Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

The Pandorica Opens was the focus of most of this episode of Radio Free Skaro, thanks to a light news week. Good thing, too, as Pandorica was another triumph from Series 5, featuring many power mad conspirators - Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen - gathering together to fight their greatest enemy, The Doctor. Such a visual feast put the Three Who Rule in danger of becoming transfixed on what they were watching, but they managed to mostly steer clear of the silence for the time being. Ah, yes. The Silence. More on that next week...   Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

For the first time in many months, the Three Who Rule were delighted to welcome Tachyon TV's Neil Perryman back into the fold to not only discuss the week that was in Doctor Who, but to be present for Neil's first commentary since watching The Stolen Earth 27 times in one weekend to prepare the last ever Tachyon TV commentary podcast. The episode in question is Gareth Roberts' The Lodger, episode 11 of Series 5. As usual with Neil, the boundaries of decency for Radio Free Skaro were pushed ever further, as was the level of integrity and humour. A good time was had by all!   CHeck out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

The time has finally come for The Three Who Rule to sink their teeth into Vincent and the Doctor as the Series 5 commentary series continues. Vincent has been a polarizing episode both amongst the Radio Free Skaro gang as well as much of fandom in general with opinions firmly seated on both sides of the fence. Will opinions change with another viewing and an open debate? Will assertions of greatness or dreadfulness fall on deaf ears? The news of the week rounds out this episode along with a teaser of what’s to come next week… Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

It was a banner week for Doctor Who leading up the programme's 47th anniversary celebrations on November 23, with massive news on both sides of the Atlantic in the forms of a new trailer for A Christmas Carol, a same-day broadcast date in the US, and Matt Smith's landmark appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. All of these events and more were discussed at great length by the Three Who Rule, amongst other notable topics (including Ian Levine's Shada), capped off by a rollicking commentary on the Series 5 episode "Cold Blood". Enjoy, and Happy Birthday, Doctor Who!   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

The Series 5 commentary series resumes again after an intermittent past few weeks (but you surely didn’t mind all the interviews, did you?) with the Three Who Rule’s take on The Hungry Earth, the first part of the retro-themed Silurian story from this past year. Also, news of Christmas episode titles and another impressive Sarah Jane Adventures story help pass the time before the Children in Need preview later this week and Doctor Who’s impending 47th anniversary. Good fun!   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

The Three Who Rule were thrilled beyond measure to interview Murray  Gold, the esteemed composer of all of the music in the new series, along with the themes to Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. In a wide ranging discussion, Gold held forth on all manner of musical matters and charmed the crew with his wit, verve, and bohemian charm. Oh yes, and some news and the latest Sarah Jane Adventures were discussed. Gold! Listen! Now!   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

The Series 5 Commentary series rears its head once again as the Three Who Rule tackle fan favourite Amy's Choice with much glee and delectation. More fan enjoyment came this past week in the form of Death of the Doctor, featuring Matt Smith's return as the Doctor in the latest installment of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Fans awaiting the Christmas special got not one but two pieces of good news this week as it was announced that the BFI will be holding an advance screening for the episode while the rest of us have to suffer with a Children In Need clip next month. Join the fandom fun with the whole gang in this episode of Radio Free Skaro before it's gone gone gone!   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

A special treat this week: an interview with Dan Hall, Commissioning Editor of the Doctor Who DVD range at 2 Entertain. Dan expounds on many a hot topic in the world of Doctor Who shiny discs, including animated reconstructions, the Revisitations box sets, and much, much more, including a look ahead to what will be a very busy 2011 for Doctor Who DVD fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Also, the Three Who Rule give their thoughts on the most recent Sarah Jane Adventures outing, “The Vault of Secrets”, as well as deal with a few other sundry matters. Enjoy!   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

The internet exploded in Doctor Who land this past week with fans beside themselves about Regenergate and Gallifrey One hotel rooms, which caused the Three Who Rule to take time out of this episode to allay those fears. Long stories short: Don't Panic. Everything's fine. After those fires were ably extinguished, it was on to the commentary for The Vampires of Venice, a mid-series tome that inspired overwhelming indifference from two members of the Radio Free Skaro team. Did that opinion change...?   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

The Series 5 commentary series resumes this week with a look at the latter half of the stellar return of the Weeping Angels, “Flesh and Stone”. Instead of stunned silence, though, which one might expect to occur when watching something as entrancing as this, the Three Who Rule instead descended into heated arguments about Battlestar Galactica and the debatable merits of rock operas. One thing that they could all agree on, though, is that The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone are fine examples of some of the best television ever made.   Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com.

The Series 5 Commentary Series gets a bit of a rest as we focus on the news of the week and feature another extended interview with friend of the show, Phil Ford. Phil, along with Russell T Davies, recently won the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Hugo Award for The Waters of Mars, the first such honour for Doctor Who not bestowed upon Steven Moffat, and our own Steven sat down with him to discuss the Hugo, the upcoming Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures for which he serves as head writer, and a lot more. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some time with Phil and his effervescence on this installment of Radio Free Skaro!   Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

A sneak peak at our interview with Phil Ford, head writer of The Sarah Jane Adventures, coming soon in Radio Free Skaro #218.

After taking the better part of September off to either move to, visit, or stay away from other continents, the Three Who Rule reconvened for their first regularly recorded episode of Radio Free Skaro since the hazy days of summer. And, lo! What a news list to come back to! Some old, most older, but all entirely relevant, otherwise it would have never been mentioned in the first place. And to top it off, there's a commentary on perhaps the best New Series episode made to date, "The Time of Angels". If you're going to listen to one episode of Radio Free Skaro, make it this one! (And all the others, too.)

In a not-so-unprecedented move, Steven and Chris welcome back the Two-minute Time Lord himself, Chip, to take a look at what is thought by many to be the weak point of Series 5 — Victory of the Daleks. The Series 5 commentary series examines where the episode went right and where it went wrong, and of course there can never be enough discussion about the Power Rangers-esque Daleks. Will opinions change for the better? Will they change for the worse? Will Churchill ever put out that blasted cigar when in the bunker? Only some of those questions will be answered in this week’s Radio Free Skaro! Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

A Warren-less look at The Beast Below is the focal point of this week's Radio Free Skaro tomfoolery. The remaining Two Who Rule are joined by Chip from the Two-minute Time Lord podcast, as the Series 5 commentary series keeps on truckin'. Grab a glass of non-vibrating water and join the podcest fun as the lads talk all over Star Whales, future monarchs, voting machines and the Smilers and Winders!

The Classic Series Commentary series has ended... only to be replaced by the Series 5 Commentary series. (Any more attempts to use the word "series" will likely cause another crack in time, so we'd best stop there.) We've given the news segment a bit of time off... something that breaks our fictitious award-loving hearts, but on the upside it means no stats! So sit back, relax and have a listen to The Three Who Rule talk about the glorious opener to Matt Smith's tenure!   Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

So it’s come to this… the final installment of the summer Classic Series Commentary series has arrived, and oh what an arrival it was. Delta and the Bannermen gets put through one end of the RFS grinder and goodness only knows what will come out the other end. Warren’s notorious hatred of Sylvester McCoy’s tenure underlies the episode, but what did he think of the story when all was said and done? Add to that the collective pants-wetting over the upcoming release of The Seeds of Doom on DVD and pretty much the entire gamut of human emotion comes through in this episode of Radio Free Skaro! Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.

In this, the penultimate Radio Free Skaro Classic Series Commentary for the summer, the Three Who Rule lucked out with the second segment of the four-part trilogy known as The Trial of the Time Lord. Lucked out, you may well ask? Well, yes, for all three hosts were fairly unanimous in their praise of Mindwarp, and the Trial season as a whole, firm in their belief that Colin Baker’s tenure as The Doctor has been unfairly maligned over the years. Disagree? Listen to the commentary to see if you will be swayed… Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com

  The Three Who Rule celebrated the fourth anniversary of Radio Free Skaro by enduring one of the slowest news weeks in recent memory as next to nothing happened in the last seven days in the world of Doctor Who. Fortunately (?), the gang had the latter half of The Keys of Marinus to help them through it all. And if that wasn’t enough to sate them, well, there’s always finding out what story they’ll be commenting on next week. Go, Randomizer! Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.  

Warren returns to the fold this week, having thought he had escaped the worst that Doctor Who could offer by missing the commentary for Time-Flight last week. Instead, Hartnell-phobe Warren was given both barrels of black and white mediocrity in the form of The Keys of Marinus, one of the lesser lights of the debut season of Doctor Who from 1964. Actually, the Three Who Rule managed to keep themselves reasonably entertained throughout the first three episodes of Terry Nation’s best non-Dalek script that he ever wrote for Doctor Who…until the thought of having to watch three more episodes next week brought everyone back down to Earth. Check out the show notes at www.radiofreeskaro.com.