March 26, 2025 • 29 mins
Hey, Who fans and welcome to Episode 419.
This is a quick Garry solo show to wish modern Doctor Who a happy 20th anniversary! What a milestone, and we're very grateful and thankful for it, regardless of your or our view of the show these days. 2005, in some ways, feels like a lifetime ago, but in others, it feels like it was yesterday. Time works in weird ways (excuse the pun), and looking back to the episode Rose, it conjures up a feeling of magic and nostalgia. Good times.
As mentioned, if you're a Blake's 7 fan or thinking of giving it a go, we recently launched a podcast where we're going through the whole thing alongside the blu ray box sets. It's called Federation Strike, A Journey Through Blake's 7. We'd love it if you gave it a listen. Thank you 🎧☺️
This is The Big Blue Box Podcast
Join us each week for a new episode every Friday from your hosts Garry and Adam. We talk news, reviews, commentaries and general chat on everything Doctor Who PLUS listen to our monthly Round Table episodes with the whole team. Check out our website where you can also listen to all of our episodes for free along with the amazing reviews and articles from our writing team.
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Have a fantastic week and until next time remember... Aaaaaaaaaaallons-y!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, hey, hey who fans andwelcome to the Big Blue Box Podcast.
(00:22):
My name's Garry and this is avery quick little mini episode. It's
419. Hope you're keeping welland safe. Who fans. Hope you are
doing something Doctor whorelated. It's been a little while
(00:48):
since the last episode thatwas. What was that? 418 back on the
28th of Feb. So nearly amonth. Nearly a month since the last
episode. Back on that one Idid. Guys, I'd let you guys know
that we were going to bemoving away from the regular weekly
episodic stuff for theforeseeable future and there's a
(01:10):
few reasons for that. Go andcheck out that episode that dives
into all that stuff. Not goingto repeat all that here. But I did
want to come back this weekthough with a wee little mini episode
because the first big thing isthe 20th anniversary. The 20th birthday
for modern Doctor who. Therevised the comeback New who, if
(01:35):
you want to spell it that way.N U W h o newer Doctor who 20 bloody
years. Happy Birthday. Crikey.I put some stuff out on the socials
this morning. Thank you verymuch to those who have replied and
have also had similar thoughtsand, and, and feelings on this stuff
(01:56):
as I have. It's excuse themassive pun here, but time works
in. Time is weird sometimes inhow it works in that it fluctuates
and flip flops betweensometimes something feeling extremely
long since it first appearedand then other days for no. For no
(02:17):
explainable reason. You'llwake up and it feels like it was
yesterday. And for me, Doctorwho is like that. Now I need to insert
a very quick caveat here to metalking about this subject in that
I did not watch Doctor whowhen it came out in 2005. If you
are a longtime listener to theBig Blue Box podcast, then you will
(02:37):
know why. I've told this storya few times when it's needed over
the years on a few differentepisodes. But for new listeners very,
very quickly. I did not watch.I was not into Doctor who when it
came back in 2005. I was awareof it absolutely. 100 knew that there
was a show that was startingcalled Doctor who. I just didn't
(02:58):
watch it. I was aware ofClassic who as well before that.
But yeah, I didn't watch theshow and it wasn't until a few years
later that I actually got intoit. So I say Happy Birthday with
a sense of. What's the word todescribe it? A sense of. Although
I wasn't there on hand towitness things unfolding. From 2005
(03:23):
with the episode rose onwards,it's. I still very much celebrate
all of the anniversaries andbirthdays etc because I've been a
Doctor who fan for 15, 16years now. So although that pales
in comparison to some of youout there who have been a Doctor,
I've spoken to many of youeither on the socials or when we've
(03:47):
had a pint somewhere at anevent. I've known some of you that
have been Doctor who fans forcirca 40 years, which is incredible.
And I've known some of youthat have been Doctor who fans for
a year, which is also verycool. But for me, yeah, about 15,
(04:10):
16 ish years I think I've beena Doctor who fan which is no small
amount of time. So I cancomfortably lump myself in with the
grizzled ancients, I think,and the long timers and celebrate
these kind of things. So yeah,the whole point of this episode really
was to just. Was to say a bighappy 20th. But I do remember the
(04:34):
back in 2005, although Ididn't watch it, I do remember and
this was something that'sreally cool that, that made that.
It just shows that good oldmarketing works when it needs to
and that I remember just tonsof billboards, huge billboards littered
around the town that I wasliving in at the time in Luton, my
(04:57):
hometown, London. A couple oftowns I went to when I was visiting
friends. I remember seeingjust the, that, that huge image of
Rose and the Doctor standingin front of the TARDIS with the big,
with a big red BBC One logo inthe bottom left hand corner and the
(05:22):
huge BBC logo that went downthe right hand side and the, the
doors of the TARDIS were openand there was all these big light
rays coming out of it and itwas Rose standing next to, next to
the Doctor, Billy Piper andChris Ecclestone. And next to the
logo in the bottom left handcorner it said Doctor who. Underneath
that it said Saturdays at 7pmNow I absolutely love that because
(05:43):
I thought I was just very,very aware of it and I vividly remember
those, those billboardposters, they were, it was just fantastic.
So that just goes to show, youknow, someone like me who was not
into Doctor who at that timeand didn't really have any plans
to, to watch it when it wentout. The marketing for that really
(06:04):
did its job. It wasn't justme, there was a few of my few people
in my friend circle who again,like me, we're not into Doctor who.
But they, they did say, Ithink one of my friends at the time
said, oh, my dad's gonna bewatching Doctor who on Saturday.
Are you guys gonna watch it?And I think we were going out at
the time and so we said, no,we weren't gonna watch it. He was
(06:25):
like, oh yeah, my dad's, mydad loves it and he's an old time
Doctor who fan so he's goingto check it out. But he only asked
his dad about that because ofthe poster. Because I remember him
saying that his dad had allthe Target books and VHS tapes of
Doctor who from the classicyears and so on. And he was prompted
(06:46):
to ask his dad about Dr. Whobecause he'd seen the poster. I had
seen the poster on thebillboards and stuff. So I was aware
of it. And it's a bit of ashame these days that we don't really
see that kind of big sort ofprint mass kind of print marketing
thing going on as much. Ithink we still, we do still see some,
(07:08):
some. I remember going towhere was I last year. I was either
in New York or Toronto lastyear and I remember seeing a big
portrait sized, huge poster ofDoctor who. But I think that was
a Disney thing that. Yeah, Idon't think that was a BBC could
be, but I don't think it was aBBC led marketing campaign. I think
(07:32):
that was more Disney plus. Butanyway, here in the, here in, in
this country in the uk wouldlove to see those. Yeah, just a bit
of spend on old traditionalstuff, you know, an ad, full page
ad in SFX magazine and add inthe paper, a billboard. Anyway, I'm
waxing about this now, butanyway, there was, it was really
cool to see loads of youposting photos of those billboards
(07:54):
online. And it just hadsparked a little memory, you know,
a little flashback of, ofseeing that stuff. And then also
just reading all of the, allof your sort of mini stories of,
you know, the. You'rereminiscing about your first experience
watching Doctor who in 2005and watching the episode Rose and,
(08:17):
and all that stuff. It's a,it's, it's a lovely, it's a lovely
little walk down memory laneto go back to that episode. So once
again a big, big, big happybirthday to the Doctor who's come
back. The revival year since2005. I for one love the episode
Rose. I think it's a, a solid,solid story. I think introduces the
(08:43):
characters really well. It'sgot just enough in there for the
classic Doctor who fans, ofcourse. With the. The nesting and
consciousness and the Autonsand stuff. Obviously that's a. That's
a bring back from. From thePertwee stuff, but I think it sets
up the television of its time20 years ago. I think it sets up
(09:05):
that beautifully for newerviewers, like newer people coming
into Doctor who. So nods toclassic who. And it's got that magical
we're off on it. We'restarting a new journey feeling to
it. And. And that's somethingI. Yeah. So I'll be watching Rose
later over dinner. I'm gonnastick that on and it's gonna be very
cool. So. So 20 years for oldclassic who. And then also before
(09:30):
I leave, you guys just wouldupdate you on some of the up from
going from an anniversary forDoctor who 20 years ago. Let's fast
forward to Doctor who that'scoming up. So. So season two, which
is out next month, we've had acouple of trailers dropped for that
actually looks pretty cool.Not gonna lie. Some of those episodes,
they look very, verycreatively interesting. And I'm looking
(09:53):
forward to a few of these. Andwe've now got the episode titles
for all of those. So everyepisode, which. Of which there are
eight, we now have those inorder, and who they are written by.
So episode one, the RobotRevolution, this is written by Russell.
Episode two is called Lux,also written by Russell. Episode
(10:15):
three is called the well,that's written by Russell and Sharma.
Angel wallfall. Episode fouris called Lucky Day, that's written
by Pete McTighe. Episode fiveis called the Story and the Engine,
that's written by Inu Ellums.Episode 6, the Interstellar Stone
Contest, written by Juno Dave,juno Dawson. Episode 7 is called
(10:37):
Wish World, that's written byRussell T. Davies. And finally, episode
eight is the Reality War, alsowritten by Russell T. Davis. So how
many has he written then? 1,2, 3, 4, 5. So he's written five
out of the eight. Hmm,interesting. Anyway, Russell goes
on to say, excitement mountsas the new season gets closer, and
(11:01):
there's nothing a Doctor whofan loves more than facts. So here's
a whole bunch of them withtitles and writers. Everything you
need to get ready fortransmission. I won't go through
all the writer, the directorsand so on, but yes, some interesting
titles there. And like I said,looking forward to a few of these.
It should be pretty cool. It'sone of those things where although
(11:26):
we celebrate 20 years ofDoctor who and we're. I think we're
all in a. We get a nice cozynostalgic feeling. When we think
about 2005 and that firstseries with Chris and Billy and,
and those stories. I thinkDoctor who is in a very, very different
(11:47):
place these days, as youexpect it to be, of course. But I
think certainly myself, my cohost, Adam, I think I speak for him
reasonably confidently and formost of our writing team, and also
more importantly you guys, Ithink just judging the mood and feel
across all the socials andwhatnot, It's, I think Dr. Who's
(12:08):
in that place where althoughwe have a new season literally round
the corner, that's going todrop on us in the next, what is it,
a month for three weeks time?Something like that. I think a lot
of fandoms like, yeah, itshould be cool. Yeah, should be.
You know, there's not that bigspark of yes, it's gonna be amazing,
(12:29):
like, absolutely cannot wait.And yes, it's an interesting time
for Doctor who. And then Ithink, did I talk about this on the
last episode or one beforethat? I think it was the last episode,
actually. I spoke about thiswhole controversy thing that's doing
the rounds over the lastmonth, six weeks with, with our Disney
(12:51):
plus going to commissionanother series. Are they going to,
you know, is this going to beit for Doctor who? Is all this stuff,
it's all shaping the landscapeof things. So I think a lot, I wouldn't
say, you know, Dr. Who's introuble, but I think a lot rides
on the success of season twoand that stuff. So as always, we
(13:12):
wish it well. Of course, it's,it's the show that we, that I've
loved for the past 15ishyears. And it's been a part of my
life every single day forthose 15ish years. And that's no
over exaggeration. Therehasn't been one single day where
I've not interacted withsomebody about Doctor who or I've
(13:37):
watched Doctor who or I'velistened to Big Finish or I've written
a blog post, or I've recordeda podcast episode, or I've gone to
an event. There's literallybeen something, some, some at some
point in every day, whetherI've checked socials and replied
to somebody, or I've text Adamabout this cool Doctor who thing,
(13:58):
or I've gone on Discord andchatted to people or whatever every
single day, or even, even ifit's contained within my own house,
I've had a conversation withmy wife about Dr. Who, you know,
like I said, or I've watchedit, whatever, and I'm extremely thankful
for that. So, although it'snot an anniversary or birthday, about
(14:18):
the podcast, I am extremelygrateful and thankful that the people
that. Back in 2005, of course,Russell T. Davis and Julie Gardner
and Chris Ecclestone, Billypike, all those people, you know,
the responsibility and theteam of people responsible for bringing
the show back was vast. So,like this podcast episode and anyone
(14:41):
else's podcast or YouTubevideo, whatever it might be, there's
just not enough time to reelthrough every single name and credit
and thank everybody. But I'mextremely thankful to all of those
guys that were like, actually,yeah, Doctor who deserves a place
on tv and, and they workedtheir nuts off to do that and get
that back because it's no,it's no. I think sometimes going
(15:05):
a bit of a rant here. Sorry,who? Fans. Sometimes I think we take
for granted just, well, twothings. Number one, just how difficult
it is to make a televisionprogram, let alone something that's
with expectations of fans. Sowe've seen this across a few different
(15:28):
franchises. If you're involvedin any kind of chatter around Lord
of the Rings, Star wars, youknow, comic books, the DC stuff,
Marvel, any of those bigfranchises, anything where there's
like a billion fans andthey're all very passionate and so
on, it's extremely difficultto, to satisfy everybody, to keep
(15:50):
everybody happy, to try andmake a program that everybody's going
to enjoy it. Just the nuts andbolts of getting a TV program off
the ground. It is in animmense, huge task. And I, I've said
this a few times. I honestlydon't think that, that enough people
appreciate that and enoughpeople understand just how much of
(16:15):
a. A lifelong life, occupyingtime, draining commitment it is for
many people to make a show.When you then times that all by a
hundred to make Doctor who,then it's. It, it's massive, monumental
task. Huge. And there aredecisions that have been made around
(16:39):
the show by certainshowrunners, by executives, by whoever.
And although we've sat heremany times and I've seen other YouTube
creators and just people ingeneral talk about how, how bad some
of Doctor who is and, and allthis stuff, it's. I, I would not
(17:02):
want that responsibility, putit that way. You know, we can sit
here till the day is long andsay, actually this episode wasn't
great and this is what I wouldhave done and blah, blah, blah, Let
me tell you, it's not as easyas just saying and I would have done.
And so I think that's thefirst thing everybody that's involved
in making the show deserves ahuge, massive round of applause,
(17:26):
several pints bought for themand a big bloody medal. To actually
make a show like Doctor who,it's such a difficult. Anyway, so
many difficult things, but.And then the second thing that we
take for granted is that justthink how long we've been enjoying
Doctor who on our screens. Ifyou take away, if you take out the,
(17:49):
the other long running shows,especially here in the UK, I'm talking
about the soaps, right? SoEastEnders, Coronation street, whatever
the other ones are, I'm nottalking about those because that's
the, that's the whole point ofa soap is like an ongoing thing.
With Doctor who, there are noguarantees. There are absolutely
no guarantees that we wouldhave got anything past Chris Ecclestone
(18:10):
series. There are noguarantees that, you know, as each
era of the show transitionsfrom a new showrunner and a new Doctor
into another one, there's noguarantee that the people at the
BBC are going to say,actually, yeah, we want to keep doing
this because we've seen thatin the past. We've seen that with,
(18:31):
with McCoy's era, where thoseguys were fully 100% under the impression
that they were just doingmultiple series of Doctor who. And
then literally at the snap ofthe fingers, it's like, actually,
guys, you don't have a job onMonday, so sorry about that, but
the show's done, so see youlater. So it's, it's very, I think
(18:55):
sometimes we take that little,that little nugget for granted as
well. And I'm not eventalking, I'm not even referencing
pre 2005. That's, that'sanother big beast on its own to talk
about. All I'm talking aboutis since 2005, think how long Doctor
who has been on our screensince 2005. And other TV shows that
(19:16):
think about the many, many,many very, very good TV shows that
have got two seasons maximum,four seasons at the very very most.
And these are shows that havebeen loved and absolutely they've
been brilliant. But, you know,three, four seasons, that's your
lot, that's your max. And thenwe've got Doctor who, which is still
(19:39):
just chugging away, you know,20. So I think that's something we
need to, especially on dayslike today when it's 20 years, I
think we really need to juststop just for a second and be like,
actually, although we've, andespecially like myself and those
of you that have not been tookeen on Doctor who, and I've had
a bit of an up and down overthe last few years with it. And,
(20:00):
and you've got that wheneveryou're down a pub, you're talking
to Dr. Who or you're at ComicCon or an event of some kind and
you're bumping into your matesthat you regularly see and you start
having conversations along thelines of, oh, yeah, it's Doctor who's
not like it. You know, theDavid Tennant heyday, you know, series
three, series four, you know,it's not like that anymore. You know,
(20:21):
I'd love to go back to thattime. It's not like that. Oh God,
Matt Smith's era. Oh, spurtthe first series, season five, you
know, kicking off with theeleventh hour. That was pro. That
for me was peak Doctor who.And it's, it's not like that anymore.
And it's like that. Do youknow what? There's a, there's some
truth in that in terms of yourown view of the show. And there's
(20:44):
a left, there's a, a layer ofsubjectivity across all of that as
well. What you, what you likeand love about Doctor who, somebody
might hate and vice versa. Andso I think, regardless of your opinion,
but especially if you thinklike, oh, you know, Dr. Who's not
that great anymore, I'm guiltyof that a little bit. I'm not in
(21:04):
the run up to season two withshoot his new season coming up. I'm
not sort of chomping at thebit like I used to be a few years
ago. I've kind of got that.Yeah. And I'm certainly not going
to get up at 3am or 6amwhatever it is. I'll just catch it
later in the day. I'm stillvery, very, just sometimes needed
(21:25):
to take a second and think,you know what Doctor who's, It's
doing all right. You know, fora show that's lasted in its comeback
20 years, it's doing allright. So I think we need to, we
need to be mindful of that attimes, especially on days like today.
So I hope you don't mind myramblings and my little rants on
(21:46):
this quick little solo episodethis, this afternoon. It's going
out a bit late. I just thoughtI'd jump on and do this just because
I had a little wave of emotioncame over me as I was going through
the socials and just lookingat everyone's tweets and messages
about, about Doctor who andyour thoughts and your, your memories
(22:08):
and your reminiscing andstuff. It's, it's a I love days like
today. I honestly, being aDoctor who fan and seeing just how
happy people are about theirmemories of, of watching Doctor who
for this long and theirmemories of the episode rose and,
and then going through all,you know, talking about their favorite
(22:30):
parts of, I don't know, MattSmith's favorite episode or what
they loved about, you know,that it's just, it, it had a, had
a wave of emotion that waslike, actually, it's days like today
that I absolutely freakinglove. Being a Doctor who fan and
being part of the Doctor whocommunity with all of you. It's it.
(22:51):
I absolutely love it. So I'mgonna wrap up there. So the episode
titles for season two, let meknow what you think of those. You
can hit me up on the, on thethe Twitter or the X or Blue sky,
whatever. Just do a search forthe Big Blue Box podcast. You'll
find us on all those. Or ifyou head over to the website, which
is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk. weare still putting out all of the
(23:13):
blog material, by the way,even though the podcast is having
a bit of a seasonal formatchange at the moment, to be honest
with you. I think we're goingto be doing it's not going to be
as sparse as what you think itis with the podcast. We're still
going to be coming back anddoing episodes like this one. Adam
and I will be back in a fewweeks time. We're going to kick off
(23:33):
our reviews for all of seasontwo. So for those eight weeks that
that's going out, will be backevery week for that full season to
review those. And then afterthat we'll still come back and we'll
do that. Plus, the roundtableepisodes are still going to be going
out and the writing team isstill going to be putting out the
big finish reviews, the eventroundups, the editorial pieces, all
(23:54):
of that stuff. So in some waysit does feel like the Big Blue Box
podcast side of things areslowing down. But in reality, I think
we're just going to give youmore sort of better quality content
as opposed to trying to slogit out every week when there's not
much going on. Becauseguaranteed, when season two's finished
and at the end of whenever itis beginning of May, end of May,
(24:18):
something like that, whenseason two has finished and it slows
down a bit, we're back in thatsituation where, okay, what do we
want to talk about this week?Well, there's no Doctor who news
and we've reviewed everythingand there's nothing going on. So
what do we do? We might, wehave got some ideas, by the way,
for some other types ofcontent that we might start to do.
(24:40):
A lot of you have asked us todo commentaries, so we might, you
know, we might pick a doctoror we might pick, you know, a series
of cool episodes or we mighttake, do a poll, get you, see what
you guys think if you want usto do a commentary and then we'll
do a bit of a watch along. Soyou know the deal where it's like
you start a podcast episodeand we'll be like, right, okay, we're
(25:00):
going to hit play in 3, 2, 1.And then we'll all watch an episode
together and then we'll giveyou our thoughts and our feelings
on, on that episode as wewatch through it and some trivia
and stuff like that. So thatmight be cool. And we got a couple
of other bits lined up aswell. So yeah, we've got plenty of
stuff. There is loads going onfor the big blue box still. So. And
(25:22):
we'll be, we'll be back withsort of mini episodes like this as
well. So fear not, there'll bestuff going on. So anyway, head over
to the websitebigblueboxpodcast.co.uk you can read
all this stuff from thewriting team. Maria, Jordan, Matt,
Harry, check out all of theirstuff. Very, very, very cool guys.
And those of you in the uk, ifyou've got your ticket for the Capital
(25:45):
Cutaway event that's coming upreally fast, that's next weekend.
So that is on Sunday 6thApril, we will be there. We'll be
in London the whole weekend.The whole big blue box team is there.
Other than Adam,unfortunately. He's back in the US
at the moment. But the rest ofus will all be there. We're there
from the Saturday evening. Soif you want to catch up with us,
(26:06):
you know, chew the fat oneverything. Dr. Who, we'll be having
a few drinks out on Saturdaynight and, and then we'll of course
be at the event on Sunday. Sowe'll hope to see and meet listeners
that we've not met before.We'll hope to see and meet listeners
that we have met many timesbefore and have a good old chinwag
on things and, and all thatstuff. So if you've not got your
(26:26):
ticket yet, has it sold out?I, I could be asking you to book
a ticket and it's actuallysold out. Oh, it is sold out. Oh,
bummer. Right, anyway, thoseof you that have got your ticket.
We will, we will see youaround. So come and track us down
and have a chat. So on the. Sothat would be very cool. And then
lastly, just as I normally doto round this stuff up, I'm going
(26:50):
to cue the music and thenwe'll do a couple of last bits. But
thank you very much though forjoining me for episode 419. Thank
(27:23):
you, thank you, thank you forlistening to another episode of the
Big Blue Box. That was aquickie, a quick little episode from
me just to keep you updated.Say a big thank you to those of you
that keep coming back andlistening. So we love you guys so
much over the years, you knowthat we really appreciate you listening
to the show. And once again abig Happy birthday to Doctor who
(27:44):
since 2005, the big 2o the 20years. Very, very thankful, grateful
regardless of your opinion onwhat the show is like these days
versus that or anything to dowith that, it's just very cool milestone
for the show. As I mentioned,you can hit us up on the socials,
just do a search for Big BlueBox podcast or head over to the website
which isbigblueboxpodcast.co.uk and you can
(28:06):
read all of the reviews andarticles from the team there. Plus
you can link off to thesocials. Plus you can link off to
our Discord server which isfree. Really cool. Loads of cool
Doctor who chat happening overthere. So sign up there and and join
in and and chat. Just Doctorwho. Everything to do with Doctor
who there. It's really cool.Don't forget to remember to check
(28:28):
out my co host channel, adamover on YouTube. It's called the
Geek's Handbag. Adam's gotloads of cool geekery stuff there.
So go and check out Adam'schannel and and get comfy and consume
all the geekery over there.And lastly a little plug for our
other podcast which isFederation strike. It's about Blake
7. There'll be a link in theshow notes or just do a search for
(28:49):
Federation strike Blake 7 aswe go through series A of that show
which is really cool. Anduntil next time, which will probably
be our season 2 kickoffreviews now please take care of yourselves.
We'll see some of you onSunday but otherwise we'll see you
soon. And remember a.
Hey, hey, hey who fans andwelcome to the Big Blue Box Podcast.
(00:22):
My name's Garry and this is avery quick little mini episode. It's
419. Hope you're keeping welland safe. Who fans. Hope you are
doing something Doctor whorelated. It's been a little while
(00:48):
since the last episode thatwas. What was that? 418 back on the
28th of Feb. So nearly amonth. Nearly a month since the last
episode. Back on that one Idid. Guys, I'd let you guys know
that we were going to bemoving away from the regular weekly
episodic stuff for theforeseeable future and there's a
(01:10):
few reasons for that. Go andcheck out that episode that dives
into all that stuff. Not goingto repeat all that here. But I did
want to come back this weekthough with a wee little mini episode
because the first big thing isthe 20th anniversary. The 20th birthday
for modern Doctor who. Therevised the comeback New who, if
(01:35):
you want to spell it that way.N U W h o newer Doctor who 20 bloody
years. Happy Birthday. Crikey.I put some stuff out on the socials
this morning. Thank you verymuch to those who have replied and
have also had similar thoughtsand, and, and feelings on this stuff
(01:56):
as I have. It's excuse themassive pun here, but time works
in. Time is weird sometimes inhow it works in that it fluctuates
and flip flops betweensometimes something feeling extremely
long since it first appearedand then other days for no. For no
(02:17):
explainable reason. You'llwake up and it feels like it was
yesterday. And for me, Doctorwho is like that. Now I need to insert
a very quick caveat here to metalking about this subject in that
I did not watch Doctor whowhen it came out in 2005. If you
are a longtime listener to theBig Blue Box podcast, then you will
(02:37):
know why. I've told this storya few times when it's needed over
the years on a few differentepisodes. But for new listeners very,
very quickly. I did not watch.I was not into Doctor who when it
came back in 2005. I was awareof it absolutely. 100 knew that there
was a show that was startingcalled Doctor who. I just didn't
(02:58):
watch it. I was aware ofClassic who as well before that.
But yeah, I didn't watch theshow and it wasn't until a few years
later that I actually got intoit. So I say Happy Birthday with
a sense of. What's the word todescribe it? A sense of. Although
I wasn't there on hand towitness things unfolding. From 2005
(03:23):
with the episode rose onwards,it's. I still very much celebrate
all of the anniversaries andbirthdays etc because I've been a
Doctor who fan for 15, 16years now. So although that pales
in comparison to some of youout there who have been a Doctor,
I've spoken to many of youeither on the socials or when we've
(03:47):
had a pint somewhere at anevent. I've known some of you that
have been Doctor who fans forcirca 40 years, which is incredible.
And I've known some of youthat have been Doctor who fans for
a year, which is also verycool. But for me, yeah, about 15,
(04:10):
16 ish years I think I've beena Doctor who fan which is no small
amount of time. So I cancomfortably lump myself in with the
grizzled ancients, I think,and the long timers and celebrate
these kind of things. So yeah,the whole point of this episode really
was to just. Was to say a bighappy 20th. But I do remember the
(04:34):
back in 2005, although Ididn't watch it, I do remember and
this was something that'sreally cool that, that made that.
It just shows that good oldmarketing works when it needs to
and that I remember just tonsof billboards, huge billboards littered
around the town that I wasliving in at the time in Luton, my
(04:57):
hometown, London. A couple oftowns I went to when I was visiting
friends. I remember seeingjust the, that, that huge image of
Rose and the Doctor standingin front of the TARDIS with the big,
with a big red BBC One logo inthe bottom left hand corner and the
(05:22):
huge BBC logo that went downthe right hand side and the, the
doors of the TARDIS were openand there was all these big light
rays coming out of it and itwas Rose standing next to, next to
the Doctor, Billy Piper andChris Ecclestone. And next to the
logo in the bottom left handcorner it said Doctor who. Underneath
that it said Saturdays at 7pmNow I absolutely love that because
(05:43):
I thought I was just very,very aware of it and I vividly remember
those, those billboardposters, they were, it was just fantastic.
So that just goes to show, youknow, someone like me who was not
into Doctor who at that timeand didn't really have any plans
to, to watch it when it wentout. The marketing for that really
(06:04):
did its job. It wasn't justme, there was a few of my few people
in my friend circle who again,like me, we're not into Doctor who.
But they, they did say, Ithink one of my friends at the time
said, oh, my dad's gonna bewatching Doctor who on Saturday.
Are you guys gonna watch it?And I think we were going out at
the time and so we said, no,we weren't gonna watch it. He was
(06:25):
like, oh yeah, my dad's, mydad loves it and he's an old time
Doctor who fan so he's goingto check it out. But he only asked
his dad about that because ofthe poster. Because I remember him
saying that his dad had allthe Target books and VHS tapes of
Doctor who from the classicyears and so on. And he was prompted
(06:46):
to ask his dad about Dr. Whobecause he'd seen the poster. I had
seen the poster on thebillboards and stuff. So I was aware
of it. And it's a bit of ashame these days that we don't really
see that kind of big sort ofprint mass kind of print marketing
thing going on as much. Ithink we still, we do still see some,
(07:08):
some. I remember going towhere was I last year. I was either
in New York or Toronto lastyear and I remember seeing a big
portrait sized, huge poster ofDoctor who. But I think that was
a Disney thing that. Yeah, Idon't think that was a BBC could
be, but I don't think it was aBBC led marketing campaign. I think
(07:32):
that was more Disney plus. Butanyway, here in the, here in, in
this country in the uk wouldlove to see those. Yeah, just a bit
of spend on old traditionalstuff, you know, an ad, full page
ad in SFX magazine and add inthe paper, a billboard. Anyway, I'm
waxing about this now, butanyway, there was, it was really
cool to see loads of youposting photos of those billboards
(07:54):
online. And it just hadsparked a little memory, you know,
a little flashback of, ofseeing that stuff. And then also
just reading all of the, allof your sort of mini stories of,
you know, the. You'rereminiscing about your first experience
watching Doctor who in 2005and watching the episode Rose and,
(08:17):
and all that stuff. It's a,it's, it's a lovely, it's a lovely
little walk down memory laneto go back to that episode. So once
again a big, big, big happybirthday to the Doctor who's come
back. The revival year since2005. I for one love the episode
Rose. I think it's a, a solid,solid story. I think introduces the
(08:43):
characters really well. It'sgot just enough in there for the
classic Doctor who fans, ofcourse. With the. The nesting and
consciousness and the Autonsand stuff. Obviously that's a. That's
a bring back from. From thePertwee stuff, but I think it sets
up the television of its time20 years ago. I think it sets up
(09:05):
that beautifully for newerviewers, like newer people coming
into Doctor who. So nods toclassic who. And it's got that magical
we're off on it. We'restarting a new journey feeling to
it. And. And that's somethingI. Yeah. So I'll be watching Rose
later over dinner. I'm gonnastick that on and it's gonna be very
cool. So. So 20 years for oldclassic who. And then also before
(09:30):
I leave, you guys just wouldupdate you on some of the up from
going from an anniversary forDoctor who 20 years ago. Let's fast
forward to Doctor who that'scoming up. So. So season two, which
is out next month, we've had acouple of trailers dropped for that
actually looks pretty cool.Not gonna lie. Some of those episodes,
they look very, verycreatively interesting. And I'm looking
(09:53):
forward to a few of these. Andwe've now got the episode titles
for all of those. So everyepisode, which. Of which there are
eight, we now have those inorder, and who they are written by.
So episode one, the RobotRevolution, this is written by Russell.
Episode two is called Lux,also written by Russell. Episode
(10:15):
three is called the well,that's written by Russell and Sharma.
Angel wallfall. Episode fouris called Lucky Day, that's written
by Pete McTighe. Episode fiveis called the Story and the Engine,
that's written by Inu Ellums.Episode 6, the Interstellar Stone
Contest, written by Juno Dave,juno Dawson. Episode 7 is called
(10:37):
Wish World, that's written byRussell T. Davies. And finally, episode
eight is the Reality War, alsowritten by Russell T. Davis. So how
many has he written then? 1,2, 3, 4, 5. So he's written five
out of the eight. Hmm,interesting. Anyway, Russell goes
on to say, excitement mountsas the new season gets closer, and
(11:01):
there's nothing a Doctor whofan loves more than facts. So here's
a whole bunch of them withtitles and writers. Everything you
need to get ready fortransmission. I won't go through
all the writer, the directorsand so on, but yes, some interesting
titles there. And like I said,looking forward to a few of these.
It should be pretty cool. It'sone of those things where although
(11:26):
we celebrate 20 years ofDoctor who and we're. I think we're
all in a. We get a nice cozynostalgic feeling. When we think
about 2005 and that firstseries with Chris and Billy and,
and those stories. I thinkDoctor who is in a very, very different
(11:47):
place these days, as youexpect it to be, of course. But I
think certainly myself, my cohost, Adam, I think I speak for him
reasonably confidently and formost of our writing team, and also
more importantly you guys, Ithink just judging the mood and feel
across all the socials andwhatnot, It's, I think Dr. Who's
(12:08):
in that place where althoughwe have a new season literally round
the corner, that's going todrop on us in the next, what is it,
a month for three weeks time?Something like that. I think a lot
of fandoms like, yeah, itshould be cool. Yeah, should be.
You know, there's not that bigspark of yes, it's gonna be amazing,
(12:29):
like, absolutely cannot wait.And yes, it's an interesting time
for Doctor who. And then Ithink, did I talk about this on the
last episode or one beforethat? I think it was the last episode,
actually. I spoke about thiswhole controversy thing that's doing
the rounds over the lastmonth, six weeks with, with our Disney
(12:51):
plus going to commissionanother series. Are they going to,
you know, is this going to beit for Doctor who? Is all this stuff,
it's all shaping the landscapeof things. So I think a lot, I wouldn't
say, you know, Dr. Who's introuble, but I think a lot rides
on the success of season twoand that stuff. So as always, we
(13:12):
wish it well. Of course, it's,it's the show that we, that I've
loved for the past 15ishyears. And it's been a part of my
life every single day forthose 15ish years. And that's no
over exaggeration. Therehasn't been one single day where
I've not interacted withsomebody about Doctor who or I've
(13:37):
watched Doctor who or I'velistened to Big Finish or I've written
a blog post, or I've recordeda podcast episode, or I've gone to
an event. There's literallybeen something, some, some at some
point in every day, whetherI've checked socials and replied
to somebody, or I've text Adamabout this cool Doctor who thing,
(13:58):
or I've gone on Discord andchatted to people or whatever every
single day, or even, even ifit's contained within my own house,
I've had a conversation withmy wife about Dr. Who, you know,
like I said, or I've watchedit, whatever, and I'm extremely thankful
for that. So, although it'snot an anniversary or birthday, about
(14:18):
the podcast, I am extremelygrateful and thankful that the people
that. Back in 2005, of course,Russell T. Davis and Julie Gardner
and Chris Ecclestone, Billypike, all those people, you know,
the responsibility and theteam of people responsible for bringing
the show back was vast. So,like this podcast episode and anyone
(14:41):
else's podcast or YouTubevideo, whatever it might be, there's
just not enough time to reelthrough every single name and credit
and thank everybody. But I'mextremely thankful to all of those
guys that were like, actually,yeah, Doctor who deserves a place
on tv and, and they workedtheir nuts off to do that and get
that back because it's no,it's no. I think sometimes going
(15:05):
a bit of a rant here. Sorry,who? Fans. Sometimes I think we take
for granted just, well, twothings. Number one, just how difficult
it is to make a televisionprogram, let alone something that's
with expectations of fans. Sowe've seen this across a few different
(15:28):
franchises. If you're involvedin any kind of chatter around Lord
of the Rings, Star wars, youknow, comic books, the DC stuff,
Marvel, any of those bigfranchises, anything where there's
like a billion fans andthey're all very passionate and so
on, it's extremely difficultto, to satisfy everybody, to keep
(15:50):
everybody happy, to try andmake a program that everybody's going
to enjoy it. Just the nuts andbolts of getting a TV program off
the ground. It is in animmense, huge task. And I, I've said
this a few times. I honestlydon't think that, that enough people
appreciate that and enoughpeople understand just how much of
(16:15):
a. A lifelong life, occupyingtime, draining commitment it is for
many people to make a show.When you then times that all by a
hundred to make Doctor who,then it's. It, it's massive, monumental
task. Huge. And there aredecisions that have been made around
(16:39):
the show by certainshowrunners, by executives, by whoever.
And although we've sat heremany times and I've seen other YouTube
creators and just people ingeneral talk about how, how bad some
of Doctor who is and, and allthis stuff, it's. I, I would not
(17:02):
want that responsibility, putit that way. You know, we can sit
here till the day is long andsay, actually this episode wasn't
great and this is what I wouldhave done and blah, blah, blah, Let
me tell you, it's not as easyas just saying and I would have done.
And so I think that's thefirst thing everybody that's involved
in making the show deserves ahuge, massive round of applause,
(17:26):
several pints bought for themand a big bloody medal. To actually
make a show like Doctor who,it's such a difficult. Anyway, so
many difficult things, but.And then the second thing that we
take for granted is that justthink how long we've been enjoying
Doctor who on our screens. Ifyou take away, if you take out the,
(17:49):
the other long running shows,especially here in the UK, I'm talking
about the soaps, right? SoEastEnders, Coronation street, whatever
the other ones are, I'm nottalking about those because that's
the, that's the whole point ofa soap is like an ongoing thing.
With Doctor who, there are noguarantees. There are absolutely
no guarantees that we wouldhave got anything past Chris Ecclestone
(18:10):
series. There are noguarantees that, you know, as each
era of the show transitionsfrom a new showrunner and a new Doctor
into another one, there's noguarantee that the people at the
BBC are going to say,actually, yeah, we want to keep doing
this because we've seen thatin the past. We've seen that with,
(18:31):
with McCoy's era, where thoseguys were fully 100% under the impression
that they were just doingmultiple series of Doctor who. And
then literally at the snap ofthe fingers, it's like, actually,
guys, you don't have a job onMonday, so sorry about that, but
the show's done, so see youlater. So it's, it's very, I think
(18:55):
sometimes we take that little,that little nugget for granted as
well. And I'm not eventalking, I'm not even referencing
pre 2005. That's, that'sanother big beast on its own to talk
about. All I'm talking aboutis since 2005, think how long Doctor
who has been on our screensince 2005. And other TV shows that
(19:16):
think about the many, many,many very, very good TV shows that
have got two seasons maximum,four seasons at the very very most.
And these are shows that havebeen loved and absolutely they've
been brilliant. But, you know,three, four seasons, that's your
lot, that's your max. And thenwe've got Doctor who, which is still
(19:39):
just chugging away, you know,20. So I think that's something we
need to, especially on dayslike today when it's 20 years, I
think we really need to juststop just for a second and be like,
actually, although we've, andespecially like myself and those
of you that have not been tookeen on Doctor who, and I've had
a bit of an up and down overthe last few years with it. And,
(20:00):
and you've got that wheneveryou're down a pub, you're talking
to Dr. Who or you're at ComicCon or an event of some kind and
you're bumping into your matesthat you regularly see and you start
having conversations along thelines of, oh, yeah, it's Doctor who's
not like it. You know, theDavid Tennant heyday, you know, series
three, series four, you know,it's not like that anymore. You know,
(20:21):
I'd love to go back to thattime. It's not like that. Oh God,
Matt Smith's era. Oh, spurtthe first series, season five, you
know, kicking off with theeleventh hour. That was pro. That
for me was peak Doctor who.And it's, it's not like that anymore.
And it's like that. Do youknow what? There's a, there's some
truth in that in terms of yourown view of the show. And there's
(20:44):
a left, there's a, a layer ofsubjectivity across all of that as
well. What you, what you likeand love about Doctor who, somebody
might hate and vice versa. Andso I think, regardless of your opinion,
but especially if you thinklike, oh, you know, Dr. Who's not
that great anymore, I'm guiltyof that a little bit. I'm not in
(21:04):
the run up to season two withshoot his new season coming up. I'm
not sort of chomping at thebit like I used to be a few years
ago. I've kind of got that.Yeah. And I'm certainly not going
to get up at 3am or 6amwhatever it is. I'll just catch it
later in the day. I'm stillvery, very, just sometimes needed
(21:25):
to take a second and think,you know what Doctor who's, It's
doing all right. You know, fora show that's lasted in its comeback
20 years, it's doing allright. So I think we need to, we
need to be mindful of that attimes, especially on days like today.
So I hope you don't mind myramblings and my little rants on
(21:46):
this quick little solo episodethis, this afternoon. It's going
out a bit late. I just thoughtI'd jump on and do this just because
I had a little wave of emotioncame over me as I was going through
the socials and just lookingat everyone's tweets and messages
about, about Doctor who andyour thoughts and your, your memories
(22:08):
and your reminiscing andstuff. It's, it's a I love days like
today. I honestly, being aDoctor who fan and seeing just how
happy people are about theirmemories of, of watching Doctor who
for this long and theirmemories of the episode rose and,
and then going through all,you know, talking about their favorite
(22:30):
parts of, I don't know, MattSmith's favorite episode or what
they loved about, you know,that it's just, it, it had a, had
a wave of emotion that waslike, actually, it's days like today
that I absolutely freakinglove. Being a Doctor who fan and
being part of the Doctor whocommunity with all of you. It's it.
(22:51):
I absolutely love it. So I'mgonna wrap up there. So the episode
titles for season two, let meknow what you think of those. You
can hit me up on the, on thethe Twitter or the X or Blue sky,
whatever. Just do a search forthe Big Blue Box podcast. You'll
find us on all those. Or ifyou head over to the website, which
is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk. weare still putting out all of the
(23:13):
blog material, by the way,even though the podcast is having
a bit of a seasonal formatchange at the moment, to be honest
with you. I think we're goingto be doing it's not going to be
as sparse as what you think itis with the podcast. We're still
going to be coming back anddoing episodes like this one. Adam
and I will be back in a fewweeks time. We're going to kick off
(23:33):
our reviews for all of seasontwo. So for those eight weeks that
that's going out, will be backevery week for that full season to
review those. And then afterthat we'll still come back and we'll
do that. Plus, the roundtableepisodes are still going to be going
out and the writing team isstill going to be putting out the
big finish reviews, the eventroundups, the editorial pieces, all
(23:54):
of that stuff. So in some waysit does feel like the Big Blue Box
podcast side of things areslowing down. But in reality, I think
we're just going to give youmore sort of better quality content
as opposed to trying to slogit out every week when there's not
much going on. Becauseguaranteed, when season two's finished
and at the end of whenever itis beginning of May, end of May,
(24:18):
something like that, whenseason two has finished and it slows
down a bit, we're back in thatsituation where, okay, what do we
want to talk about this week?Well, there's no Doctor who news
and we've reviewed everythingand there's nothing going on. So
what do we do? We might, wehave got some ideas, by the way,
for some other types ofcontent that we might start to do.
(24:40):
A lot of you have asked us todo commentaries, so we might, you
know, we might pick a doctoror we might pick, you know, a series
of cool episodes or we mighttake, do a poll, get you, see what
you guys think if you want usto do a commentary and then we'll
do a bit of a watch along. Soyou know the deal where it's like
you start a podcast episodeand we'll be like, right, okay, we're
(25:00):
going to hit play in 3, 2, 1.And then we'll all watch an episode
together and then we'll giveyou our thoughts and our feelings
on, on that episode as wewatch through it and some trivia
and stuff like that. So thatmight be cool. And we got a couple
of other bits lined up aswell. So yeah, we've got plenty of
stuff. There is loads going onfor the big blue box still. So. And
(25:22):
we'll be, we'll be back withsort of mini episodes like this as
well. So fear not, there'll bestuff going on. So anyway, head over
to the websitebigblueboxpodcast.co.uk you can read
all this stuff from thewriting team. Maria, Jordan, Matt,
Harry, check out all of theirstuff. Very, very, very cool guys.
And those of you in the uk, ifyou've got your ticket for the Capital
(25:45):
Cutaway event that's coming upreally fast, that's next weekend.
So that is on Sunday 6thApril, we will be there. We'll be
in London the whole weekend.The whole big blue box team is there.
Other than Adam,unfortunately. He's back in the US
at the moment. But the rest ofus will all be there. We're there
from the Saturday evening. Soif you want to catch up with us,
(26:06):
you know, chew the fat oneverything. Dr. Who, we'll be having
a few drinks out on Saturdaynight and, and then we'll of course
be at the event on Sunday. Sowe'll hope to see and meet listeners
that we've not met before.We'll hope to see and meet listeners
that we have met many timesbefore and have a good old chinwag
on things and, and all thatstuff. So if you've not got your
(26:26):
ticket yet, has it sold out?I, I could be asking you to book
a ticket and it's actuallysold out. Oh, it is sold out. Oh,
bummer. Right, anyway, thoseof you that have got your ticket.
We will, we will see youaround. So come and track us down
and have a chat. So on the. Sothat would be very cool. And then
lastly, just as I normally doto round this stuff up, I'm going
(26:50):
to cue the music and thenwe'll do a couple of last bits. But
thank you very much though forjoining me for episode 419. Thank
(27:23):
you, thank you, thank you forlistening to another episode of the
Big Blue Box. That was aquickie, a quick little episode from
me just to keep you updated.Say a big thank you to those of you
that keep coming back andlistening. So we love you guys so
much over the years, you knowthat we really appreciate you listening
to the show. And once again abig Happy birthday to Doctor who
(27:44):
since 2005, the big 2o the 20years. Very, very thankful, grateful
regardless of your opinion onwhat the show is like these days
versus that or anything to dowith that, it's just very cool milestone
for the show. As I mentioned,you can hit us up on the socials,
just do a search for Big BlueBox podcast or head over to the website
which isbigblueboxpodcast.co.uk and you can
(28:06):
read all of the reviews andarticles from the team there. Plus
you can link off to thesocials. Plus you can link off to
our Discord server which isfree. Really cool. Loads of cool
Doctor who chat happening overthere. So sign up there and and join
in and and chat. Just Doctorwho. Everything to do with Doctor
who there. It's really cool.Don't forget to remember to check
(28:28):
out my co host channel, adamover on YouTube. It's called the
Geek's Handbag. Adam's gotloads of cool geekery stuff there.
So go and check out Adam'schannel and and get comfy and consume
all the geekery over there.And lastly a little plug for our
other podcast which isFederation strike. It's about Blake
7. There'll be a link in theshow notes or just do a search for
(28:49):
Federation strike Blake 7 aswe go through series A of that show
which is really cool. Anduntil next time, which will probably
be our season 2 kickoffreviews now please take care of yourselves.
We'll see some of you onSunday but otherwise we'll see you
soon. And remember a.
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