Doctor Who: The Tardis Tavern

Just when you thought your buoyant hosts were going to go the way of the Titanic, they make it to the shore of a deserted island to find an empty beach, a floatable portable bar, and…Doctor Phil Serna of the Adventures in Time, Space, and Music podcast! What better time to relax, catch our breath, and talk about something important.  You know, like “The Deadly Assassin”!  So grab a pint of Gallifreyan ale and join the fun as we debate how many regenerations a Time Lord really has! Be sure to find us on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com, follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern, and follow Phil via @atsmpodcast.

Cashing in on our recent good luck in winning a free cruise to South Africa from a Nigerian sweepstakes, Episode 104 is set on shipboard.  Amidst sipping cocktails, laying by the pool, and playing shuffleboard, we set our sights on Christmas: specifically, what is regarded as one of the worst Christmas episodes ever in Doctor Who, “Voyage of the Damned”. Will we be in the majority, panning this episode as a smear of crap in what was otherwise a decent year for the show?  Or will we take pleasure in all of the Christmas carnage that Russell T. Davies serves up?  Pour yourself a pina colada, listen, and find out! Oh yeah, and we also manage to offend pretty much every minority group.  But if you’re not over that after 103 episodes, then that’s your problem. Look for us on Facebook, send us hate mail to tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.

We hired a team of actuaries to research and tell us which of the Doctor’s incarnations’ episodes do we review the least often.  The unanimous response was the Ninth Doctor.  After Sean talked Steve off a windowsill after suggested “Aliens in London/World War III”, we settled on the one that started it all. Thus, without further ado, we present our thoughts on 1980’s sitcoms with dead actors, followed by an in-depth discussion of “Rose”. Don’t like us?  Think we’re a couple of drunks that are too big for our britches?  Then go listen to Radio Free Skaro and email us at tardistavern@gmail, like us on Facebook, or follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  (Note for the noobs: the Facebook page gets a lot more action than the Twitter account.)

As you may have guessed already (because you listeners are so, so smart), in this episode we chat about what Doctor Who has brought us in 2013, the year of its 50th birthday. The second half of Series Seven is discussed, as well as just a little bit about “The Day of the Doctor” (see Episode 100 for more on that), An Adventure in Space and Time and, of course, “The Time of the Doctor”.  By the end there we’re pretty well into our cups and we forgot to address “The Web of Fear” and “The Enemy of the World”, but there was time for one little bit of feedback.  Enjoy, mates, and looking forward to 2014! “Like” us on Facebook, email us stuff at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.

Watching an "Adventure in Space and Time" got us hungry for smoking Cybermen, so we opened our freshly delivered packages from Amazon to watch and discuss "The Tenth Planet". This is the one where Hartnell regenerates (oops, spoilers!) so keep your ears peeled for the sound of these old bodies saying what we think of it.  Also, I don't like your hair.  Also, some long-overdue feedback! Like us on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com, or follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern; he has made it his New Year's resolution to tweet more.  Oh, and you can follow Steve via @ilikeboobies.

November 23, 2013.  A day that Who fans will likely remember for the rest of their lives.  We went to see The Day of the Doctor together, and then did a "live" episode at DFW Whofest, the Dallas convention that totally blew our minds and expectations.  Plus, we were kind of sober when we recorded this one.  So that's a first. Plus...a CONTEST!  Listen until the end and you can learn how to be two lucky listeners who can win a copy of The Day of the Doctor on DVD or Blu-Ray. Honestly, a good time was had by all.  Oh, and we're pretty much sober. Please check us out on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com, or follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  You can also follow Steve via @tardistaverntit.  Because he's sitting right here watching me type this.

This time we trod off the well-beaten path and, rather than discuss a traditional Doctor Who story, we chose Steven Moffat’s 1999 Comic Relief special, Curse of the Fatal Death.  Fasten your seat belts and prepare yourself for five more new Doctors, architectural bribery, and Dalek bumps.  All in all, it should be a jolly good time. Remember to check us out on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.

Add one part “The Seeds of Doom”, one part “Robots of Death”, and a dash of “Murder on the Orient Express” and you get “Terror of the Vervoids”, this episode’s topic of discussion.  Do the mounting bodies and the creatures that look uncannily like female reproductive parts make for a snoozefest?  Or do the intrigue, mystery, and drama make for a great story?  Grab a glass of carrot juice and vodka and find out! Check us out on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com with complaints, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.

If there is one thing we’re not known for, it’s being sober and providing our listeners with up-date-reviews on stories that have either just aired or just been released on DVD.  Therefore, it was time we brought you our thoughts on “The Ice Warriors”, which was released on DVD last month and features two missing episodes that have been animated by the restoration team a la “The Invasion” and “The Reign of Terror”. If you’re looking for drunken banter on Patrick Troughton, Victoria, and a bunch of scientists with uninspiring names, then look no further.  Not that we have any competition from other podcasts in that department to worry about it. “Like” us on Facebook, send us email (or audio feedback!) at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  You can also follow Steve via @tardistaverntit, but he’s a twat and never uses it.  He also never reads these postings.

Add one part Seventh Doctor, one part Ace, one part Glitz, and take away a pinch of Mel and you have “Dragonfire”, this episodes special selection chosen by our special guests Andre Tessier and Ken Deep of 2013’s Long Island Who convention. It’s a long one.  We talk about podcasts, conventions, fun times, and eventually wind up talking about the story in question.  Promise…we do.  And it’s one of the raunchiest, innuendo-filled episodes of The TARDIS Tavern to date.  What a treat! “Like” us on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com (yes, we will get around to reading that feedback), follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern, Andre via @AndreT_NY, and Ken via @kendeep.

If there’s one thing we both love, it’s films and television shows on Blu-Ray.  If there’s one thing Steve is kind of ambivalent about, it’s the Pertwee era.  Put the two together, and we couldn’t resist talking about the recent release of “Spearhead from Space” on Blu-Ray. Disclaimer 1:  This is not an intervention.  Steve purchased the copy of “Spearhead from Space” on his own volition and with his own money.  We planned to do something else for this episode, but it fell through, and so we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to talk about it. Disclaimer 2:  This description makes it appear as though Steve was dragged kicking and screaming into this project by Sean, and this episode will consist primarily of Steve grumbling and Sean squeeing.  You might just be surprised. Facebook, email, Twitter, blah blah blah, if you wanted to get in touch with us you would have figured it out by now.

This time we’re happy and honored to have Deb Stanish from the Parsec-nominated Doctor Who podcast, Verity!  (That exclamation point is part of the title, not that we’re super excited and all that she can join us, because we are.)  Deb is also known as the editor of such books as Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon by the Women Who Love Them and Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who.  Ooooh, we have an academic at the bar!  Let’s pump her full of whiskey and see what she has to say! This time we turn our sights to a more recent time: “The God Complex” which aired as recent as September of 2011.  And I hope you can taste the irony of that word “recent”, because if you do your math you would realize that’s about two years ago, yet it was just last season.  Ah, Doctor Who, you are a slow, sometimes tortuous machine.  But we love you. “Like” us on Facebook, email us stuff at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  If you’re on Twi

Sometimes you just want to re-watch one of those classic favorites.  Thus, we present our serious academic discussion of “Pyramids of Mars”.  ‘Nuff said. Be sure to catch us on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.

It’s been a couple weeks.  And we were going to send you a discussion of “Pyramids of Mars”.  But we couldn’t resist…here is the first ever TARDIS TAVERN SPECIAL REPORT!! Peter Capaldi has been announced as the Twelfth Doctor.  If the reports on the internet hadn’t told us about this first, we would have been shocked.  But would we have been happy?  Find out in this, our first min-episode. Like us on Facebook, email us shit at tardistavern@gmail.com, blah blah blah you know already.

We haven’t talked about Sontarans since…well, since ten episodes ago when we reviewed “The Two Doctors”.  But there’s no time like the present again, as our roving reporter Andre Tessier has brought us an interview with Dan Starkey, the current series’ lovable and bumbling Strax. But first we travel back to the Tom Baker era: tin foil monsters, Machiavellian plots, stuffy Time Lords, and tripping over the pool chairs fantastic.  That’s right, this one is also about “The Invasion of Time”.  Why that one?  Because we already know “The Sontaran Experiment” by heart. Check us out on Facebook and email us feedback at tardistavern@gmail.com.  You can also  follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.

Yes, it’s about time we got to this one, isn’t it?  “Earthshock”, the one where Adric gets it in the end.  The one heralded by many jaded fans as marking the exit of the Jar-Jar Binks of classic Doctor Who.  Not only that, but this return of the Cybermen since their last appearance in “Revenge of the Cybermen” is considered by many as one of the crowning moments in JNT’s reign as the show runner. But are fans too quick to celebrate Matthew Waterhouse’s final episode?  Is the story all that it’s cracked up to be?  Is it just another example of 1980’s Who parading tired old villains onto the screen for the sake of longtime fanboys?  Listen and find out…maybe. “Like” us on Facebook for some fun extra shit that fans of the show post, email us stuff at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  Steve has a Twitter account, too, but Sean is not going to mention it anymore until (1) he starts using it and (2) realizes that his Twitter handle isn’t being shown in these postings. Oh, hi, S

Way back in 2006, a little episode called “Fear Her” aired, and it’s been vilified by fandom ever since.  We hadn’t seen it in years, so we wanted to find out if it was really as bad as everyone says it is.  Like it or not, one can thank providence that the arrangers of the 2012 Olympics either just didn’t see this, or specifically chose not to go that route. Oh yeah, and Sean goes on a drunken rampage against Ian Levine. [Insert the usual shit about Facebook, Twitter, and our email here.]

With all of these mundane little stories we’re covering, you’re no doubt saying, “But Sean and Steve, when are you going to tackle something really classic, like ‘City of Death’ or ‘Fear Her’?”  (That second one was a joke.)  Wait no more: in this episode we discuss the 1975 six-parter from Tom Baker’s first season as the Doctor, featuring Sarah Jane and Harry.  That’s right, it’s finally time for “Genesis of the Daleks”!  If you don’t like this story, we’ll have to find out what’s wrong with you…by autopsy. Oh, there’s also this little bit of news to discuss about Matt Smith leaving. Like us on Facebook, email us at tardistavern@gmail.com, (we’re especially fond of audio feedback, since we often get too drunk to read emails out loud, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  He’s a bit slow on Twitter nowadays, however, since he’s given up drinking during the week.

Studies show that it has been a hell of a long time since we talked about a First Doctor story (see our episode on “The Time Meddler”) and even longer since it was an episode about a historical First Doctor story (go way back to one of the hokiest episodes ever of The TARDIS Tavern, in which we pan “The Gunfighters”).  So there was no time like the present to review “The Romans”, with the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vickie. Of course, we can’t help but talk about the latest and last installment of Series Seven, “The Name of the Doctor”.  Oh, my.  Like oh, fucking my! Look for us on Facebook, email us feedback at tardistavern@gmail.com (we’ll read it out loud if we’re sober enough), and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  I think Steve can be followed via @tardistaverntit.

We know.  Cybermen are soooo last week.  In fact, they’re just soooo 1988.  So much so that we take a look back at the show’s 25th anniversary special, “Silver Nemesis”, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace.  Let that sink in for a moment.  They celebrated ten years with “The Three Doctors” and twenty with “The Five Doctors”.  Should they have just stopped there?  You might be surprised at what we think. Speaking of Cybermen, we also talk a little bit about “Nightmare in Silver”.  Our thoughts on “The Name of the Doctor” aren’t far away, either; you’ll just hear them a week or so after every other podcaster and blogger has aired their opinions.  You might be surprised at what we think. Catch us on Facebook, email us goodies at tardistavern@gmail.com, and follow Sean on Twitter via @tardistavern.  Oh, you can follow Steve via @tardistaverntit.  Right, Steve?  Steve?