Pull To Open: A Random Doctor Who Podcast

“Stuck in traffic for ages” may be the most mundane sci-fi concept Doctor Who has ever offered. Yet Gridlock shines through the smog, even though we have to wonder why they don’t have smog-free EVs in the year five billion. How did RTD do it? Three words: great artists steal. Even when they’re stealing from the galaxy’s greatest comic, 2000AD. Join us — no, seriously, join us, we need one more pas...

In a sense, Doctor Who delivered its scariest story ever on its third outing. There’s something truly unsettling about The Edge of Destruction , especially in our unsettled times. The show seems to be tearing itself apart, annihilating dialogue, turning viewers against Ian, Susan and the Doctor (but blessedly not Barbara) when we’ve barely got to know them. But how can we make its premise make sen...

Did New Who start in 2005 … or 1973? The Time Warrior fell from the stars with a surprising number of firsts for a show in its 11th year: not just the first Sontaran, but the debut of Sarah-Jane Smith, the diamond logo, the time tunnel, and a planet called (checks notes) Gallifrey. But that’s not all: Robert Holmes’ script brings a Moffat-y level of jokes and self-awareness, including the first cr...

If we didn’t know better, we’d say we’ve been waiting to talk about this Peter Capaldi episode for 7,000 years. Or is it two billion? Time seems to drag when you’re punching a wall made of random Doctor Who. Heaven Sent was an instant classic, but is this piece of clockwork perfection also the best story ever? We confess, we’re not sure. Good thing we’ve got Alisa Stern (aka Doctor Puppet) to help...

Destination: not Skaro! “The Planet* of the Daleks” is Terry Nation’s anniversary rewrite of the classic Hartnell tale that kickstarted Doctor Who. It’s “The Daleks” in color, decades before the BBC colorized “The Daleks.” But did those weird blond Thal heroes really jive with Jo Grant and the whole groovy Pertwee era? And what’s up with the invisible heavy-breathers and squirting plants of Spirid...

A tear, Sarah Jane? The Third Doctor on his deathbed forbids it! We (and tear-friendly Fifteen) may look askance these days at the end of Planet of the Spiders , but the bigger question is: has any of the preceding story aged well? Join us as we examine a Frankenstein’s spider with too many legs: Pertwee stunts, far-future colonists, “Flowers for Algernon,” ambiguous Mike Yates, arachnophobia, cry...

Just how dangerous is traveling with the Doctor? It’s a fair question after revisiting The Girl Who Waited , which looks surprisingly dark 13 years after it aired — especially now that many who watched it back then are now closer in age to older Amy Pond. Join us as we ponder: Did this “Doctor Lite” episode portray Matt Smith as excessively cowardly? Why couldn’t Amy and Amy pass the Bechdel test...

We shared a long, hot summer with Doctor Who, and we couldn't think of a better way to close it out than getting our TARDIS on at the 2024 Long Island Who convention ! Blessedly, we were able to interview several people involved with the show — both actors and people behind the scenes — and we coaxed some original thoughts out of them. We also got a peek into what the future holds for the Toym...

Terror of the Vervoids isn’t exactly the greatest Doctor Who story ever. Those plant-based villains were just … weird. But this bizarre aria from Colin Baker’s long swan song is now surprisingly relevant to the age of Ncuti. Why does Mel just appear out of nowhere? Is the Doctor just allowed to browse his future, or is there something more sinister at play? Pour a nice cool carrot juice, and don’t...

Och aye the noo, it’s Scottish stereotype Who! Terror of the Zygons , written by an actual Scot, really packs them in: bagpipes, kilts, haggis, Nessie, North Sea oil, and monsters who look like they’ve eaten too many deep-fried Mars bars. It’s stylish, it’s suggestive, but does it hold up against 21st century Zygon yarns? Did we really have to lose a companion? Did the Doctor leave the TARDIS open...

We’d say Partners in Crime is the long-awaited rebirth of one of the best TARDIS teams ever, but that sounds way too dramatic for the Doctor and Donna. After all, they’re just a couple of mates mucking about in time and space, helping out where they can, and having a few laughs, right? Emphasis on that last part: the kickoff to David Tennant’s final season as Ten definitely tickles the funny bone...

It’s all been leading to this: The Key to Time season promised a big payoff, one that would assemble the most powerful artifact in the universe and put the Doctor in the middle of a cosmic conflict between the Guardians (well before they had silly birds on their heads). But with the stakes so high, why are we spending so much time pondering princesses and marshals on boring, radiation-soaked plane...

Is it getting dusty in here? “Empire of Death” delivers a canon bomb that changes 49 years of Doctor Who history, alongside an emotional twist at the end. If you’re not crying Ncuti Gatwa-style at Ruby and her mum, check to see if you just crumbled into dust. But does the rest of the finale work? And is the Doctor a bad dog owner now? Join us as we bring our headcanon into the time vortex, and cle...

It’s official: The One Who Waits has been waiting since 1913 (or 1975, depending on the dating protocol). Everything’s gone a bit pyramid-shaped in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” as RTD’s multiple twists kept us mostly distracted from the return of this classic villain. So what has he been up to for the last 7,000 years, and how exactly did he seduce the TARDIS into giving itself indigestion? Join u...

Feeling Rogue-ish? This proud Regency romcom takes Who to places old and new, with enough charm and confidence to fill a shed. It’s a meta love letter to all kinds of fandoms, and cheekily drops in a mystery Doctor (and/or villain?!) like we wouldn’t notice. Join us as we cosplay a couple of podcasters and pour one out for another charming companion — the original, you might say.  Subscribe to our...

A trip to 1950s Earth to visit Disneyland? Ranking by stories that got our hopes up, Delta and the Bannermen is near top of the charts. But this is actually a bait-and-switch we don’t mind, because the detour to rural Wales sets off a nostalgic romp filled with period music, motorcycle chases, and hostile bees that are most definitely not disappearing. And boy, if you ever wondered why do fools fa...

It’s been subtle in the past, but Dot and Bubble is Doctor Who’s first overt homage to Black Mirror, the groundbreaking series that satirizes our relationship with technology in the darkest of ways. It’s ironic, then, that this story has one of the subtlest pieces of subtext in the show’s history, with a moral message lurking just beneath the skin of a biting script full of references to social me...

It might sound like a really spectacular field goal, but 73 Yards is one of the most unusual episodes of Doctor Who to date. With the Doctor missing, Ruby Sunday must stand alone against… whatever seems to be stalking her. Simple enough, but thanks in large part to a tour de force performance by Millie Gibson, what results is a terrifying story — one that will leave you thinking about it long past...

How much fun time travel is can often depend on the amount of melanin in your skin. That’s one of the lessons Bill Potts learns in Thin Ice when she and the Doctor take a quick detour to Regency London. At first it looks to be a lively visit to one of the Frost Fairs on the river, but mysterious lights beckon the pair, and soon they’re up to their tophats in street urchins and circus performers. S...

When Doctor Who veterans Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies get together, the results can be … explosive. In Boom , Moffat manages to mine classic Who history (hello, Genesis of the Daleks!) while referencing many of his own post-2005 Who scripts. But how will it land with new fans? Stand still with us as we try to defuse this situation with a hot take that definitely won’t raise your blood pressu...

Beatles and butterflies, oh my! ‘Doctor Who’ is back, babes, and we’re cautiously optimistic about it. The first two episodes of the new season, ‘Space Babies’ and ‘The Devil’s Chord,’ show off the range of the show for newbies, but still manage to intrigue, please and irritate the old folks all at once. Join us as we reveal what RTD has to say about all that winking — and about the Susan referenc...

The first two episodes of Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the Doctor — Space Babies and The Devil's Chord — are just days away. And here at Pull To Open, we've already seen them. And we say "we," we mean Chris. There's only so much he can say about the stories, however, so it's up to Pete to carefully probe the limits of his forbidden knowledge without revealing too muc...

Coincidence is how goblins surf time, according to The Church on Ruby Road . So when the Randomizer took us to Ncuti Gatwa’s Christmas special mere days before his first season, you can forgive us for being a little freaked out. Join us as we argue over literally everything in this light-hearted romp, from Ncuti’s narration at the start to Mrs. Flood’s wink at the end. But the moment has been prep...

What the Flux ? No, seriously, what was the actual Flux that happened in Series 13, and why has the Randomizer brought us here now? Can Chris Chibnall’s sprawling Time vs. Space opera even be explained? And did anyone notice the 7 billion dead dogs? Join your totally professional tour guides to Liverpool — er, Doctor Who — as we journey down the time tunnels to the ancient world of 2021 and summar...

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