Doctor Who A(uton) to Z(ygon)

Hosts Josh and Alan review the Fifth Doctor story "Frontios" from Season 21, 1984 written by Christopher H. Bidmead. A colony of woodlice who can control gravity attack a far-future colony of humans who can't control gravity. Entering the scene is the Doctor, who also can't control gravity, with companions Tegan and Turlough. Can the TARDIS team keep the humans from being wiped o...

This week Josh and Alan review the sixth installment in the Big Finish 60th Anniversary story -- "Once and Future: Time Lord Immemorial" . Written by Lisa McMullin and directed by Helen Goldwyn, it stars Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, David Warner as the (other) Doctor, Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka, and Gina McKee as the Lumiat. "Slipping between bodies, the Ninth Doctor finds...

It's two big thumbs up this week from Josh and Alan , as we jump back into the Eleventh Doctor era with "The Girl Who Waited" from Series 6. It was written by Tom MacRae and directed by Nick Hurran, and it stars Matt Smith as the Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy, and Arthur Darvill as Rory. The TARDIS gang pays a visit to the planet Apalapucia for a holiday, but they find that the planet...

This week your hosts Josh and Alan actually do tackle one of the all-time greats of Doctor Who -- "The Romans" from Season Two (1965), starring William Hartnell (The Doctor), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara), William Russell (Ian) and Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) and features Derek Francis (Nero). The Doctor and Vicki investigate intrigue surrounding the death of a lyre player en route to perfor...

This week Josh and Alan tackle one of the true greats (okay, maybe not), one of the undisputed epics (yeah, not so much), one of the absolute titans (not even close) of Doctor Who -- that's right, it's "Nightmare of Eden" from Season 17! Written by Bob Baker (or is that Barker?) and directed by Alan Bromly (at least for a little while), "Nightmare" stars Tom Baker, Lall...

This week hosts Josh and Alan are joined by their good friend Ashley Raburn to talk about "The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50" the fifth chapter of Big Finish 's ongoing 60th Anniversary series Once and Future . The First Doctor arrives in Victorian London amid a Martian invasion. But he discovers all is not what it seems when Missy appears... Soon, the Doctor is propelled into a f...

Last week was Atlanta's biggest annual nerdfest, Dragon Con! Alan talks about his time riding the Dragon this year and what the experience tells us about the state of Doctor Who fandom in the wake of the Chibnall era. After that, we review all the recent news and look ahead to the next release from Big Finish in their ongoing 60th Anniversary series, Once and Future . Were you at Dragon Con? L...

Josh and Alan are the voices in each others' heads as they review "Two's Company" , the fourth chapter in the Big Finish 60th Anniversary saga Once and Future . It stars Colin Baker as the Doctor, Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler, Michelle Ryan as Lady Christina, Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan, and Michael Maloney as "The Renegade." Back on Earth, the Doctor finds a...

After a bit of a break, Josh and Alan are back on the road to the 60th Anniversary! This week we review “A Genius For War,” the third episode in Big Finish’s ongoing anniversary saga, Once and Future. This one stars Sylvester McCoy, Terry Molloy, Ken Bones, and Beth Chalmers. “In the midst of the Time War, the Time Lords have received a communication from Falkus, the prison moon of Skaro. Its sole...

This week Josh and Alan check in with the Eighth Doctor in the Big Finish audio "Day of the Vashta Nerada" , part of the Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 2 box set, written by Matt Fitton , directed by Barnaby Edwards , and starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Jacqueline Pearce as Cardinal Ollistra. When the Doctor stumbles across Synthesis Station, he discovers that the Tim...

Your hosts Josh and Alan continue their journey to the 60th Anniversary with random stops along the way! This week we travel to 2005 for a review of the Paul Cornell story "Father's Day." Rose convinces the Doctor to take her to 1987 to the day that her dad died. Bad idea? Not necessarily. But giving her a second chance at it? Definitely bad idea! "Father's Day" stars C...

This week, Josh and Alan get thrown back in time to 19th Century Scotland as they review the Season 22 story, "Timelash" -- and it goes about as well as you might expect it to. "Timelash" is a Sixth Doctor story starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. It has been panned by fandom repeatedly as one of the worst Doctor Who serials of all time. How much does it deserve that reputa...

This week Josh and Alan dig into the second episode in Big Finish 's 60th Anniversary miniseries Once and Future . Written by James Goss, "The Artist at the End of Time" stars Peter Davison, Georgia Tennant, and Colin Baker. The Doctor goes in search of answers to the predicament that he's in -- degenerating into past incarnations -- and instead finds his daughter and the Curator...

After nearly ending up in the hospital after last week's show, Josh and Alan are back this week to review a hidden gem from the William Hartnell era -- "The Space Museum" from Season Two . In this one, the Doctor, Vicki, Barbara, and Ian arrive on the planet Xeros before they've actually arrived there. What in the world does that mean? It sets up a fascinating mystery that the TA...

Well, it had to happen eventually -- Josh and Alan have entered the Chris Chibnall era. This week the guys dive into the finale of Series 11 -- "The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos" -- starring Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill , featuring the return of Tzim-Sha from Jodie's debut episode. And let's just say ... it goes about as well as expected. Without givi...

Hitting the highlights from throughout the history of Doctor Who , this week we jump into the Matt Smith era with "Cold War." And since this episode features the return of Ice Warriors to the program after a 39-year absence, we knew we had to invite our buddy Ashley Raburn in to discuss it with us! We talk about whether this story could have worked with any other monster (particularly a...

So far our journey down the road to Doctor Who 's 60th Anniversary has mostly been looking behind at previous episodes -- episodes that paved the path that has brought us this far. But this week we take our first big steps forward into brand-new territory! First, we review the new trailer that reveals the titles of the upcoming three special episodes starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Do...

As we approach the  Doctor Who  60th Anniversary, doing random stops along the timeline to check out highlights from every era of the show, this week we visit the snowcapped mountains of the Himalayas -- by way of North Wales -- for a completely unscripted, unplanned chat about the Second Doctor classic, "The Abominable Snowmen." During the discussion, Josh and Alan spend a good 10 minut...

As we approach the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary, doing random stops along the timeline to check out highlights from every era of the show, this week we pay a visit to ancient Pompeii -- and it's Volcano Day! That's right: the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble find themselves about to be buried under a river of lava along with 20,000 other people in "The Fires of Pompeii" . Your hosts (...

This week Josh and Alan have a lively discussion about the opening story of Season 8, Jon Pertwee 's second season on Doctor Who , "Terror of the Autons" ! While we both like the story overall, it does bring with it its own set of problems that will become part of the template of the Pertwee era. This is a story of great change -- we have new characters coming in, a brand new major v...

Suggested to us by listener Jared R. Byer , this week we're discussing one of our favorites, "The Happiness Patrol" , from 1988, Season 25. The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) come to the planet Terra Alpha to investigate some strange goings on. What they discover is a regime that forcefully suppresses all sadness. It's famous for being a criticism of the Thatche...

This week Josh and Alan pay a visit to the Peter Capaldi era to talk about a 2-parter from Series Nine -- "Under the Lake / Before the Flood"! The Doctor and Clara find themselves in a classic base under siege story haunted by ghostly apparitions before the Doctor takes a trip to the past to see how the story begins. But not before giving us a little lesson Beethoven and bootstraps! We d...

This week, Alan and Josh tackle the problematic centerpiece of Season 21 -- "Resurrection of the Daleks" starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor! We talk about gun violence, early conventions, shampoo, Davros comparisons, the 80s, and the best companion exit in all of Classic Who. Before that, though, we talk about the big news story of the week ( Doctor Who: Doom's Day ), and aft...

Mystery! Murder! Robots! And LOTS of sand! This week Josh and Alan steer their TARDIS back to 1977 to enjoy "The Robots of Death" starring Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela. We talk about what makes this a nearly perfect Doctor Who story! But first, we cover the first "news" of the upcoming UNIT spin-off series!  Let us know what you thought of "The Robots of Death" by writi...

Just got back from the Gallifrey One convention in LA -- Let me tell you about it! Met some cool people, ran into friends I haven't seen in a while, and attended some excellent panels that featured amazing guests. Here's the rundown of my weekend at Gally!  If you've never attended Gally before and have questions, just ask! And if you did go to Gally this year, I'd love to hear your stories!...