Part One Sue: What do I need to know about this one? Me: Well, it’s a new season and there’s a new producer in charge. She didn’t ask me for a name. That’s how interested she is. Me: Oh, and this story was made in Birmingham. Sue: Fascinating. She couldn’t care less. In fact, it’s…
Part One Sue: Six parts. Oh joy. This had better be ****ing good, Neil. Sue wants to know when Talons was originally broadcast. Sue: I would have been 15 years old, so I was out playing badminton when this was on. And during the last part, I was probably playing golf. Backstage at a Victorian…
Part One Sue: Oh no. Not Chris Boucher again. Me: It’s pronounced Boucher, actually. Sue: Whatever. A sandminer is churning up the landscape on a desolate and dusty planet. Sue: This looks good. They’re really selling it to me. The camera movement certainly helps. The sandminer is run by robots. Sue: These robots look like…
Part One Sue: Is there anything I should know before we start? Me: Well, the first episode was broadcast on New Year’s Day 1977. Sue: So any adults watching this would have been hungover. Fair enough. Me: Oh, and there was a six-week gap between this story and the last story. Sue: I didn’t even…
Part One Sue: I’m not thrilled with the cheesy narration, but I can live with it. The Doctor is travelling to Gallifrey when he’s overcome by a prophetic vision. Sue: Okay, pause this for a second, please. What just happened? Me: The Doctor has had a premonition. He saw himself assassinating the Time Lord President…
Part One On the frozen wastes of Kastria… Sue: Is this planet of the anoraks? A humanoid figure is tracking a spaceship on a computer screen. Sue: He’s playing the slowest game of Pong ever. This cold opening (sorry), which mainly features an asthmatic alien freezing its bollocks off, doesn’t do anything for Sue. Sue:…
Part One Sue: New font. I don’t like it. Me: It’s Cantoria Bold. Sue: It’s Cantoria Boring. The Doctor and Sarah are exploring the TARDIS when they stumble across its boot cupboard. Sue: So that’s where the Doctor keeps his own chroma studio. Look at all that lovely CSO. Sue isn’t impressed with the Doctor’s…
Part One Sue: Robert Banks Stewart. Does he exist? I recognise the name. Me: Yes, he exists. He wrote Terror of the Zygons. Sue: I liked Terror of the Zygons. Me: I know, but you try telling some of our readers that. Two men are gathering samples from a glacier in Antarctica when one of…
Part One Sue: Who’s Robin Bland? Me: Robin Bland doesn’t exist. Sue: Not again! So what happened this time? Me: Robert Holmes rewrote a Terrance Dicks script and Terry told him to take his name off it. He told him to replace his credit with a bland pseudonym. Sue: So this is a bad one,…
Part One Sue: Oh no… Me: Go on, then. Say your catchphrase. Sue: Actually, I’ve decided to say “Terry ****ing Nation” from now on. A soldier is walking through a wood, nursing a twitching arm. Sue: Either he’s late for breakdancing practice or he’s an android. Me: I think the clue is probably in the…