Podcastica

We love a good double-entendre alternate title. And that might be one of the only good things about The Reality War. Honestly, folks, we are a positive podcast. We're always looking for the things we like in even the least enjoyable story (Sleep No More...remember?). Well, this one's a struggle. We definitely have some things we liked, but we absolutely have to address where this story leaves us and leaves Doctor Who. Programming Note: We're taking a summer break and will have our next episode out on July 1st.

Oh boy, oh boy friends! Here we are...the penultimate episode of the season! And nothing is as it seems! Yes, sure, there's a bit of set up for what hopefully will be an insane season finale, but that's what penultimate episodes do, right? We've a new god of the Pantheon, we have a easy money-making scheme (selling yellow mugs), we have another surprise face showing up, and we have a very intriguing final line of the episode! What could it all mean?!

Oh boy, friends, do we have a lot to unpack! The Interstellar Song Contest has come and gone. Dugga Doo didn't win. And for that we riot!! Wait, that's not the biggest bit of news from this episode? Oh. Oh yes! There is lots and lots more!! We won't detail out every little bit here because, you know, spoilers. So grab your space age slurpee cups and let's start hashing it out!

The Story and The Engine is a fantastic story. That's it, that's the post. It's well written, it tells a story that we don't really see in Doctor Who, it's amazing to look at, and it provides representation where we really really haven't had it on this show. All of that is fantastic, so you'll hear a lot of that, a couple teeny nitpicks, and a lot of speculation on where this season's end game may be headed!

Well, despite a few bits of logic we just couldn't quite reconcile, we still really enjoyed Lucky Day. Much like last season's Dot and Bubble, we have a good script and a character that's crafted specifically for us to hate him. We have a wrestling-level heel turn mid-episode that just sets us on our back foot for the rest of the adventure. Plus we get some juicy hints as to what's to come in the back half of the season!

Well, we knew Lux was going to be a hard act to follow, but The Well does a bang-up job! And, by that, we mean that it's the entity banging these poor troopers all over the room in that one scene! Yeah, fantastic performances from everyone. More characters that we care about in a short time. And impressive return of a Modern Who monster we didn't really see coming and lots of speculation about possible Pantheon influence and wondering what Mrs Flood's rank is. Let's get at it!

Oh boy! Oh friends! People have said the perfect episode of Doctor Who doesn't exist. That may be true, but we feel like Lux comes pretty darn close! Yes, there are some small nitpicks we have with the story, but they are but a match head compared with the power of the sun that this episode is! (see what we did there?) We're not even going to bore you with anymore text here, let's dive straight into this adventure!!

"I'll stop the world and weld with you! I've seen some changes and..." ...they don't exactly make for a smooth start to the new season! That's right friends, Doctor Who is back for a new season and kind of like last season we start with a little bit of an uneven episode! We liked it, but we didn't love it. Belinda is fantastic, the effects are amazing, the hints of the mysteries to come are intriguing, but there are some bits in this episode that just don't go over well. And "The Two Ranis?!" you ask. Well, you'll have to hear our discussion on things. It's funny.

With just a couple weeks left until the new season of Doctor Who, we're cramming in Doctor Who and the Silurians! Pertwee's second story is part-mystery, part-medical drama, and loaded with sci-fi fun! While we wonder if the story needed to be seven parts, we do think they did a pretty decent job with the pacing. Plus we get some marvelous goofy faces from the 3rd Doctor as well as a hint as some of the darker, more serious moments to come from this Doctor.

Friends, it's time once again to get into some classic Doctor Who! And we have a special treat this time, our good friend Lena Barkin (self-confessed 2nd Doctor and Jamie aficionado)! Together we review the only 8-part story in the show's history: The Invasion! Complete with a mega-maniacal tech oligarch (yeah, feels familiar, right?!), the Cyberman, and the introduction of UNIT, this story has so much good stuff packed inside that you'll be impressed we only kept it to an 80 minute discussion!

Folks, we are back into the swing of things post-Gallifrey One and we have our annual post-Gally "episode suggested by our friend Mike"! This time around, Mike has suggested RTD's very first series: Dark Season! Originally made for kids back in 1991, it's clear that RTD really wanted to write for Doctor Who because RTD's style and The Doctor's fingerprints are all over this six-part series! So grab a paddle and wear something really pastel and let's dive in!

Hello once again from GALLIFREY ONE! Join us as we recap our Saturday which involved the Podcaster's Meet Up, Whovians Who Tiki, and the West Coast Premiere of inDoctornated! We hope each and everyone one of you had a fantastic con!

Greetings, Whovians! Join us as we recap out DAY ONE of Gallifrey One 2025 live from the lobby of the LAX Marriott!

GREETINGS WHOVIANS! We are LIVE from Gallifrey One 35! We talk about our Day Zero and what we're looking forward to seeing on Day One!

Ladies and gents and everyone inbetween, the boys are back! Yes, after the LA Fires delayed our planned recording date a couple weeks ago, we've returned to the mic to bring you our review of The Wheel in Space which has has 2/3 of the episodes faithfully and wonderfully animated by TARDIS Time Girl over on YouTube! So tune in, enjoy, and we'll see you next time at Gallifrey One!

Now that our holiday commitments are done, we're back to review the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas Special "Joy to the World"! Frankly, we loved this Moffat-penned adventure. So be prepared for us to say lots of good things about the show we love...because why would you keep watching if you don't like it? That's weird. Anyway...on with the show!!

Something ood is afoot in the Ood Sphere! Yes, it's capitalism and exploitation come to wreck yet another civilization! Aren't we humans grand? Yes, this time we watch the wintry classic Planet of the Ood and weigh its message against the legendary, heavy-handed Orphan 55 (good news, not as heavy). And programming note: we may not be reviewing the Christmas special until about the first of the new year, so let us take this opportunity to thank you for joining us in 2024 and to wish you all a lovely holiday season!

Well, if you have "Rock Lobster" by The B-52s stuck in your head now, you're welcome. Because this time we review The Fires of Pompeii! Guest stars of future past, the world through Donna's eyes, and a wicked twist to the choice the Doctor has to make that we pretty much had forgotten about! Join us, won't you?

Well, we're clearly coming out of something of an election hangover and while there's work to be done on that front, we're also coping with a bit of Doctor Who! This time we compared The Shakespeare Code to a summer's day! And it held up pretty darn well! Not only that, but we've moved ourselves and the podcast over to Bluesky so be sure to check the show notes for our new socials!

Friends, have you voted yet? Do you perhaps need something to keep you company while you wait in line? Or maybe something to prevent you from doomscrolling your way through the day? Well, then let us offer you about an hour's respite from the election with our review of Smith and Jones (who, frankly, we'd definitely vote for!).

Well, here's something new for your week...our review of New Earth! We'll spare you all the superfluous "New"s and instead point out that we forgot how solid this story was. It's one part Freaky Friday and two parts Night of the Living Dead! Also, don't forget to vote! That's super important that you do that. Because our next episode will literally land on Election Day!

Naturally, we had to follow Bad Wolf with The Parting of the Ways! We look back at the first season finale of Modern Who and remember what it was like to experience this all for the first time, what a bigger surprise it would have been if we didn't know a regeneration was coming, and how the effects hold up halfway decently for an almost 20 year old story!

If watching Eccleston's penultimate episode this week has taught us anything, it's that even the deep future of humanity is going to still be fixated on late 20th and early 21st century pop culture! Your guess as to why is just as good as ours! But it is a trope amongst others that we discuss this time...a long with why the heck the Daleks decided to play a long game with humanity instead of just barging into the place and breaking all the good china like they normally do!

He wouldn't have gotten away with it, too! If it wasn't for those meddling kids and their crotchety old Time Lord! Yes, this week we watched The Sensorites! Honestly, a pretty good six-parter that wasn't exactly fast-paced and full of action, but also didn't really have pacing problems either. What it did have was one really crazy Sensorite who did not want humans (or their Time Lord) anywhere near their planet and he did some pretty Scooby villain stuff to stop them. Well, try and stop them at least. Anyway! Grab some Scooby Snacks and let's dive in!

Well, folks, we were warned. We were warned that The Mutants was going to be a bit of a slog. And let us tell you, it was definitely a bit of a slog. Especially after Fear Her. But! It wasn't all bad. We worked our magic and found what we really enjoyed about this story: the costuming, the sets, Jo, Stubbs & Cotton, and just how utterly bonkers episode six is! So sit back, grab a cup of whatever makes you happy, and let's look at The Mutants!

Well, we have a saying around here, folks...They can't all be great. And when that happens, we do our best to try and Sleep No More it into something we would have liked. With Fear Her, honestly, we did our best. We really tried, but it just isn't something we liked much at all. This episode actually makes Raygun's breakdancing look good.

Well, friends, we were right! The Invasion of Time definitely influences the creation of Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS! This time around, though, the TARDIS is scooped up by salvagers during a vulnerable moment and then the race is on to locate Clara and fix the engines before everything goes to heck!

Friends, we are back in more ways than one! After a nice summer break after Ncuti's first season wrapped, not only are we back with a review of the 4th Doctor story The Invasion of Time, but the NOTLG website is back up and running! So when we say check the story notes, you absolutely can once again!

Well, here we are friends. At the end...of the season (not of everything, don't worry!). The Third Wave of Who (#thirdwavewho) is well underway and we've wrapped our season with Empire of Death! It certainly gave us a lot to chew on and discuss. And while we enjoyed the episode overall, there were some aspects of it that just didn't stick the landing. But the only way out is through, so let's get into it! Programming Note: We're going to take a short summer break and will be back with a new ep July 16th!

Holy smokes, friends! The Legend of Ruby Sunday...the first part of our season finale...has given us so much to chew on! Not only is it the return of Sutekh to the show after almost 50 years, it's the possibility of who dropped Ruby at the church in 2004, it's how much we'd be very cool with a UNIT spin-off, it's speculation on Mrs. Flood, it's will Cherry ever get her tea, and so much more! And the season finale is almost here, so we better get cracking into it!

This week we're joined by John's good friend and co-host on That Wrestling Show Neesin (@StayFlyLife) as we review Rogue and get a unique perspective of the Third Wave of Who from a brand new Whovian! All in all, Rogue was fantastic fun that fired on all cylinders and gave us more of an upbeat (though definitely emotional at times) romp before diving into the two-part season finale!

Well, good science fiction generates thought and causes us to look at the world around us in new ways. Based just on that, Dot and Bubble is quite the episode! This week, we break down our initial feelings, analyze them, filter them through a rewatch, and then find even more to talk about. No kidding, this really was quite the episode! Join us!

73 Yards is one of those rare episodes where we can get away with a pun this literal in our title! But it's also an absolute banger of a Welsh horror story! RTD has pretty much knocked this one out of the park, but that doesn't mean that we aren't left with a great deal of questions about some unanswered things from this story and the greater mystery at work this season. So let's dive into it!

Here comes the...Boom is this week's episode and sees the return of showrunner Steven Moffat to write for the RTD2 era (aka: Third Wave Who...let's get that trending). And it's a tight, tense episode with one interesting surprise that we'll learn more about later. It's no a perfect episode, by any means, but we enjoyed it a good bit! The NOTLG site is still experiencing issues, unfortunately, so there's not much hope for the show notes at the moment.

What's this?! Two episodes of Podcastica in the same day!? YES! And we're discussing THE DEVIL'S CHORD which gave us many many instances of shouting YES at the TV. This story was an absolute hurricane of crazy awesomeness and we loved it from stem to stern. So join us as we tinkle the ivories (we don't actually play the piano, but let's run with the visual...) and beat the drum over how much we loved this episode!

Friends and listeners, DOCTOR WHO IS BACK! Oh boy, we could not be more excited as we have two episodes for you this week! First up is SPACE BABIES! Yep, babies in space. Complete with a booger man (we guess the Brits pronounce it bogeyman) and RTD's love of a decent fart joke (at least it helps save the day this time). We also marvel at the special effects and wonder about Ruby's apparent power to affect the environment around her.

Well, they can't all be complete winners. And while Boom Town is better than our last episode, The Long Game, it still isn't great. But, as we always do, we make our way through to find the good bits and polish them up as best we can. And on a programming note, we're going to take an extra week off to rest up, refresh, and be ready for the start of the first season of New Modern Who! So we'll be back around May 15th!

Friends and listeners, we give you The Long Game! Voted the worst 9th Doctor story three times in a row, we have to admit that we mostly agree. Simon Pegg guest stars but has to play second fiddle to a poorly animated sack of meat with teeth. The universally panned Adam is here, but we actually find that he serves a purpose in this story. Plus...is the Doctor at least partially to blame for Adam's behavior?

We accept that the animated recreations of missing Doctor Who episodes can be a little hit and miss at times. But, really, at the end of the day, we're glad that these stories exist in more than just black and white tele-snaps for viewers to enjoy! And, while we weren't bowled over by the animation this time, there's still lots to enjoy. So grab your air tanks (or just become a fish person) and join us under the sea for The Underwater Menace!

The Android Invasion probably won't be making anyone's list for most amazing 4th Doctor story ever. But that doesn't mean there aren't any enjoyable parts to the story. We have some crazy looking androids, the Kraal are...maybe rhino people?! And there are some plot twist that, we have to admit, we didn't really see coming. So join us for a quick episode as we review The Android Invasion!

London 1965!! Remember when that was a thing? Well, we're back from Gallifrey One and friend of the show MA Solko has given us The Chase to watch. Not because it's a stinker, but because it's awesome. And, boy, was he right. Not a perfect story, but a wild romp across space and time! Amongst other things, The Chase may feature our favorite cliffhanger of all time and one of the funniest scenes in all of Doctor Who!

Hello again, fellow WHOVIANS! We're back with our DAY TWO recap of Gallifrey One 2024! We talk about Idiot's Lantern, Game of Rassilon, Alex Kingston, the Tiki meet up, and much more!