Episode 152
Horrible Yorkie
Sunday 14 April 2019
This week, Nathan and Richard argue fruitlessly about which one of them Brendan likes the most, before heading off to one of those parties where the champagne is warm, the canapés are disappointing, and the guests are being casually slaughtered by art deco cyborgs. It’s time for the Rise of the Cybermen.
Notes and links
Richard mentions Sir Carol Reed, who was a English film director in the mid-twentieth century, most famous for his adaptations of Graham Greene novels, who co-directed the film that won the 1946 Best Documentary Oscar, The True Glory (1945).
We talk about this story’s debt to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (1995–2003), which is partly set in a parallel universe where rich people fly around in zeppelins. It’s brilliant. Pullman himself writes the foreward to RTD’s book The Writer’s Tale: he’s an excellent sport, and talks about how much he enjoyed being ripped off by Davies throughout this season. The first part of Pullman’s sequel trilogy, La Belle Sauvage was released in 2017.
Here’s El Sandifer’s take on Doctor Who’s previous attempt at a parallel universe: “It’s possibly the most cynical piece of padding we’ve seen yet in Doctor Who — an excuse to interrupt one story by telling the exact same story in the middle.”
This story is indebted to Marc Platt’s Big Finish audio Spare Parts, which must be one of the best Cyberman stories ever and one of the best things Big Finish has ever done.
Fans of parallel universes with find a lovely one towards the end of Star Trek: Discovery Series 1. Well worth watching.
And finally, fans of commentaries on various versions of Casino Royale will also enjoy this remarkable page on our Bondfinger website.
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Nathan is on Twitter as @nathanbottomley, Richard is @RichardLStone, and Brendan is @brandybongos. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam, and the strings performance was by Jane Aubourg. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast.
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And more
You can find Jodie into Terror, our flashcast on Doctor Who’s most recent season, at jodieintoterror.com, at @JodieIntoTerror on Twitter, and on Apple Podcasts.
Our James Bond commentary podcast is called Bondfinger, and you can find that at bondfinger.com, at @bondfingercast on Twitter, and on Apple Podcasts. We’ve run out of James Bond films to comment on, but don’t worry, that hasn’t stopped us.