2MTL 179: Top Gear's Lessons for "Doctor Who USA"

Top Gear America's taking it on the chin, dare I say unfairly, from the purist fans of the original. And that helps me predict whether Doctor Who will follow in The Office's footsteps as another BBC property being remade for U.S. audiences.

2MTL 178: Shearman and Hadoke's Running Through Corridors, Reviewed

Rob Shearman and Toby Hadoke's new book is the first in a series that takes a deep look at every Doctor Who episode from 1963 through 2009, beginning with the Hartnell and Troughton years. If you have any curiosity about the classic series at all, no matter how many stories you've actually seen, you won't regret snapping up a copy. Here's why.

(Many thanks to the Twitterfolk.)

BONUS: My full-length interview with Rob and Toby is on The Doctor Who Podcast #53.

2MTL 177: Timeless Doctor, Mortal Friends

Can a time traveler ever truly leave his companions and acquaintances behind? After all, the Doctor "is" friends with Winston Churchill even though Churchill's long dead! Thoughts about the mystical — except in the Doctor's own case — connections between all times and places lie within. (This one ran a little long; sorry!)

2MTL 176: "The End of the World" Two-minute Throwback

Resolved: "The End of the World" was the most important Series One episode to Doctor Who's breakout success in 2005. When you have a strong opening, the follow-up had better be a killer, and it was.

2MTL 174: The Series 5 Box Set Reviewed

Despite a few areas where a little extra effort would have gone a long way, Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series is a worthy addition to your shelf-ful of Blu-rays and DVDs. Here's a review of the upcoming release (November 8 in the U.K., November 9 in North America).

Another take: Michael's Tin Dog Podcast 142.

2MTL 173: "Death of the Doctor," Resonating Concrete, and Knowing Your Modern Doctors

"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." Sometimes, the Doctor is tinkering with something he can't take his attention from, which traps him in a revealing conversation. It's a scripting strategy that RTD and Steven Moffat have used since 2005, most recently in "Death of the Doctor," and it's worked to great effect in revealing what makes the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors tick.

2MTL 172: Top Gear meets Doctor Who in "Max Warp"

Right there at the intersection of the Venn diagram between the gearheads and the Whovians is Big Finish's Eighth Doctor Adventure, "Max Warp." Does this Top Gear parody spin out or catch fire?

Another take: The Flashing Blade Podcast 1-38.

2MTL 171: "Rose" Two-minute Throwback

Beginning an occasional subset of 2MTL podcasts, in which I give a two-minute (more or less, time's a relative dimension and all that) review of Doctor Who episodes since 2005. We begin with "Rose," perhaps the only episode in which we got a fair look at the Ninth Doctor.

2MTL 170: Nostalgia, the Split Series, and Comics, Oh My

Three topics for you today: A potential bonus for the U.S. thanks to the split 2011 season, new comics from Tony Lee and Paul Cornell, and a look at the curious case of classic-series nostalgia among new-series fans.