Freyburg

The three jaunty fellows were pleased as punch to commentate on one of the high points of Tom Baker’s career, “The Talons of Weng Chiang,” a fantastic set of episodes by the late, great Robert Holmes (though unfortunately marred by the casual racism of the period.) Since Talons is longer than a trip on a Victorian steamer to the colonies, we decided to split the commentary into two parts. Warren will be at San Diego Comic-Con next Sunday, but he’ll do his best to get Part 2 off his hard drive and onto the Internet in a timely fashion.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #92 - Mr. Sin's Lament the First: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (73)

One of the worst things about Youtube is the sheer volume of “tribute” videos and other such poorly edited codswallop that gets in the way of searching for a clip of, say, Doctor Who. But amongst the junk there are a few gems, including this mashup of the interminable flight sequences from “Time Flight” with James Bond and the Death Star (amongst other wackiness):

Then there’s this bit of remixery which makes a complete hash of the Five Doctors in brilliant fashion:

Part 1:

and Part 2:

Just lovely.

The dark times begin as we enter a solid half year with no new Who, but the august crew at Radio Free Skaro have ably responded to this gulf in quality televisual spectacle with a new series of Classic series commentaries, beginning (sort of) with Black Orchid, a Davison two-parter done on the cheap and set in the 1920s. Sarcasm and japes, anyone?

 

 Radio Free Skaro #91 - Slack Orchid: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (74)

After last week’s mind-melting funfest, things could only go downhill…and they did! The Three Who Rule were unsparing in their criticism of a finale episode that had its moments but seriously underwhelmed. Still, that didn’t stop Warren, Steven and Chris from staying mostly on topic and ranting about what will be the last bit of new Who for quite some time. Next week, a Black Orchid commentary, take it or leave it!

 

 Radio Free Skaro #90 - Journey's Meh: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (265)

“The Stolen Earth,” the penultimate episode of Series 4, was a barnburning spectacular of fanwankian proportions, and the RFS crew did their level best to keep their geeky selves in check before effusively praising (or in the case of Chris, begrudgingly praising) a jam-packed episode full of danger, Davros, Daleks, derring-do, and other things starting with the letter “D”. Delightful!

 

 Radio Free Skaro #89 - The Stolen Mirth: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (80)

The BBC, in their infinite wisdom, decided sometimes in the late Sixties or early Seventies that they needed space for new shows in their tape library, and destroyed many of the original tapes containing Hartnell, Troughton, and even a few Pertwee stories. Despite the odd find each decade of a lost story molding away in some backwater, many of these classic Who tales are lost in the mists of time…until now.

It turns out many a fan recorded the audio from the shows as they were broadcast, so almost all the soundtracks have been preserved. But a cadre of fans spread across the globe are taking things a step further and animating the classic lost Doctor Who adventures to recreate the Doctor’s first adventures. The BBC did this officially with “The Invasion,” but as stated in the Guardian story, animating is a tremendous amount of work. Fans don’t care, though, they want their Who and they’re willing to put noses to the grindstone to get it.

Chris absconded to Las Vegas  this week for liquor, gambling, and other licentious pursuits, so it was left to the other two pillars of RFS to hold the fort, which they barely managed. The subject at hand? “Turn Left,’ which served as not only this season’s “Doctor Lite” episode but also as a fantastic return to the series for Billie Piper, not to mention a sterling performance by Catherine Tate. The usual digressions and drivel-making were of course present, but without our tall co-host’s derisive sneers and seething hate, it wasn’t quite the same.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #88 - Third (Guy) Left: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (120)

For once, the Three Who Rule were in total agreement that “Midnight,” the psychological thriller/Donna-lite episode of this season’s Doctor Who, was a fine bit of viewing. That left us with little else to do besides mock Who overseer Phil Collinson and engage in many a ridiculous digression, as per usual. Next week, Rose, dead Doctors, and atomic weaponry. Allons-y!

 

 Radio Free Skaro #87 - Midnight Express: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (120)

Ah, two great tastes that taste great together!

Dissent in the ranks this week, as the Third Guy forsakes a life of marital bliss with Who scribe Stephen Moffat and rips “Forest of the Dead” a new one. Steven and Warren, on the other hand, were charmed and entertained by the concluding episode of the two-parter that began with last week’s “Silence in the Library,” and thus did vigorous debate and pointless digression occur for about an hour and change.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #86 - Forest of the Dud?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (90)