Podcastica

It's a classic tale of xenophobic astronaut turned general using alien ambassadors to kill, steal, and do his dirty work! Sound like a lot to take in? It is! Because we're reviewing the 7-part 3rd Doctor serial The Ambassadors of Death as we round out all the Doctor Who stories that end in "of Death!" While there's lots to follow in the story, there's also lots of action, lots of shooting, and eve...

The Doctor and Leela, having just faced down a crazy zealot with a glove for a helmet, land in a mine. Well, on a mine. Well, on a mining ship...er, mining tank? Anyway, they’re on this giant mining vessel (yes, vessel sounds good) crewed by a small team of humans (who, if we’re being honest, have some of the most wild outfits!) and a much larger team of robots. However, under the surface (it’s a...

On Podcastica, we're quickly realizing that the Second Doctor's era contains some of the most ambitious storytelling in all of Doctor Who's history! The Seeds of Death is no exception and we find very little fat that could be trimmed from its six-episode length. The Ice Warriors are back and have a devious plan to make the Earth habitable for these Martians! We find some great adventure, hilarious...

No, you haven't tumbled into the movie The Lighthouse. It's Horror of Fang Rock! This 4th Doctor adventure is full of excellent Leela moments, a team of lighthouse keepers, a mysterious meteor crashing into the ocean, a creepy fog, a crashed boat of snooty types, one excellent slap, and only two characters make it to the end of the story! Horror of Fang Rock is essentially a British murder mystery...

After far too many episodes, we review a Big Finish story (and we have plans for more in the near future)! Between a hard-boiled detective and a multi-colored Doctor, we find The Maltese Penguin! Originally a bonus story, this adventure is a fantastic blend of parody, homage, and crazy Doctor Who logic! If you've never heard this one, be sure to check the show notes for a link to purchase the stor...

This time John and Taylor sit down to review the season opener for Season 21! Warriors of the Deep is a classic undersea base under siege tale with two of the slowest-walking, oddly talking monsters in Whovian history! And they're taking advantage of a future Cold War to take back control of Earth! Can the Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough stop them? Will they fall prey to a panto sea monster?! Will the...

50 years ago this month, Season 8 of Classic Who marked the introduction of some absolutely legendary characters. Both The Master and Jo Grant made their debut in Terror of the Autons! To celebrate this anniversary, we sat down to watch and discuss this absolutely fantastic story! From moment one, The Master is on point! Jo is a breath of fresh energy! And with everything from circuses to quarries...

You say you want a revolution. Well, you know...THAT IT SHOULD NEVER INVOLVE DALEKS! Really, Daleks in your revolution is bad. But this week we sit down to discuss the New Year's Special Revolution of the Daleks! It's a mostly entertaining story with the return of some welcome faces, one face we'd really like to see punched, and two faces who leave at the end (but live!). For all we liked about th...

Our final episode of 2020! Thank you so much for joining us this year! It's been a rough ride, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. We hope you're having a great holiday and are staying safe. So join us now as we venture into Dreamland! A companion-less Doctor arrives in a remote part of Nevada in 1958 and quickly finds himself facing down the Men in Black, the US government, and a race of...

The Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria land...well, in the ocean. That’s new. But they’re on the property of a large gas extraction factory. And something isn’t quite right. There’s weed growing everywhere...and not the good kind! This weed is potent! And sentient! And it means not just to win Wimbledon, but take over the world! Can our TARDIS team tackle this tickly weed before it’s too late?! Or will t...

This time we round out the rest of Season 12 with Revenge of the Cybermen, a story that sadly faced some scripting struggles along the way. Far more fascinating than that, however, is the apparent curse that followed the cast and crew around during filming! Come for the adventure, stay for the creepy stories that come with it (along with an insane amount of Who News) as we review Revenge of the Cy...

The Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry on their first adventure together end up deep in humanity’s future, long after the planet’s been scorched by solar flares. But before they can wake up and get down to the business of repopulating the planet, it becomes clear that something from somewhere is trying to throw a wrench into that process?! Is it the Kerblam man? Sadly, no, but bubble wrap does figure p...

It's Election Day 2020. Please go vote! Seriously, stop the podcast if you need to and go vote! All done? Good! This time, John & Taylor sit down to discuss the 5th Doctor story FRONTIOS! It's a classic tale of a far-flung human outpost besieged by giant crawdads who can control gravity and are planning to use the planet to start an intergalactic Uber! Can The Doctor, Tegan, and a fairly catatonic...

After what feels like another very long two weeks, John & Taylor are back to discuss the animated recreation of THE FACELESS ONES! This 2nd Doctor story has been 66% missing for quite some time, so does the animated version do the story justice? It's also the departure story for Ben & Polly, so they discuss how well this story serves them. There's lots to get into, so hop aboard, set your tray tab...

The past two weeks have felt like a long six months (thanks, 2020), but John and Taylor are back (so is John's mixer) with their review of The Sontaran Experiment! It's a quick two-parter that highlights the budgets of the 70s, but has some fun dialogue and some pretty decent action sequences! Plus, you may just hear Taylor's two new kittens playing in the background! So join us for some deflated...

It's been a weird week, friends. Taylor had a birthday and a massive synchronicity with this week's story! John's been swamped with work and had his mixer die on him (think 5th Doctor console explosions)! Despite all that, we review THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA! The Doctor and Sarah Jane accidentally take an ancient entity to 15th century Italy where it quickly gets involved with an underground cult t...

This week we watched PARTNERS IN CRIME! But first, a word from our "sponsor"...Now you too can manage your weight loss with Adipose. Adipose is a daily pill with a synthesized mobilizing lipase that breaks up the triglycerides stored in your fat cells. The fat just gets up and walks away. No, really, the fat literally walks away. Often in the middle of the night. Possibly setting off your home ala...

The boys of Podcastica have a bit of a rough week. But they soldiered on and reviewed the 11th Doctor adventure LET'S KILL HITLER! How much did they miss this era of Doctor Who and how exactly is Moffat's writing seen nearly 10 years later? There's lots to talk about...plus some Nazis get punched while others get covered in regeneration energy! It's a wild ride. And we also take a moment to say go...

Well, we're not quite in the pits over THE CREATURE FROM THE PIT. There were a few things we enjoyed about this 4th Doctor story, but overall the adventure fell a little flat with us, especially being the story that comes on the heels of the amazing City of Death. But, as always, we persevere and find the good within the not so good and let those bits shine for everyone. Join us as we open trade n...

We're back in bonkers territory this week with possibly the most 70s episode we've ever reviewed! THE CLAWS OF AXOS starts as a typical aliens-land-on-earth-to-recharge-their-batteries story and quickly evolves into an attempt by The Master to get his TARDIS back by serving up the planet to a race of golden-haired shapeshifters bent on consuming the Earth. Some of the most LSD-inspired psychedelic...

THE WAR GAMES comes to an end! This week we reviewed the final four episodes of The War Games and the action ramps back up (and gets pretty crazy toward the end) as the War Lord arrives to find infighting between the Security Chief and the War Chief. The Doctor, his crew, and the resistance add to the mix! But, when all is said and done, The Doctor's only choice is to call in the Time Lords and Wh...

The War Games marches onward! This week we review Episodes 4 through 6 of this epic final Patrick Troughton story! Does the pace of the first three episodes continue? Well, give a listen to get our thoughts. But we also have some amazing new from Big Finish to share that we're almost more excited about than The War Games. Join us for a romp through Central Command...be sure to grab your Devo-esque...

Friends, listeners, we have reason to celebrate! Podcastica has reached episode 200!! And what better way to honor this blockbuster number than by reviewing an absolute blockbuster of a story! We're spending this episode and the next two reviewing THE WAR GAMES! The final Patrick Troughton story is a sprawling, ambitious story with great pacing and scope. And it does a great service in pushing the...

We are on the cusp of Episode 200! But first, we finish reviewing the debut of THE DALEKS! In episodes 5-7, The Daleks have the Fluid Link and the Doctor and crew must convince the Thals to fight back, jump across caverns, and deal with the Daleks counting down very slowly in order to save themselves and prevent Skaro from becoming a completely uninhabitable wasteland. Can the bipeds sabotage enou...

The Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara (fresh off their very first adventure together) land on a mysteriously deserted world, but the temptation of exploring a nearby deserted city leads the Doctor to sabotage his own ship and put his friends in jeopardy! As a result, they discover one of the most legendary villains in Doctor Who history! That’s right, Dalekmania begins here! Strap in because the Dal...