The Three Who Rule were in fine fettle this week, covering a wide swath of news involving all the exciting goings-on on Torchwood, the Sarah Jane Adventures and even Red Dwarf. Truly, this was a momentous week for fans of British sci-fi adventuring. Truly. No, really.
Direct download: rfs134.mp3
Radio Free Skaro welcomes back Katrina again as guest host, this time filling in for Warren, whose predilection for earning money to cover the cost of living prevented him from taking part this week. And, with the world of Doctor Who ramping up in advance of an actual new episode airing on April 11, there was plenty to talk about. But no spoilers! Spoilor has now been vanquished, so you may now listen to the show without fear of having future Who episodes ruined for you. As for the rest of the internet, you’re on your own.
Direct download: rfs133.mp3
Not strictly Doctor Who this week, but a cool interview all the same. The local chapter of SIGGRAPH (a group of computer graphics geniuses) brought Industrial Light and Magic special effects legend Dennis Muren to Vancouver, and Warren was able to interview him. Apologies for the dodgy audio during Warren’s questions….the details are too boring to go into, but at any rate Muren’s thoughts on visual effects, art and the motion picture industry are the good stuff.
With Steven currently roasting production codes out of his head under the fiery sun of Cuba, Chris and Warren decided mutiny was the appropriate response and welcomed Katrina (also known on Twitter as @xanister) to fill his gangly shoes. And not a moment too soon, as the Two Who Rule (and special guest) were inundated with a surfeit of news, both plausible and spoiler-diculous.
Direct download: rfs130.mp3
In a surprising turn of events, this week’s episode was chock full of news…an unwelcome development with a “The Next Doctor” commentary bearing down on the Three Who Rule like a Cyber-King hell-bent on justifying its own lack of continuity. Being the brave souls they are, your gallant hosts soldiered on and brought not only the most current of current events in all of Who-dom, but also a sterling commentary on David Morrissey’s debut as the Next Doctor. Oh yes, and David Tennant made some sort of appearance as well.
As a preamble, let me just say that I’m a massive fan of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. I picked up the original 12 comic run when it first arrived in comic book stores in 1986, and it (along with Frank Miller’s the Dark Knight Returns) blew my 15 year old mind.
Of course Hollywood being the avaricious creature it is, plans were soon put in place to make Watchmen into a film, but if ever the source material for a movie could be deemed “unfilmable”, Watchmen was it. The plot jumps back and forth over forty years of history, the supposed superheroes are at best washed-up and at worst psychopaths, the story delves into philosophy, human nature, politics and serves it up with dollops of sex and violence. Oh, and one of the main characters is a detached Superman who sees time differently than mankind and walks around with his (blue) dink hanging out.
Miraculously, Zack Snyder has taken all of those unfilmable elements and made a stunning bit of cinema. Snyder stuck very closely to the source material (even setting the film in 1985, as per the comic), and it’s paid off in spades. Watchmen’s alternate universe (explained brilliantly in an opening-credits montage that tours the audience through decades of could-have-been 20th century events) is a feast for the eyes. Add to that standout performances by Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan and especially Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach, and Watchmen does not disappoint. I have a few minor quibbles, like the presence of Ozymandias’s cat Bubastis (which makes sense in the comic but seems out of place in the film), but my tiny complaints pale in comparison to standout sequences like Dr. Manhattan recalling his life on Mars, or Rorschach revealing just what drove him over the edge from grim vigilante to full-bore lunatic.
Opinion on the film seems to be split; geeks love it, and critics scratch their heads, admire the pretty pictures, and go back to worrying about their increasingly irrelevant jobs and worshipping French art films. I think we know where I land on this debate.
See Watchmen. Revel in its geeky fidelity to the original comic, but enjoy it on its own terms as a bold, visually stunning, thought provoking superhero film of the kind you never thought Hollywood could make. I plan to see it at least once more in the theatre.
And so the post-Gallifrey exhaustion set in, and our stalwart heroes were left with nothing more than depression and a paltry smattering of news. And yet they soldiered on, digressing and discussing as before. Only..many weeks to go before Gallifrey 2010.
Direct download: rfs126.mp3
For the first time in recorded history, in an event sure to be recorded in the annals of time across all universes parallel and otherwise, the RFS crew met in person at Gallifrey 2009 in Los Angeles, and thus was a podcast birthed from the loins of the Airport Marriott. And as a special bonus, John Williams and Neil Perryman of Tachyon TV joined in on the fun and regaled us with tales of Torchwood dodginess, Tomorrow People memories, and the utter strangeness of Sapphire and Steel.
In this penultimate episode before the Three Who Rule arrive in Los Angeles and dispense their own particular brand of Canadian havoc, the news was sparse but the banter broad, ranging from Al Waxman’s storied career all the way to….well, the shenanigans to come at Gallifrey 2009.
The Three Who Rule had barely any news to discuss this week, but that didn’t stop them from talking about the upcoming Gallifrey convention in LA, mysterious destroyed buses in Dubai, and (of all things) 80’s Lee Majors vehicle “The Fall Guy.” You have been warned.