The Writers' Room: Recent Episodes
Erik and Kyle
This monthly podcast will look at Doctor Who through the writers who molded the show and their televised output. Hosted by Kyle Anderson (Doctor Who blogger for Nerdist.com) and Erik Stadnik (host of the Doctor Who Book Club podcast)
This month, we're taking a timey-wimey trip to the lake (it's summer, ya know?) for a two-part adventure from our old friend, writer Toby Whithouse. It's "Under the Lake/Before the Flood," which has aquatic ghosts, an alien harbinger of death, and even more fascinating Twelve/Clara messiness.
This month, we get to discuss the first of an entire season of two-parters with Steven Moffat's treatise on morality and Daleks with "The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar," which features not just the Daleks but Davros and Missy too. It's a banger all around.
Somehow we've made to the end of Series 8 (basically) and with it, a pair of Steven Moffat episodes that bring together the Twelve/Clara/Danny story. "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven" might lowkey be Moffat's best finale episodes...from a certain point of view.
This month (a little late), Kyle and Erik look at the first two Doctor Who scripts by Jamie Mathieson, "Mummy on the Orient Express" and "Flatline." Conveniently, they happen to have been sequential episodes 8 and 9 from Series 8. Without giving too much away, these might be the best non-Moffat scripts of the season and the best the Clara and Twelfth Doctor relationship gets. So there's that.
This month, Kyle and Erik have to face their personal Waterloo with a pair of episodes from the middle of Series 8 that form the middle of the Doctor-Clara-Danny triangle, and which consequently are not fun to watch. Those are "The Caretaker," written by Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat, and "Kill the Moon," written by Peter Harness. Would you rather a good episode or an interesting episode? Why not neither!
This month, Erik and Kyle are looking at the Capaldi era's first true heavy hitter, Series 8, episode 4, "Listen," as written by Steven Moffat. Twelve years after the episode first aired, how do the strange tone, sparse plotting, and complex character implications hold up? Is Rupert/Danny/Orson(?) Pink sitting well with us this go-round? And what DOES scare everyone in the universe?
Happy New Year, dear listeners! To kick off our 14th year (!!!) talking about Doctor Who on a podcast, we're discussing two episodes co-written by Steven Moffat. The first, "Into the Dalek" with Phil Ford and the second, "Time Heist" along with Stephen Thompson. What even are these episodes? What works and doesn't about them? And we get our introduction of Danny Pink. Oh Danny Boy.
Folks! It may be the end of 2025, but it's a brand new era, a brand new season, and a brand new Doctor for Erik and Kyle. Having bid a fond farewell to the Eleventh Doctor, this month they discuss the first adventure of the Twelfth. That is, of course, Deep Breath, written by showrunner Steven Moffat. How well does this 11-year-old episode hold up, and what can we already learn about what will be the most divisive season of the Moffat era? WOOHOO!
Amazingly, folks, it's time to bid farewell to Matt Smith and the Eleventh Doctor. While Erik and Kyle have already spoken about each of his stories at length, this month they're going to discuss the era as a whole. What did Steven Moffat do right and what did he need to revamp for his second Doctor? And what was the very worst Matt Smith story? Next month, we take a Deep Breath...
Time (ha) has come to bid the Eleventh Doctor farewell. It's also time to talk about the biggest comedown in Doctor Who history. How did Steven Moffat follow up the glory of "The Day of the Doctor?" Well with the decidedly messy "The Time of the Doctor." Erik and Kyle talk about the last episode for Matt Smith and what it positions for the Peter Capaldi years to come.
It's finally here! The episode Erik and Kyle have been waiting for since they began Doctor Who's modern series. It's the 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor," quite simply the best Doctor Who episode of all time. Spoilers, big fans.
As we head toward wrapping up the Matt Smith years, it has come time to talk about two incongruous episodes. First, "A Town Called Mercy" by Toby Whithouse and then "The Name of the Doctor" by Steven Moffat. Not a lot connect these two aside from both being in Series 7 but we needed 'em checked off the list. One is a mealy mouthed pastiche of Italian westerns and the other is a pastiche of episodes that have plots that make sense. Sooooooooo....
Anyway, next month it's The Day of the Doctor, yaaaaaay!
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It's another episode of Mark Gatiss here on Doctor Who: The Writers' Room. This month, Erik and Kyle look at the two stories Gatiss wrote for Series 7B. First up, "Cold War," the story that reintroduced the Ice Warriors aboard a Russian submarine in 1983. Second, "The Crimson Horror," a penny dreadful riff with the Paternoster Gang and a delicious Diana Rigg performance. Are these maybe Gatiss' best scripts?
This month, Kyle and Erik look at the two stories written for Doctor Who by Luther creator Neil Cross. Those are, as commissioned, the Nigel Kneale-inspired "Hide" and the many other things-inspired "The Rings of Akhaten." One of those stories was immediately derided upon release while the other was generally considered good. Will that still be true 12 years later? Let's find out!
Erik and Kyle return to their old pal Steven Moffat for a pair of stories smack in the middle of the muddy series 7B, "The Snowmen" the only mid-series Christmas special, and "The Bells of Saint John" which officially introduced Clara Oswald Prime. Do these stories work? Do we like them? Why is Clara the best and people need to accept it?
Every once in a while Erik and Kyle have to talk about exceedingly boring episodes of Doctor Who. That time is now as our heroes look at the two scripts credited solely to Stephen Thompson, aka the guy who wrote stuff for Steven Moffat when he was too busy. Those episodes are "The Curse of the Black Spot" and "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS," two episodes that legally exist.
Like it or not, it's impossible to talk about the Steven Moffat years without discussing the single most ubiquitous other writer of the era, Moffat's longtime collaborator and co-creator of Sherlock, Mark Gatiss. In the first of many episodes about Gatiss' Who output, Kyle and Erik discuss "Victory of the Daleks" and "Night Terrors," one of which might even be better than you think.
It's finally time to say goodbye to the Ponds...mostly. Despite a few straggler episodes we have yet to discuss, this month's podcast is all about the farewell story for Amy and Rory, "The Angels Take Manhattan." How does Steven Moffat bid his era's first companions adieu? Are we happy with it? Why are the Angels in it? Did River Song really write a whole book about herself? Weird.
This month, Kyle and Erik have good news and bad news. The bad news is we have to talk about "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three." The good news is we won't have to talk about a Chris Chibnall script for like five more years.
Anyway, these two episodes certainly aren't the worst things ever, and in many ways they set the stage for what Chibnall would do during his time as showrunner, for good or ill. One thing we can say for these stories is that they're imperfect, to put it mildly.
Hi folks, just a quick update. Kyle who lives in LA has thankfully not had to evacuate due to the fires still raging and have ruined people's lives. But, because it was a fluid situation, it meant we weren't able to record when we had planned. So this month's episode will be a few days late. In the meantime, we're donating our entire Patreon for the month to the LA Food Bank and we encourage anyone who can to do the same. lafoodbank.org/fire
The year that was 2024 has wound down and instead of wallowing in misery, Kyle and Erik are talking about some Doctor Who Christmas episodes! Specifically the first two penned by showrunner Steven Moffat. Those are, of course, "A Christmas Carol" from 2010 and "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" from 2011. It's very much a story of greatness and lameness in equal measure. One is one of Moffat's best ever scripts, and one...isn't.
Also! We're launching a Discord in 2025! Listen to the episode to find out how you can join the community.
This month, Kyle and Erik get into the beginning of the end of the Amy and Rory years and the end of the beginning (kind of) of the _____ Oswald years. That's right, it's the scary, surprising, and super good "Asylum of the Daleks," possibly the best Moffat episode we've talked about in months.
What a weird pair of episodes to talk about together, eh? To wrap up (most of) our discussion of series 6, we're delving into "The Girl Who Waited" by Tom McRae and "The Wedding of River Song" by none other than Steven Q. Moffat. On to series 7, eh?!
Comedy is a subjective thing. Some things you once found funny might not hold up a decade later, especially if the person who wrote them turned out to be a bigot and the primary guest star proving himself to be a twat.
Anyway, unrelated, this month we're talking about The Lodger and Closing Time, both written by Gareth Roberts with special guest star James Corden.
We reach the midpoint of Series 6, with the very weird pair of highly plot-relevant episodes, "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler," both by Steven Moffat. What works, what doesn't, what is pure mess and what is great characterization? River Song, Melody Pond, Mels, and Lorna Bucket...what names! Don't Colonel Runaway too soon.
This month, Kyle and Erik get contentious surrounding the Matthew Graham two-parter "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People," which introduced the concept of Gangers into the series six silliness. One of your intrepid hosts thinks it's a very bad story and the other thinks it's pretty okay. Arguments aplenty!
This month, Kyle and Erik discuss the two episodes written by acclaimed novelist/author/showrunner Neil Gaiman. Arguably the biggest guest writer ever to write for the series, Gaiman's stories---"The Doctor's Wife" from series 6 and "Nightmare in Silver" from series 7---have an interesting history, and a diametrically opposed fan reaction at the time. But are either warranted? Have they aged like wine or milk?
Can Steven Moffat follow up a tremendous two-part finale, and a brilliant Christmas special, with a satisfying premiere? If you ask Kyle and Erik...sort of? It's time for Series 6, and that's a whole thing.
Truly the culmination of the most ambitious series of Doctor Who yet, Kyle and Erik look at Steven Moffat's tremendous two-part finale, "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang." Might it be his crowing achievement, even with so many other episodes to love?
This here is the good stuff! This month Kyle and Erik discuss two series five episodes written by guest writers. "Amy's Choice" by Simon Nye and "Vincent and the Doctor" by Richard Curtis. An actual Oscar nominee writing for Doctor Who! Can you even believe it?!
This month, Erik and Kyle go deep underground, some might even call it Hades itself, to discuss "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood," the two-part series five story from future showrunner Chris Chibnall. It brings back the Silurians and gives us a remix of Third Doctor story elements before falling on its face trying to do something interesting but failing miserably.
Happy New Year! This month, Erik and Kyle embark on the first of what they're calling "Getting Whithoused," which is looking at the stories written by Toby Whithouse in the Steven Moffat era. Up first, "The Vampires of Venice" from series 5 and "The God Complex" from series 6.
Hello and happy December, friends. This month, Erik and Kyle are taking a trip to the crash of the Byzantium to discuss what is certainly in the running for best Smith-era Steven Moffat script, "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone." The Weeping Angels, River Song, the Crack, it's all here! And no beating around the bush, we pretty much love it.
This month, Erik and Kyle continue the Moffat Years train with his second episode, and indeed the second Eleventh Doctor and Amy episode, "The Beast Below," an episode---to quote Kyle---with a better story than plot.
After a few months of falderal and fiddle-dee-dee, it is finally time for Erik and Kyle to begin the proper journey into the Steven Moffat showrunner era. And boy howdy what a big one to start with. "The Eleveth Hour" may be Moffat's masterpiece, and a taste of things to come. We are EXCITED.
Let's try this again! This month, Kyle and Erik say farewell (for now) to showrunner Russell T Davies. What did he bring to Doctor Who, what is his legacy? It's a lot, that's the short answer.
This month we begin a new season! The Moffat Years! As a prelude, we discuss Steven Moffat's scripts during the Russell T Davies years, specifically this time "The Girl in the Fireplace" and "Blink." Nothing too major here or anything. Timey Wimey begins here!
Well, friends, sometimes you lose episodes to tech crashes. It finally happened to us. So, you aren't getting a final discussion about the Russell T Davies (1) era of Doctor Who, you instead get us doing our top 11 RTD scripts. So, a draft rather than a discush. It happens. Enjoy!
It's here. It's finally here. Kyle and Erik's discussion of the RTD tenure (first one) comes to an end with sigh "The End of Time." Both parts. They're doing it. Here we go.
And so begins the gap year specials in earnest. Kyle and Erik are very nearly at the end of the Tennant and RTD (1) years. This month, it's "Planet of the Dead" and "The Waters of Mars." One of these won a Hugo for being one of the best pieces of sci-fi of the modern age. The other, did not. Care to guess which one's which?
We are indeed approaching the end of some journey! Kyle and Erik take a look at the Series 4 finale two-parter "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End," in which Russell T Davies tried to bring back nearly everyone from his entire era, plus Davros. Lot going on, shame about the bad stuff.
This month is a big one, folks! We're in the home stretch of the RTD1 era, talking about two of the writers' best episodes. "Midnight," series 4's companion-lite episode, and "Turn Left," the Doctor-lite episode that aired the following week. Both showcase Davies' trademark cynicism and have their own kinds of terrors. Neither are feel-good, but we sure like 'em!
Folks! It's a b-b-b-b-b-b-BONUS-s-s-s-s-s-s episode! To celebrate 10 years, Erik and Kyle are giving you, the free listener, access to our Patreon bonus mailbag episode. Listeners wrote in questions about our opinions, hopes, hypothetical ideas, and more all pertaining to our favorite show, Doctor Who. Please enjoy!
If you'd like to join our Patreon and get more episodes like this, head to patreon.com/thewritersroom and pledge $1 or $3 to get all the goodies.
Can you believe it, folks? This episode marks the 10th anniversary of Doctor Who: The Writers Room. What a long strange trip as has been for Kyle and Erik. So many episodes, so many laughs, so many writers covered.
And to commemorate 10 years, the fellas are...talking about bad Doctor Who. That's right, the two episodes written by accomplished playwright Stephen Greenhorn, "The Lazarus Experiment" and "The Doctor's Daughter." They really ought to have planned this better. Oh well.
Hello and happy holidays, friends! As Erik and Kyle wrap up their TENTH YEAR of podcasting, they look at David Tennant's last two proper Christmas specials. It's "Voyage of the Damned" from 2007 and "The Next Doctor" from 2008. Both of them written by Russell T Davies, our old pal. Enjoy, be safe, and help us celebrate our 10th anniversary by sending questions for a Q&A episode to erikandkyle@gmail.com.
Who had Kyle and Erik liking the season four Sontaran two-parter in their betting pool? Well surprises are part of life for Doctor Who fans. Yes, friends, our heroes beam about "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky," so strap in. Oh, but Americans don't say "clever," so there's that.
Who had Kyle and Erik liking the season four Sontaran two-parter in their betting pool? Well surprises are part of life for Doctor Who fans. Yes, friends, our heroes beam about "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky," so strap in. Oh, but Americans don't say "clever," so there's that.
Our journey into the Donna Noble era of Doctor Who gets cooking with her first two proper trips in the TARDIS. First we have a favorite, "The Fires of Pompeii," written by James Moran, and then we have "Planet of the Ood" written by Keith Temple. Moral decisions and fixed points in time! Fun, fun, fun.
Our journey into the Donna Noble era of Doctor Who gets cooking with her first two proper trips in the TARDIS. First we have a favorite, "The Fires of Pompeii," written by James Moran, and then we have "Planet of the Ood" written by Keith Temple. Moral decisions and fixed points in time! Fun, fun, fun.
Hello, Donna! Yes, this month we're discussing the first two episodes featuring Donna Noble, "The Runaway Bride" and "Partners in Crime." How does Russell T Davies turn a one-off comedy guest star into the most beloved companion in the entire modern series? It's quite the feat!
Faith and begorah! We're back with a new episode. Thank you all for your patience. Finally, we can discuss the two episodes that finish off Doctor Who series 3, "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords," which weeeeeeee have thoughts about, let's say that. Next up: Donna!
Hello everyone. So sorry for the extreme delay in release. We've had what can only be described as a truly hellish month of July. Erik has all the details for you in this episode, which, until we are actually able to record our proper Series 3 finale discussion, will be a previous Patreon exclusive episode where your two intrepid hosts debate the most important writers in classic Doctor Who. More to come soon, and thanks for your patience.
This month, in order to delay having to talk about a very bad two-parter, Kyle and Erik talk about "Utopia," an episode hailed by many as a modern masterpiece. But, 15 years later, does it still have that kind of impact? YANA! CHANTHO! JACK! MAAAAATHAAAAAAA!
This month, we continue our series 3 talk by looking at Helen Raynor's oft-derided two-parter, "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks," which has some interesting elements. But enough? We'll see.
And here we are at Series 3 already! The "Oh hey, the Tenth Doctor isn't very nice" train continues with two early stories with new companion Martha Jones. We have "Smith and Jones" and "Gridlock," both from showrunner Russell T Davies.
Happy New Year, dear listener! As Kyle and Erik begin their 10th year of podcasting together, they finish (pretty much) Series 2 of updated Doctor Who. It's the almost universally beloved "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday," which has a lot more to it than meets the eye. Ghosts, for one thing.
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Erik and Kyle round out their first calendar year covering the Russell T Davies era by talking about Series 2's big classic villain return: "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel." This story had a lot of heavy lifting to do, but does it succeed? Let's find out!
Erik and Kyle descend down into the cosmically and existentially horrific masterpiece that is "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit," as written by Matt Jones. Is this the best story we've looked at yet? Is it the scariest? Find out!
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This month, with some actual news about Russell T Davies, Erik and Kyle discuss two of his scripts from series 2. First up is Tooth and Claw, the one with Queen Victoria and the werewolves. Second is Love & Monsters, the one nobody likes but that is actually pretty good.
This month, Kyle and Erik dive headlong into Doctor Who series two with a look at two episodes written by showrunners of other shows. "School Reunion" written by Toby Whithouse (Being Human) is a fan-favorite, giving the new series its first real taste of the classic with the return of Sarah Jane Smith. "Fear Her" written by Matthew Graham (Life on Mars) is the oft-derided also-ran of series two, which might well be better than its reputation.
And so it begins! Erik and Kyle have wrapped up Series 1 of updated Doctor Who, and now they commence the saga of the Tenth Doctor. Where to start? Why with "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth," of course! But it's not all just fun and games. Already they can sense the darkness inherent to Doctor number 10...and Kyle's kind of not into it.
Way too fast. We're already bidding a very fond farewell to the Christopher Eccleston year of Doctor Who by discussing his swansong, "Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways." It may be his last onscreen hurrah but it was only RTD's opening salvo. How'd he do for his first season as showrunner?
It's the penultimate month in our look at Series 1 of rebooted Doctor Who, and we have two stories showrunner Russell T Davies wrote to fill time, but, one of them at least, has transcending its limitations to become something of a classic. And the other one is "The Long Game."
Erik and Kyle dip our toes in the pool of Steven Moffat with his addition to Doctor Who series 1, "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances." You know, there's a lot to talk about in it. So, join us, won't you? Are you my mummy?
This month, Erik and Kyle are discussing the series 1 episode "Father's Day," an emotional experience for both of them. But before that, the 2003 web-exclusive animated serial "Scream of the Shalka," which was to be Doctor Who. Until it wasn't. Two Paul Cornell stories? Why yes!
This month, Erik and Kyle continue their jaunt into Series 1 of rebooted Doctor Who with the first two stories not written by showrunner Russell T Davies. Those of course are Mark Gatiss' ode to Victorian ghost stories, "The Unquiet Dead," and Robert Shearman's indelible reintroduction of a classic villain, "Dalek." But do they hold up the way our heroes remember? Hmmm.
This month, Kyle and Erik revisit the "farting aliens" two-parter, "Aliens of London/World War III." While the humor doesn't age well, the fellas are surprised that the story is more interesting, the character drama much deeper, than memory said. And Mickey maybe isn't as big an idiot as we thought? WHAT?!
Doctor Who: The Writers' Room is back, baby! After two years away from the TARDIS, Erik and Kyle have returned to tackle Doctor Who from 2005-2017. Much different than before, the fellas are going fairly chronological and what better place to start than showrunner Russell T Davies' first two episodes, "Rose" and "The End of the World?"
We did it! Yes, another season of The Writers' Room comes to a close, and it's a good one. Sapphire & Steel's final story, "Assignment Six," gives us a lot to chew on, and some really fascinating implications.
We also talk about the show as a whole, and prepare you all for the return of Doctor Who: The Writers' Room!
This penultimate episode of The Writers' Room's look at Sapphire & Steel is a bit different. Creator P.J. Hammond did not write Assignment 5, aka the one that's a murder mystery---and it shows. Instead, Kyle and Erik talk about what an S&S serial looks like interpreted through the pen of former Doctor Who scribes Don Houghton and Anthony Read. The answer: not as good.
We're nearing the ending of the year and we're also starting down the road to the end of Sapphire & Steel. Assignment 4 affords Erik and Kyle opportunities to discuss poetry, spooky photography, the poetry of prose, and whether P.J. Hammond is a pessimist. Fun!
Erik and Kyle take on Assignment 3 of Sapphire & Steel, in which the elemental time menders contend with, not things from the past, but beings from the dystopian future. Is it as good as ghosty ancient things? Well, it does have the first appearance of Silver...and a creepy baby man monster things. Neat!
This month, Erik and Kyle are going into an old dilapidated railway station full of war ghosts and stuff for Sapphire & Steel Assignment 2. We talk about the morality of fighting time ghosts, the sadness of war, and the pain of lost love. But, like, it's fun!
It's a new month, but it's also a new season! A very short new season, but a new season just the same. Erik and Kyle are looking at time fissures, ghost houses, and ambulatory alien element metal things. It's Sapphire & Steel! P.J. Hammond's landmark in weird sci-fi. We begin, sensibly, with Assignment 1.
Once again, Erik and Kyle have gotten to the end of a series! This month marks the final episode discussing The Outer Limits and they're thankfully ending with a bang. Story editor Seelag Lester is the subject, who wrote "Wolf 359," the amazing two-parter "The Inheritors" and the final episode ever, "The Probe."
Next month, a new show has been assigned...
Once again, Erik and Kyle have gotten to the end of a series! This month marks the final episode discussing The Outer Limits and they're thankfully ending with a bang. Story editor Seelag Lester is the subject, who wrote "Wolf 359," the amazing two-parter "The Inheritors" and the final episode ever, "The Probe."
Next month, a new show has been assigned...
It's our penultimate episode about The Outer Limits, so why not talk about a bunch of crap? It's another of our now-ubiquitous episodes about writers who wrote only one episode.
This time out it's "Cold Hands, Warm Heart," "Behold! Eck," "Expanding Human," and "The Premonition."
Also, we've got announcements about our next two shows we're going to cover...
This month it's some episodes of The Outer Limits season 2. We cannot say fairer than that. It's a trio of stories more or less by two writers; Jerry Sohl adapted his own short story for "The Invisible Enemy," Milton Krims rewrote a Stephen Lord treatment into "Keeper of the Purple Twilight," and then Krims rewrote Sohl for "Counterweight." And that's not all the rewriting there was in these. Not by a longshot.
Friends! Because we're all having a rough go of it socially distancing, we thought we'd give you a little extra treat. The commentary we normally do once a month for our Patreon patrons is free for all to hear!
And it's a good one. We talked about the Doctor Who episode "Oxygen" for our Who for Schools raffle winner, and for the commentary, Erik and Kyle are joined by podcast superstars Joy Piedmont and Shannon Dohar! Enjoy their commentary and some general Who chatter afterward.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
This month, Kyle and Erik are back talking about The Outer Limits season two, and with it...a writer! It's Robert C. Dennis, a very prolific TV writer who here is adapting three short stories and re-writing another writer's story for a fourth. They are "Cry of Silence," "I, Robot" (no, not that one), "The Duplicate Man," and "The Brain of Colonel Barham". Some of these are good and some of them super aren't!
What's this now?! Why yes! Erik and Kyle have given The Outer Limits a break for a month in order to talk about Doctor Who again! As part of the Who For Schools initiative, a lucky raffle winner got to decide what New Who episode we discussed. The winner has chosen "Oxygen" by Jamie Mathieson. We're talking Capaldi, Nardole, Bill, and dystopian capitalism. Yay!
Happy New Year! And what could be happier than covering one of sci-fi's most famous writers? That's right, for episode one of our look at The Outer Limits season 2, we're talking about the great Harlan Ellison and his two scripts, "Soldier" and the immortal "Demon with a Glass Hand."
Next month, it's more Doctor Who...for a bit.
Can you believe it's been a year already? Kyle and Erik finish up their 12 months of discussing the first season of The Outer Limits with a countdown of their top 10 and bottom 5 episodes! Next year we begin season 2, with the two episodes written by the great Harlan Ellison!
If you have a suggestion for a classic genre show to discuss after The Outer Limits, email us at erikandkyle@gmail.com!
This month, Erik and Kyle only have two episodes left in season one of The Outer Limits. Fittingly, they're both would-be spin-offs from each of the show's two driving creative forces. First up is "Controlled Experiment," a comedy take on sci-fi from series creator Leslie Stevens. Second is the bat-poop crazy "The Forms of Things Unknown" from head writer Joseph Stefano.
In this month's penultimate look at the first season of The Outer Limits, Kyle and Erik discuss four stories by four different writers, to varying degrees of interest. Those episodes are:
"Specimen: Unknown"
"The Guests"
"Fun and Games"
"The Special One"
Two of them are really quite good!
This month, as we head to the end of The Outer Limits season one, we have a quartet of very odd stories, all featuring input from story editor and Joseph Stefano's right-hand man, Lou Morheim. These include "The Mice," "Second Chance," "Moonstone," and "The Chameleon." Robert Towne wrote that last one.
This month, Erik and Kyle keep digging deeper into the troubled psyche of The Outer Limits season 1's showrunner, Joseph Stefano. These three episodes--"The Invisibles," "The Bellero Shield," and "A Feasibility Study"--each represent the writer's best (and most upsetting) traits.
This month, Erik and Kyle are joined by writer, podcast, smart person extraordinaire, Paul Cornell to discuss the Outer Limits episode "Nightmare."
"Nightmare" is a very somber episode about humans facing interrogation from a superior alien aggressor. Can their fragile Earth psyches take it?! This discussion goes deep on rules of engagement, interior storytelling, Southern Gothic Sci-fi, and writer Joseph Stefano's id and ego.
Find Paul on Twitter, and check out his podcast, Hammer House of Podcast.
This month we begin our look at The Outer Limits' most important writer, producer, and story-shaper, Joseph Stefano. We go in-depth on "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork," "The Zanti Misfits," and "Don't Open Till Doomsday," and figure out what Gothic Sci-Fi really means.
This month, your faithful hosts have three stories from three different writers of The Outer Limits. First up is "The Human Factor" by David Duncan, an episode that seems like The Thing but is more like Face/Off. Next is "Corpus Earthling," a creepy little story about alien rocks by Orin Borsten. And finally, "Tourist Attraction" by Dean Riesner, a former child actor who went on to work with Clint Eastwood. Fun!
This month, Kyle and Erik look at two more writers of The Outer Limits. It's Jerome Ross, who wrote "The Man with the Power," and Anthony Lawrence, who wrote "The Man Who Was Never Born" and "The Children of Spider County." Enjoy!
An early contender for MVP writer of The Outer Limits season one, veteran TV writer Meyer Dolinsky wrote three fascinating and troubling episodes, two considered legitimate classics.
First is "The Architects of Fear" which inspired Alan Moore's Watchmen; the paranoid Cold War thriller "O.B.I.T."; and a legitimately weird one, "ZZZZZ" about a super attractive bee woman.
This month, Erik and Kyle delve further into The Outer Limits by talking about two episodes written by the writing team of Allan Balter and Robert Mintz ("The Hundred Days of the Dragon," "The Mutant"), and the one episode written by Ellis St. Joseph ("The Sixth Finger").
They get well into themes of bettering humanity, evolution, mutation, giant brains, giant eyeballs, goopy faces, and telepathy. And, you know, other things too.
Here we go! A new year and a new season. Erik and Kyle are embarking on their journey into the 1960s sci-fi anthology series The Outer Limits, which ran for 49 episodes on ABC TV in the United States and has since been reappraised time and again. We know a thing or two about series that began in 1963 that have gone on to longevity.
To begin, we look no further than the series' creator, Leslie Stevens, who wrote and directed four episodes during the first season. We're only talking about three of them in this episode, and they are "The Galaxy Being," "The Borderland," and "Production and Decay of Strange Particles."
Hello everyone! Happy New Year! First and foremost, welcome to 2019 and The Writers Room's new direction. It's still Erik and Kyle discussing old TV sci-fi, but for the next year or so, we'll be talking about the original 1963-1965 series The Outer Limits.
To start with, we're doing a bit of a primer about the series, how it came to be, who were the key creative types in charge of its 49 episodes, and what kinds of stories you can expect on the journey. First full episode about series creator Leslie Stevens will arrive January 15.
Sorry for the sound issues in this episode, it will not be indicative of the whole run, we assure you. We just didn't have time to re-record.
And finally, please consider supporting our new Patreon! Patreon.com/TheWritersRoom
It all comes down to this! Erik and Kyle finish up their six-year journey into the writers of classic Doctor Who with part two of their listener question answer thing.
Thank you to everyone for listening for this long (but very fun!) folly of ours. We'll continue to talk about Doctor Who going forward, but we're also jumping into new but similar shows, beginning with the original run of The Outer Limits!
This month, friends, it's all over bar the shouting. Kyle and Erik tackle some of YOUR questions and discussion topics about their six year journey into the writers and writing of the classic series of Doctor Who. On order are things like which script editors were the best, what Doctor/companion teams were best served on screen, and what we'd recommend to new viewers.
As referenced in the episode, here's the blog of Erik's more specific recommendations for first-time classic whovians.
66 episodes down covering individual writers of classic Doctor Who, and only one to go. Crazy. Erik and Kyle finish up their revisitation of Eric Saward, six years after the initial foray, by talking about his two Dalek stories--Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks. One of them is good but not a Doctor Who story, the other definitely is a Doctor Who story but is terrible. What fun.
The fellas also tell you what's coming in the new year for this podcast feed and let you know there's still time to turn in your questions/discussion topics for the two-month podcast wrap-up!
The end is the beginning is the end! When we started our journey through the first 26 years of Doctor Who via the writers and the stories they wrote, we tried to start big, by tackling the stories written by '80s script editor Eric Saward, and in doing so, we bit off more than we could chew.
So, to wind down The Writers Room mark 1, we're going back and doing Saward in two goes rather than just one. This month, it's "The Visitation," "Earthshock," and "Attack of the Cybermen." Do we think the same things we thought back in 2013? How would we know?
Whoa. We did it, everyone. With this month's episode, we conclude our quest to discuss the first 26 years of Doctor Who via the writers and the stories they wrote. We're finishing the initial run with a bang, by talking about David Whitaker's two Dalek stories--"The Power of the Daleks" and "The Evil of the Daleks." Both are hailed as lost classics, and for good reason. Erik and Kyle break down all things obedience and extermination.
Whoa. We did it, everyone. With this month's episode, we conclude our quest to discuss the first 26 years of Doctor Who via the writers and the stories they wrote. We're finishing the initial run with a bang, by talking about David Whitaker's two Dalek stories--"The Power of the Daleks" and "The Evil of the Daleks." Both are hailed as lost classics, and for good reason. Erik and Kyle break down all things obedience and extermination.
This month, Erik and Kyle continue their discussion of the Doctor Who writing of David Whittaker with a story that was almost totally missing up until five years ago, and now it's fully back and available to watch in all its glory, "The Enemy of the World," one of the most atypical stories of the entire 1960s, and certainly of the Second Doctor's era. Erik had never listened to or watched this story until now; was it worth the wait?
It's nearly the end, but the moment has been prepared for. Except we're not talking about "Logopolis" in the least. It's our very final writer to cover from Doctor Who's classic series, David Whitaker, and incredibly important figure in the series' history and one that gave us many intriguing concepts.
In this first of three episodes, Kyle and Erik are talking about the three stories Whitaker wrote for the William Hartnell Doctor: "Edge of Destruction", "The Rescue", and "The Crusade."
Can it be?! Kyle and Erik are talking about episodes of Doctor Who from after 2005?! Yes indeed! For nearly 6 years, the fellas have talked about episodes of the 1963-1989 seasons, but this month is different. Anna Lynch, the raffle winner from the #WhoAgainstGuns initiative, has chosen three new/modern Who episodes: "Partners in Crime," "The Doctor's Wife," and "Listen" and K & E get into things like fan wank, nostalgia, and companion story arcs.
Next month...it's the beginning of the end.
Build high for happiness will prevail!
This month, the fellas close out the Seventh Doctor's era with three stories all about dystopian futures and seemingly nice but secretly upsetting societies. Sort of like Britain in the '80s, really.
We've got the two stories written by Stephen Wyatt ("Paradise Towers" and "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy") and the one story by Graeme Curry ("The Happiness Patrol"), all of which have a lot of ideas and themes and metaphors and allegories, but do they have stuff like plot and character and a story? We'll find out!
And next month...something very different.
This month, 60 episodes in to their monthly journey into the writing and writers of Classic Doctor Who, Kyle and Erik are joined by and honest to good writer of Classic Doctor Who! Andrew Smith bravely sits with us to talk about his 1980 script, "Full Circle," the beginning of the E-Space trilogy and the story that introduced Adric. In addition, Andrew talks about how he was brought on board, and all the lovely Big Finish stories he's writing currently. (Dude writes a LOT.)
Also, Kyle, Erik, and Andrew have all been proud to take part in the #WhoAgainstGuns initiative which is raising money to help prevent gun violence. If you donate at least $10 before March 31, you'll get a truly fabulous 13-part, 40+ participant commentary to "The War Games." For information, click this link!
Hi friends!
Erik and Kyle are pleased to join other Doctor Who podcasts, writers, and artists in the #WhoAgainstGuns movement to spread the message of peace and the call for ending gun violence in the U.S. and the rest of the world. We're happy to lend our voices to a special team-up commentary on a fan-favorite classic Doctor Who story, which can only be heard by donating $10.
More information can be found here!
How to take part Here’s what you have to do: make a donation of $10 or more to:
- March For Our Lives
- Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
- Moms Demand Action
These organizations are U.S.-Based and focused on changing American laws and policy. They welcome international donations; however, if you live outside of the U.S. and want to make an equivalent donation to an organization in your own country here are some suggestions. (You may have others):
- In Canada – Campaign for Gun Control
- In the UK – Gun Control Network
Once you’ve made your donation, send a copy of your receipt to gallifreystands@realitybombpodcast.com and you’ll get information on where to download your special commentary podcast later in March.
This month, Kyle and Erik talk about the work of script editor Anthony Read, who wrote one story under the pseudonym David Agnew (that one being season 15's "The Invasion of Time") and one under his own name (that being season 17's "The Horns of Nimon"). We find the merits (or demerits) in both of these stories, and talk about mazes both TARDIS and mythical & Greek.
This month, Erik and Kyle begin the final year of the podcast (as you know it) by closing out yet another Doctor's era, that being Sixth Doctor Colin Baker. Yes, after not talking about any of his stories since the very first one, we've wrapped him up in a little under a year, and we're ending with Philip Martin, who wrote "Vengeance on Varos" and "Mindwarp," (aka "The Trial of a Time Lord" parts 5-8). It's, uhh, it's pretty violent, we have to say.
We've reached the end of another calendar year, which means it's been 5 years of Doctor Who: The Writers' Room! Can you even believe it? In honor of this, we've decided to go slightly outside of our usual parameters of the first 26 years of Doctor Who...all the way to 1996. That's right, we're talking about the TV Movie, written by Matthew Jacobs. The special has a fascinating backstory, and we get in to that along with dissecting if it works, and for whom.
Sorry for the delay this month, but we think you're in for a real treat (?) Erik, fresh off of becoming certified to teach English, and Kyle, fresh off of gallivanting and getting sick, discuss three poor old '80s stories that don't get much love. Is it because they're awful? We'll let you decide. But they talk about "The Twin Dilemma," "Timelash," and "Delta and the Bannermen." So there's that.
This month, we have another pair of stories that fall into the "well, they don't really fit anywhere else" category, in this instance both being surreal and fantastical stories from the same period of time. '60s Weirdos, we're calling it, and we're talking about "The Celestial Toymaker" and "The Mind Robber." Why? Because we like you.
Also, this month marks Erik's last episode...recorded in the United States. He's moved to Prague and you can find out about his new adventure and help him keep podcasting by visiting his Patreon page (right here)!
Break out the feather boas and start calling everything "Jimmy" because this month, Erik and Kyle are finishing their look at the Cybermen in Classic Doctor Who with the 1968 story, "The Invasion." But, oh no, they are not taking on this eight-episode epic alone; they've got the added brilliance of Verity! Podcast's own Deb Stanish to help break down all the ins and outs, from Tobias Vaughn's arrogance to Packer's frazzledness to Isobel's perceived flightiness. Oh, and Cybermen too.
This month, it's the end of a couple of things: First, the final episode in our Ice Warriors two-parter, focusing on the stories "The Curse of Peladon" and "The Monster of Peladon." Second, it's the last episode in which we have Third Doctor stories to discuss, so Kyle is clearly more sad about it than Erik. Oh, and a third one -- it's the last time we'll let people tell us one of these stories is bad. Which one? Find out soon!
Hello and good July to you, Whovian friends! This month, Erik and Kyle go Cyber-crazy. They start by talking about the Cybermen as portrayed in the recently concluded Series 10 (poor Bill) and then transition to this month's meat, the Cybermen's fourth appearance, "The Wheel in Space" from 1968 and their sixth appearance, "Revenge of the Cybermen" from 1974.
These stories raise a number of questions, like "How can beings with their emotions removed want revenge?," "Why are they allergic to gold?" and "Do the Cybermen do anything at all in 'Wheel in Space?'" These questions are important!
It'sssssss June, friendsssssss, and that meanssssss Erik and Kyle are going to be talking about the firssssst two (of only four) ssssssstories having to do with the Iccccccccccce Warriorsssss.
I'm really tired of writing it like that, so I'm gonna stop. Anyway, we talk about "The Ice Warriors" and "The Seeds of Death." That's the end.
Friends, it's Cyber-May! Or whatever. Anyway, it's our 50th episode, and for this one Erik and Kyle dive into talking about the Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis stories concerning those shiny shysters, the Cybermen. This time 'round, it's "The Moonbase" and "The Tomb of the Cybermen," because as the theme song to The Facts of Life told us, "you take the good, you take the bad..."
Last month we looked at the two stories that began the 1980s, and this month we're looking at the two stories that began Season 4...but that also means they're the two stories that saw the end of the First Doctor, "The Smugglers" by Brian Hayles and "The Tenth Planet" by Kit Pedler (and Gerry Davis). These two stories couldn't be more different from each other, and it definitely doesn't feel like the same Doctor. But we also get the Cybermen, who--spoilers--we'll see a whole lot more of in the coming months on this podcast.
As our podcast begins to wind down (still have like a year, people, calm down a bit), we're forced to look at things that don't really have much correlation other than placement. As such, Erik and Kyle are spending this month talking about the beginning of the JNT and Christopher H. Bidmead era with our good friend David Fisher's "The Leisure Hive," and one-timers Andrew McCullough and John Flanagan's "Meglos." Hooo boy, thems sure are stories that exist.
Hello and happy February, friends and listening public! This month, Erik and Kyle are in the same room (that's how you know it's Gallifrey One time) to discuss the three stories written in the '70s by David Fisher, who joined in season 16. His two Key to Time stories--"The Stones of Blood" and "The Androids of Tara"--are pretty roundly beloved, but his season 17 story, "The Creature from the Pit," is derided almost categorically. Is this fair? Is he to blame or laud for these stories? We get down on it!
We haven't talked about this writer in a while, but it's almost hard to talk about Doctor Who without him -- Terry Nation, the inventor and most prolific writer of the Daleks. We've done all of those, of course, but he also wrote two stories with no Daleks in them whatsoever: from season 1, "The Keys of Marinus," and from season 13, "The Android Invasion." Nation fell into certain traps and narrative tricks when he wrote Daleks; did the same happen without the trundling war machines? Kyle and Erik find out!
Happy end of the year, friends! As we draw the putrid cesspool that was 2016 to a close, Erik and Kyle thought they'd give you a fun(?) treat by talking about the two Dalek movies made in the mid-60s by Amicus Productions and starring the incomparable Peter Cushing. Interesting it will be to see how the same stories from the TV show are changed/truncated for the purposes of being very swiftly made, less-than-90-minute family movies. Enjoy!
We did it! Even as the country from which we hail goes to hell in a handbasket, we've managed to watch the final stories written by the Bristol Boys, aka Bob Baker and Dave Martin. Those three are "Underworld," "The Armageddon Factor," and the Bob Baker solo effort, "Nightmare of Eden." These writers have been a baffler thus far; how will we rate these three stories?
Oh....good. Erik and Kyle are back for the second part of their look at the so-called Bristol Boys, Bob Baker & Dave Martin. This time out, without the deft script editing hand of Terrance Dicks, we're left with off-the-wall stories "The Sontaran Experiment," "The Hand of Fear," and "The Invisible Enemy." Oh... oh gosh.
Another series of episodes all surrounding the same writers! We love those! This month begins Kyle and Erik's foray into the many scripts by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, affectionately referred to as "The Bristol Boys." This time it's the three they did during the Pertwee years -- "The Claws of Axos," "The Mutants," and "The Three Doctors." You won't believe which the fellas think is the best. Or maybe you will; you've probably been listening long enough to guess.
In the annals of Doctor Who, few writers' names are met with as much derision as those of Pip & Jane Baker, the husband and wife writing team who gave us three full serials plus an episode as needed during seasons 22, 23, and 24. Are these stories bad because of the writing? Are these stories bad at all? It's something Kyle and Erik will discuss, because if there's one these those boys love, it's evaluating hated writers to see if it's fair. (spoiler answer: maybe!)
Hello, one and all! Kyle and Erik are back to discuss more and more Doctor Who!! This month, we're doing some bits and bobs from the Patrick Troughton years, focusing on three stories by three different writers who only wrote one story for the show. First up is Elwyn Jones (with Gerry Davis) who wrote "The Highlanders," the story that introduced Jamie McCrimmond. Next is everybody's favorite oddity, "The Underwater Menace" written by Geoffrey Orme. And finally, "Fury from the Deep" which said goodbye to Victoria Waterfield, written by Victor Pemberton. Enjoy!
Hello friends! We're a little late on the podcast front this month, so to tide you over, Kyle has interviewed friend of the show and writer extraordinaire Paul Cornell about his upcoming Third Doctor miniseries for Titan Comics. It's a great chat for anybody who loves the '70s Doctor Who era as much as Kyle does, but also should probably reevaluate some of the choices... because sexism. Enjoy! And we'll be back soon!
Happy May, everybody! Hope you're ready for block transfer computation and charged vacuum emboitments, because this month Erik and Kyle are going to be talking about the Doctor Who stories written by Christopher Hamilton Bidmead, a writer and script editor who ushered in a whole year of hard science mathematics (deserving a badge for excellence, maybe?), with his three stories "Logopolis," "Castrovalva," and "Frontios." How do they fare under the scrutiny of the DWTWR pair? WE'LL SEE!!
Friends, we've returned! Thanks for sticking with us, and apologies in advance for the return trip being kind of a downer. Erik and Kyle discuss the last three stories written by Robert Holmes, all in the Colin Baker era, and none of them particularly...well, that would be telling. We've got "The Two Doctors" in season 22 and episodes 1-4 and 13 of "The Trial of a Time Lord" (but let's be honest, we call them "The Mysterious Planet" and "The Ultimate Foe" Part 1). There's also a nice discussion about his work as a whole, so don't get too upset.
Hi everybody! You've probably noticed we haven't had an episode in a bit. Sorry, but life catches up sometimes. But we will be back to finally put the capper on Robert Holmes very soon. Thanks for your support, we'll be back before you know it!
From Gallifrey One, Kyle has a little chat about all things Robert Holmes with luminaries in the Doctor Who world, Graeme Burk, Paul Cornell, and Steven Schapansky. Full episode about Holmes' final three scripts in the next few days.
Believe it or not, Kyle and Erik haven't talked about Robert Holmes since Gallifrey 2014! That's right, almost two years since we've even ventured down the path of Doctor Who's most prolific and celebrated script writer. Well, diving back in, the boys get to discuss "The Ribos Operation" and "The Power of Kroll" from the Key to Time season and "The Caves of Androzani" which served as Peter Davison's final story. Lots to talk about? Uhh, sure. Some more than others.
Next month, we'll be at Gallifrey One again! If you see us, come up and say hello!
We've reached the end of another calendar year and that, apparently, means it's time to do more Seventh Doctor writers. This month, Erik and Kyle are talking about two writers who collectively wrote three stories all about the character of Ace. Ian Briggs introduced Ace in "Dragonfire" and then dealt with her mother issues in "The Curse of Fenric," and Rona Munro's sole contribution to the Doctor Who canon just happens to be the last story of the classic series, as well as one that deals with the idea of home and refusing violence. Good stuff this month, folks.
This month, we talk about one of the most legendary writers in Doctor Who history, that being John Lucarotti. Why legendary? Well anyone who writes "The Aztecs" deserves that title, but lately a lot of people have been talking about his first story, "Marco Polo," with a lot of reverence. Is it worth that reverence? And finally, he wrote "The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve," which was then heavily rewritten. So, like, what's the deal with Johnny Lukes?
Oh, hello, the 1980s. How are you this month? Erik and Kyle have remained in the decade of JNT and are looking at the three stories written by prolific TV writer Johnny Byrne, whose contributions to Doctor Who are "The Keeper of Traken," "Arc of Infinity," and "Warriors of the Deep." These three stories don't normally have the highest approval rating, but that's not specifically fair in some of the cases. Can Byrne's writing save stories with a polystyrene statue that can walk, a chicken monster with a ray gun, and a giant pantomime lizard? We'll find out today!
We've finally made it through the lengthy (though highly enjoyable if you ask us) jaunt with Hulke and Nation and we're celebrating by heading with Doctor Who into the future! All the way to the 1980s, that is. This month, we're talking about the three stories written by Peter Grimwade, the production assitant turned director turned writer. While we certainly do talk about his stint directing stories, we obviously focus on his authorial work, which consists of "Time-Flight," "Mawdryn Undead," and "Planet of Fire," all of which during the Peter Davison years. Well, at least we START with "Time-Flight," but there's also much talk about timelines and overcrowded storylines and TARDISes used for everything under the sun.
After a whopping 8 months(!) of talking about the Doctor Who stories of Malcolm Hulke and the Dalek stories written by Terry Nation, Erik and Kyle are wrapping up both writers in one episode, talking about both of their final stories, and both of them seem to be good encapsulations of what their whole career on the show was like. For Hulke, we have "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and for Nation we have "Destiny of the Daleks." Is it necessarily fair to pair these two stories up in one episode? NOPE! But we did it anyway.
Next month, we'll be back to business as usual with a writer who can be entirely covered in one episode.
This month is another of our single-story episode, and while it's not as long as "The War Games" or "Dalek's Master Plan," it's definitely got some gravitas to it. This is, of course, Terry Nation's 1975 Doctor Who story, "Genesis of the Daleks," his final script for a number of years and Tom Baker's first fracas with the rolling tank things. However, as Erik and Kyle discover, it's not so much about the Daleks as it is about their creator, the insane and immeasurably fascinating Davros. This script is known for having some amazing dialogue scenes, but does the rest of the story hold up as well?
After a pretty lackluster Terry Nation month, we return with a pretty impressive Malcolm Hulke month, discussing the "... in Space" Duology of Season 8's "Colony in Space" and Season 10's "Frontier in Space." One depicts the struggle of settlers against a mining corporation, the other depicts the Cold War between two great empires, and they both have the Master showing up a few episodes into it and proving what an opportunist he is. One of these stories ranks as one of Hulke's best; can you guess which?!
This month, Erik and Kyle are still in the midst of their alternating looks at two of the most prolific and influential writers in all of Doctor Who - Malcolm Hulke and Terry Nation. For this episode, it's a discussion of Nation's two stories fom the Jon Pertwee era, "Planet of the Daleks" and "Death to the Daleks." The first is almost always cited as "Terry Nation's Greatest Hits," which the second is often said to be Nation doing something slightly (but not entirely) different. Do the fellas agree with this summation?
Next month: Malcolm Hulke's "Colony in Space" and "Frontier in Space."
This month we return to looking at the work of Malcolm Hulke with his two Homo reptilia stories, "Doctor Who and the Silurians" from Season 7 and "The Sea Devils" from Season 9. Both involve a hyper-advanced reptile race that ruled the globe long before humanity, but as Kyle and Erik determine, were Hulke coming at the concept from completely different angles. They discuss military might, government bureaucracy, the Doctor's disdain for all authority even at the cost of hindering progress, and why neither Liz nor Jo had anything to do.
Thanks for listening to our Bracket Special at the beginning of the month. Winners announced herein.
Here it is, folks! For your listening pleasure, a special tournament special bracket special of special specialness in which Kyle and Erik of this here podcast (The Writers' Room, obvs) get together with Steven Schapansky of Radio Free Skaro and The Memory Cheats, Erika Ensign of Verity!, and Josh Zimon of The Memory Cheats and Mostly Harmless Cutaway to determine once and for all what the best Doctor Who episode/story of all time is.
Basing the discussion on the top 64 stories from the Doctor Who Magazine poll from June of 2014, the five panelists will vote based purely on personal preference in a seeded system that ranks the stories in quadrants. You'll get the idea once we get going.
Please enjoy, and let us know what you think! We'll resume regular episodes in a fortnight.
Another look at a super long stoy, but this time, unlike "The War Games," it's one neither Kyle nor Erik had seen (heard) before. Yep, the gents are back in the realm of Terry Nation for part two of our look at the Dalek creator with the massive 13-episode run comprising "Mission to the Unknown" and all of "The Daleks' Master Plan," on which he split writing duties with Dennis Spooner. And you know what? It shows! Companions, both pseudo and regular, get talked about extensively, as does whether the Daleks work in the context of old timey space opera. Or, for that matter, in any context at all. There's not even any real indication they even had a master plan to begin with.
Recorded LIVE (and quietly) at the LAX Marriott following Gallifrey One 2015, Erik and Kyle are joined by writer, author, scholar, and Doctor Who expert to talk about the beginnings of Malcolm Hulke's time on the series, writing "The Faceless Ones" in 1967 with David Ellis, and ghost-rewriting David Whitaker's "The Ambassadors of Death" for Terrance Dicks. These be fun conversations, and we're pleased Paul was here to help.
It's 2015 and Erik and Kyle have lost their minds. It was bound to happen some time, but they've decided to finally delve into the infamous Dalek-filled writings of Doctor Who's only writer ever to get filthy stinking rich from writing the show, Terry Nation. Because he wrote so much for the show, it's going to take us a while to get through it all, but we better start now. This month, we begin with his first three Dalek stories, "The Daleks," "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," and "The Chase."
This month, as a special Christmas present to everyone, or possibly as the coal in your stocking, Erik and Kyle are only talking about one story, and it's not even a very long one, but it IS a very complex one with lots of moving pieces and an interesting production history. It's "Ghost Light," the very final story ever filmed for Doctor Who, written by Marc Platt. Erik loves everything about it and thinks it's a misunderstood gem, while Kyle thinks it's overly complicated and underly produced. WHO IS CORRECT?!?
Thanks for listening for two whole years. We are incredibly grateful to all of you. Have a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!
This month, Erik and Kyle talk about a writer who only wrote two stories but they're two of the most beloved among Doctor Who fans. That writer is Robert Banks Stewart who penned "Terror of the Zygons" and "The Seeds of Doom," both from Season 13. It can certainly be said that these stories are quite different from the Gothic Horror pastiches much of the Hinchcliffe era gave us, and actually delve into, in "Seeds"' case anyway, a James Bond-kind of story. Whether both of your intrepid hosts enjoy that kind of story is discussed quite a bit.
Next month, a very special holiday episode...
This month, Erik and Kyle talk about a write who penned three scripts during the Innes Lloyd/Gerry Davis era of Doctor Who, the end of Season 3 and in Season 4. He is Ian Stuart Black, the writer of "The Savages," "The War Machines," and "The Macra Terror." None of them are particularly highly regarded and some are downright troubling for a number of reasons. The fellas delve into issues such as companion departures, misguided racial subtexts, humanity versus machinery, giant alien crab things, and the Highland Fling!
Next month, it's Robert Banks Stewart.
This month, it's into the void and to the center of the universe as Erik and Kyle discuss the two stories written by Steve Gallagher - "Warrior's Gate" and "Terminus." The later is usually written off as pantaloons, but the former is often hailed as some sort of existentialist masterpiece that never got its full due thanks to a crazed director. Do the boys think these notions hold true or are they bored out of their minds with both of them. We'll let the running time tell you the answer.
This month, oh boy people, it's time Erik and Kyle talk about the man, the myth, the legend that is Douglas Adams, he who wrote for Monty Python and would go on to great fame writing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. For our purposes, of course, Adams wrote three stories for Doctor Who, only two of which were ever finished and aired: "The Pirate Planet" and "City of Death," as well as the half-completed "Shada" which has garnered a lot fo attention through the years because of Adams' involvement and because of its troubled history. There's much discussion here about whether his stuff is as good as a lot of people say it is. Which side are you on?
This month, Kyle and Erik dive into the work of Don Houghton, who only wrote two stories for Doctor Who, but two that are among the best, and best-loved, stories in all of the Jon Pertwee era. Those, of course, are "Inferno" and "The Mind of Evil," one of which tops a lot of people's best stories list and one which has the Master in. After those Hartnell one-offs last month, the boys need to sink their teeth into something good, and there's plenty of it here. Listen to the podcast scream out its rage!
Oh boy, this sure wasn't a good idea. This month, in an effort to deal with the issue of one-off writers, Erik and Kyle ventured into four regularly-derided stories from the Hartnell era: "The Sensorites" by Peter R. Newman, "The Web Planet" by Bill Strutton, "Galaxy 4" by William Emms, and "The Ark" by Paul Erickson (and Lesley Scott, although she did nothing). Umm, that happened. Are they as bad as people say? Not necessarily.
But hey, next month it's Don Houghton so that's a step in the right direction, right?
This month, Erik and Kyle head all the way back to the very beginning to talk about the very first story ever, "An Unearthly Child" credited to writer Anthony Coburn. Is the serial just a good first episode followed by three boring cavemen episodes, or is it all a lot more connected than popular fan belief suggests? They look at the original unaired "pilot" as well to contrast where the show might have gone had the Doctor remained as unfeeling as he was initially. Character relationships and quirks get discussed too. It's a pretty hefty episode for it only being about one four-parter.
This month, Kyle and Erik talk about one of the go-to utility writers during the 1960s and '70s, Louis Marks, who has a very impressive career outside of Doctor Who and who wrote "Planet of Giants," "Day of the Daleks," "Planet of the Evil," and "The Masque of Mandragora" between 1964 and 1976. The fellas talk about the writer's uncanny ability to have a great first episode but an abysmal fourth one. Strange, strange, strange.
Also, please leave us a review on iTunes and you could win two signed by author Paul Cornell!