Doctor Who: Gallifrey Public Radio

It makes perfect literary sense. How do you create a villain who is legitimately threatening, an engaging and interesting match for the protagonist’s strengths, but is not over-powerful? Simple solution: You take the hero, and make them evil. If someone is so near to your intellectual and capable equal in nearly all counts, the “chess match” is all the more balanced, and victory that much harder to attain. So it makes sense that Doctor Who showrunners would nurture such a perfect foil, and […]

Long Island Doctor Who arrived during the weekend of the Series 8 finale, and we were there to enjoy it with 1,300 other Whovians...and had the privilege to interview none other than Frazer Hines, Nicola Bryant, Terrance Dicks, Colin Baker, and Paul McGann.

For three months, we have journeyed with Peter Capaldi on his first series as the Doctor, and it has been every bit of the wild ride we had hoped for. Together, we battled clockwork droids, Daleks, and Cybermen. Side by side, we faced down new villainous threats like the Skovox, Blitzer and the hastily (poorly?) named “Boneless”. With his guidance, we found the hidden truths behind misunderstood monsters like the Teller and the Mummy. Spurred on by his relentless pursuit of adventure […]

With Missy’s identity revealed and the fate of Danny’s soul still in question, Whovians were primed and ready for Steven Moffat’s final offering for Series 8. But did he deliver? With the aforementioned nemesis in full madcap form, the triumphant reappearance of Kate Stewart and U.N.I.T., and a new twist on the a Cybermen invasion all vying for the viewer’s attention, there is likely more to discuss than we can possibly cover — But honestly, has that ever stopped us from trying before? […]

“Is this all there really is to life?” A simple question that has driven mankind’s curiosity, scientific research, and religious fervor since the dawn of time. And in all this time, there is still no definitive answer. So what might happen when, just for a hypothetical case, your girlfriend confesses her deepest love to you on the phone, catching you so off guard that you wander into the street and, say, get hit by a car? This week, we discuss the penultimate episode […]

Wood is used by humankind for countless applications, from building materials, to heating, to artistic expression, to novelty keychains you pay far too much for in gift shops at the beach. We cut down trees for seemingly any reason we can conjure. But what if the trees had enough of that practice? What if they decided to fight back? Such is the plot we all, including the Doctor, expected for the first 75% of the Series 8 episode, “In the Forest of the Night”. What […]

What would be the best way for a fledgling Doctor Who writer to handle being assigned the “Doctor-Light” episode of the series? Scare the crap out of us so that we forget everything else (i.e., “Blink”). Give the Companion, effectively left on their own, the chance to show how incredible they really are (i.e., “Turn Left”). Cheat like a lazy school kid, and scatter the Doctor all throughout the episode in the hopes that no-one notices. Jamie Mathieson appeared to like all three options, and […]

For the Doctor, the statement “I’ll be right there” can take far greater liberties than for the rest of us. So it’s not surprising that after centuries in his time line (and three series in ours), he finally returned that mysterious call, and made it to the Orient Express in space to come face to face with the mummy that apparently haunts it. This week, we discuss “Mummy on the Orient Express” and the first classically-styled murder mystery we’ve had on Doctor […]

Daleks, Zygons, Sontarans, Cybermen, Rutans, Slitheen, the list goes on and on. Planet Earth is no stranger to threats from alien species it knows virtually nothing about. Though seemingly a magnet for such invasions and plots, the Doctor has defended the human world and faced these foes many times, a Champion who has always been and will continue to be there to protect us, and help us, in our moment of — wait, where’s he running off to? This week, we travel to the […]

We all have that one friend. You know the one: the one you don’t let your other friends know you have; the one you only spend time with when no one is there to see. Some of us live in fear of (and some have already realized the horror of) the day when those two separate parts of our lives collide. Now, imagine your one friend is an alien whose idea of a compliment is telling you how relatively short your […]

What do you want most in the world? Do you want it bad enough to wipe your memory of any plan and blindly follow the vague instructions of a hooded figure and attempt to break into the most secure bank in the universe? Sounds like a great date idea, right? This week we discuss “Time Heist” and have fun with the tropes centered around bank robbery and heist stories. The Doctor fully takes center stage as he unravels the mystery […]

Have you ever caught yourself speaking out loud when no one else was around, or told yourself that the bump in the middle of the night you heard was the house settling? What if you were wrong? What if you have a constant companion,  but you will never, ever see them? Worse yet, what would happen if you did? This week we examine “Listen”, a suspenseful thriller from the mind of Steven Moffat that sends the Doctor and Clara bouncing through […]

We have all had that one fictional character that we longed to meet, regardless of the fact that they were…well, fictional. King Arthur, Malcolm Reynolds, Arthur Dent, the Doctor. Sure, we’re aware that it’s “impossible”, but how incredible would the experience would it be if it were to happen? This week, we’re venturing back in time to Sherwood Forest in 1190 (ish), as we review Robot of Sherwood, the third episode of Series 8. While Clara meets her childhood hero and his band of Merry […]

We are taking a step into the unknown and pondering the question: How do you get into a Dalek’s head? “Into the Dalek” is our second adventure with the 12th Doctor, and it flatly refuses to pull any punches. From his completely calculating and logical decisions, to the deep questions about morality, this is another dense episode for fans to approach, and we relish the chance to dig into it. Link Dump: Into the Dalek overnight figures Deep Breath gets record […]

  After eight agonizing months of waiting and curiosity as to the style, substance and ‘identity’ of the new Doctor-to-be, we finally arrive. The Series 8 premiere episode “Deep Breath” has brought us a tremendous performance by Peter Capaldi, and a triumphant return of Doctor Who to television. The scene has now been set for a darker and more serious Doctor cast among all the pudding-brained humans, and we here at GPR could not be more pleased. In our special (celebratory!) 100th […]