(Re)GenerationWho4 Preview

If you’ve been a listener to this cast for anything more than an episode or two, first of all, you have our deepest thanks. But moreover, you’ve immediately learned that we get a little excited over things that we get involved in, or attend, or hear about, or brush up against in market aisles, or…well, you get the idea. We’re a lively bunch. So it should come as no surprise that when Oni and Harknell, showrunners for the Maryland-based (Re)GenerationWho […]

The Doctor Falls

How many times have we known that we were witnessing the waning moments of the current Doctor’s term, regeneration was nigh, and that heartache was imminent, yet we were riveted to the screen? And in those moments, how much time was spent in the episode where the Doctor himself knew that time was at hand? With few exceptions, these exercises in loss (for both character and audience) have been graciously brief, relatively speaking. The quick-pull of the bandage, if you […]

The Year of the Woman?

Series Nine of Doctor Who was, in a word, groundbreaking. The broadcast format changed. The tone shifted dramatically (pun intended, of course). The stories grew in intensity and weight. The performances from both principal and supporting casts expanded exponentially. The series as a whole felt cohesive, focused, and full of the thrills, adventure, and emotion that marks a stellar season for the program. Over and above all these accolades, and in many ways directly feeding into them, was the rising […]

Hell Bent

Emotions are complicated, often messy human traits — flaws, if you were to ask a Dalek or a Cyberman. They can inspire songs and uplift spirits, motivate heroes and move armies, weaken the stalwart and petrify the proud. We rely on them as much as we are hindered by them. In some fashion, we cherish the negative as much as the positive, for as every artist will attest, the light requires the shadow for contrast. What happens when those emotions are altered, muted, or […]

Heaven Sent

We are consumers of an entertainment industry bred to define “epics” as large scale, sweeping tales with casts of hundreds if not thousands, panoramic views of parapets, mountain ranges, or the front lines of a battlefield, and soul-baring performances between cinematic greats that ignite the screen and leave the audience exhausted for the experience. In a wild attempt to break down this convention, writer Steven Moffat and director Rachel Talalay saddled themselves, and their artist Peter Capaldi, with a formidable task: create […]