"You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away!" That's what the Doctor's taught Rose, she tells Mickey and Jackie during the most important scene in "The Parting of the Ways." But is this story about the triumph of the human spirit, or something much more bleak? And, oh yeah, isn't this someone's last episode?
The Bluetooth earpiece gag in "Rise of the Cybermen" was kind of obvious — it was made in 2005, after all — but Google's Project Glass plans revealed last month made me think that we're much closer to our impending cyber-conversions than previously anticipated!
May 2008 (not 2009, ignore your host during the podcast): Steven Moffat prepares to take the reins of Doctor Who in one of the most anticipated showrunner transitions ever.
January 2010: Matt Smith kisses his knees, spits out cinders, and shouts, "Geronimo!"
April 2012: A massive Time Dilation episode of the Two-minute Time Lord podcast assesses Steven Moffat's first two series and looks toward the future! Your principal panelists are Chicks Unravel Time editor Deb Stanish, Adventures with the Wife in Space blogger Neil Perryman, multitudinous writer Teresa Jusino and Radio Free Skaro's own Steven Schapansky.
But they're not the only ones weighing in, as we find out what fans thought about Series 5 and 6 at Gallifrey One 23 last February, and present some very special guests' two cents:
io9.com managing editor Charlie Jane Anders!
Doctor Who: Podshock co-founder Ken Deep!
Comics artist Pia Guerra!
Mythbusters co-host Grant Imahara!
Nerdist host and overlord Chris Hardwick!
Scottish comedian Charlie Ross!
Chicago Sun-Times tech columnist Andy Ihnatko!
As Series 7 commences production, what's the current state of Doctor Who? Find out now.
Will Who reign supreme at the 2012 Hugos? I thought I knew who I would vote for, were I a Worldcon member, but then I wavered not only over a non-Doctor Who nominee, but also questions about the nature of the awards themselves.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) (512 ballots)
- "The Doctor's Wife" (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)
- "The Drink Tank's Hugo Acceptance Speech," Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)
- "The Girl Who Waited" (Doctor Who), written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
- "A Good Man Goes to War" (Doctor Who), written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)
- "Remedial Chaos Theory" (Community), written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)
Does Doctor Who suffer when it taps into trends, rather than trying to remain timeless? Exhibit A is "Bad Wolf," wherein reality TV takes a beating. Does it hold up? And how about that epic reveal which wasn't?
By the time Chip got around to thinking about what he'd like to see in Series Seven and the 50th anniversary, that cheeky Steven Moffat got around to making the darned thing without waiting for Chip's demands. This is not stopping the strangely assertive, possibly temporarily unhinged Chip from posting his list of demands, written on the palm of his hand.
Works cited: 2MTL 161 on McGann, Tiki Dalek, Adventures With the Wife in Space.
Geeks have a love-hate relationship with The Big Bang Theory, America's favorite sitcom. I'm a Johnny-come-lately to the show, but when I saw it I suddenly got, after years of resistance, that a "truly alien" Doctor could really work in the modern series. (And yes, I'm saying that Smith isn't THAT much more alien than his two predecessors.)
Everybody welcome Jenna-Louise Coleman, who will play [PROPER NAME] when she [VERB, PRESENT TENSE] the Doctor at [PLACE] next season. As soon as her character's [NOUN] was announced, I knew her [GERUND] would be confidential among the [REDACTED] Doctor Who fans!
But seriously, folks, what kind of companion is Jenna-Louise Coleman going to portray?
Well, they can't all be winners. They certainly can't all be huge and epic, either, but "Boom Town" particularly suffers by being bracketed by Steven Moffat's debut and the first in a long line of budget-busting series finales. This cheap-feeling episode has a couple of things to recommend it, however, and it's actually better in 2012 than it was in 2005.
