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Movies NuWho Series 4 Podcast Season 4

The Doctor is Out – “Turn Left” & “The Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150 AD”

No Not the Mind Probe: A Doctor Who Podcast
No Not the Mind Probe: A Doctor Who Podcast
The Doctor is Out - "Turn Left" & "The Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150 AD"
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Wondering how these two fit together?  Well shut up, that’s why.  YOU try pairing up a couple hundred pieces of television broadcast over 50 years with wildly varying themes and tones all from memory on a Sunday afternoon after three martinis!  Ahem.  And certainly our opening Doctor-lite, Donna-heavy episode stands out as a bit of an unusual take on Who, given how it kills off the Doctor in the opening ten minutes.  But then it’s a fun-filled romp as Russell T. Davies wipes out half the planet, systematically bumps off beloved Who supporting characters, and (just for fun!) heavily implies a UK-led Holocaust II.  It’s a real shift for our beloved show, and it leaves your intrepid Podcast team unsure which way to turn.  Oh, wait.  Left.  They should Turn Left.

So, having seen one world without the Doctor, we then take a look at a different alternative universe – this one where the Doctor is actually… Governor Tarkin!  Yes, we’re back in the swinging Sixties with some technicolor Daleks, a really jazzy incidental score, some more Bernard Cribbins (he transcends time, it appears), and an overall somehow less epic retread of a First Doctor classic.  But what else can you expect when you’ve journeyed to the year… 2150 ADPeter Cushing IS the Doctor in what is only the second (to date) Doctor Who (sort of) big screen adventure Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD.

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Movies NuWho Series 5 Podcast Season 5

Who’s the New Guy? – “The Eleventh Hour” & “Doctor Who”

No Not the Mind Probe: A Doctor Who Podcast
No Not the Mind Probe: A Doctor Who Podcast
Who’s the New Guy? - "The Eleventh Hour" & "Doctor Who"
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Isn’t that just the way?  You’re waiting and waiting for a new Doctor and then two come along at once.

Yes, the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, makes his debut alongside Karen Gillan as new companion Amy Pond, both spouting the dialog of new showrunner (and NNTMP darling) Steven Moffat.  It’s an extra long Who season premiere doing what Moffat does best – firing ideas and sharp dialog at you at a breakneck pace.  We’ve got cracks in walls, alien prisoners, alien prison guards, Kissograms, nurse fiances, Oscar winners, handsome hunks, and new culinary creations all vying for our attention but all paling in comparison to Matt Smith’s completely owning the role within about 15 minutes.  Was our enthusiasm for Who sagging just a touch?  Well thankfully Smith, Gillian, Moffat, and co. swoop in to revitalize us at… The Eleventh Hour!

But this isn’t the first… or even the second… Who “reboot” (that’s not a real reboot) on our agenda.  We go back to the heady days of 1996.  The Cold War was over, Bill Clinton was president (pre-scandal), John was studying for his AP Bio exam (not the whole year), and Doctor Who was returing to our screens on… Fox?!  Look, the 90s were a weird time, OK?  We were still trying to work out what the hell happened in the 80s.  Anyway, Doctor Who had miraculously risen from the dead as a Fox-BBC co-production which answered the question, “What do American audiences want?” with a resounding, “A confusing mess with Eric Roberts.”  Fortunately, they also cast Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, who – accompanied by his cardiologist – goes in search of an atomic clock for… reasons… and then something happens and then some other things and then the Master falls in a hole and oh yeah Sylvester McCoy was in it for a really long time and also apparently there was a bombed out hospital in San Francisco.  And that right there is a relatively simple summary of the cleverly titled Doctor Who The TV Movie.

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Movies NuWho Series 6 Podcast Season 6

The Story Behind the Story – “The Doctor’s Wife” & “An Adventure in Time and Space”

No Not the Mind Probe: A Doctor Who Podcast
No Not the Mind Probe: A Doctor Who Podcast
The Story Behind the Story - "The Doctor's Wife" & "An Adventure in Time and Space"
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