2MTL #15: "The Ten Doctors" Reviewed

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Back when the webcomic User Friendly was at its peak, there were lots of jokes about the User Friendly Productivity Virus: once people in your company discovered the strip, work would grind to a halt as everyone caught up through the archives.

If you value your productivity and you're a Doctor Who fan, do yourself a favor. Wait until the weekend before you start reading Rich's excellent webcomic, The Ten Doctors. It really is that good, and you'll devour its 255 (and still counting) pages in huge gulps at a time. What would be too fannish to work on television works beautifully well here: No Companion Left Behind.

2MTL #14: K-9 Revisited

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I performed a little experiment this evening. I sat my seven year-old son in front of YouTube and showed him a clip of K-9 playing chess with the Fourth Doctor and Leela and the new teaser trailer for the upcoming K-9 kids' series. His reaction: the old K-9 was amusing but the new one is "cooooooooooooool"! Keep that in mind as you listen to my reaction to the trailer that seemed to vex so many fans….

(P.S. I do add myself to the chorus calling for John Leeson to perform the voice.)

2MTL #13: Davies vs. Moffat vs. the 2009 Hugo

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Who shall stand? Who shall fall?! The 2009 Hugo Award nominees include two 2008 Doctor Who episodes: "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" written by Steven Moffat, and "Turn Left" written by Russell T. Davies. Should Moffat pick up his fourth in a row? Is it time for another feather in Davies's cap? My wife Shannon and I reveal all!

2MTL #12: You Owe Murray Gold a Pint

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A huge reason the Doctor Who revival is on its way to a fifth series is the man who apparently won't be back after Series One through Four. And that's a shame, because composer Murray Gold made a statement to skeptical audiences right from the opening credits of 2005's "Rose." Raise a glass to an unsung hero.

2MTL #11: Meeting Up (RE-FEED)

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I had no idea that there was a meetup group right under my nose in North Carolina until I heard about it from a British podcast. Go figure. But I'm glad that prompted me to meet them.

Even if I was the only one to show up for a St. Patrick's-themed episode viewing without a hint of green on my person.

NOTE: This podcast has been republished due to a server move.

2MTL #10: The Highwayfan Considers "Higher Species"

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According to RTD, both in the Doctor Who Annual 2006 and occasional references in the show, the Time Lords cannot possibly exist since the Time War. They're myths and legends, with only certain "higher species" having any inkling that such a civilization existed.

Of course, you've got not a few humans such as Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier, and official U.N.I.T. who not only remember The Doctor, but his references to Gallifrey as well. (For example, Sarah Jane remembers being left behind by the Fourth Doctor because humans weren't allowed.)

Does this mean that humans — "stupid apes" as the Ninth Doctor called us in a fit of pique — are in fact a "higher species"? Come with me; let's take a little drive, have a chat….

2MTL #9: The Highwayfan Considers the Time War

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I understand the reasons for arguing that we recently completed the 30th series of Doctor Who (or 31st if you count the 1996 movie as one), but I have to admit that I don't see it the same way. There's a universal reboot in between the program launched in 1963 and the 2005 version.

That reboot, of course, is the Last Great Time War, which erased two great civilizations including the linchpin of time travel itself. Herewith, my on-the-road musing about the Time War, and why it was not only a cool idea, but also an important ingredient in the success of RTD's Who.

(The audio improves after the first few seconds of in-car recording. The Two-minute Time Lord Podcast needs gear.)

By the way — please follow me on Twitter!

2MTL #8: The Highwayfan Considers Kasterborous

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"Highwayfan" episodes of the Two-minute Time Lord podcast are my chance to ramble about more fannish, geeky, or just plain fun topics about the mythology of Doctor Who. After all, what else can you do in the middle of a commute? And speaking of mythology….

The "Constellation of Kasterborous" — the spatial location of The Doctor's homeworld Gallifrey — has always struck me as one of those kitschy aspects of classic Doctor Who that reminds one that there are hazards to taking it too seriously. As Paul Cornell put it in the Discontinuity Guide, "constellations are arbitrary divisions of stars in a planet's sky." He then goes on to provide a simple, clear explanation of why The Doctor uses that name.

But I'm not much for simple. Let's go for an odder explanation of what Kasterborous is. Something dimensionally transcendent.

Note: Because I'm driving down I-40 as I record this, my IQ's down about 20 points. When I say "geographic" replace that with "astrometry", when I say "Neil Gaimany" I mean "mythological," and when I say "follow 2minutetimelord on Twitter" I mean "visit twominutetimelord.com to leave comments".

2MTL #7: "Shipping" Doctor Who

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"No hanky-panky in the TARDIS." Well, sure, this is family television after all. But in sharp contrast to the old series, since 2005 the relationships between the characters have been just as important to the show as the Monster of the Week. This has introduced a new subculture to Doctor Who fandom: "Shipping."

(Of note: There's a fantastic interchange between new series producer Phil Collinson and Eighth Doctor companion Daphne Ashbrook on the subject toward the end of Doctor Who: Podshock 141 [live at Gallifrey 20].)

2MTL #6: Last of the Doctor Who Shows?

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OK, so this isn't about "shipping" after all. You've been spared for one episode. Instead, here's something prompted by Cory Doctorow's appearance on This Week in Tech 183. Doctorow has some strong opinions on digital freedom and its impact on Big Media — and let's face it, Doctor Who isn't exactly an actor, a guy with a camcorder, and a YouTube account. Internet-sapped attention spans, legal-and-otherwise free acquisition of TV shows and other media, and this little global economic meltdown have taken their toll on an evolving BBC, and not even Top Gear is immune.

What's it mean for Doctor Who? My two minutes' thoughts are in the podcast; what're yours?