2MTL 264: Who Should Win the Hugo?

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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)

2MTL 263: "Bad Wolf" Two-minute Throwback

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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?

2MTL 262: List of Demands

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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.

2MTL 261: If You Want a Really Alien Doctor, Look at Sheldon Cooper?

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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.)

2MTL 260: And the Companion Played by Jenna-Louise Coleman Shall Be. . .

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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?

2MTL 258: "Boom Town" Two-minute Throwback

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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.

2MTL 257: After Gallifrey One, the Other Side of Doctor Who's Coin

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In which I reflect on the possibility that Doctor Who's vaunted flexibility (hey, I vaunted it myself during Radio Free Skaro Live at Gallifrey One last weekend) can also be a bit of a trap for the show…

2MTL 256: MythBusters Co-host Grant Imahara Talks Doctor Who

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Resplendent in his Tenth Doctor costume and brandishing a sonic screwdriver with the authority of one of television's best-known mechanical geniuses, MythBusters co-host Grant Imahara came to Los Angeles's Gallifrey One, the world's biggest Doctor Who convention. We took a few minutes to talk about how he came back to the show after its relaunch, how its star is rising in Hollywood, and what grade he'd give the last two series of Doctor Who.

The Past, Present and Future of Doctor Who Podcasting (Gally 23)

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Why has Doctor Who podcasting caught on? How can you get started? What technology do you use? What about video? What about social media? What about everything???

Panelists: Chip from Two-minute Time Lord, Warren from Radio Free Skaro, Jason Snell from The Incomparable (and senior editor of Macworld and PCWorld), Nancy from The Happiness Patrol and Michele from The Doctor Who Podcast.

Provided by and for the Doctor Who Podcast Alliance. Recorded at Gallifrey One.