The Three Who Rule tackled “Planet of the Ood” this week, one of the better efforts of Series Four and, due to the strange nature of the Ood visage, a chance to make many jokes about ladyparts. There were also terrible puns involving the word “ood.” Oodly enough (ouch.) Enjoy, all!
And with that, Radio Free Skaro reached 100 episodes. It’s been a strange trip for the Three Who Rule to internet femto-celebrity and renown as slightly amusing Whovian reprobates, but here we are. And we celebrate this milestone by beginning our Season Four commentaries with “Partners in Crime.” Allons-y!
More fake news and the continuation of our commentary for “Monster of Peladon” which, using our amazing ability to create nonsensical backstories to sustain interest, became a compelling after-school special about Ruprecht, the Special Needs Ice Warrior who just can’t get a break.
The Three Who Rule were joined by a fourth, RFS friend Michael, who not only chimed in with commentary but also provided Chris with much needed Internet tubes for said conversing. The subject at hand? “The Monster of Peladon,” one of Pertwee’s lesser lights. Our bile was relentless as we criticized just about everything this story had to offer…which was little to begin with. Enjoy!
Steampunk, a subculture devoted to recreating an overly ornate, technologically oriented version of the Victorian era, has been covered of late in mainstream media like the New York Times. When the mainstream media starts to take notice of a subgroup, that’s about when it’s on its way out, and Randy Nakamura’s article in Design Observer essentially skewers the steampunk “movement” as nothing but wishful thinking for a non-existent past….with knobs and brass.
Things took a turn for the psychedelic this week, as the Three Who Rule recorded a commentary for “The Claws of Axos”, a story best described as a product of its time. And what a time it was, with nasty video effects, UNIT mayhem, and the inimitable Bill Filer, Yankee Unit Operative and suave man of action. Filer!!
News was sparse this week, but all the better for us to leap into commentary on “The Five Doctors,” one of the most pleasurable bits of fanwank to grace the British small screen, at least until “The Stolen Earth.” Next week, the adventures of the intrepid Bill Filer in “Claws of Axos.” Whee!
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!
…and pretty much spent. This was my first time at the San Diego Comic Con, and I have to say it was something of an experience. Over 100,000 people, most of them in costume, hit the San Diego Convention Center every year, and both Hollywood and the comics and games industries show off their latest wares at what has become possibly the most important entertainment event of the year.
I spent most of my time lugging a tripod (I have the bruises on my arms to prove it), coordinating our three crews, and conducting interviews. Amongst the people I got to interview were Dave Gibbons, the artist responsible for the Watchmen, Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman, the people behind the Spectacular Spider Man cartoon, Dana Snyder (the guy who plays Master Shake on ATHF), the cast of Eureka, and Tori Amos. I also coordinated us interviewing the cast of BSG, which was pretty cool.
Myself and my buddy Rich (cameraman for our unit) only had 20 minutes in the whole con to hit the floor and buy anything for ourselves, but I managed to snag a bunch of graphic novels, a “Con exclusive” Domo-Kun for Mel, another “Con exclusive” (say it with a nerdy sniff in your voice) action figure pack of the 10th and 5th Doctors, and this sweet-ass shirt:
All in all, a fine four days.
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!