Seven/Religion (part two)

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott, along with guests Paul Callaghan and Dave Bloustien, return for the second half of our seventh live Splendid Chaps episode, recorded at The Public Bar in Melbourne on July 14, 2013. In part two we’re joined by the Reverend Doctor Avril Hannah-Jones, famously of the Church of the Latter Day Geek, to discuss religion and Doctor Who. Plus not one, but two musical numbers: one from guests Lee Zachariah and Adam Rudegeair – aka “Electric Menorah” – and one performed by the Splendid Chaps Seven audience!

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As mentioned on the past for part one, you can go into the draw to win the (Region 4) DVD box set Ace Adventures, featuring the stories Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol, from our good friends at BBC on DVD. Enter by commenting on this episode below (or on part one) with your questions, thoughts or feedback about the episode and religion in Doctor Who. Comment by August 10 to be in the running, and we’ll announce the winner at the recording of Eight/Science on August 11.

The Eight/Science viewing/listening list

As revealed at the recording of our last live episode, Seven/Religion, here is your homework viewing for Eight/Science, which will be recorded on August 11th at Bar Open in Melbourne (full show details here).

Your homework viewing for the Eighth Doctor is:

  • Doctor Who: The Movie

…okay, no surprises there. While we’ll mostly be sticking with discussion of Grace: 1999, you might enjoy listening to some Eighth Doctor Big Finish audio adventures. We suggest:

  • The Chimes of Midnight
  • The Silver Turk
  • Shada
  • the BBC7 series beginning with Blood of the Daleks

We’re talking about science in Doctor Who; here are some good (or bad) examples of science and scientists in the show:

  • The Daleks (William Hartnell, 1963; seven episodes)
  • Terror of the Autons (Jon Pertwee, 1971; four episodes)
  • The Masque of Mandragora (Tom Baker, 1976; four episodes)
  • Four to Doomsday (Peter Davison, 1982; four episodes)
  • The Lazarus Experiment (David Tennant, 2007; one episode)

There’s so much “science” in Doctor Who, though, that we could easily list dozens of other relevant stories; if you’re feeling enthusiastic, you might also want to watch The Daemons, Creature from the Pit, Logopolis, Aliens of London/World War Three, New Earth or The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky. Please share your own suggestions in the comments below!

Seven/Religion (part one)

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott discuss Sylvester McCoy’s time as the Doctor in this, the first part of our seventh live Splendid Chaps episode, recorded at The Public Bar in Melbourne on July 14, 2013. Yes, this was one of our biggest and most in-depth shows yet, and so we’ve decided to split it in half. In part one, our guests are author and game designer Paul Callaghan and television writer and comedian Dave Bloustien. Watch out for part two next week!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:57 — 25.7MB)

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To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or via this Feedburner feed.

Don’t forget you can go into the draw to win the (Region 4) DVD box set Ace Adventures, featuring the stories Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol, from our good friends at BBC on DVD. Enter by commenting on this episode below (or on part two, of course) and let us know what you think of Sylvester McCoy, Ace, the stories of the era or what you think about our discussion! Comment by August 10 to be in the running, and we’ll announce the winner at the recording of Eight/Science on August 11.

Eight/Science (live show)

The Doctor, mysterious saver of worlds, is summoned to collect the remains of his rival Time Lord, the Master. But it’s a trap: the Master forces the Doctor to land in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, 1999, where he is shot, taken to hospital and accidentally killed on the operating table by heart surgeon Grace Holloway. After a delay, the Doctor finally regenerates – but with no memory of his identity. He seeks out Grace, who helps him settle into his new personality: suave, energetic, romantic and full of enthusiasm, this new Doctor encourages those around him to live life to the fullest – sometimes by revealing little bits of their future. He manages to stop the Master from taking over his body and destroying the Earth, after which he kisses Grace farewell and goes on travelling alone.

Splendid Chaps is a year-long celebration of Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary: eleven live performances recorded as podcasts in which your brains will be fed, your funny bones tickled, and your hearts opened (yes, both of them!). Our eighth major episode brings us to the Doctor of the show’s “middle period” between classic and new Who – Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor. A cult figure thanks to his starring role in Withnail and I (alongside alternate Ninth Doctor Richard E Grant), McGann was a popular choice and garnered much kudos for his performance – but almost nothing else about the American co-produced telemovie seemed to please audiences on either of the Atlantic, and no new series was produced. It’s a weird moment in the so-called “wilderness years” between old and new Who.

It’s also National Science Week, so we’re looking at science in Doctor Who. Ostensibly science fiction, and starting out life with an educational remit, Doctor Who originally alternated between trips to historical events and sci-fi tales that were meant to teach us about science. But amongst the mad scientists, wobbly grasp of concepts like “black hole”, “neutron” and “constellation”, and the rather more fantastical bent of the post-2005 show, does Doctor Who actually depict real science in any meaningful way? Does it champion the idea of being “sciencey”? What does it get wrong, what does it get right, and what can we learn from it about science in either case?

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott are joined by a panel of actual scientists including biologist and geneticist Jack Scanlan , astrophysicist Dr Alan Duffy, and science communicator Allie Ford. Plus a musical performance from folk musician Hannah Pelka-Caven, and all the usual prizes and surprises!

Space: upstairs, Bar Open, 317 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Time: Sunday, August 11; recording starts 5 PM
Accessibility: We regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $15 (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available; released 23rd of August, 2013.

The Seven/Religion viewing/listening list

As revealed at the recording of our last live episode, Six/Clothes, here is your homework viewing for Seven/Religion, which will be recorded on July 14th at The Public Bar in Melbourne (full show details can be found here).

To discover the secrets of the Seventh Doctor, we recommend the following three television stories:

  • Remembrance of the Daleks
  • Ghost Light
  • Survival

We realise we’ve already recommended Ghost Light, for fear…but it’s so good! We had to double up. You may also like to watch Delta and the Bannermen to get the measure of Mel.

Since many of us feel that Sylv and Sophie were cut off in their prime, we’d also like to recommend some Seventh Doctor Big Finish audio adventures:

  • Colditz
  • A Thousand Tiny Wings
  • Magic Mousetrap
  • Live 34
  • Bang-Bang-a-Boom

We’re also exploring the theme of religion in Doctor Who, on which topic we reckon the following stories probably have the most interesting things to say:

  • The Aztecs (William Hartnell, 1963; four episodes)
  • The Daemons (Jon Pertwee, 1971; five episodes)
  • The Face of Evil (Tom Baker, 1977; four episodes)
  • Planet of Fire (Peter Davison, 1984; four episodes)
  • The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (David Tennant, 2006; two episodes)

We’ve revised this list a little since the podcast, to avoid doubling up too much; other relevant stories include The Crusades and The Myth Makers (well, what you can find of them), and the previously recommended stories The Curse of Fenric (Sylvester McCoy, 1989; four episodes), and Gridlock (David Tennant, 2007; one episode). If you have any other suggestions, please share them in the comments below!

Six/Clothes

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott discuss Colin Baker and clothes in Doctor Who in the sixth (well, okay…ninth) live Splendid Chaps episode, recorded at Agent 284 in Melbourne on June 15, 2013. Our guests for this episode are writer and podcaster Tansy Rayner Roberts (Galactic Suburbia, Verity!) and fangirl and theatre professional Zen Fletcher. We’ve spared you a narration of the cosplay competition (surprisingly visual for a podcast, is Splendid Chaps) but we do have too many prizes (we’ve gone maaaaaaad!) and musician Tim Cav bravely attempts to redeem that most infamous of Doctor Who tracks, “Doctor in Distress”. Massive thanks this episode to our sound engineer, David Ashton, and to John, who does all the editing, for delivering an excellent recording despite serious technical difficulties on the day.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:02 — 35.3MB)

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To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or via this Feedburner feed.

Don’t forget you can go into the draw to win a (Region 4) DVD box set of Trial of a Time Lord by commenting on this episode below! Are you a big Colin fan? Think Peri is the best companion ever? Tell us how we got it wrong! And we’d love to hear your thoughts on costumes and outfits from the show, and see photos of your best Doctor Who cosplay. Comment by July 13 to be in the running, and we’ll announce the winner at the recording of Seven/Religion on July 14.

Seven/Religion (live show)

Blustering Time Lord meddler the Doctor and his friend Mel are ambushed by fellow Time Lord The Rani, and as his TARDIS crashes he is mortally wounded and forced to regenerate. His new persona starts out highly eccentric, scatter-brained and confused – but as his personality settles, it become unclear how much of this is real, and how much obfuscation of his real agenda. Teaming up with Ace, a teenager from the 1980s who had already become lost in time and has a penchant for high explosives, he soon begins to tie up plans and schemes he’d started lifetimes ago… 

Splendid Chaps is a year-long celebration of Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary: eleven live performances recorded as podcasts in which your brains will be fed, your funny bones tickled, and your hearts opened (yes, both of them!). Our seventh episode in our main series discusses the Seventh and final Doctor of what we now call the classic era, played by variety performer and actor Sylvester McCoy. Famous for escapology, spoon playing and putting ferrets down his trousers, McCoy’s casting raised a few eyebrows, but his performance changed many doubters’ minds – especially when combined with Sophie Aldred as Ace, and under the new direction provided by the incoming production team under Andrew Cartmell. Of course, no-one knew that the program’s days were numbered…

We’re also looking at the theme of “religion” in Doctor Who. The Doctor has been all across space and time and encountered zealots, fanatics, kindly priests, and beings who believed themselves to be gods or demons or the devil himself. But what does the program say about religion, faith and belief? Is the Doctor Who universe truly a rational one in which the supernatural is really just advanced science, or is The Beast really the Devil? Is faith worthwhile, and if so, what does the Doctor believe?

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott are joined by guests including writer and game designer Paul Callaghan, comedian and television writer Dave Bloustien, and for our discussion of religion, the Reverend Dr Avril Hannah-Jones, Uniting Church minister and founder of the Church of the Latter Day Geek (as seen on Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight)! Plus a very special musical performance from the one and only Lee Zachariah accompanied by the two and only Adam Rudegeair, and all the usual prizes and surprises!

Space: The Public Bar, 238 Victoria Street, North Melbourne (opposite Victoria Markets)
Time: Sunday, July 14; recording starts 5 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $15 (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: “Seven/Religion” released in two parts on the 23rd (part one) and 30th (part two) of July, 2013.

Spoilers and Surprises at Continuum 9: Contraindicators

Splendid Chaps is a year-long celebration of Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary: eleven live performances recorded as podcasts in which your brains will be fed, your funny bones tickled, and your hearts opened (yes, both of them!).

Well…we say eleven. We’re recording a special edition of the Splendid Chaps podcast as part of Continuum 9: Contraindicators, the ninth annual Melbourne speculative fiction and pop culture fan convention, all about spoilers and surprises in Doctor Who!

From leaked torrents to give-away titles, from shock deaths to surprise guests, Who has done it all. So do spoilers ruin everything? Are cliffhangers an integral part of the show? And just how important is plot, anyway? Joining John, Ben and Petra for this episode are author George Ivanoff (the Gamers series, Life, Death and Detention) and author and podcaster Kirstyn McDermott (Madigan Mine, Perfections, Caution: Contains Small Parts, The Writer and the Critic). Plus we’ll have prizes, loveliness and a special performance!

As this episode won’t include a break, we won’t have time to get audience questions at the recording – so we’d like to hear from you now! What are your favourite cliffhangers in Who? Do you avoid spoilers? Are the teasers for upcoming episodes too much? Should titles ending in of the Daleks be banned? Is surprise really important to plot? Let us know below, on Facebook or on Twitter! If you are attending the con, you’ll also have a chance to write down questions before we begin.

Space: Earth/Fire rooms, ether, lower level 265 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Time: Sunday, June 8, 4:30 to 6 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: This event is part of the Continuum 9: Contraindicators fan convention. You will require a convention membership to attend.
Bookings: day and weekend memberships are available at continuum.org.au; you can also become a member at the door, though note this is more expensive.
Podcast: not yet available; release date TBC.

The Six/Clothes viewing (and listening) list

As revealed at the recording of our last live episode, Five/Fear, here is your homework viewing for Six/Clothes, which will be recorded on June 15th at Agent 284 in Melbourne (full show details can be found here).

If the Sixth Doctor is new to you, we recommend the following three television stories to see him in his prime:

  • Revelation of the Daleks
  • Vengeance on Varos
  • The Mysterious Planet (aka Trial of a Time Lord episodes 1-4) 

Fan wisdom, of course, suggests that Colin Baker really hits his stride off television – in his extraordinarily popular run of Big Finish audio adventures, where he has found a new legion of fans. We’d like to suggest a few of those, too:

  • The Holy Terror
  • The One Doctor
  • Jubilee
  • Doctor Who and The Pirates
  • Davros

And there’s some thought that the Sixth Doctor’s greatest adventure is actually in print: the comic Voyager from 1984, collected and reprinted in 1989 and 2007.

We’re also exploring the wonderful world of clothes – costumes, fashion and design – and while it’s hard to really pick just a few stories, here’s what we’ve come up with as a sampler of the show’s rich history of sartorial elegance and variety in design:

  • The Chase (William Hartnell, 1965; six episodes)
  • Robots of Death (Tom Baker, 1977; four episodes)
  • The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Tom Baker, 1977; four episodes)
  • Black Orchid (Peter Davison, 1982; two episodes)
  • Gridlock (David Tennant, 2007; one episode)

We freely admit to including The Chase entirely for Barbara’s cardigan. We wanted something from the new series, but nothing particularly stood out to us that wasn’t just a more recent example of something from the classic series (e.g. historical costumes, space outfits etc.). So we picked Gridlock for its variety – the Cats, the occupants of the cars, etc.  We welcome your suggestions! (The End of the World is good for the same reasons, but we’re saving it for Nine.)

A few stories we’ve already listed as homework for previous episodes also fit this theme rather nicely, including Snakedance and Ghost Light. Can you think of any others? Share your suggestions in the comments below!

Six/Clothes (live show)

While visiting Androzani Minor, youthful explorer the Doctor and his friend Peri are accidentally poisoned and caught up in a civil war. Risking life and limb for his friend, the Doctor finds an antidote just in time to save Peri – but there’s only enough for one. He regenerates, but the poison makes the process difficult, and he emerges unstable and belligerent, suffering violent outbursts and unpredictable mood swings before finally settling into his new, brash persona. Arrogant, bombastic and larger than life, this new Doctor sees himself as superior to those around him, always willing to give his opinion and correct mistakes as well as right wrongs. Yet he still retains the curiosity and good intentions of his predecessor – something that shows more often as he re-establishes his friendship with Peri… 

Splendid Chaps is a year-long celebration of Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary: eleven live performances recorded as podcasts in which your brains will be fed, your funny bones tickled, and your hearts opened (yes, both of them!). Our sixth outing discusses the sometimes controversial Sixth Doctor, played by actor Colin Baker. Better known for playing villains and bullies – including Time Lord Commander Maxil in the Peter Davison story Arc of Infinity – Baker dug into the character’s past, bringing back some of William Hartnell’s arrogance and pomposity in order to offer a different take to his good-natured predecessor. It was a turbulent time to become the Doctor, though, as the show was suspended for 18 months, put on trial by the powers that be, and finally forced to make drastic changes – including firing the lead actor.

Most people, of course, remember Six for that outfit, and so this episode we discuss Clothes. Few programs have as broad-ranging a costume design remit, with new worlds, eras and civilisations needing to be created every week. Not to mention that an eccentric Time Lord and his companions need to find clothes that are practical in any situation, from soulless steel corridors to rocky alien landscapes, polar caps and the inside of volcanoes. Oh, and they need to be fashionable in any era… It’s a big ask, and as The Discontinuity Guide reminded us, there were fashion victims as well as triumphs.

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott are joined by writer and podcaster Tansy Rayner Roberts (Galactic Suburbia, Verity), and theatre professional, fangirl and cosplayer, Zen Fletcher. We’ll also have a special musical performance, prizes, surprises – and a fashion show!

Yes, we want to see your best cosplay and Doctor Who related sartorial creations – and there will be prizes on offer. So come along dressed as your favourite Doctor, companion, villain, or anything you like related to Doctor Who – we’ll let you show off your work and you might just win a prize for your trouble!

Space: Agent 284, 284 Smith Street, Collingwood
Time: Saturday, June 15; recording starts 4 PM
Accessibility: We regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $15 (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via trybooking.com or at the door (subject to availability)
Podcast: not yet available; released 23rd of June, 2013.