
• Short Circuit
• Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker
• GamesMaster pilot episode
• Bad Influence pilot episode
• Knightmare pilot episode
• Saved By The Bell credits
• The Net
• Strange Days
• Johnny Mnemonic
• Trainspotting
• Magic Carpet
• Star Wars: Rebel Assault
• The 7th Guest
• Phantasmagoria
• Flashback
• Myst

Our next episode will be a double-header, as we tackle both ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY and STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE to answer the eternal question: Is it a bug, or a feature?

Twitters: @matthewbretten @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Emails: [email protected]

Intro music: Orbital - Halcyon And On And On Outro music: Squeeze - Heaven Knows

In a Screen Testing first, we take a guest's love for a movie and weaponise it against them. It's no holds barred as (alongside Mark Winteringham) we unravel the film which gathers everything that you love about hacker culture, and adds Vinnie Jones and blowjobs.

There's explicit language from the start, as we wonder why John Travolta's character loves to spoil the ends of movies, we compare Gabriel to a demanding product owner, we crowdfund an interesting (but potentially libelous) reboot, and listen to a disturbing number of candid remarks from the director's commentary.

We find a surprising amount of testing-related content, as we discuss chains of command, deadlines, battles with recruiters, bad interview experiences, user interfaces and flow.

In our desperation to avoid talking about the film, we get sidetracked by whether a cashpoint is a computer, how compound interest works and vehicle emissions standards, all of which are far more entertaining than Swordfish.

YouTube clips of notable Swordfish scenes:

• Gabriel's initial monologue
• The opening explosion
• The interview scene (probably NSFW)
• Censored version of Halle Berry's topless scene
• Gabriel's computer setup and hacking montage

Other References:

• Mark's blog - MW Test Consultancy
• Software Testing Clinic
• Cinema.com: Interview with Halle Berry about Swordfish
• PDF of the near-final Swordfish script, before its final "polishing"
• How Did This Get Made podcast (responsible for many blips in Neil's DVD collection)
• YouTube: Die Another Day - Bond surfs a tsunami
• YouTube: Madonna - Die Another Day (ugh)
• YouTube: John Travolta's Al Pacino impression from Saturday Night Fever
• Verywell: What is Functional Fixedness?
• YouTube: 24 - Jack Bauer falls asleep
• Satisfice.com: James Bach - How Do You Spell Testing? (SFDPO / San Francisco Depot)
• HackerTyper.com
• Den of Geek: What Swordfish teaches us about hacking computers
• Cryptography Engineering Blog: Bad movie cryptography, Swordfish edition
• YouTube: Lethal Weapon 2 - plastic sheet scene
• YouTube: American Psycho - similar scene
• YouTube: Christian Bale's rant on the set of Terminator Salvation
• YouTube: Skyfall hacking scene
• YouTube: Hugh Jackman's butt in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• Wikipedia: the FBI Carnivore program
• Nordic Testing Days conference (SOLD OUT)

Next up, we're going back to the nineties with Matt Bretten, to see how HACKERS (mostly) managed to get it right. We hope you'll join us in a fortnight!

Twitters: @2bittester @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

You can also email us with your comments, feedback or requests: [email protected]

Intro music: Swordfish Intro Outro music: Paul Oakenfold feat. Amoebassassin - Get Out Of My Life Now

Are you a watcher or a player? We're joined by Gem Hill to discuss last year's teen psychological thriller, Nerve. It's a deadly (and somewhat cheesy) technological game of truth or dare, available to stream now on Netflix.

We discuss the game within the movie, the weird pockets of fame within social media, teen cliques, and how effectively the film manages its portrayal of hackers, the dark web and open-source software.

We also deal with our usual array of distractions, including the unusual pricing/prize structure of Nerve, whether the game could truly run without servers, teenagers' password security, Neil's unlikely crush on Dave Franco, the difference between literal and metaphor, and how not to get a tattoo.

Also, we forget to mention that Dave Franco's character is named Ian, so when we suddenly start talking about Ian halfway through, that's what's going on!

References:

• Neil's review of Nerve on Letterboxd
• Neil's seven(!) pages of plot notes
• YouTube: Unfriended trailer (movie entirely shot through a Macbook)
• Zed Attack Proxy's AJAX Spider plugin
• YouTube: Compilation of hacking scenes from Mr Robot (not too spoilery)
• YouTube: Nerve diner scene 
• YouTube: Dick and Dom - Bogies (sigh)
• YouTube: Opening scene of The Shallows (with its similar phone overlays) 
• MTV.com: "Nerve directors reveal the voyeuristic dare that was too 'gross' for PG-13"

Songs from the soundtrack featured in the episode (in order of appearance):

• Basenji - Can't Get Enough
• MØ - Kamikaze
• The Skyliners - Since I Don't Have You
• Roy Orbison - You Got It
• BØRNS - Electric Love
• Lowell - Ride (feat. Icona Pop)

In our next episode we'll be continuing our dive into the world of hacking in movies, as we discuss 2001's SWORDFISH with Mark Winteringham!

Twitters: @Gem_Hill @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

How do you measure humanity? We go deep into spoilers for Ex Machina as we recap Bluebook's work to produce a robot that can pass as a human.

In a reference-filled episode, we talk about the challenges of passing (or manipulating) a Turing Test, we debate the ethics of creating sentient machines, and compare the "planning/interview/debrief" structure of the film against how we approach our testing sessions.

As we proceed, we get distracted by discussions about the capabilities of helicopters, we wonder how a CEO can run a business from a location with no mobile coverage, investigate whether Nathan has already succeeded in creating the perfect dancing robot, and discover a film connection which sends Dan into uncontrollable laughter.

We also subject Siri and Google Home to their own Turing Test. It doesn't go well.

Testing conferences and initiatives mentioned during the introduction:

• Neil's blog post about TestBash Brighton 2017
• Brighton tester meetup - 19 April (where Dan presented this week)
• Brighton tester meetup - 24 May (where Neil is presenting)
• Let's Test (Sweden /South Africa) 2017
• I T.A.K.E. Unconference 2017, Bucharest (where Dan is presenting a keynote)
• Nordic Testing Days 2017, Tallinn
• List of testing and agile conferences which are (and aren't) #PayToSpeak
• Rob Lambert - Blazingly Simple Guide To Submitting To Conferences
• Speak Easy

Other references in the episode:

• Homecoming (audio drama podcast) starring Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener and David Schwimmer
• YouTube: Oscar Isaac as Officer Fartman in Lenny The Wonder Dog
• Wikipedia: Official Secrets Act
• TV Tropes: "As You Know" (when two characters discuss something they both already know, for the benefit of the audience)
• Wikipedia: Turing Test
• YouTube: Benedict Cumberbatch's celebrity impressions
• Screengrab of Neil's chatbot experience with BT
• FiveThirtyEight: The Man vs The Machine (short film about Kasparov vs Deep Blue, and Deep Blue's bug which led to victory)
• YouTube: The Simpsons - Introduction to Hank Scorpio
• YouTube: The IT Crowd - Jen's interview (ending with "Standard Nerds")
• Wikipedia: Socratic Method
• YouTube: Nathan and Kyoko's dance scene from Ex Machina

A big Terminator-style thumbs-up to Bad Puns and Machine Guns for their shout-out in their recent "Aftermath" episode!  

Screen Testing will return in two weeks' time, as Gem Hill joins us to discuss 2016's NERVE (available now on Netflix and other streaming services).

Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Intro music: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay Outro music: Oliver Cheatham - Get Down Saturday Night

Recorded live with guests at the TestBash Brighton Open Space on Saturday 25th March 2017. Expect some occasionally dubious sound quality, and some strong language, as we try our best to unravel the story behind the Star Wars Holiday Special.

We focus on the "requirements" and the various different audiences for the show, wondering whether any of them would have been impressed that the previous summer's breakout sci-fi hit had been watered-down into a variety show format.

There are thoughts about whether George Lucas was paying attention, the role of pornography in the Star Wars universe, and a heated debate around whether Han Solo was again denied credit for a killing (this time denied by clumsy footwork and shoddy craftsmanship).

Huge thanks to our special guests during this episode:

• Paul Holland (@PaulHolland_TWN)
• Mike Talks (@TestSheepNZ)
• Gem Hill (@Gem_Hill)
• Melissa Eaden (@melthetester)
• Mark Tomlinson (@mark_on_task)
• Del Dewar (@deefex)
• Vernon Richards (@TesterFromLeic)

Clips:

At the time of writing, the Star Wars Holiday Special is available on YouTube for those who dare. The clips that we talk about during this episode can be found at the following timestamps:

• 12:10 - Chewie's family calls Luke Skywalker
• 50:30 - Lumpy watches a (quite good) Star Wars cartoon
• 22:16 - Chef Gormaanda brings us STIR WHIP WHIP STIR
• 28:20 - Itchy watches a VR fantasy program
• 1:22:25 - Stormtrooper death: Did he trip, or was he pushed?
• 1:30:58 - Princess Leia sings a song to the tune of the Star Wars theme

Further reading/watching:

• Mental Floss: An Oral History of the Star Wars Holiday Special
• HBO: Bright Lights (Debbie Reynolds & Carrie Fisher documentary)
• Snopes: Van Halen's Concert Contract Required No Brown M&Ms?

We'll be back in the studio next time to talk about EX_MACHINA - see you in a fortnight!

Our Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor@neilstudd

Intro music: Star Wars Holiday Special main theme Outro music: Supernova - Chewbacca

It's our first (and possibly not our last) visit to Craggy Island, as we take apart arguably the finest episode of Father Ted, in which our heroic priests do battle with a randy milkman and a bomb on a milkfloat.

Discover how every mishap in the episode is a direct result of Ted's inability to communicate clearly, join our contest to find the best use for a brick, we analyse the priests' five possible solutions to the bomb problem, and learn which joke Neil took 19 years to get.

Among our many distractions, we discuss how many films make a franchise, we learn Dan's connection to Victor Meldrew, Neil drunk-dials Will Self, and there's a particularly dubious rendition of "My Lovely Horse".

Mentioned in this episode:

• YouTube: Speed 3
• YouTube: UB40 - Tell Me Is It True (Speed 2 theme song)
• Ace Hotel, Shoreditch
• YouTube: Syd Dale - The Penthouse Suite (Pat Mustard's theme)

Our next episode will be about the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, and we'll be recording it LIVE at TestBash Brighton!

Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Intro music: Father Ted main theme Outro music: The Divine Comedy - Songs of Love (Theme from Father Ted)

Join the Screen Testers' first full-length episode, as we discuss the Berg/Wahlberg movie which inspired the podcast. It's a disaster film with a uniquely testing twist, as we analyse the events that led up to the catastrophe. We investigate the culture of miscommunication, debate how we know when testing is completed, the importance of quality in a safety-critical environment, and how false positives/negatives can blight automation.

Along the way, we'll debate foreshadowing, alarm clock precision, jump-scares, and whether Kriss Akabusi holds the key to surviving a catastrophe.

For a wordier version of this episode, check out Neil's companion blog post - Screen Testing preview: Deepwater Horizon

Further reading/viewing:

• YouTube: Deepwater Horizon trailer
• Amazon: Mark Kermode - The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex
• YouTube: Red Dwarf - Blue Alert
• YouTube: The jump scare from Alien (SPOILERS!)
• YouTube: The Simpsons - "Nothing could possibly go wrong"
• Atlassian: The Iron Triangle of Planning (Project Management Triangle)
• Image: The Software Quality Iceberg (Code Complete, Steve McConnell)
• YouTube: Kriss Akabusi advert for Waterwise

Next time, we'll be tackling the SPEED 3 episode of Father Ted - see you in a fortnight!

Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Intro music: Steve Jablonksy - Hope Is Not A Tactic Outro music: Gary Clark Jr. - Take Me Down

It's introduction time: join Neil and Dan as they take you through a potted history of their experiences with testing, movies, and podcasting. Learn about Arnie's movie debut; the episode you'll never hear; and discussion on the statute of limitations for spoilers. Hear it before it gets awarded the Golden Poddy™!

Podcasts that we name-checked that are undoubtedly better than ours: Testing in the Pub Let's Talk About Tests, Baby How Did This Get Made? Bad Puns and Machine Guns James Bonding Radio Free Skaro Verity Wittertainment Empire Film Podcast Movies You Should See

Our rules: a first draft!

• If a film/show is in the episode title, expect spoilers for that.
• If we name-check random films/shows in an episode, we'll try to avoid spoilers.
• Episodes will usually be under 30 minutes in length.
• Episodes will be released fortnightly on Fridays.
• We want guests! Got a film you love, or want to discuss? Drop us a line - we'll take care of everything.

We'll be back in two weeks for Episode 1: DEEPWATER HORIZON.

Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Intro music: Pearl and Dean Theme Outro music: Goldbug - Whole Lotta Love