Round Table - December 2024

Hey, Who fans and welcome to the [Month] Round Table!

For our last episode of 2024 and to inject some Doctor Who festive spirit into the proceedings, Garry is joined by Harry, Maria and Jordan to have a good old chin wag on our fav Who Christmas specials plus a look forward to our hopes for 2025. Before that, however, we'll give you guys an update on the last bits of Who news for the year.

Enjoy the December Round Table, Who fans. We hope you have a wonderful, safe Christmas and a Happy New Year. We've got plenty more Doctor Who podcasting goodness coming in 2025 so we'll catch you in January.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaallons-y!

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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!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Foreign. Hey, hey, hey whofans and welcome to the Big Blue

(00:22):
Box Podcast. My name's Garry.
My name's Maria.
My name's Harry.
And I'm Jordan.
And welcome to the DecemberRoundtable. Hey, hey, hey, you lot.

(00:48):
We hope you are keeping welland safe. We hope you've had a cracking
couple of months into lastRound table and that you've all managed
to do something Doctor who.
Related.
Harry's going.
Related.
Sorry, the intrusive.
The intrusive thoughts. 1. I'm sorry.

(01:11):
I thought Harry had frozen buthe kept going. Impressive. Welcome,
dear Big Blue Box listener, toanother roundtable. We weren't here
last month, apologies, we'reall fairly busy. We all got jobs,
uni, teal television to watch,cups of tea to drink somewhere the

(01:32):
tea's getting cold so we haveto consume as much tea as possible.
So we are back though forDecember and the old, the old Christmas
special roundtable. We'regoing to talk about a couple of bits
in the news that have landedone of them today in fact, but some
recent Doctor who knew andwe've got a bit of a chin wag on
Doctor who Christmas specialsand which is our fave or. Or absolutely

(01:55):
not. Fave is probably going tobe the. The topic on this one and
then we're going to finish upwith what these guys views are looking
forward to into 2025. What canwe expect from Doctor who? Some potential
ups and downs already.Hopefully ups. And as we crack on.
It's been another. Bloodyhell, it's been another really fast

(02:16):
year. I know everybody saysthat every time, every Christmas,
every December, when you talkto people especially like work colleagues,
people you haven't seen in awhile, first words out your mouth.
And this year gone quick,hasn't it? Gone quick? So, yeah,
technically love, it's goneexactly the same speed as every other
year, but. Yeah, but when youput it like that, yeah, it's gone

(02:37):
quick. Whatever. But it hasgone quick and just some omissions
to mention, sadly, no Matt onthis one. Matt's busy and no Adam.
So Adam, Mr. Co Host, he'sback in Old Blighty. He came back
from the US a couple of daysago but he's, he's acclimatizing

(02:58):
getting back into, you know,it's like jet lag starts kicking
your ass a little bit andyou're not really in the mood. Definitely
not in the mood to talk to me.Absolutely not. Not in a mood for
that rubbish. So. Yeah, but weare hoping to record actually and
do because we have One more.Believe it or not, we only have one
new Doctor who episode left onthe schedule to do, and funnily enough,

(03:21):
it's a Christmas special. It'sthe only one left, A Christmas Carol,
so we either get to it and doit, otherwise it's going to be another
year that we just leave it onthe. On the spreadsheet. So we'll.
We'll come to that, I'm sure.But let's get the intros rocking
and rolling. Let's bring theteam on. The fab trio. Maria, how

(03:43):
are you?
Hi, Garry. Yeah, I'm good.I've got my Christmassy tipple here,
a little bit of Bailey tolubricate my throat.
We're in for it now.
I had a razor throat thisweek, so, you know, this is purely
medicinal, you understand.

(04:03):
Of course.
So, yes, I have that. Inregards to whether I've done something
Doctor who related, I. I havedone something that's kind of Doctor
who related in that I didwatch the Box of Delights on Terrestrial
tv, and I kind of vaguelyremember it when I was growing up.

(04:29):
I. I didn't remember a lot ofit, but I'd kind of watched a couple
of podcasts that had reviewedit, and obviously they were. They
were talking about the new BluRay that's coming out or that's come
out, and I thought I mustwatch it. I thought it was something
that I remember was quitecherished. So I really enjoyed that.

(04:52):
It does have Patrick Troughtonin it. Not for as long, not for as
many episodes as I kind ofexpected. He's probably only in about
two and a half episodes, butfor its time, it's actually really,
really good. I really enjoyedit. It's kind of that kind of children's

(05:14):
drama, the way it used to bedone. So, you know, you've got lots
of rich characterization,you've got lots of actors that we
would know from Doctor who inthere as well, I think, and probably
a few that we don't. Butoverall I really enjoyed it. I kind
of watched it over the lastcouple of Saturdays that it was on,

(05:35):
and, you know, quite nice. Itwas kind of like, you know, settling
down after dinner, watchingthat and kind of really enjoying
it. So I watched that and thenI also, after watching that, because
it's quite. It's a Christmasystory that kind of got me in the
mood for actually watchingsome of the Christmas specials. And

(05:56):
I didn't know we wereobviously going to talk about them
today on the podcast, but Iactually sat down and I watched Three
Christmas specials so I'mquite, I'm feeling quite Christmassy.
Oh, and I've had my Christmaslunch at work today, so that was
quite nice. I'm feeling quitechilled today and quite happy.

(06:17):
Nice. So you're Christmasedall the way up, ready to.
I am.
To hit 25th. Yeah. Nice.
I am.
You know, got your eggnog oryour Baileys or whatever it is as
well. Very nice.
I don't know if it's likeeggnog. I think I've had eggnog and
I don't think eggnog is verynice but you know, but Bailey's is
better.

(06:38):
Very nice. Maria and I concuron the Box of Delights cracking series
from back in the day that Ibelieve they're putting it on BBC2
or something or they have doneor they're going to. Something like
that. The remastered one thatthey released recently on Blu Ray.
Ah, okay.
Yeah. It was way ahead of itstime though, if I remember correctly.

(06:59):
Like it had some, they had areasonable amount of money for some
effects and, and whatnot.
Well, I, I loved them. There'sone effect that you get early on
which is where PatrickTroughton walks into a picture and
I thought, I thought, Ithought for the time I thought it
was really clever and I thinkthat's obviously maybe where Steven

(07:23):
Moffat got his idea when hewas doing Day of the Doctor, you
know, when we have the picturewith the, the, the moving characters
within it, you know, maybe,maybe he stole a few ideas.
Oh, he probably did, didn'the? He definitely did. 100. Yeah,

(07:44):
but no, it's, it's a good, itis a very good. If you've not. Listener.
If you've not seen the Box ofDelights before, if you're, if you're
sitting there thinking whatthe bloody hell are they talking
about? It's a very cool seriesfrom. I think it's like the early
90s, late 80s. Around thattime. Patrick Trouton, as Maria said.
And yeah, it's cool, little,cool little kids kids story. But

(08:06):
anyway, glad you're doingwell, Maria, and you're in the Christmas
mood. Harry.
Hello.
How are you doing, buddy?
I'm doing all right, Garry.I'm looking forward to a bit of time
off over Christmas with someloved ones watching Doctor who. But
to be honest, more lookingforward to Wallace and Gromit if
I'm being completely honestthere same. Yeah, but Doctor who

(08:31):
should still be alright. I'vedone a little bit of Doctor who related
stuff lately. I have watchedthe Odd Episode here and there, just
to chill out. Random episode,whatever. I feel. Bit of McCoy, bit
of Capaldi, that kind of viberecently. And the big thing, of course,

(08:52):
is among a few of us on theBig Blue Blocks team, I have booked
a ticket to Capital Cutawaynext April in London, which is exciting.
And we're all meeting upthere. It'll be the first time we'll
all be in a room together andit's gonna be. Yeah, it's gonna be
pretty wicked. So. So I'mreally looking forward to that. Looking

(09:14):
forward to that more thanChristmas, to be honest.
Wow, that is going to be cool,isn't it? I was going to mention
that a bit later on. We'reall. Yeah, we're all going to be
under the same roof. That'sgoing to be crazy. Believe it. Yeah.
Some listeners will be like,how you guys, especially I. I get
the feeling that because Itravel quite a lot with work and
travel in general anyway, andwhenever I'm in North America, I

(09:38):
always get the same thing.It's like, where are you from? You
near London? You must livenear London. I'm like, no, not really.
I used to. And then it's like,oh, what do you do when we get onto
hobbies and podcasts andstuff, talk about the Round Table
and Adam and you guys andstuff like that. It's like, oh, you
guys must be in the same roomrecording this. You must all live
very close together. I'm like,nope, not at all. And it's a bit

(10:03):
of a shock, like. So you'venever. You've never. I think, Jordan,
I don't think you and I haveactually ever met face to face. Same
with Matt.
Yeah, no, I don't think. Idon't think we have.
I've met Matt. You've met Matt?
Yeah, yeah. Not you and notHarry either. So.
Yeah, I've seen. I've seenMaria a few times, Harry. Have you.

(10:24):
Have we met face.
We met briefly at London Filmand Comic Con a few years ago. This
was before I. Yeah, I'm the.
I'm the girl that travels. Andyou and Adam both probably come to
the same events that I've beento. So, yeah, we've. We've met in
person. I know. You know, Iknow you're quite normal, Garry,

(10:44):
so that's quite reassuring.
Yeah. Yeah, well, normal, Ithink for us a lot is a stretch.
But yeah, next year, Capitalcutaway. If you've not get. Got your
ticket yet, it sounds like areally cool day. Somebody mentioned
it. One of us, one of the teamhere mentioned it a few months ago.
It might have been Jordan andMaria. When you had booked your tickets,

(11:06):
I was like, oh, here we go,here's another. Here's another bloody
event. Another one. Let's havea look. I looked at. I thought, that's
actually really good. And it'sperfect timing as well because Christmas
is out the way. Few months tosave up to spend on the many hundreds
of pounds they charge forautographs and signatures and photos
and whatnot. So, yeah, it'sgoing to be cool. So, listener, if
you're in the uk, ordefinitely in the south of the country

(11:29):
and you can get to London, Ithink it's in eight. I think it's
April 15th. 10th, 5th. April5th, the 5th, isn't it? Yes. Got
there in the end. April 5th.Run by the official Doctor who Appreciation
Society as well. So, yeah,it's gonna be good. Anyway. Jordan,
Harry, are you done? Sorry,dude, Are you done?

(11:51):
Yeah, that's it for me.
Don't want to cut you short,buddy. Yeah, Jordan, how are you,
buddy?
I'm all right, thank you.Yeah, not too bad.
Jordan's. Jordan's been quiteof late because, as we told you a
few months ago, he'sabsolutely smashing it doing his
acting course in uni. So.Yeah, how's that going, dude? You
said it's going really well.
I think that's going pretty well.

(12:11):
Yeah.
I passed my first. My firstassessment. I've done a couple of
shows and things for the thirdyears and made everybody laugh in
the audience and wasn'tsupposed to be a comedy. And then
I opened my mouth and the linecame out quite fine. I was like,
I knew this was supposed to befunny. Just go for it, guys. He just
did it. It's like a comedy andit went down really well, so.

(12:32):
Oh, cool.
That's an actor's intuition iswhat that is. That's. That's, that's
what that is. But, yeah, no,I've. I've been enjoying it and I
have actually bought a bit ofDoctor who to university because
we've got a theory lesson andevery. We do like a lecture and a
seminar. Then every seminar wenormally have to go away and find

(12:55):
a piece of art as art andculture and things that fits in with
all this stuff. So you've beendoing like gender identity class.
I think one we've done ismodernism. Every time I found a Doctor
who example. So every seminarthe lecturer will be like, and Jordan,
what episode of Doctor whohave you got for us today? I'd be

(13:16):
like, well, Ian, I'm glad youasked because I have got Oxygen or
Ghost Light or. Or Frontier inSpace. I'm glad you've asked me that
question, Ian. So I, I havebeen kind of doing some Doctor who
stuff as well on top, so.
Oh, that's cool though. Soyou're representing. Representing

(13:38):
Doctor who even at uni. Nice.Yeah, yeah, It'd be like, so what's
your dissertation going to beon? Oh, don't worry, we know the
answer, Jordan.
Yeah, it's gonna have words.Doctor who in it somewhere.
Oh, nice one, dude. That'svery cool. So, yeah, that's what
the team has been up to. Godknows what Matt's been up to. Probably

(13:58):
buying Doctor who stuff thathe shouldn't be buying. Actually,
some of us have been on ourPlayStations quite a lot. I've noticed
that Harry got a new toycouple of weeks ago, a few weeks
back.
And yeah, I may have treatedmyself to a little early Christmas
gift.
Yeah, we didn't know that thethree of us. So Harry, Matt and myself,

(14:21):
we didn't realize that allthree of us were a PlayStation gamer.
So we added ourselves on thereand log on there. Which one of them's
online now? It's Harry playingSpider Man. So yeah, that's been
cool, but about.
21 hours into it already.Crikey, that's a lot for me. Short,

(14:41):
Relatively short period oftime. Yeah, loving it.
It's.
It's amazing. The. I know it'snot a Spider man podcast, but yeah,
it's a, It's a pretty awesome game.
Do you know what, guys? Justvery quickly, we are in desperate
need of a really good AAA highbudget Dr. Who video game because
I think over the last coupleof decades we've been treated to

(15:04):
like online web only games orfun little CD ROM games over the
years. And I think they were,I think the closest we got was the
LEGO Doctor who. Remember whenthey released, I think it's called
LEGO Dimensions and youactually got the physical figures
that you put on the littlepads and you play them in the game.
There were some really cool.They did a great job on that with
the, with, with Doctor who andchanging throughout all the characters

(15:28):
and the TARDIS interiorchanged and think Hartnell's one
was black and white andeverything. So that was amazing.
But we need a proper, decent,story driven, great Doctor who video
game. We really do. I'm sosurprised that's not happened yet.
Like, you mean to imply thatthe Doctor who Top Trump's video
game that came out was not thebest video game.

(15:52):
I will say hand on heart, thathow in. Regardless of how enjoyable
that is, it's not. I wouldn'tclass that as AAA high budget stuff.
Yeah.
Triple Zip Z. Yeah. Thebargain bucket end of the video game.
So anyway, that would be verycool. Any game developers listening?

(16:13):
Game designers there hit usup. We normally put the worlds to
rights with every other bloodystoryline that's been out. So we
can help you with all your.One. So.
And, and Garry and I, we'vegot some of that software skillage,
so maybe we should, you know,maybe that transfers.
Yes. Yeah. New company beingset up soon. Yeah. Tardis Productions

(16:38):
or whatever you want to callit. Chameleon Circuit Productions.
I don't know. Anyway, let'stalk about some new, shall we, peeps?
Today was announced. Actually,before we get on to today's news,
how are you guys feeling aboutthe war games in color? Because that
was a. That of a thing thatdropped and everyone got their knickers
in a twist about that as well.What your thoughts on that?

(17:02):
I'm. I'm excited. I think itwill be really good to see the TARDIS
team in color. Obviously, ifthey're cutting it down to 90 minutes,
they're going to probably cuttwo thirds of the story out. And
I'm not saying that 10episodes doesn't need a little bit
of trimming, but it'll beinteresting to see what they include

(17:27):
and what they exclude, really,because I think that the last two
episodes are actually prettygood. So if you're thinking in terms
of what those 45 minutes,let's say the last two episodes,
that means you're probablyonly going to have another 45 minutes
to include from eightepisodes. I'm just assuming they're

(17:48):
going to keep the last twoepisodes as they are, but. But yeah,
it'll be interesting to seewhat they actually keep in. I hope
it's not as choppy as theDaleks are, but I have a horrible
feeling it probably will be. Iwas hoping to kind of watch the original
story again beforetransmission of the colorized version,

(18:10):
but I haven't had time. But.But yeah, I'm. I'm generally excited.
I hope it's a step up from theediting on the last one, because
if it's as bad then. I mean, Idon't. But I. I wouldn't. I don't
buy the colorized episodesanyway. But yeah, it'll be. Be a
bit disappointing if it's. Ifit's as choppy as it was on the Last

(18:33):
story.
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Jordan,are you up for it, not for it or
take it?
I'm looking forward to it. Ithink I'm more interested in seeing
what they, how they edit thistogether. Because it's about three,
nearly four hours, I think,when you watch all 10 episodes together.

(18:54):
So 90 minutes, what's that,about an hour and a half?
Yeah.
So, yeah, I'm going to be. Imean, the good thing about the War
Games is the first episode isbrilliant, second episode is brilliant
and then the last two episodesare brilliant and everything in the
middle is brilliant. But it's.We've run around, we've got captured,
we've escaped, we've runaround, we've got captured. There

(19:15):
is, there is a fair bit ofthat that goes on that can probably
just go, yeah, out the, outthe beam. So. But no, I'm looking
forward to it. I'm interested.And it actually looks like the color
might be better because Ithink, look, I don't. I'm not sure
about what the quality of thetape was for the Daleks, but it,

(19:37):
there were bits where it waslike, oh, that still looks like it's
in black and white, but fromthe trailer of the War Games actually
looks like everything ispretty vibrant and pretty colorful
because I think that thequality is a bit better. But I'm
unfortunate. And there's theregeneration bit at the, the end,
which I'm not 100% sold on,but it'll be an interesting thing

(20:02):
to see nonetheless. So, youknow, it'll be, it'll be an interesting
thing. I'm looking forward toit though. I am. It's going to be
a late night for me on, onMonday because there's that. And
then they're repeating one ofthe older ghost stories for Christmas
that had La Ward in it. So I'mlike, oh, I'll watch that afterwards.
Oh, nice.
So it'll be a late nightMonday night for me.
One of, one of my initialthoughts was when they, when they

(20:26):
announced it was why the WarGames? Because Obviously it's a 10
episode story originally andyou would have thought they would
have picked something that wasmaybe four parts, you know, that
maybe was a. Something likethe Mind Robber maybe, which, you
know, might have been a reallygood story, but it kind of makes
sense now in terms of the, theBlu Ray announcement. You know, they're

(20:51):
obviously thinkingcommercially for this. I think, you
know, it's no coincidence, Isuppose, with that announcement.
So I guess that answers that question.
Yeah, it's a good commercialmove. Yeah, it's one of Trouton's
most well known.

(21:11):
Probably the only thing that I've.
It's probably, definitely theonly thing. If you're a Trout and
fan, it's probably in your topfive for sure.
Yeah, yeah. The only, the onlything I kind of thought of was obviously
they want to add theregeneration in. And that's the only
thing that I'm kind of unsureabout because if the original production

(21:33):
team didn't want to includeit, you know, for whatever creative
reason or time reason. Is it,is it, is it right that they actually
put that in because it'ssomething new that wasn't there in
the original? I think thatwould be my only, only concern really,

(21:53):
about whether that wasactually necessary to put in again.
Again.
Are you having a Tom BakerGenesis of the Daleks moment?
Yeah. Do they have the right.And I don't think they do, to be
honest. I think, I think it'screative license gone too far. I
mean, you know, people willprobably be interested to see it,

(22:14):
but, you know, it's not, itwasn't there in the original, so
why, why include somethinglike that? I think that's my only
thing as a, as a fan ofobviously the classic series. I'm
thinking, well, you know,who's, who, who makes these creative
choices? Who decides what'sgoing to be included in and what
isn't? Yeah, I suppose,thinking about it in a bit more depth,

(22:38):
I mean, if they decided justto color, just to colorize the original
and not include something newin it, you know, that wasn't there
in the original, I, you know,I'd probably be happier about that.
Gotcha. But yeah, you're apurist when it concerns where it
concerns classic who. Nobodymesses with classic who.

(23:02):
Well, think about it this way,Garry. You're, you're, you're a creative
with the podcast. I'm sure ifsomebody came along in 20 years time
and found your podcast anddecided that they were going to cut
things out and put things inand we repurpose it for a new audience,

(23:23):
but you didn't have any inputinto that, I'm sure you'd be mightily
peed off. You'd be gettingyour, your walking stick or your
frame or whatever it is youhave, and you'd be getting angry
about it, wouldn't you?
I don't know. I mean, there'sso much waffle on this podcast. I
mean, if somebody wants tochop a load of it out, then it'd
be much better for thelistener. I'm sure. And if it happened

(23:46):
that far in the future thatwhen I'm gone then you know, have
at it. You know, I'm not goingto be bothered either way at that
point. But I know what youmean though. I know exactly what
you mean. And I think that'swhere a lot of people online started
to get their knickers in atwist on it, where they weren't bothered
so much about thecolorization. You know, everyone
thinks that's pretty cool formodern audiences. If you want to

(24:08):
watch it in color or if youstill want to watch it in black and
white, it's up to you. I thinkit's more the edit and the. The.
And popping the regen in buthot take. Yeah, Yeah.
I like the fact that they'readding a regeneration.
Oh, Harry's up for it. Yeah, Iknow you would be.
Here's my, here's my thinking.I love like YouTube fan edits that,

(24:32):
that people do that are likepeople who are really good with like
Photoshop but as a video. Sovideoshop where they, they edit,
I don't know, like two doctorsmeeting that would never meet up,
that kind of thing. And Ithink, you know, like this is, this
is really cool stuff. I'd loveto see them do stuff like this in

(24:52):
the show. So if they edit areally good scene, like they produce
something which seemsconvincing enough and it sort of
bridges the gap betweenPatrick Troughton and John Pertwee,
then I'll be happy with that.I think it's cool. And what Russell
T. Davis is really adamantabout with this is that it doesn't

(25:13):
replace the War Games. It's aseparate version of the War Games.
The War Games, the original isstill the 10 part version. And let's
be honest, it will probably bebetter because if the Daleks is anything
to go by that was. Ipersonally feel really badly edited
and really badly truncated andI thought you probably better going
off with like a four partstory for a colorization. Why would

(25:37):
you pick the 10 episode longserial and truncate it to 90 minutes?
It. It doesn't really makesense to me that. But it should be
a really nice colorization. Itlooks a lot prettier than the Daleks
did. I'm gonna watch it anywayand yeah, I think the regeneration
will be cool, but let's seehow it turns out.

(25:58):
So Harry is having his TomBaker moment and he would have absolutely
murdered all of them in oneshot. It seems actually Genesis of
the Daleks, that's your favestory, isn't it, that's your, your
number one, right?
Did I put it as my, I think Iput City City of Death as my favorite.

(26:22):
No way.
Yeah.
You put Genesis of the Daleksas your favorite when I last asked
you.
It's up there.
But not anymore. It's not inthe number one spot anymore.
No, no. I mean, I think I likeall of season 13 more than anything
in season 12. Season 13 is a,is a gorgeous, gorgeous season. But,

(26:43):
sorry, I think, I thinkGenesis fans. Yeah, sorry, Genesis
fans, but City of Death is thebest Tom Baker story, the best classic.
Who story.
Is that City of Death withthat bit of music that plays a billion
times every three minutes.Yeah, gotcha. Yeah.

(27:06):
So the one you were singing,Garry, sounded a bit like the one
that they put into Sharda. The.
Oh yes.
Could be the one where theyadded all the animated bits because
they were kind of riffing abit, a bit off City of the City of
Death soundtrack in that.Which was cool.
Probably is, mate. Yep. Sothat's the War Games. Our view on
that. Maria is absolutelylivid about this.

(27:31):
I, I am actually thinkingabout it. You're not wrong, actually,
Garry. I mean, you know, I'mon the one hand, I, I love to see
Patrick Troughton in color. Imean that, you know, that's, you
know, and I'm hoping it'sgoing to be true to life in terms
of obviously the colorization.But, but yeah, this kind of adding
things in that weren't thereoriginally, you know. And is it,

(27:55):
is it going to make somebodywant to explore John Pertwee? Possibly.
You know, I, I suppose theyhave their reasons for doing it.
I mean, sometimes I, I justthink, you know, do we need to speak,
be spoon fed and kind of showneverything, you know, everything,
you know, every single second.You know, can we not use our imaginations

(28:18):
anymore and, and kind ofimagine, you know, the regeneration
took place. I mean, I, I,because I, I, I don't know obviously
whether they're going to usethe new style, sorry, the new series
style of regeneration with allthe fire and the, you know, and,
you know, that kind ofregeneration energy or whether they're

(28:39):
going to change it. And Ithink one of the nice things was
about the regenerations thatyou had in the classic era was they
were all different and theyall look different and everyone's
got their favorite. So, youknow, well, maybe, maybe this.
Will be some people's newfavorite. Maybe if, if this, if this

(29:01):
is a springboard for at least,you know, a handful of new fans to
start diving into classic who,then that's not a bad thing, right?
That can't be a bad.
I don't mean to be persnicketyhere, but I think what I'd rather
is seeing that gap bridgebetween those two doctors rather
than yet another, like, Idon't know, a few years down, down

(29:23):
the line. Oh, by the way,there's yet another secret doctor
that was between PatrickTroughton and John Purty. No, I don't
want any more of thisrecorded. I just, yeah, I'm, I'm
happy to have that gap.
Fair enough, guys, fair enough.
Yeah, they better not have JoeMartin in there because I'll be very,
very, very, very, very annoyed.
Yeah, we'll have to go aroundand check on Maria if we see any

(29:45):
of that going on.
The candor.
Yeah, we better move on.Maria's. Yeah, she's like the Hulk.
Don't like Maria. She's angry.The other bit of news was the season
seven. John Pertwee's firstseason has been announced as the
latest Blu Ray collection boxset up for pre order. Lee Binding

(30:10):
put something on his Instagramtoday saying that Season 7 out of
all of the box sets was theworst kept secret. Apparently everybody
knew about this about twomonths ago. I think it all started
right when somebodyaccidentally put something on, on
Instagram or something,somebody who works at the BBC or

(30:30):
somebody like that. They, theywere doing a, they were trying to
be clever and doing a bit of atease. It's like, what do you, you
know, guess what the nextDoctor who collection is going to
be? And they didn't realizethat I could be wrong in this, but
they didn't realize that ontheir screen, on their desk they
had the details or a pictureof Pertweet or something to do with

(30:51):
the box set on this on theirmonitor. And so that went obviously
viral. They deleted it fairlyquickly, but it was too late. You
know, the cat was out of thebag at that point. So for months
now they've been sort ofrolling along with this, like, oh,
it could be that. It could beseason seven. You'll have to find
out, you know, when weannounce it. But we knew it was,
we knew it was the case. So,guys, season seven, the only thing

(31:14):
I'd say on this is I would saywe're probably going to get three
decent versions out of thefour episodes because we've had Spearhead
From Space released a fewtimes, DVD and Blu Ray. And the latest
release they did on Blu Raywas really good. The picture quality

(31:35):
was very, very Cool. So Ican't imagine they're going to be
able to. To do much more withthat, I reckon, other than the special
features, of course. I thinkthat that story itself will just
be reasonably similar, I wouldhave thought, to the existing Blu
Ray release that we've got.And then the other three episodes,
I'm not sure. In the middletoo. I mean, Inferno is an absolute

(31:57):
belter. That's one of myfavorite Pertwee stories. So the.
The bookending that season isamazing. The two middle ones, I'm
not too sure. But what.Jordan, what do you think to. To
season seven?
I'm looking forward to it. Ilike season seven. Yeah. No, like
you, I thought Spearhead hasalready come out on Blu Ray, so they're

(32:20):
not. Yeah, they're not goingto have to do any work on that particularly.
Yeah.
I'm not a huge fan of theSilurians. I think seven episodes,
it's a long story. I thinkthat could have. Even if they've
just chopped one episode out,I think that would have been fine.
And the same with Ambassadorsof Death, although I prefer Ambassadors

(32:43):
of Death. I think that's. Thebets are one out of the two, because
I think you've got some nicestuff with Liz and Unit and other
characters and that whicharen't you don't really have in Silurians.
And, you know, Inferno'sbrilliant. And Inferno suits the
seven episodes because it sortof starts off, you get halfway through
and then he's in a paralleluniverse. So it has enough of the

(33:06):
story that it can do theshift. Although looking at the pictures,
there's three discs forInferno, so I don't know what they're
doing with that one, whetheror not it was a bit of a thingy.
And there was supposed to betwo episodes for Ambassadors, two
discs rather for Ambassadorsand two discs for Inferno, but there's

(33:27):
only one disc for Spearhead, so.
Right, yeah. How manyepisodes, Spearhead? Four.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yes. The only four part storyin that series. I think the rest
of them are all seven or eightand they think yes.
Yeah, you're right.
But I'm looking forward to itbecause I love Lee Shaw. I think
she's a really good companion.Obviously you've got the Brigadier.

(33:51):
It's sort of start of all thatUnit family. John Pertwee's very
good from the get go. Hedoesn't need any sort of warming
up. He's brilliant from theget go. So it's a very, very strong
season. And then I thinkthere's only one More to go. We've
got all of Pertwee's, thenwe've just got Sarah Jane's first

(34:11):
season and then that's it. Butno, I'm looking forward to it. And
I'll be interested to watchthe special features because I love
the behind the sofa specialfeatures, so it'll be interesting
to see if they've got like Jancoding or ever on. Let's see what
she makes of some of thespecial special 70s effect she is
on there.
Yeah, yeah, Yep. That'd becool. Yeah. It does say that all

(34:34):
the episodes are newlyremastered, so it sounds like they
have.
They've obviously donesomething with Spearhead then. Yeah,
because the last Blu Ray onewas pretty good because I've got
it on the steel book. I thinkit came out and that was pretty decent.
I was, I was quite impressedby it. And then you watch the DVD
version, you're like, oh,yeah, no, I can see they have done

(34:54):
work on it. Okay, so theymight, they must have done something,
Something maybe that's newtechnology or something that they
can.
Yeah, yeah. Really?
Remaster, remaster.
Yeah. My memory is shocking,as you all know, but I can't remember
when they released Spearheadon Blu Ray, if they, if that was
a remaster or if it was justan upscale for. For HD and Blu Ray.

(35:19):
Yeah, but it sounds great.Yeah. I mean, I don't know. This
sounds like from what he'ssaying is that it's been remastered
as opposed to just an upscale.So we'll see, we'll see. It might
look a bit better, but. Yeah.Harry, what do you think to season
seven? Actually, are you stillpicking up the standard packaging

(35:40):
box? Is that you or Maria?
Yeah, yeah, that's me. Right.Do you know what? The more of these
that come out and I, I, themore I want to get all of the limited
edition ones and like payhundreds of pounds for, for that,
you know, those, thoseparticularly hard to find sets. But
yeah, but this, yeah, thislooks really good. Whether I get

(36:03):
it in this form or as astandard edition. Yeah, it should
be great. And yeah, reallygood season. Really, like Spearhead
from Space Silurians is longand boring. Never seen the Ambassadors
of Death and Inferno. I reallylike Inferno. I can see why. It's

(36:24):
some people's favourite doctorstory ever. It's not mine, but then
again, I've not watched it ina while, so. So maybe if I watched
it again I'd. I'd appreciateit more. But yeah, no, and the artwork,
as always, looks gorgeous.Pertwee looks very suave. So yeah,
should be a good one. But Imight have to wait like two years

(36:44):
for it.
Yeah, that's true.
I'm trying to spend hundredsof pounds. Who knows?
Yeah, no, I read you, dude.Maria, I know you're probably gonna,
you've been a fan of these fora while now, right? Yeah, get these.
So I, I think this is, this isa really strong season and I don't,

(37:08):
I don't get the dislike forthe Silurians because I actually
like that story very much andyou know, there's some really good
elements because there's a bitobviously when I think the, when
the virus gets released andthings like that. So I'm sure that's
the Silurians, isn't it? So I,I do like that story very much. Spearhead

(37:31):
from Space will lookfantastic, I think on the Blu Ray.
And Inferno is a good story. Imean I'm Ambassadors of Death. I
haven't watched that for quitea while but I, I remember liking
it. But yeah, I think sevenepisodes is a little bit strange
on the length for the, some ofthe stories but I think they're all

(37:52):
strong. I've, I've beenlooking at some of the feedback obviously
from fans and I, I think a lotof people will want to go for the
limited edition even ifthey're buying the, the standard
edition Blu Rays. So I thinkthat's going to be very popular that.
So I think it's going to sellout really quickly. I think it will

(38:15):
go like hotcakes. I think it'sjust one of those seasons that you
know, people want to buy andwhat makes me laugh is lead binding
puts out sometimes thesecryptic images of colors that he's
using on the, on the Blu Raysand I've never been able to guess
which, which season it is thathe's working on. So you know, if

(38:42):
it was the worst kept secret.Yeah, I, I kind of heard a rumor
a few weeks ago that it wasgoing to be season seven. But again
it was just a rumor.
Yeah, it's a rumor that spreadpretty fast.
Yeah.
Tell you what's really cool,that I've just found out the collection,
season nine, another JohnPertwee season is coming out on standard

(39:05):
Release on February, February3, 2025. So that makes me very happy.
And anyone collects. Yeah,well season two just came out the
start of December. The WilliamHartnell. I'm gonna pick that one
up before Christmas and thisone. Yeah, probably pick this up
around springtime. So. Yeah,so I get my pertwee Blu Ray.

(39:30):
Very nice dude. Yeah. Maria.When they moved over to season seven
and started making Doctor whoin color, they decided for, for Pertwee
initially, for the first fewyears with Pertwee that they were
going to do more locationstuff. And because they were shooting
in color, there just wasn'tenough time to wrangle a new color

(39:53):
camera set up and do as manystories as they like. So they were
like, we'll have to cut thenumber of episodes in half almost
to accommodate making sort ofmodern at the time, you know, a modern
television program. It wasn'tno longer was it a case of just a
bunch of black and whitestandard static cameras in a studio

(40:14):
doing the bulk of the work. Soyeah, out on location a lot more.
Needed a lot more money forstunts, vehicles, all that malarkey,
visual effects, you know,explosions and Brigadier setting
off, you know, people firingat Bock and all the rest of it. So
yeah, they decided to cut itin half. Yeah, that's why there's

(40:36):
no, not as many episodes asseason six. Okie dokie. That's your
Doctor who news. There reallyisn't much kicking around. It's that
time of year where people arejust kind of looking forward to the
Christmas special. Now we'vehad the trailer drop for that and
not much else is going on.Russell's reasonably tight lipped

(40:56):
about stuff. I think the onlything that he's pushing at the minute
as opposed instead of seasontwo, is the, the special that's coming
up next year, the War BetweenLand and the Sea. So we'll mention
that briefly towards the endwhen we talk about next year. But
let's spend 10 minutes or sotalking about our, our fave Christmas
specials then for Doctor who.So this is an interesting one that

(41:20):
ironically Matt dropped intothe Discord and he's no longer here
to back up his, his idea. Andhe was basically like, you know,
what's our favorite? TheChristmas specials with Doctor who
are weird. They're a strangebeast. They really are. They have
the potential to have thisreally nice seasonal, magical feel

(41:43):
to them. But I don't knowwhat's, I don't know what the deal
is with some of them. Some ofthem are, are better than others,
that's for sure. Others, yeah,not too sure. And then of course
when Chibbers took over, I'mtalking mainly about from 2005 onwards
by the way, guys. And thenwhen Chivers took over, he ditched

(42:06):
the Christmas and went to NewYear. So that was more of a. I think
they Called it. They called itthe seasonal. The seasonal special
as opposed to the Christmasspecial. So it was a New Year's Day
thing. So, Harry, couple ofquick thoughts from you then. First
of all, do you think thathaving Doctor who at Christmas is

(42:31):
a good thing overall, do youthink it should be on New Year's
Day as. As Chibbers changed itover to what? Do you think we should
skip it all together and usethat money and time to, like, make
the seat the series in beforeand after a bit longer? And then
secondly, do you have afavorite Christmas special as well?

(42:53):
Cool. So I'm trying toremember roughly what I said in the
article that I wrote aboutChristmas specials a few years ago.
Something along the lines of,I thought having a festive special
every year kind of made theformat a bit repetitive. It was a
bit routine, like having theDaleks come back every year. It was
kind of a bit. A bit stale.But I gotta be honest, having been

(43:16):
away from them for a fewyears, with it moving to New Year's
and then it coming back nextyear. Sorry, last year. It's been
a long year. It was. Itactually made me think, you know
what? I really missed this.And I. You know what? Screw it. I
love the Christmas special. Ithink it's lovely and I think, like

(43:38):
you say, Garry, it kind ofevokes for me a feeling of magic.
Like, that was one of the. Asa kid, it was one of the things I
most look forward to. It wasDoctor who more than, you know, anything
else. So, yeah, I love afestive special and I love it on
Christmas and I think itshould be kept on Christmas for as

(43:59):
long as possible and not moveto New Year's. I question why Chibnall
did that. To be honest, Iappreciate him trying something different,
but, yeah, Doctor who belongson Christmas Day and I think it should
stay there, rightfully. Interms of a favourite, I could pick

(44:19):
one of the more obviouschoices, but I'm gonna go a little
bit left field here. Sorecently I rewatched the Husbands
of Riversong and I really,really enjoyed it. I remember watching
it on Christmas Day andfeeling very embarrassed, like, watching
it with my family, thinking,like, I promised Doctor who's not

(44:40):
normally this rubbish. And Ithought it was really cringe and
I didn't really like it at thetime. I was in a bit of a funk with
the end of that series. So I,Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan. But I
watched it recently and Idon't know whether it's, you know,
getting a bit Older,mellowing, whatever. But I thought

(45:01):
it was really, really sweet.And that whole stuff with, you know,
the payoff that we've beenwaiting for for years at that point
with the doctrine river onDurillium, and, you know, like, the
sadness that was built uparound that, but. But then we find
out that a night on Dirilliumis 24 years. So then they get to,
like, kind of spend a lifetimetogether sort of thing. And it's.

(45:24):
I mean, yeah, who doesn't lovea really nice love story on Christmas?
And aside from that, it's justgood dumb fun. It doesn't make sense.
Like, there's people, like,splitting their heads in half and,
like, disembodied heads, whichare still conscious. I didn't really
know what was going on, but,yeah, I really liked it. It was really

(45:46):
funny. Capaldi was great. Heworks really, really well with the
River Song character. And I'llfinish off by saying, recently I
also rewatched the Silence inthe Library two parter. And it is
crazy that that episode, youknow, two episodes that were made

(46:07):
several years apart. It'scrazy how watching them chronologically,
like, just works seamlessly.And like River's sacrifice, I guess
you can call it in the. TheLibrary two parter is made a lot
more just emotionally powerfulbecause of that. That kind of sentimentality

(46:31):
in the husband's A River Song.So it all fits together in a nice
neat bow at the end. I mean,obviously the middle of River's story
is, well, wibbly wobbly timey.Why me? But, yeah, it's certainly.
Say what you will about theRiversong character, but they really.
They really ended it reallynicely. I think so.
Yeah.
Have that one.

(46:52):
Wow, that was unexpected. AndI've got your article here that you
put out a few years ago, andin the closing paragraph, you said,
we currently have no way oftelling if Russell T. Davis will
bring back Christmas specialsin his second year of Doctor who.
And what this and the recentacquisition of Bad Wolf by Sony means

(47:15):
for the show on a largerscale, who knows? But if history
is anything to go by, changeis certainly coming. And your. Your
question was answered becausewe now look forward to another. Another
Christmas special underRussell. So. Okay, dude, that was.
Yeah. Surprising. Thehusband's a River Song. Wow. Maria,
what's your thoughts on theold who Crimbo specials?

(47:41):
I have quite a few thoughts,actually. So I kind of. I didn't
realize until I'd actuallywritten them down, because I wrote
them all down and I kind oflooked at them and I I kind of didn't
realize how varied all ourChristmas specials have been. I mean,
you, you get some that areintroducing new companions. So you,

(48:03):
you get stories like theRunaway Bride, the Snowmen, the Church
on Ruby Road, which I thinklooking at those, I, I thought they
were pretty successful interms of introducing new companions.
I mean, the snow, the Snowmenhad the Victorian Clara, which I

(48:24):
rather enjoyed. And theRunaway Bride has always been one
of my go tos as a Christmasspecial. I haven't watched it for
a while now, but yeah, it'sbeen one of my go to normally. I
think where the Christmasspecial is probably least successful
is when it kind of digs intothe, the history, the classic history.

(48:50):
So you've got things like, forinstance, Twice Upon a Time or the
Next Doctor, those kind ofstories which are kind of, you know,
looking at other versions ofthe Doctor, as it were, and I, I
don't think those have beenparticularly enjoyable for me. I've

(49:11):
liked some of the, some of theones where they've kind of used stories
like movies or, or books. Soyou've got Christmas Carol and Voyage
of the Damned, which are kindof things that we're aware of in
culture. So those have beenrelatively successful. And obviously
it helps having somebody likeKylie Minogue in Voyages Are Damned.

(49:35):
I think she brings a bit ofsparkle to it. I think it's really
difficult to pick onefavorite, I suppose, out of the three
that I watched, because Irecently watched A Christmas Carol,
the Doctor, the Widow and theWardrobe, which I always find difficult

(49:56):
to remember as a title.Anything that's too long, you've
lost me already. And I watchedthe Snowmen. I think out of the three
that I watched recently, Iwould probably say A Christmas Carol
is probably my favorite out ofthose because I had an emotional
reaction to that one in termsof the characters that my Michael

(50:18):
Gambon was playing, you know,the old miserly man. Oh, yeah, yeah.
You know, and it was donereally beautifully. I mean, I think
it gave. Because it was set onan alien planet, it gave Steven Moffat
a chance to kind of mine allthe things that we kind of know from
the story. So, you know,you've got the past, the present

(50:40):
and the future, you know, sohe was using something familiar that
we were all aware of, but itkind of gave him freedom to be quite
creative. So, you know, wehad, we had the, the air crystals
that were stopping the shipfrom landing and things like that.
So, you know, as a story, Ithink out of the three that I watched

(51:00):
recently, that was probablyOne of my favorites. I think it was
just beautifully done. And.And I think the thing I've realized
is the showrunners probablyonly have two or three good Christmas
specials that they do reallywell, and then the other ones are
kind of a bit more variable inquality because I. I mean, Steven

(51:22):
Moffat has done so many ofthem. I mean, he's done. I'm easy
done. He's done about seven oreight of them, and I'd probably say
about three of them are reallygood. The rest are all a bit middling
crap. Yeah, yeah.
Don't mince your words, Maria.Come on. They're. They're pretty
crap, aren't they?
Yeah, I think, you know, theyobviously use them as a vehicle for

(51:44):
introducing new Doctors aswell, so, you know, things like the
Christmas Invasion. I. Ireally enjoyed Church on Ruby Road.
Maybe not so much, although itwas. It was good and I did enjoy
it at the time. But I thinkthe Christmas Invasion is actually
fantastic. As the firstChristmas special that we had, I.
I think that kind of set areally good standard, even though

(52:07):
David Tennant is. Isn't in ituntil near the end. But when he comes
in, you've just got thatmoment, you know, where he comes
in and it just kind of liftsthe whole episode. So, yeah, I. I
couldn't. I couldn't pick onefavorite. And there's. There's. It
just depends what mood I'm in.But I would say A Christmas Carol,

(52:29):
out of the three that Iwatched recently, was probably the
best. And the Doctor, theWidow, and the Wardrobe wasn't as
bad as I thought. But, youknow, it's still not up there with.
With some of the better ones.And. What. Oh, and there was one
of the worst things that Iheard the Doctor say, because I don't
know why. Obviously there werethree Matt Smith Christmas specials,

(52:52):
and I just had a craving,obviously, to just watch a bit of
Matt Smith as well, and hecomes up with, is it humany womany
as a phrase for something thecharacters are doing? And I just.
I just had my head in my handsat that point. I hate stuff like
that. Timey wimey, humanywomany. All that kind of stuff irritates.

(53:13):
Irritates me immensely. Butaside from that, they're all fantastic
fun.
Okay. That annoys Maria, thatstuff, of course. Okay, so what.
What's your favorite then?Sorry? What was your favorite out

(53:33):
of all of them? Did you say one?
Oh, I'll. I'll tell you. Outof the three that I watched recently,
because the other ones Ihaven't seen for a while, so I'll
say a Christmas carol.
Christmas Carol. Right, I seethat's a popular one for Crimbo,
I think, actually. Cheers.Maria, Jordan, what are your. What
your thoughts on this? And ifyou had to pick a fave, what would

(53:55):
you go for?
I like Doctor who being on aChristmas, because I think Christian
was like, oh, but everybody'salways, you know, they're drunk at
Christmas and whatever. It'slike, no, Chris, we're hanging on
New Year's Day, so you'regonna have more chance of us following
what's happening on Christmaswhen you've had all that food to
soak it up. The New Year's,when everybody's, like, going, you

(54:18):
know, 20, 25. Ringing God.Asking for the easy package and not,
you know, not the stressedpackage. So I think Doctor who and
Christmas kind of go togetherin a weird way, because they never
really did in the originalseries, so they never really did
a Christmas one. I think myfavorite. My favorite is Voyage of

(54:44):
the Damned, because it's anaction movie and they've got scary
robots and Kylie Minogue's init and everybody dies. So. So is.
I do. You know, I do like my.My sort of scarier things, but I.
Yeah, things like. Maria saidit when. When the Christmas specials

(55:07):
go into the past, it doesn'treally work for me because you're
always doing. It's alwaysDickensian and it's always Victorian,
and it's always, oh, please,sir, can I add some more? And you
think, oh, get lost. But, youknow, it's. I don't like sort of
Doctor who when it does theVictorians and things, because it

(55:28):
just bores me. But, yeah, no,Voyage of the Damned is brilliant.
And they're like, oh, it'snamed after the most famous ship
in the history of Earth. Andit's like, yeah. Have they told you
why it's named after? And thenit just, you know, everything goes
wrong and it's a disastermovie. But the. Another one I quite
like is Last Christmas becauseit's scary. It kind of loses it in

(55:50):
its whole. Oh, we're in adream that's in a dream that's in
a dream that's in a dream.It's like, yeah, we get it, Stephen.
Let's move on. But it's. I. Ilove the bit where they go outside
and they've got the flare andit's all lit up red and it looks
amazing. Then I don't mindNick Frost as Father Christmas. I
think that's kind of. Becausehe's quite grumpy and he's quite
rude and he's quite. He'squite harsh as Father Christmas,

(56:15):
which I quite liked thataspect of it.
Okay.
But yeah, Voyage of the Dam ismy favorite. And you know what? Kylie
Minogue is not that bad in it.I think sometimes people are like,
oh, she's rubbish. And it'slike, well, okay, she was only famous
for neighbors, but she's notbad in this. You know, I thought
she was pretty good.

(56:36):
Okay. Voyage of the Damned,another surprising one. Yeah, I mean,
I'm in agreement with youguys. I think Doctor who at Christmas
is very cool. No complaintsthere at all. I think it should be
on if you're going to put iton at all over the yuletide or festive

(56:56):
period, whatever you want tocall it. I think Christmas Day is.
You absolutely nailed it,Jordan. I think on New Year's Day
everyone is just, you know,reaching for the paracetamol or the
Alka Selts or whatever andthey're just not in the mood for
that rubbish today. I justwant to sleep. I just want a bowl
of cereal, many cups of teaand sit at the, you know, stare at

(57:21):
the ceiling while everythingkind of revolves around me. I've
got the Zoomies and whatnot.So. Yeah, you're not really concentrating
too much, I think. Do you knowwhat? I'm sure I actually read that
on a load of people sayingthat on. On Twitter, actually. It's
like it's the first time thatI've not seen the Doctor who special
live. I'll catch it, you know,later or something like that. Just

(57:43):
because I've thrown up forlike, you know, the third time today
and I need to go to bedbecause I'm knackered and I don't
feel. Yeah, so I know exactlywhat you mean, dude. Yeah. Just very
quickly, I would say that myfavorite Christmas special is actually
the Christmas Invasion. Justbecause it's got that cool first

(58:04):
time out the door Christmasspecial for us. And even though the
Doctor's not in it that much,it's got a very cool Christmassy
vibe to it. You know, it's. Ithink out of all of them, the most
Christmassy feeling. One isprobably A Christmas Carol. I think
that's got the most, you know,if you're into your classic Christmas
vibes, that's got all thevisual elements of it being very

(58:27):
Christmassy. But I do like theChristmas Invasion. And one thing
we can't not include or atleast mention. And Harry did Put
this at the very end of hisarticle is that lovely moment back
in the classic era when. WhenHartnell breaks the fourth wall and
says, you know, have a. Have avery merry Christmas, or you lot,

(58:49):
or something like that,instantly, a Happy Christmas to all
of you at home. Which is verynice of the fourth Doctor, the first
Doctor to do that. So,Alrighty, Crimbo special, I think
all agreement, then. They aregood to have them at Christmas. They
just need to be good. They'renot absolutely freaking terrible.

(59:12):
Like, what's the one with thesuperhero? Mysterio? Yeah. What the.
I watched that one recently as well.
I mean, Maria must be lividabout that one. Come on.
Sorry, all of them. I didn'thear that. Garry, what was that?
Oh, of all the Christmasspecials, you must have your. Your

(59:34):
hatred meter must be crankedup to 11 for the return of Dr.
Mysterio for one of theChristmas specials.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, That's. That's not agreat one.
It's crap.
It's crap, that one. Mega crap.
Although I do think theDoctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

(59:56):
is the worst one.
Oh, definitely.
I think I have said on thepodcast before that it should be
forced to people on death row,but maybe that's a bit too far. But,
you know, it's bad.
I did watch it. It wasn't. Itwasn't that bad, but I think it kind
of sinks in the middle alittle bit. There's not enough material

(01:00:18):
for. I don't know how. I don'tknow how long it is. I think it's
an hour. I don't think there'san hour too long. It's. It's. There's
not enough. There's not enoughmaterial in it in terms of characters.
It doesn't build. It doesn'tbuild the characters up enough, I
think. And, yeah, I mean, itwas all right. I mean, it wasn't
as bad as I remember. I mean,there's some. There's some good moments

(01:00:42):
in it, but. And, you know,it's got an ecological message and,
you know, which isn't a badthing, I suppose, but, yeah, it's.
It's not one I would go backto again in a hurry.
Yep, I think we're all feelingthat way about it. It's pretty bad.

(01:01:05):
Yeah. Is that one with thekids in it? Cyril and.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, theirritating kids. Yeah, yeah.
And the Doctor's the caretakerat the beginning, or pretends to
be.
It's just all the dialogue andeverything. This hammock's developed
a Fault. Shut up. It's ahammock. You don't jump into a bleeding

(01:01:26):
hammock, do you? Give over.I'd have just shut the present and
got back in the TARDIS andwalked away. Whatever. Never mind.
Yeah, I think that. I thinkthat Christmas special is probably.
Isn't a strong one for MattSmith. I mean, he's coming in as
the caretaker in it. You know,he's got some funny moments. He's

(01:01:46):
in full. He's in full funnymode in this one, really. And, you
know, sometimes. Can I say it?Is it sacrilege? I think he overplays
it a little bit. There's.There's a lot of comedy in it and
I know it's Stephen Moffat whowrites the dialogue and I think sometime
there's. There's. There's notenough serious in it for the funny

(01:02:09):
moments. I think sometimes heget. Sometimes those funny moments
overtake the story and. Yeah.I don't know. I don't know. It's
a weird one. I sometimes thinkthey just. They just write these
Christmas specials reallyquickly and they, you know, they
need to kind of, you know,maybe, I don't know, show them to
somebody and say, you know, isthis good? You know, before. Before

(01:02:31):
they kind of put it out,really. I don't know, is it. Is that
weird thing to say? It feelslike the Christmas one feels like
it's a bit of a chore, youknow, and they obviously. I think
Stephen Moffat probably likeswriting Christmas specials more than
Russell T. Davies, but.
Oh, he loves it.
He loves it. Yeah. Yeah. Butthere's. There's love in it and there's.

(01:02:53):
And there's making it good.That's not the same thing. I don't
know. I don't know. I feellike I'm being mean now because they
are Christmas specials andyou're not meant to take them too
seriously, but.
Yeah, I mean, there is thatelement to it as well. They're not
sort of heavy with law andcanon and. And all that stuff typically,
are they? They are, for themost part, reasonably isolated little.

(01:03:17):
Little stories, I guess. Yeah,that's a good point. Anyway. That's
a good shout, guys. Yeah, theold Christmas specials we will see
what then the. The upcomingone has got to in store for us. Joy
to the world. I mean, it's.The trailer looks pretty good. I'm
not sort of, you know, it'snot one of the trailers I've watched

(01:03:39):
loads of times on repeat, likesome of the previous ones that we've
had with Doctor who. But itlooks okay, I guess. Well, I imagine
this will fall into the bucketof. Yeah, it's an okay Doctor who
Christmas special. I wouldhave thought, who knows, could be
cool.
Can I, can I be honest aboutthe trailer? Because I've only watched
it once and I, I did actuallythink, after I'd watched it, I did

(01:04:03):
actually think, is, is Shootyactually funny? And I, I kind of
thought, no, he isn'tactually. I mean, maybe it was a
bit unfortunate because Iobviously watched Matt Smith recently
and, and you know, he has a, acharm most of the time that suits
those Christmas specials. AndI just, I just thought to myself,

(01:04:24):
I thought, shoot, is not this,not that funny in this one? So, I
don't know. I mean, we've onlyseen a little snippet of it, so I
will reserve judgment, but I'mnot kind of excited by the premise,
put it that way. I mean, I sawthe trailer. It looks, it looks very,
it looks fantastic in terms ofvisuals, but the concept doesn't,

(01:04:48):
doesn't excite me that much.The, the idea of a time, a time hotel.
It doesn't kind of have mekind of jumping with excitement.
Okay, okay, that makes sense.I think, I think we're all feeling
a little bit like that withthat Christmas special. I don't think

(01:05:09):
we're chomping at the bit, asit were. It'd be nice to sit down
and as usual, watch Dr. OnChristmas Day.
But, yeah, it's not going toset the world on fire.
Well, I'm definitely going tobe having a couple of Baileys on
Christmas Day, so it willprobably, it will probably look really
good by the time I've had afew drinks inside me.
Oh, God.
So I can't, I, I, yeah, I.Going to be.
When you've been drinkingsince about 8 o'clock in the morning,

(01:05:31):
it'll, it'll be fine.
Well, luckily I'm not cookingon Christmas Day. I'll be cooking
on Boxing Day. So, yes, I, Iwill be, I will be free and easy
with the alcohol on ChristmasDay because I'm not cooking.
She'll be absolutely smashed.Christmas Day.
Then it'll go one of two waysat half seven.

(01:05:53):
I tell you what, I am actuallylooking forward to, to Wallace and
Gromit, if I'm honest. That'sthe thing I'm looking forward to.
And, and I'm actually lookingforward to Gavin and Stacy as well.
And I think Doctor who beingon at 5 past 10. Sorry, 10 past 5
is probably the earliest thatit's been On I think in terms of

(01:06:17):
broadcast because I think it,I think in, I think before it's been
on at 5:15. So I think this isthe earliest that is actually going
out and it's sandwichedbetween quite strong shows. So maybe,
maybe that will mean, youknow, there'll be a lot of people
that will end up watching it.So you know, fingers crossed it gets

(01:06:39):
some good ratings. You know,hopefully people will stick with
it once they've watched a bitStrictly and, and they'll be waiting
for Wallace and Gromit.
So you know, yeah, it's not abad time. A lot of people said it's
on too early, but yeah, Ithink, I think for the majority of
the country here in the UK atleast most people have Christmas

(01:07:01):
dinner earlier than like yourregular dinner time I would say on
Christmas Day. So I think onceyou've got Christmas dinner out the
way and you're satcomfortably, you've had a drink,
it's on at a good time really.So yeah, we'll see. See. Should be,
should be decent enough watchI think. Alrighty. So as this is

(01:07:21):
the last episode of the bigblue box of 2024, let's finish up
with your guys thoughts. Justa quick minute on what, what are
your thoughts for next yearfor Doctor who? Are you excited about
season two with shooty, thefirst spin off anything else that's
planned future Blu Raycollection set announcements, events
and conferences and everythingthat's announced. Are you guys up

(01:07:44):
for another who year and, andwhat. What do you think is going
to be Maria, why you'reunmuted. Let's go to you first. Are
you looking forward to, to adoctor who 2025?
Yeah, I, I am, I think, youknow, I'm. I'm looking forward obviously
to hopefully trying to gettickets for the BFI event when the

(01:08:04):
Blu Ray comes out. I mean I'malways excited if I can get to tickets
for those events. I think, Ithink the was are going to be putting
on more events hopefully nextyear as well. So you know I'm, I,
I quite like, you know,getting together with other WHO fans
and having a, having an at us.So I, I'm looking forward to that

(01:08:26):
in terms of the series. Yeah,let's see what series two brings.
I'm. I don't know, I'm kind ofa bit nervous about series two because
obviously it was filmed at thesame time as series one. So I'm hoping
that our new companion isgoing to be somebody that I'm gonna

(01:08:46):
love. You know, I'M always abit excited when we get a new companion
because I, I really hope, youknow, that I can, you know, that
I, you know, I like them and Iwant to kind of follow their story.
I'm a bit worried that RussellT. Is saying that it's going to be
a companion arc for the newcompanion, you know, so I'm hoping

(01:09:10):
it's going to be aninteresting story and, you know,
handled a bit better than theone for Ruby Sunday. But, yeah, I
don't really, I don't reallyhave any thoughts on series two.
I'm just hoping it's going tobe better than series one. But, you
know, let's see. But yeah, I'mexcited for 2025. I'm always excited

(01:09:34):
when there's Doctor who stuffgoing on, whether it's getting out
and about or stuff on the tv.You know, as long as there's something
to look forward to, I'm happy.
That's a good sentiment,Maria. Yeah. As long as we've got
stuff coming down the, downthe pipe in the pipeline, then that's,
then that's all good. I agree.And Maria, as listener, if you're

(01:09:55):
not aware, Maria is our, she'sour roving reporter, as we call her
here on the, on the blue box.So you'll probably see plenty of
articles from her about allthe events that she'll visit in 2025,
which is cool. Harry, my goodman, what are your thoughts on 2025?

(01:10:17):
Dude, I'm really excited,Garry. Yeah, I think in terms of
all the Doctor who stuff nextyear, obviously season two. I mean,
yeah, season one wasn't thebest, but it was still fun to watch
it and talk about it and go tothe cinema to watch it as well. Like
it. Yeah, I'm sure it's goingto be fun, even if it's not the best.

(01:10:43):
So, yes, regardless, I'm stilllooking forward to that. And also
War between under the Sea. Ifwe get that next year, then, same
sentiment. I'm hoping to go tomore events, which I'm really looking
forward to. Obviously, we, wedefinitely have capital cut away,
which is going to be anamazing weekend, I've no doubt about
it. And who knows, maybe I'llcontinue my Doctor who marathon next

(01:11:09):
year.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
Yeah. I've been hung up onTroughton at the minute because,
because I've just not been.I've not been enjoying it as much
as William Hartnell. So I'mhoping that I can continue that long
chronological marathon becauseI've started it and I'd love to continue
it. I just need to get throughsome of those trout and episodes,
which I'm finding a little bithard going, so. Okay, yeah, we'll

(01:11:31):
see about that one. Maybe thenew year is the right time to pick
that up again. And last butnot least, more articles and more
podcasts. That's all. That'salways fun.
Defo defo, dude. Nice one. Soyou're looking forward to. To a Doctor
who year next year as well?That's very cool.
Something tells me it's goingto be a really, really good one.

(01:11:52):
I. I don't know why. That'sjust my gut feeling.
Just hold on to that thought,dude. Keep that. Yeah, keep that
going. Yeah. And lastly,Jordan, It'd be very weird if you
said, actually, no, I'mabsolutely dreading next year and
I can't be bothered with it.But I assume you're. You're up for
more Doctor who next year.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'mlooking forward to. Yeah, the dwas

(01:12:13):
Capital cutaway. Obviously.Maria and I normally do a lot of
the other DWAS ones as well,so hopefully they'll be doing some
more of them. I quite likedthe last series. I think it kind
of had a kind of camp that Iquite liked. So I'm looking forward

(01:12:34):
to next year to see if itcarries on. What, between the land
and the sea. Yeah, it's fine.You know, more Doctor who in. In
any shape or form is fine byme. So, you know, I do think it's
not just the sea devils andthe Silurians. I think you'll have.
There was a picture goingaround of like this. This woman dressed

(01:12:56):
in this weird costume. I thinkyou've got the fish people from underwater
menace as well. I thinkthey're bringing in anything that's
been underwater in Doctor who,I think is going to be in this.
Yeah, probably. Yeah.
So that'll be quiteinteresting because then, you know,
Russia, not only did he bringback the Macra, you know, the most

(01:13:17):
amazing Patrick drown monsterever made, he's also bought. You
know, he might also bring backthe Fish People Season seven on the
Blu Ray. I'm looking forwardto seeing what the next beer is up.
And the savages, theanimation. Oh yeah, I'm quite looking
forward to that because I'venever heard the audio, never heard

(01:13:39):
the novelization, and I'venever read the book. So whenever
I see it, it will be acompletely brand new Doctor who that
I've never experienced before.Whether it's good or bad is, you
know, I'll find out. But I'mlooking forward to that as well.
Wow.
So I think you're gonnaabsolutely love it. I listened to

(01:14:01):
the soundtrack and I thoughtit was probably the like out of all
the missing episodes, it's theone that I really want to return.
Best case scenario, butanimated. I'm really glad that they're
doing that. So, yeah, it's allthere with like the war machines,
which is like, yeah, straight after.
Really, really good. Yeah. Imust admit, even sort of some of

(01:14:22):
the, I, I've heard like bitsof it and obviously you've got the
pictures and stuff and it doeslook all right. You know, I, I, I
think the Doctor, Steven andDodo kind of work quite well together.
So I'm quite looking forwardto sort of seeing them and just having
another, another missingDoctor who, you know, added to the,

(01:14:44):
the collection.
Wowers. You guys are up forit. That's very cool to hear for
20. I mean it would be, yeah,like I said, it would be really weird
if we were like, no, not doingany more Doctor who at all. No. So
yeah, I forgot about theSavages. Yeah, it's. How crazy is
it, right, that you know, the,a TV show that as a matter of circumstance

(01:15:10):
is a double edged sword whereit sucks that we have all these missing
stories and I'm sure one day,you know, they will, they'll turn
up. But for now a lot of theseare missing. But through the process
of animation and all thatstuff, we're getting to experience
brand new Doctor who from theclassic years in 2025. So that's,

(01:15:30):
that's a crazy thought. And Iknow we say a lot of, you know, over
the, over the last few yearsthat we've all done this where we've
all appeared on theroundtable, you've all wrote articles
and reviews. I think sometimesI'm very, very guilty of this that
take for granted a lot the TVshow that we all love, which why

(01:15:52):
we're all here. Not many otherTV shows have this amount of love
and dedication from people whoare still making the remasters. The
animation stage shows, audiodramas. The magazine still Doctor
who magazine, which is stillgoing, you know, loads of Doctor
who events here in the uk. Ifyou're fortunate enough to live here

(01:16:14):
in the uk, there's, there'sprobably one Doctor who convention
or something going on everymonth, every year. And so it's, Yeah,
I think it's sometimes it's,it's, we're easy and fast to be like,
oh, that was crap or you know,this was rubbish or whatever. I think
sometimes you have to juststand still and take stock a little

(01:16:35):
bit of just how far fortunatewe are to. To have a show that's
got a dedicated team of peoplethat still. Because they didn't have
to do it. Marquez and, youknow. And what's the guy's name?
McTie.
Pete.
Phil. Pete. Pete McTighe.McTeague. Sorry, McTie. Yeah, sounds

(01:16:56):
about right. And on all thoseguys, you know, that work on it and
still they don't have to, youknow, they've got their other projects
going on, they've got theirother things and stuff like that.
They don't have to do it. So,yeah, we are. We are fortunate.
Yeah. No, I do think thatsometimes because when we've done
like, the BFI and theanimations and things, and we've
sort of been in the barafterwards and you kind of hear people

(01:17:17):
like, oh, that was rubbish.And that was sort of whatever. And
it's like, yeah, but begrateful that people are doing it.
You know, I. You know, it's.It's nice that people. So you don't
get EastEnders season one BluRay box set, you know, Coronation
street season one on Blu Rayor anything like that.
We are very fortunate fans.
I think sometimes you sort ofneed to be, like, a lot of love.

(01:17:39):
We're very lucky that we getto have all this stuff.
Defo. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we are.If you think about some other shows
as well, that are juststarting to lean into it, like Blake
7, like, they've onlyliterally just got their first series.
Blu Ray.
I want Sapphire and Steel onBlu Ray, please.

(01:18:03):
Pretty please, Santa. I'd likein the future, Christmas stocking,
please. Yeah, Right. Anyway,not going to monologue anymore. Thank
you very much, guys, for. Forjumping onto another big blue box
roundtable. Maria, it's beenawesome to have you and your. I don't
know whether to duck and coverwhen we meet next year at some point

(01:18:26):
or not, but your views areappreciated, as always.
Yeah, well, sorry. I'm alwaysgonna. I'm always gonna have the.
The classic who corner. I'malways gonna have that corner, you
know, because most. I thinkmost of you guys came to the series
when it was the new series, soI feel as if I've got to kind of

(01:18:48):
have that corner for classicwho. So, you know, as an. As. As
a fan of the classic who. So,yeah, I. I'm. I'm always open to
the. The views of other fans.So, you know, and I do kind of. I
Do take things on board. So,you know, hopefully I. I'm not extreme.

(01:19:09):
I'm not extreme by any means.
No, no, no, just by. She'sharmless, everyone.
She's.
Harry. Thank you very much,buddy. Your big brain ticking away
for Dr. Who's appreciated as always.
Thank you very much, Garry.Thank you all. It's great fun to
talk to you guys year on yearand just to talk about our favorite

(01:19:34):
show that we love so much.Even if we, you know, talk rubbish
about it sometimes we. We alsotalk about the things that we really
love about. About it. Andthat's. And that's great. That's
a wonderful thing to do. Solong may it. Long may it continue.
Indeed.
Actually, Garry, can I saythank you to you and Adam because
obviously you do the. Theweekly podcasts and, you know, you

(01:19:58):
put a lot of work into those,so, you know, thank you for all the
output that you put out aswell, because, you know, it's a highlight
to kind of listen to those,you know, in amongst all the other
podcasts that are out there.So I just want to say thank you.
Oh, thank you very much. Andyou're very welcome listening to
our beep on a regular. On aregular basis. So thank you very

(01:20:22):
much for that.
I'll second that, Maria. Like,without you, Garry, looking over
our articles and making sureall the formatting and all that kind
of stuff, you know, makessense, yeah, we wouldn't have them
out there. So thank you very much.
Oh, you're welcome, guys.Appreciate that. Thank you very much.
And, Jordan, thank you so muchfor your boisterous charm for Doctor

(01:20:46):
who. I love it.
Thank you for having me. Andyes, thank you for doing the podcast
and having us all on board,because it's a lot of fun and I will
get more articles out, butit's not a lot of fun.
Not at the expense of your.
Your Doctor who stuff at unican probably.

(01:21:08):
Jordan's gonna end up with adegree in Doctor who, not. Not a
degree in. In acting.
There are worse things to havea degree.
Submit one of the articles,Jordan. I'm sure it'll be okay.
Yeah, that'd be all right.It's a dissertation, wouldn't it?
Throw a few references inthere, make it look legit, and then.
Oh, thank you very much.
Pandemic jargon as well, you know.

(01:21:30):
Yeah, it'll be fine. It'll be fine.
A lot of love in the room for.For our team and for Doctor who as
a whole. So it's very cool.And I think on that chirpy positive
Note. Forward to 2025. Let'sstick a pin in it there for the December
roundtable. These guys alldancing away. Such a good sight,

(01:22:11):
right? Thank you very much,dear Listener, for listening to all
of our episodes of the podcastthroughout 2024 and the round tables.
It's been very cool,entertaining, will keep you informed
about what's going on inDoctor who. If you like this roundtable
and you've checked out some ofthe previous episodes, especially
if you're a new listener andwe'd love to have you as a follower,
just search for us or whateverapp you're listening to us on now,

(01:22:34):
just hit that follow orsubscribe button. That way you won't
miss an episode when it lands.Every week with myself and Adam and
monthly roundtables for theseguys. You can also find every episode
on the website, which is bigbluebox podcast.co.uk and you can
listen for free on there. Plusyou can read all the reviews and
articles and the conventionreports and everything from these
guys. So go and check all ofthat out. While we're saying thank

(01:22:58):
yous, I must say a big thankyou to my co host who's not here
unfortunately tonight, butAdam the Geeks handbag. A big thank
you to you as well, my buddy,my co host. Go and check out his
YouTube channel, it's calledthe Geek's Handbag. Loads of very
cool Doctor who and geekerystuff going on over there. Remember
that we're at the DWAS CapitalCutaway event next year in April.
So if you've not got yourticket yet, book that and then come

(01:23:20):
and grab us for a chat and apoint and chat. Doctor who on all
things who over at that eventis going to be very cool.
We won't charge for our autographs.
Well, yeah, fiverr. Until nextyear then. My name's G.
I'm Jordan.
I'm Harry.

(01:23:42):
And Maria is frozen at theworst possible point. And remember.

(01:24:04):
That was a lot of fun.