Freyburg

A titanic torrent of news was only the beginning of this mammoth episode of Radio Free Skaro, which featured almost an hour’s worth of banter even before we got around to commentary on “Robot”, Tom Baker’s debut story. Much as the crew has a certain fondness for this tale of fascistic scientists, errant droids and wonky regenerative antics, they were unsparing in their criticism of the silliness on screen…and Warren said “MADOC!” a lot. Enjoy!

 

 Radio Free Skaro #94 - Maddock! I mean, Robot!: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (97)

Despite the madness of Comic-con and Warren’s current geographical position in San Diego, Radio Free Skaro continues with the second part of our “Talons of Weng Chiang” commentary. Wit, abandon, and politically correct tut-tutting of Chinese stereotypes await!

 

 Radio Free Skaro #93 - Mr. Sin's Lament the Second: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (71)

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 (75)

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 (292)

“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 (82)

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 (123)

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 (93)

Silence in the Library marks not only the return of Doctor Who to TV screens after a week’s absence but also easily the best episode of the season thus far. The Three who Rule waxed lyrical on the many excellent aspects of this Moffat-penned tome, speculated madly on the mysteries and plot twists sure to be answered next week, and of course digressed and went on mind-melting tangents as per usual.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #85 - Triumph of the Library: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (81)

With the villainy of Eurovision erasing Doctor Who from England’s screens for the week, all we were left with was a corking trailer for the second half of Season Four and the wonderful news that Steven Moffat, ace writer and life partner of the Third Guy, will take over whip cracking duties from Russell T Davies come 2010. And, as threatened last week, we actually did a commentary for “The Brain of Morbius”, one of Tom Baker’s more violent excursions from the classic series. This is by far the longest RFS we’ve ever done, so let us know by telegraph, carrier pigeon or new-fangled electronic mail if we’ve jumped the shark or whether you’d like to hear more of our extended ramblings on the Classic Series (which, given the semi-hiatus next year, you surely will in one form or another.)

 

 Radio Free Skaro #84 - The Brain of Moffatius: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (81)