Flight Through Entirety roars back into the feed with one of its best episodes ever, in which we go back to the very beginning of the history of the show and subtly reference tons of things we’ve done before. Except for Shirley Bassey as Davros. We’ve never done that, I think. It’s Remembrance of the Daleks, of course.
A web of mayhem and intrigue
Once again, it’s time for you to vote for another story for our next commentary podcast — a Colin Baker commentary, which is currently scheduled for release in a few months’ time.
The voting for our Colin Baker commentary podcast has now closed. In this poll, our listeners were given the choice between The Mark of the Rani, Revelation of the Daleks, The Mysterious Planet and Terror of the Vervoids. The winner, with 45% of the vote, was Richard’s choice Revelation of the Daleks.
Buy the story!
Are you sitting comfortably? After its original DVD release in 2001/2002, Remembrance of the Daleks: Special Edition was released in the UK and Australia as part of The Davros Collection in 2007 (Amazon UK). It was later released on its own in 2009 in the UK (Amazon UK), and in 2010 in the US (Amazon US).
The last time Moffat oversaw the Twelfth Doctor’s regeneration into a woman was in his very first Doctor Who story, The Curse of Fatal Death.
Ben Aaronovitch is now a well-regarded author, famous for his six-book Rivers of London series, which deals with a young policemen who works in a divison of the Metropolitan Police that deals with the supernatural. The first novel was inexplicably called Midnight Riot in the US.
The novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks is excellent, and is actually available on Amazon. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK) (Amazon AU)
Counter-Measures is a series of Big Finish audios featuring Rachel Jensen, Allison Williams and Group Captain Ian “Chunky” Gillmore battling various alienesque threats in 1960s London.
The Profumo affair refers to a scandal in which the Secretary of State, John Profumo was forced to resign as a result of his 1961 affair with Christine Keeler, who may have been in a relationship with Yevgey Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché; it contributed to the resignation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in October 1963, just weeks before the first episode of Doctor Who aired. It was dramatised in the film, Scandal (1989), starring our very own Ian McKellen and John Hurt.
Scottish comedian Susan Calman, from Radio 4’s The News Quiz talks about how she plans to dress when she’s cast as Doctor Who.
David Banks wrote a coffee-table book called Cybermen, which explains everything you never wanted to know about why the Cybermen changed their costumes all the time.
Fans of Australian podcast episodes about Remembrance of the Daleks will enjoy the latest episode of New to Who, a podcast in which Colin, Daniel and Steven discuss Doctor Who stories you might actually want to watch.
This week, we give Sylvester McCoy a brief holiday while we revisit a Doctor Who story with some actual women in it. Which seems like the right thing to do nowadays. Sausage sandwiches at the ready, everyone: it’s our commentary on The Stones of Blood.
Buy the story!
In the US, you can buy The Stones of Blood by itself (Amazon US), or as part of the Key to Time box set (Amazon US). In the UK, it’s only available as part of the Key to Time box set. (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
You can find a much more concise and sensible discussion of this story in our regular episode about The Stones of Blood — Episode 58: The Fool Idwal Morgan, recorded in December 2015. Makes you think.
Next week on Bondfinger, we’re planning to record our commentary on Pierce Brosnan’s good Bond film, The World is Not Enough (1999), which was released just months after The Phantom Menace. While you’re waiting for that, you can listen to our twoprevious Brosnan commentaries, as well as ourcommentaries on the Timothy Dalton films.
After acquiring a mysterious treasure map from a German Expressionist filmmaker, Richard goes off to discover a fabulous treasure hidden deep in the bowels of a space mall, while Brendan and Nathan stay behind pouring milkshakes on each other. It’s Dragonfire.
Well, that’s democracy for you
You now have less than a week to vote for a Peter Davison story to be the subject of yet another FTE commentary podcast; we’ll be announcing the result at the end of our Tom Baker commentary episode next week.
Dragonfire was released on DVD in 2012. It was released on its own in the US (Amazon US), of course, but in Australia and the UK, it was released as part of the Ace Adventures box set, along with The Happiness Patrol, for some reason (Amazon UK).
Notes and links
Tony Osoba plays Kracauer, one of Kane’s followers. This is the second of three Doctor Who appearances: he was previously a Movellan in Destiny of the Daleks, and will go on to play an astronaut in Kill the Moon. He was also in Charles Chilton’s Space Force 2, a BBC science fiction radio series which served as a sequel to Chilton’s Journey into Space. He also appeared in Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker, in which he played a black Scotsman, which was apparently a hilarious thing in the 1970s.
Australia’s answer to Martha Stewart (without the criminal record) was called Tonia Todman, and who expected her to turn up in this episode? She’s still with us, apparently, and seems to have outlived her fame, such as it was.
Coincidentally, many of this story’s characters share names with famous figures in the history of film criticism, including Pudovkin, Kracauer, Belazs (nearly) and Eisenstein.
The guard’s line about “the semiotic thickness of a performed text”, which we are all terribly fond of, is a direct quote from Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text, which was an early attempt at academic criticism of Doctor Who.
Brendan recommends a Big Finish audio starring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford: Flip Flop, which consists of two discs that can be played in either order. Big Finish calls it “a unique innovation in storytelling”, which is sweet of them.
Nathan
Nathan recommends getting a subscription to Audible (US) (UK) (AU), where you can buy audiobook versions of many of the Doctor Who Target novelisations, particularly Delta and the Bannermen read by Bonnie Langford.
Brendan recounts his experiences reading his way through the Doctor Who novels on his blog, The Doctor Who Reader.
We’re also on Facebook, and you can check out our website at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on iTunes, or we’ll lounge around in the emergency services tea room ignoring your increasingly urgent messages about that ice jam in the upper docking bay.
Bondfinger
Over on Bondfinger, we’re halfway through our flight through the Pierce Brosnan era, with commentaries on GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. Fans of things much better than those films will enjoy ourcommentaries on the Timothy Dalton films. Or will they?
It’s 1950s night at Flight Through Entirety, which means putting on bobby socks, combing Brylcreem through our remaining hair (if any), and leaving our copies of The Doctor Who Monster Book at home. It’s Delta and the Bannermen.
Er, just remind me. What day is it again?
As a valued listener of FTE, it is your democratic right to inflict a particular Peter Davison story on us, which we can inflict, in turn, upon your fellow listeners.
Delta and the Bannermen was released on DVD in 2009. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Well, the ur-source of this story is the long-running 1980s sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, set in a 1950s holiday camp, starring Ruth Madoc, former wife of our very own Philip Madoc (in fishnets).
The Tollmaster was played by Ken Dodd, who earned a place in The Guinness Book of Records for the longest joke-telling session ever — 1,500 jokes in three and a half hours. (Not four days, sadly.) Other actors considered for the role included comedian and stand-up comic Bob Monkhouse, and Doctor Who-impersonator and part-time Roman Emperor Christopher Biggins.
Weissmuller is played by Stubby Kaye, who is best known for his role as Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls.
The music in this story is provided by Keff McCulloch, apart from one track during the Doctor and Ray’s hunt for Delta and Billy — The Devil’s Galop by Charles Williams. Fans of Keff’s work will also enjoy the Doctor Who 25th Anniversary Album, particularly the track “8891 Royale”.
Over on Bondfinger, we have now released twocommentaries on the Pierce Brosnan films, to match our twocommentaries on the mercilessly (or mercifully) short Timothy Dalton Era. (We own him, remember?)
This week, Richard’s admiring the architecture, Brendan wants to say how-you-do, and Nathan has had a disappointingly small meal and is still feeling a little peckish. We’re all trapped in an excitingly hopeful modernist dystopia, so what else could it be but Paradise Towers?
Attendance is compulsory
Once again, we’re asking you to shape the future of this podcast by nominating a Peter Davison story to cover in our next commentary episode. But beware: this time the choice comes with potentially complex interpersonal repercussions.
Le Corbusier was a French architect who was massively fond of steel, concrete and plate glass, and who would probably have enjoyed more than a few astringent beverages with Kroagnon in Space Architect School.
High-Rise tells the story of “a class war…inside a luxurious apartment block”. It was written by J G Ballard, about whom Richard has some surprising things to say.
David Snell was originally commissioned to write the incidental music for this story, but his score was rejected by JNT, and Keff McCulloch ended up hastily writing a replacement score instead. Snell’s score is available as a DVD extra.
Deputy Chief Caretaker Clive Merrison played Sherlock Holmes alongside Michael Williams as Watson for BBC Radio 4, covering every canonical Sherlock Holmes story. They’re all available from Audible, so go out and buy them immediately.
In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan talked about the differences between hot and cold media, which are concepts dear to the heart of any Doctor Who fan who has ever attempted to watch the Loose Cannon reconstruction of The Space Pirates.
Big Finish tackles some of this story’s themes in Spaceport Fear by William Gallagher, starring Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford.
Steven Wyatt had got the job partly on the basis of Claws, a TV play starring Brenda Blethyn and Todd’s beloved Mary Morris. It’s about cat people. Like Survival, I imagine.
And going slightly more highbrow, Richard alludes to The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin, which discusses the implications of our newfound technological ability to experience works of art whenever and wherever we like.
Brendan mentions the fraught political history of Yooka-Laylee, which actually looks like a lot of fun.
The Pruitt-Igoe public housing project seems like it was a massive conglomeration of dozens of Paradise Towers in St Louis, Missouri. Read about it here.
Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman offered Michael Grade some surprising advice about how to fix Doctor Who in the 1980s. More information about this is available as a DVD extra on the Time and the Rani DVD.
Richard makes a triumphant return to the podcast just in time for the start of the Sylvester McCoy era. And the Rani’s back too, cosplaying as Brendan for some reason. It’s Time and the Rani.
So free will is not an illusion after all
Every time we turn around it’s election season, and here at Flight Through Entirety, things are no different. This time we want you to vote for a Peter Davison story for our upcoming commentary podcast, scheduled for release after we finish Season 25.
Voting in the FTE Peter Davison commentary poll has now closed. In this poll, our listeners made a choice between Four to Doomsday, Arc of Infinity, Enlightenment and Resurrection of the Daleks. The winner, with 40% of the vote, was Enlightenment.
Buy the story!
Time and the Rani was released on DVD in 2010/2011. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Elizabeth Sandifer has posted a video blog in which she explains why she thinks the visual style of this story is a vast improvement. Scroll to the bottom of her discussion of this story, or, better still, read the whole thing.
Fans of terrible dialogue and refreshingly simplistic plots will also enjoy Pip and Jane’s episode of Space: 1999, which is called A Matter of Balance. (That’s a link to the actual episode, by the way, so click carefully.)
The story of King Solomon’s wisdom can be found in 1 Kings 3:16–28.
Mrs Malaprop was a hilarious comedy aunt from Sheridan’s play The Rivals (1775), famous for continually choosing the wrong word; despite that, she was the very pineapple of politeness.
Brendan’s quixotic quest to read every original Doctor Who novel is insightfully and entertainingly chronicled on his blog, The Doctor Who Reader.
Over on Bondfinger, we’ve just recorded a new commentary on the second Pierce Brosnan film, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). We’ll be releasing that this week. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy more of Pierce in our commentary on GoldenEye (1995).
Of course, you can still catch our commentaries on bothfilms of the Timothy Dalton era.
Another commentary podcast: this week, it’s Jon Pertwee in Death to the Daleks!
When their holiday to Florana is unexpectedly cancelled, Brendan, Nathan, Todd and Richard all find themselves stranded in a freezing alien quarry wearing nothing but skimpy bikinis and water wings. And none of their iPhones are working, for some reason.
Buy the story!
Death to the Daleks was released on DVD in 2012. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
For a less lengthy and much more tightly edited take on this story, you should listen to Episode 29: Sand in Your Parrinium. In that episode, we discuss the the first three stories of Pertwee’s final season — The Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Death to the Daleks.
Over on Bondfinger, we’ll be recording a new Pierce Brosnan commentary in the next week or so, probably, so while you’re waiting for that, you can enjoy more of Pierce in our latest commentary — GoldenEye (1995).
Of course, you can still catch our commentaries on bothfilms of the Timothy Dalton era.
We’ve reached the end of Doctor Who’s longest era: an era in which every single story was a 14-episode epic about cannibalism and Gallifreyan jurisprudence. But, despite Eric Saward, there are still nice things to say.
Notes and links
Those of you not from Australia won’t understand our references to the only sitcom in Australian television history, Mother and Son, starring Garry McDonald as highly-strung botanist Arthur Bruchner.
Despite the much-criticised loveliness of his era of Doctor Who, even Russell T Davies can go horribly dark and cynical: fans of harrowing things will be deeply upset by Cucumber episode 6.
People who hate Colin’s coat, which is basically everyone, might be slightly less annoyed by this footage of Colin wearing a blue version of his costume.
Brendan nearly recommends Colin’s Doctor and Evelyn in the Big Finish audio Arrangements for War. But, you know, spoiler alert: you need to know a bit about Evelyn’s character to appreciate it. You might want to start with her first story The Marian Conspiracy.
Do you mind not standing on my chest? My hat’s on fire
Don’t forget to vote for the story you want us to cover in our upcoming Tom Baker commentary podcast. Click over to the shownotes for Episode 109 and make your choice. Voting will be closing soon.
This week, we look at a medium where Colin’s reputation as the Doctor is second to none. To that end, Nathan is only pretending to be evil, Brendan has two peglegs, Todd is having a hard time assembling some shelving, and Richard is just a shadow of his former self. It’s Colin Baker, in the Big Finish audio adventures!
Buy the stories!
The stories we discuss this week are all available for download from the Big Finish website.
The Brink of Death, by Nicholas Briggs, the final story in The Last Adventure box set.
Notes and links
Jubilee
Rob Shearman has written a number of Big Finish audios, and some books, including Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical and Everyone’s Just So Special. These are all available from his page on the Big Finish website.
Fans of upsetting and occasionally funny near-future dystopias will enjoy Black Mirror, which is available on Netflix.
This story was written by Jac Rayner, who has written a number of Doctor Who plays and novels. She also maintains a blog. [Or she did in 2017. Here in the distant future of 2024 the blog is but a memory and her hosting provider would love her to drop them a line.]
The One Doctor
Richard and Nathan both remember watching The Maths Show in primary school, which occasional featured a segment called Doctor Where, in which the Doctor and Sally-Anne explained concepts like scale and probability.
The hapless Fry drinks the emperor of the planet Trisol in the Futurama episode My Three Suns.
The Brink of Death
Michael Jayston starred in a dramatisation of Geoffrey Household’s 1939 novel, Rogue Male, in which a British ex-serviceman travels to Europe to assassinate the unnamed dictator of a major power. (Oh, okay, it’s probably Hitler.)
Those eyes
Don’t forget to vote for the story you want us to cover in our upcoming Tom Baker commentary podcast. Click over to the shownotes for Episode 109 and make your choice. Voting will be closing soon.
Transported to a nightmarish world of the Valeyard’s creation, the Doctor finds himself unable to escape, because Eric Saward has stormed off, taking his script for Episode 14 with him.
This week, we bring you that script, performed by a troupe of talented and attractive young actors. What was the original ending for The Trial of a Time Lord? Tune in to Flight Through Entirety’s production of Time Inc. to find out.
Credits
The Doctor
Todd Beilby
Melanie
Brendan Jones
The Valeyard
Nathan Bottomley
The Inquisitor
Richard Stone
Glitz
Richard Stone
The Master
James Sellwood
Popplewick
Brendan Jones
Keeper of the Matrix
Todd Beilby
Special thanks to Dominic Glynn, who graciously permitted the use of his original soundtrack for The Ultimate Foe.
What are you, a comedian?
Normal service will be resumed next week with our Colin Baker Big Finish special, our second-last episode on the Colin Baker Era.
If you want to prepare for this episode, you should listen to these stories.
The Brink of Death, by Nicholas Briggs, the final story in The Last Adventure box set.
Vaguely bohemian
Don’t forget to vote for the story you want us to cover in our upcoming Tom Baker commentary podcast. Click over to last week’s shownotes and make your choice.
Follow us!
Fans of true facts about Doctor Who will enjoy our new Doctor Who Facts account on Twitter, which you can find at @FTEwhofacts.
At the end of the week, we’ll be releasing our first Bondfinger commentary of the Pierce Brosnan era, on the videogame-inspiring GoldenEye (1995). You can still catch up on our recent commentaries on bothfilms of the Timothy Dalton era.
And now it’s time for the Trial storyline to implode completely. Nathan turns out to be a distillation of all that is evil in Todd, and Brendan has just stormed out with the only copy of this episode’s script. It’s the last two episodes of The Trial of a Time Lord — The Ultimate Foe.
Buy the story!
For the last time, The Ultimate Foe was released as part of the Trial of a Time Lord box set in 2008/2009. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Brendan recommends Matrix, by Robert Perry & Mike Tucker, a BBC Past Doctor Adventure which answers the seldom-asked question, So what’s the Valeyard up to these days?
(Brendan also mentions in passing the New Adventures novel Bad Therapy, which features the Seventh Doctor and Peri, weirdly.)
Nathan
Nathan goes embarrassingly highbrow again, recommending the BBC1 comedy frock drama Decline and Fall, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh.
Todd
Todd comes up with a couple of excitingly silly recommendations this week: the film Beauty and the Beast, and the CW teen drama Riverdale. More sensibly, he recommends any Big Finish audio starring Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford. And a final shout-out to Big Finish audio Wirrn Isle.
Carrot juice, carrot juice, carrot juice
This week, we say farewell to Colin on television, but here on the podcast we’re not willing to say goodbye yet. In two weeks’ time, we’ll be doing a very special episode on some of our favourite Colin Baker Big Finish audios.
If you want to prepare for this episode, here are the stories you should listen to.
The Brink of Death, by Nicholas Briggs, the final story in The Last Adventure box set.
All teeth and curls
Don’t forget to vote for the story you want us to cover in our upcoming Tom Baker commentary podcast. Click over to last week’s shownotes and make your choice.
We’re gearing up for another Bondfinger commentary podcast in the next couple of weeks: this time, it’s Pierce Brosnan’s first film as Bond, perennial fan favourite GoldenEye (1995) In the meantime, you can still catch up on our commentaries on bothfilms of the Timothy Dalton era.
After the stressful events of last week, we’ve decided to treat ourselves to a luxury cruise. Brendan’s working out in a pink tracksuit, Todd’s playing Galaxian and terrorising the waitress, and Nathan’s hanging around the communications room with an axe. And, in order to protect a secret hidden on the space liner, one of us will become a murderer. And there are Vervoids, of course.
Buy the story!
Terror of the Vervoids was (again) released as part of the Trial of a Time Lord box set in 2008/2009. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Originally considered for this slot in the Trial was a story called Paradise 5, by P J Hammond. It has since been adapted for audio by Big Finish as part of its Lost Stories range.
Michael Craig, who is this story’s Beryl Reid, later went on to star as Dr William Sharp in the ABC drama series GP, set in a medical practice in inner-city Sydney.
This story has no Script Editor credit at all, because Eric Saward has ragequit the show. So let’s link to his pungent Starburst interview one more time.
Bonnie Langford brings a dark past to her time on the show. She played Violet Elizabeth Bott in the Just William television series in 1976 and 1977. You can see some of her very early work here. (Don’t skip this one. You really need to click on that link.)
You can find a detailed account of Noël Coward’s cruel remarks about Bonnie Langford here, including another quip that we didn’t mention.
Sciencey murderer Doland is played by Malcolm Tierney, who played horrific northern Tory Patrick Woolton in the original British House of Cards (1990).
The Brink of Death
The Colin Baker Era is about to meet an untimely end, but Colin’s Sixth Doctor lives on very successfully in the Big Finish audios. So to round out our appreciation of the era, we’re planning a Very Special Episode in which we discuss some of Colin’s audio highlights.
If you want to prepare for this episode, here are the stories you should listen to.
The Brink of Death, by Nicholas Briggs, the final story in The Last Adventure box set.
He just likes to irritate people
There’s still time for you to vote for a Tom Baker story for the four of us to talk all over for our next commentary episode. Just pop over to last week’s shownotes and cast your vote.
Over on Bondfinger, we’ve already dusted off the Nintendo 64 in preparation for the Pierce Brosnan era. In the meantime, you can still catch up on our commentaries on bothfilms of the Timothy Dalton era.
It’s been a few years now, so it’s time to cynically murder another one of the Doctor’s companions. Which is why we spend a lot of time talking about what’s great about this story. It’s episodes 5 to 8 of The Trial of a Time Lord — Mindwarp.
There’s Always a Choice
You’ve waited long enough: it’s time for you to vote for a Tom Baker story for our next commentary podcast. It’s just like the British General Election, only not horrendous.
Voting in the FTE Tom Baker commentary poll has now closed. In this poll, our listeners made a choice between The Hand of Fear , The Sun Makers, The Stones of Blood and The Horns of Nimon. The winner will be announced in Episode 115.
Buy the story!
Mindwarp was (unsurprisingly) released as part of the Trial of a Time Lord box set in 2008/2009. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Not much to say here, but Nathan makes a reference to Peri being “fridged”. You can find the TV Tropes entry on fridging here.
Over on Bondfinger, we’ve finally reached the end of the entire Timothy Dalton era, with our recently-released commentary on Licence to Kill. Fans of Timothy Dalton will also enjoy our commentary on The Living Daylights.
This week, Brendan, Nathan and Todd go for a lovely walk in a rain-drenched forest, only to find themselves dragged halfway across the galaxy by the Time Lords and placed on trial to answer for their crimes. It’s Parts 1 to 4 of the longest Doctor Who story ever — The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet.
Buy the story!
The Mysterious Planet was released as part of the Trial of a Time Lord box set in 2008/2009. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Trials and Tribulations is a 55-minute documentary covering the production problems that plagued the Colin Baker era, and the 1985 cancellation in particular. Do not miss this.
After leaving the show in 1986, Eric Saward gave an interview to Starburst magazine, in which he mounted an attack on John Nathan-Turner. It’s an eyewatering read.
Fans of Mollie Sugden as Mrs Slocombe will undoubtedly enjoy watching her trapped on a spaceship in the year 2050 in BBC sitcom Come Back Mrs Noah (1977).
In this story, whiskerless youth Balazar is played by Adam Blackwood. Blackwood can also be seen playing Tok in Season 4 Blakes 7 episode Assassin, in which he is bidding on slaves at the behest of Natratof of Gourimpest. He also plays Barmy Fotheringay Phipps in various episodes of Jeeves and Wooster. Most surprisingly, he is the voice of James Bond himself in the 2001 videogame 007: Agent Under Fire. You can get an idea of what he’s like in this video on YouTube.
In a nearby parallel universe, Glitz and Dibber were played by French and Saunders. Which is as good an excuse as any to link to this video of the two of them playing extras on the set of Trial of a Time Lord. You can also see them in the BBC sitcom Girls on Top (1985).
Over on Bondfinger, we just released the first of a series of commentaries on the Timothy Dalton Bond film, in which we discuss The Living Daylights. We’ll be releasing our commentary on Licence to Kill next weekend.
The walls between realities were fairly porous back in 1986, which is why we find ourselves this week in a terrifying parallel universe where the Hiatus never happened, and the original plans for Season 23 actually came to fruition. Beware.
Buy the stories!
Here are the four stories that we spend most of our time discussing:
The Nightmare Fair was first published as a novel in 1989, and is long since out of print. The Big Finish audio version was recorded in 2009.
The Ultimate Evil was also published as a novel in 1989. It’s nearly impossible to find. Sadly, Big Finish have been unable to persuade Wally K. Daly to let them produce an audio version. Sorry, Brendan.
Mission to Magnus was published as a novel in 1990. Like the rest of these books, it’s now out of print. The Big Finish audio version was recorded in 2009.
We also mention these Big Finish lost story adaptations:
If you’re willing to let Todd into your head, why not try listening to his dream Season 23, the stories he wishes had been produced had the Hiatus never happened?
Fans of genuinely funny and brilliant radio comedy featuring wacky computers and morose robots will enjoy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, particularly the first radio series. (Audible US) (Audible UK) (Audible AU)
Slipback’s two computer voices are played by Jane Carr, who plays bald Centauri alien Timov Moralli in a number of Babylon 5 episodes, including Soul Mates. She also plays Malcolm Reed’s mother on Enterprise. In that role, she actually has hair, which just goes to show how impressive her range is.
One of Slipback’s computer voices is hideously reminiscent of the presenter of the 1990s Australian children’s programme, Mulligrubs. Take a look here, if you dare.
Fans of the Planet of Women trope will enjoy the reference to the planet Cygnet XIV in the Star Trek episode Tomorrow is Yesterday, in which Captain Kirk is annoyed to find the Enterprise computer flirting with him after its overhaul at the hands of that planet’s engineers.
Whether you like it or not
We have only one (or four) stories left to cover in the Colin Baker era. And because we can’t bear to say goodbye to him so soon, we’re planning a Very Special Episode about some of Colin’s best Big Finish audios. To prepare for that episode, you might like to listen to these audio stories:
In an eventful podcast recording, interrupted by bomb explosion, affected by earthquakes, and ruined by interference in the kitchen, all four of us talk all over the recently-discovered Troughton classic, The Enemy of the World.
Michael Grade just phoned, and he’s cancelled rested the podcast, so we’ll be back in a month’s time for The Trial of a Time Lord.
I had to vote for someone
Our Pertwee Commentary poll closes next Saturday, so go straight to the shownotes for Episode 103 and cast your vote. It’s your democratic duty, you know.
Buy the story!
The Enemy of the World was released in 2013/2014. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
You might not want to spend 144 precious minutes of your life listening to us blathering on about this fabulous story, so why not go back many years to listen to Episode 15: Internal Pink Wobbly Bits? In that episode, we discuss the newly-discovered The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear.
We’re also on Facebook, and you can check out our website at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on iTunes, or we’ll take over the world and use our nefarious genius to produce food for the entire population, like the monsters we are.
Doctor Who in 10 Seconds
And, of course, you should all take the time to revisit Doctor Who in Ten Seconds, in which Brendan summarises all the stories from the first seven seasons of Doctor Who while wearing a distractingly tight T-shirt. New episodes are on their way, so make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel so that you are immediately notified when Brendan uploads the next episode.
Bondfinger
This commentary totally counts as our Bondfinger for this month (shut up!), which means that our commentary on The Living Daylights (1987) will be up in early April. But it will be worth the wait, probably.
It’s the end of the season, so we decide to head over to Necros for a delicious meal of synthetic protein, which is at least more palatable than the rather pungent protein for sale on Delta Magna. Everyone on this planet seems to be getting on so well, and the direction is lovely, so this can only be Revelation of the Daleks.
And I voted against that, thank you very much
Our Pertwee Commentary poll is still open, so go to the shownotes for Episode 103 and make your voice heard. which Pertwee story do you want us to talk all over in an upcoming commentary episode?
Buy the story!
Revelation of the Daleks was released on DVD in 2005/2006. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Nathan identifies two well-chosen influences on this story. The first is last year’s The Caves of Androzani, which we talk about at length in Episode 97: Men Manning and Being Men at Each Other. The second is much better: Evelyn Waugh’s horrifically black satire of both American and English culture: The Loved One. Read it.
Famously miserable bastard Clive Swift is horribly cruel to all of us in a DWM interview about his role in Doctor Who’s highest-rated episode Voyage of the Damned. Read it, and feel terribly bad about your love of Doctor Who, if you have one.
Among many other much more significant achievements, Nelson is responsible for a scathing review of Blakes 7 Series 3. He is also the creator of Inform, a computer language for authoring text adventures, based on a subtle and clever understanding of how natural language works. [The Blakes 7 DVD review is gone, apparently, forever, which is why that link doesn’t work.]
Todd
Todd just wants you all to watch Season 22 again. The sentimental old thing.
What are you, a comedian?
Colin may not have been a resounding success on television (quiet, Todd!), but he has gone on to be one of the most successful actors to play the role in the Big Finish audios. To celebrate this achievement, we’re planning to spend an upcoming episode discussing these Colin Baker Big Finish stories.
The Brink of Death, by Nicholas Briggs. This is the final part of The Last Adventure, a series of four linked hour-long adventures culminating in a spectacular regeneration scene, even better than the television version featuring Sylvester McCoy in an unconvincing wig.
(In spite of last week’s shownotes, we won’t be covering Criss-Cross, but it’s still very much worth listening to, apparently.)
Post-production is well underway on the next few episodes of Doctor Who in Ten Seconds, which is terribly exciting. In the meantime, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, so that you are informed immediately when the new episodes becomes available.
Bondfinger
We have been completely unable to locate 007, who is probably off in Gibraltar or Bratislava or somewhere completely fictional like Isthmus or Oz or Narnia or something. And so our commentary on The Living Daylights (1987) has been unavoidably delayed.
Our vast Flight Through Entirety budget for this season has now run out completely, so this week we’re just hanging out in some dingy corridors listlessly rebelling against things for no reason. It’s here, it’s lame — it’s Timelash.
Welcome to voting cubicle three thirty
Our poll is still open: just head over to the shownotes for Episode 103 and cast your vote for the Pertwee story you would like us to ruin for you forever in an upcoming commentary episode. We’re in Australia here, so voting is compulsory.
Buy the story!
Timelash was released on DVD in 2007/2008. But you’d really be better of spending your money on plutonium and cigarettes (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Fans of guest stars coming on to a science fiction programme and completely upstaging the lead will enjoy Colin Baker’s performance as Bayban in the Blakes 7 episode City at the Edge of the World.
At the start of the Virgin Missing Adventure Speed of Flight by Paul Leonard, the Doctor plans to take Jo Grant and Mike Yates to Karfel for an exciting adventure of some kind.
This story’s composer, Elizabeth Parker, was previously responsible for special sound on Blakes 7 from Season 2 onwards. She may have provided the music for Duel; she seems definitely to have provided the music for Gambit. She will go on to have resounding success with the music for David Attenborough’s The Living Planet.
Todd is horrified to learn that Brendan enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation bottle show Where Silence Has Lease.
In a nearby parallel universe where Timelash was never made, this week’s episode of Flight Through Entirety covers either Leviathan or The Song of the Space Whale.
And a very loud voice
We can’t get enough Colin Baker, of course, and so in an upcoming episode we plan to talk about some of his work for Big Finish.
If you want to prepare, here’s a list of the audios we plan to cover.
Brendan has been hard at work in the studio this week, which means that it won’t be too long before we get to see another episode of Doctor Who in Ten Seconds. While you wait, you can still watch all of the previous episodes, in which Brendan summarises 51 Doctor Who stories in no more than 10 seconds each. Make sure you subscribe to his YouTube channel, so that you are informed immediately when the Season 8 episode becomes available.
Bondfinger
We were so gutted by Rodge’s wildly premature departure from the Bond franchise, that we’ve been unable to bring ourselves to watch his successor in the role. Is he any good?
But, our duty to Queen and Country compels us to continue, which means that Bondfinger will return with our commentary on The Living Daylights (1987).
This week, most of us are delighted to be served a delicious meal of lobsters, clams, and squid, brains in white sauce, two whole suckling pigs, a ham with figs, eight steaks, and Robert Holmes at his most cynical. Welcome back, Pat, for The Two Doctors.
Governor’s punch-in vote tonight
It’s time for you all to step up and vote for a story for us to cover in our upcoming Pertwee commentary episode. Please consider your vote carefully. These things can often go so horribly wrong.
Voting in the FTE Pertwee commentary poll has now closed. In this poll, our listeners made a choice between Spearhead from Space , The Mutants, The Two Doctors and Death to the Daleks. The winner, with 35% of the vote, was Death to the Daleks.
Buy the story!
The Two Doctors was released on DVD in 2003/2004. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Notes and links
Fans of tropes tropes tropes tropes tropes tropes will enjoy the way that Anita hints flamboyantly at the Final Girl trope. Fans of tropes generally will definitely enjoy TV Tropes, the Internet’s repository of all of the world’s tropes, apart from Word Peril and the Exposition Coma, obviously.
People who hate the Doctor’s costume in this era (we know who you are) will enjoy this CD cover that features the Doctor’s fabulous waistcoat from The Two Doctors, created by Deviant Artist Hisi79 for The Red House, one of the four audio stories that make up the Big Finish ultimate Sixth Doctor box set, The Last Adventure.
Richard Marsden has recently released a second edition of his biography of Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner. Now called Totally Tasteless: The Life of John Nathan-Turner, it includes a new chapter chronicling the drama that accompanied the first edition’s release. And it’s not available as an ebook, for no good reason.
None of us have slept for weeks, and our exposure to Twitter has taught us that technological progress must be resisted at all costs. So join in with us as we smash the machines and discuss The Mark of the Rani.
Before taking on the role of the Doctor, Colin Baker was most famous for his role as Paul Merroney in The Brothers, which ran from 1972 to 1976, and also featured television’s fabulous Kate O’Mara.
For those of you who don’t live and breathe the history of Doctor Who, Michael Grade was Controller of BBC One in 1985. In February of that year, he announced that Doctor Who was cancelled; later on, he announced instead that it would be “rested” for eighteen months.
Brendan, who was basically born to find redemptive readings for the worst Doctor Who stories ever, is a major contributor to the newly-published, Hating to Love: Re-evaluating the 52 Worst Doctor Who Stories of All Time, which is available in all good bookstores everywhere. And on the Kindle.
