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.
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.
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.)
….and not a moment too soon. Heather Mallick points out that the ultimate “girlie” movie is less about female liberation than about rampant consumerism and empty, shallow competition to secure a rich husband. I can’t possibly match Mallick’s lovely bile, so check out her article yourself. She also name-checks and quotes professional misanthropeToby Young’s post about the SATC movie, which is OK by me. Time Out New York also points to the movie as unleashing a new wave of douchification on unsuspecting NY neighbourhoods, and how the show created the creature known as Julia Allison.
I for one will probably never see the SATC movie, but my sympathies go out to all those dragged to the film by a significant other. That just ain’t fair, and I recommend dragging that significant other to as crappy a revenge flick as possible. One of the Saw movies should do the trick.
In my brief tenure as a co-host for the (now-ended) Lab with Leo, I was able to pimp my own podcast, Radio Free Skaro, while explaining the dreaded Red Ring of Death on the Xbox 360. Many thanks to the intrepid Third Guy, my RFS co-host, for tracking down this clip.
Internet smart guy Clay Shirky recently gave a lecture about how big changes are masked by a calming influence until societies are ready to adapt. He points to gin as the dampening effect of the Industrial Revolution, with most Britain drunk and surly until they stopped seeing urbanism as a threat and started seeing it as an asset. Same with television, which narcotized a public faced with one-way communication and nuclear deterrence. Now we’re in a two-way age, with blogs and Wikipedia and Youtube, and we’re growing into a world where participation will be the norm, not the exception. Neat stuff.
In this gripping episode of Radio Free Skaro, the Three Who Rule discuss The Fires of Pompeii, the latest adventure for the Doctor and his erstwhile assistant Donna Noble….and not much else, really. It was a rather slow week for news, though much jocular speculation on the contents of the rest of the season did manage to fill some of the dead, dead air. Next week, fear the Ood!
Because of scheduling, a weekend trip for Warren, and various other bits of business, we were unable to record Radio Free Skaro #75 this Sunday. But rest assured, faithful listeners, we’ll try to get a show out early this week!
Meantime, here’s a Series 4 trailer straight from the BBC to whet your appetites…
Today on the Lab with Leo I did a segment about refilling ink cartridges. Throughout the course of the day magenta ink spread from my workstation to pretty much everyone and everything in the station. My hand took the brunt of the inky assault, as you can see here….
Today on the