Round Table – December 2024

Garry: Foreign. Hey, hey, hey who fans and welcome to the Big Blue Box Podcast. My name's Garry.

Maria: My name's Maria.

Harry: My name's Harry.

Jordan: And I'm Jordan.

Garry: And welcome to the December Roundtable. Hey, hey, hey, you lot. We hope you are keeping well and safe. We hope you've had a cracking couple of months into last Round table and that you've all managed to do something Doctor who.

Maria: Related.

Garry: Harry's going.

Harry: Related.

Garry: Sorry, the intrusive.

Harry: The intrusive thoughts. 1. I'm sorry.

Garry: I thought Harry had frozen but he kept going. Impressive. Welcome, dear Big Blue Box listener, to another roundtable. We weren't here last month, apologies, we're all fairly busy. We all got jobs, uni, teal television to watch, cups of tea to drink somewhere the tea's getting cold so we have to consume as much tea as possible. So we are back though for December and the old, the old Christmas special roundtable. We're going to talk about a couple of bits in the news that have landed one of them today in fact, but some recent Doctor who knew and we've got a bit of a chin wag on Doctor who Christmas specials and which is our fave or. Or absolutely not. Fave is probably going to be the. The topic on this one and then we're going to finish up with what these guys views are looking forward to into 2025. What can we expect from Doctor who? Some potential ups and downs already. Hopefully ups. And as we crack on. It's been another. Bloody hell, it's been another really fast year. I know everybody says that every time, every Christmas, every December, when you talk to people especially like work colleagues, people you haven't seen in a while, first words out your mouth. And this year gone quick, hasn't it? Gone quick? So, yeah, technically love, it's gone exactly the same speed as every other year, but. Yeah, but when you put it like that, yeah, it's gone quick. Whatever. But it has gone quick and just some omissions to mention, sadly, no Matt on this one. Matt's busy and no Adam. So Adam, Mr. Co Host, he's back in Old Blighty. He came back from the US a couple of days ago but he's, he's acclimatizing getting back into, you know, it's like jet lag starts kicking your ass a little bit and you're not really in the mood. Definitely not in the mood to talk to me. Absolutely not. Not in a mood for that rubbish. So. Yeah, but we are hoping to record actually and do because we have One more. Believe it or not, we only have one new Doctor who episode left on the schedule to do, and funnily enough, it's a Christmas special. It's the only one left, A Christmas Carol, so we either get to it and do it, otherwise it's going to be another year that we just leave it on the. On the spreadsheet. So we'll. We'll come to that, I'm sure. But let's get the intros rocking and rolling. Let's bring the team on. The fab trio. Maria, how are you?

Maria: Hi, Garry. Yeah, I'm good. I've got my Christmassy tipple here, a little bit of Bailey to lubricate my throat.

Garry: We're in for it now.

Maria: I had a razor throat this week, so, you know, this is purely medicinal, you understand.

Garry: Of course.

Maria: So, yes, I have that. In regards to whether I've done something Doctor who related, I. I have done something that's kind of Doctor who related in that I did watch the Box of Delights on Terrestrial tv, and I kind of vaguely remember it when I was growing up. I. I didn't remember a lot of it, but I'd kind of watched a couple of podcasts that had reviewed it, and obviously they were. They were talking about the new Blu Ray that's coming out or that's come out, and I thought I must watch it. I thought it was something that I remember was quite cherished. So I really enjoyed that. It does have Patrick Troughton in it. Not for as long, not for as many episodes as I kind of expected. He's probably only in about two and a half episodes, but for its time, it's actually really, really good. I really enjoyed it. It's kind of that kind of children's drama, the way it used to be done. So, you know, you've got lots of rich characterization, you've got lots of actors that we would know from Doctor who in there as well, I think, and probably a few that we don't. But overall I really enjoyed it. I kind of watched it over the last couple of Saturdays that it was on, and, you know, quite nice. It was kind of like, you know, settling down after dinner, watching that and kind of really enjoying it. So I watched that and then I also, after watching that, because it's quite. It's a Christmasy story that kind of got me in the mood for actually watching some of the Christmas specials. And I didn't know we were obviously going to talk about them today on the podcast, but I actually sat down and I watched Three Christmas specials so I'm quite, I'm feeling quite Christmassy. Oh, and I've had my Christmas lunch at work today, so that was quite nice. I'm feeling quite chilled today and quite happy.

Garry: Nice. So you're Christmased all the way up, ready to.

Jordan: I am.

Garry: To hit 25th. Yeah. Nice.

Maria: I am.

Garry: You know, got your eggnog or your Baileys or whatever it is as well. Very nice.

Maria: I don't know if it's like eggnog. I think I've had eggnog and I don't think eggnog is very nice but you know, but Bailey's is better.

Garry: Very nice. Maria and I concur on the Box of Delights cracking series from back in the day that I believe they're putting it on BBC2 or something or they have done or they're going to. Something like that. The remastered one that they released recently on Blu Ray.

Maria: Ah, okay.

Garry: Yeah. It was way ahead of its time though, if I remember correctly. Like it had some, they had a reasonable amount of money for some effects and, and whatnot.

Maria: Well, I, I loved them. There's one effect that you get early on which is where Patrick Troughton walks into a picture and I thought, I thought, I thought for the time I thought it was really clever and I think that's obviously maybe where Steven Moffat got his idea when he was doing Day of the Doctor, you know, when we have the picture with the, the, the moving characters within it, you know, maybe, maybe he stole a few ideas.

Garry: Oh, he probably did, didn't he? He definitely did. 100. Yeah, but no, it's, it's a good, it is a very good. If you've not. Listener. If you've not seen the Box of Delights before, if you're, if you're sitting there thinking what the bloody hell are they talking about? It's a very cool series from. I think it's like the early 90s, late 80s. Around that time. Patrick Trouton, as Maria said. And yeah, it's cool, little, cool little kids kids story. But anyway, glad you're doing well, Maria, and you're in the Christmas mood. Harry.

Harry: Hello.

Garry: How are you doing, buddy?

Harry: I'm doing all right, Garry. I'm looking forward to a bit of time off over Christmas with some loved ones watching Doctor who. But to be honest, more looking forward to Wallace and Gromit if I'm being completely honest there same. Yeah, but Doctor who should still be alright. I've done a little bit of Doctor who related stuff lately. I have watched the Odd Episode here and there, just to chill out. Random episode, whatever. I feel. Bit of McCoy, bit of Capaldi, that kind of vibe recently. And the big thing, of course, is among a few of us on the Big Blue Blocks team, I have booked a ticket to Capital Cutaway next April in London, which is exciting. And we're all meeting up there. It'll be the first time we'll all be in a room together and it's gonna be. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty wicked. So. So I'm really looking forward to that. Looking forward to that more than Christmas, to be honest.

Garry: Wow, that is going to be cool, isn't it? I was going to mention that a bit later on. We're all. Yeah, we're all going to be under the same roof. That's going to be crazy. Believe it. Yeah. Some listeners will be like, how you guys, especially I. I get the feeling that because I travel quite a lot with work and travel in general anyway, and whenever I'm in North America, I always get the same thing. It's like, where are you from? You near London? You must live near London. I'm like, no, not really. I used to. And then it's like, oh, what do you do when we get onto hobbies and podcasts and stuff, talk about the Round Table and Adam and you guys and stuff like that. It's like, oh, you guys must be in the same room recording this. You must all live very close together. I'm like, nope, not at all. And it's a bit of a shock, like. So you've never. You've never. I think, Jordan, I don't think you and I have actually ever met face to face. Same with Matt.

Jordan: Yeah, no, I don't think. I don't think we have.

Harry: I've met Matt. You've met Matt?

Jordan: Yeah, yeah. Not you and not Harry either. So.

Garry: Yeah, I've seen. I've seen Maria a few times, Harry. Have you. Have we met face.

Harry: We met briefly at London Film and Comic Con a few years ago. This was before I. Yeah, I'm the.

Maria: I'm the girl that travels. And you and Adam both probably come to the same events that I've been to. So, yeah, we've. We've met in person. I know. You know, I know you're quite normal, Garry, so that's quite reassuring.

Garry: Yeah. Yeah, well, normal, I think for us a lot is a stretch. But yeah, next year, Capital cutaway. If you've not get. Got your ticket yet, it sounds like a really cool day. Somebody mentioned it. One of us, one of the team here mentioned it a few months ago. It might have been Jordan and Maria. When you had booked your tickets, I was like, oh, here we go, here's another. Here's another bloody event. Another one. Let's have a look. I looked at. I thought, that's actually really good. And it's perfect timing as well because Christmas is out the way. Few months to save up to spend on the many hundreds of pounds they charge for autographs and signatures and photos and whatnot. So, yeah, it's going to be cool. So, listener, if you're in the uk, or definitely in the south of the country and you can get to London, I think it's in eight. I think it's April 15th. 10th, 5th. April 5th, the 5th, isn't it? Yes. Got there in the end. April 5th. Run by the official Doctor who Appreciation Society as well. So, yeah, it's gonna be good. Anyway. Jordan, Harry, are you done? Sorry, dude, Are you done?

Harry: Yeah, that's it for me.

Garry: Don't want to cut you short, buddy. Yeah, Jordan, how are you, buddy?

Jordan: I'm all right, thank you. Yeah, not too bad.

Garry: Jordan's. Jordan's been quite of late because, as we told you a few months ago, he's absolutely smashing it doing his acting course in uni. So. Yeah, how's that going, dude? You said it's going really well.

Jordan: I think that's going pretty well.

Maria: Yeah.

Jordan: I passed my first. My first assessment. I've done a couple of shows and things for the third years and made everybody laugh in the audience and wasn't supposed to be a comedy. And then I opened my mouth and the line came out quite fine. I was like, I knew this was supposed to be funny. Just go for it, guys. He just did it. It's like a comedy and it went down really well, so.

Garry: Oh, cool.

Jordan: That's an actor's intuition is what that is. That's. That's, that's what that is. But, yeah, no, I've. I've been enjoying it and I have actually bought a bit of Doctor who to university because we've got a theory lesson and every. We do like a lecture and a seminar. Then every seminar we normally have to go away and find a piece of art as art and culture and things that fits in with all this stuff. So you've been doing like gender identity class. I think one we've done is modernism. Every time I found a Doctor who example. So every seminar the lecturer will be like, and Jordan, what episode of Doctor who have you got for us today? I'd be like, well, Ian, I'm glad you asked because I have got Oxygen or Ghost Light or. Or Frontier in Space. I'm glad you've asked me that question, Ian. So I, I have been kind of doing some Doctor who stuff as well on top, so.

Garry: Oh, that's cool though. So you're representing. Representing Doctor who even at uni. Nice. Yeah, yeah, It'd be like, so what's your dissertation going to be on? Oh, don't worry, we know the answer, Jordan.

Jordan: Yeah, it's gonna have words. Doctor who in it somewhere.

Garry: Oh, nice one, dude. That's very cool. So, yeah, that's what the team has been up to. God knows what Matt's been up to. Probably buying Doctor who stuff that he shouldn't be buying. Actually, some of us have been on our PlayStations quite a lot. I've noticed that Harry got a new toy couple of weeks ago, a few weeks back.

Harry: And yeah, I may have treated myself to a little early Christmas gift.

Garry: Yeah, we didn't know that the three of us. So Harry, Matt and myself, we didn't realize that all three of us were a PlayStation gamer. So we added ourselves on there and log on there. Which one of them's online now? It's Harry playing Spider Man. So yeah, that's been cool, but about.

Harry: 21 hours into it already. Crikey, that's a lot for me. Short, Relatively short period of time. Yeah, loving it.

Jordan: It's.

Harry: It's amazing. The. I know it's not a Spider man podcast, but yeah, it's a, It's a pretty awesome game.

Garry: Do you know what, guys? Just very quickly, we are in desperate need of a really good AAA high budget Dr. Who video game because I think over the last couple of decades we've been treated to like online web only games or fun little CD ROM games over the years. And I think they were, I think the closest we got was the LEGO Doctor who. Remember when they released, I think it's called LEGO Dimensions and you actually got the physical figures that you put on the little pads and you play them in the game. There were some really cool. They did a great job on that with the, with, with Doctor who and changing throughout all the characters and the TARDIS interior changed and think Hartnell's one was black and white and everything. So that was amazing. But we need a proper, decent, story driven, great Doctor who video game. We really do. I'm so surprised that's not happened yet.

Jordan: Like, you mean to imply that the Doctor who Top Trump's video game that came out was not the best video game.

Garry: I will say hand on heart, that how in. Regardless of how enjoyable that is, it's not. I wouldn't class that as AAA high budget stuff.

Jordan: Yeah.

Garry: Triple Zip Z. Yeah. The bargain bucket end of the video game. So anyway, that would be very cool. Any game developers listening? Game designers there hit us up. We normally put the worlds to rights with every other bloody storyline that's been out. So we can help you with all your. One. So.

Harry: And, and Garry and I, we've got some of that software skillage, so maybe we should, you know, maybe that transfers.

Garry: Yes. Yeah. New company being set up soon. Yeah. Tardis Productions or whatever you want to call it. Chameleon Circuit Productions. I don't know. Anyway, let's talk about some new, shall we, peeps? Today was announced. Actually, before we get on to today's news, how are you guys feeling about the war games in color? Because that was a. That of a thing that dropped and everyone got their knickers in a twist about that as well. What your thoughts on that?

Maria: I'm. I'm excited. I think it will be really good to see the TARDIS team in color. Obviously, if they're cutting it down to 90 minutes, they're going to probably cut two thirds of the story out. And I'm not saying that 10 episodes doesn't need a little bit of trimming, but it'll be interesting to see what they include and what they exclude, really, because I think that the last two episodes are actually pretty good. So if you're thinking in terms of what those 45 minutes, let's say the last two episodes, that means you're probably only going to have another 45 minutes to include from eight episodes. I'm just assuming they're going to keep the last two episodes as they are, but. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they actually keep in. I hope it's not as choppy as the Daleks are, but I have a horrible feeling it probably will be. I was hoping to kind of watch the original story again before transmission of the colorized version, but I haven't had time. But. But yeah, I'm. I'm generally excited. I hope it's a step up from the editing on the last one, because if it's as bad then. I mean, I don't. But I. I wouldn't. I don't buy the colorized episodes anyway. But yeah, it'll be. Be a bit disappointing if it's. If it's as choppy as it was on the Last story.

Garry: Yeah, yeah, I agree. Jordan, are you up for it, not for it or take it?

Jordan: I'm looking forward to it. I think I'm more interested in seeing what they, how they edit this together. Because it's about three, nearly four hours, I think, when you watch all 10 episodes together. So 90 minutes, what's that, about an hour and a half?

Garry: Yeah.

Jordan: So, yeah, I'm going to be. I mean, the good thing about the War Games is the first episode is brilliant, second episode is brilliant and then the last two episodes are brilliant and everything in the middle is brilliant. But it's. We've run around, we've got captured, we've escaped, we've run around, we've got captured. There is, there is a fair bit of that that goes on that can probably just go, yeah, out the, out the beam. So. But no, I'm looking forward to it. I'm interested. And it actually looks like the color might be better because I think, look, I don't. I'm not sure about what the quality of the tape was for the Daleks, but it, there were bits where it was like, oh, that still looks like it's in black and white, but from the trailer of the War Games actually looks like everything is pretty vibrant and pretty colorful because I think that the quality is a bit better. But I'm unfortunate. And there's the regeneration bit at the, the end, which I'm not 100% sold on, but it'll be an interesting thing to see nonetheless. So, you know, it'll be, it'll be an interesting thing. I'm looking forward to it though. I am. It's going to be a late night for me on, on Monday because there's that. And then they're repeating one of the older ghost stories for Christmas that had La Ward in it. So I'm like, oh, I'll watch that afterwards.

Garry: Oh, nice.

Jordan: So it'll be a late night Monday night for me.

Maria: One of, one of my initial thoughts was when they, when they announced it was why the War Games? Because Obviously it's a 10 episode story originally and you would have thought they would have picked something that was maybe four parts, you know, that maybe was a. Something like the Mind Robber maybe, which, you know, might have been a really good story, but it kind of makes sense now in terms of the, the Blu Ray announcement. You know, they're obviously thinking commercially for this. I think, you know, it's no coincidence, I suppose, with that announcement. So I guess that answers that question.

Garry: Yeah, it's a good commercial move. Yeah, it's one of Trouton's most well known.

Maria: Probably the only thing that I've.

Garry: It's probably, definitely the only thing. If you're a Trout and fan, it's probably in your top five for sure.

Maria: Yeah, yeah. The only, the only thing I kind of thought of was obviously they want to add the regeneration in. And that's the only thing that I'm kind of unsure about because if the original production team didn't want to include it, you know, for whatever creative reason or time reason. Is it, is it, is it right that they actually put that in because it's something new that wasn't there in the original? I think that would be my only, only concern really, about whether that was actually necessary to put in again. Again.

Garry: Are you having a Tom Baker Genesis of the Daleks moment?

Maria: Yeah. Do they have the right. And I don't think they do, to be honest. I think, I think it's creative license gone too far. I mean, you know, people will probably be interested to see it, but, you know, it's not, it wasn't there in the original, so why, why include something like that? I think that's my only thing as a, as a fan of obviously the classic series. I'm thinking, well, you know, who's, who, who makes these creative choices? Who decides what's going to be included in and what isn't? Yeah, I suppose, thinking about it in a bit more depth, I mean, if they decided just to color, just to colorize the original and not include something new in it, you know, that wasn't there in the original, I, you know, I'd probably be happier about that.

Garry: Gotcha. But yeah, you're a purist when it concerns where it concerns classic who. Nobody messes with classic who.

Maria: Well, think about it this way, Garry. You're, you're, you're a creative with the podcast. I'm sure if somebody came along in 20 years time and found your podcast and decided that they were going to cut things out and put things in and we repurpose it for a new audience, but you didn't have any input into that, I'm sure you'd be mightily peed off. You'd be getting your, your walking stick or your frame or whatever it is you have, and you'd be getting angry about it, wouldn't you?

Garry: I don't know. I mean, there's so much waffle on this podcast. I mean, if somebody wants to chop a load of it out, then it'd be much better for the listener. I'm sure. And if it happened that far in the future that when I'm gone then you know, have at it. You know, I'm not going to be bothered either way at that point. But I know what you mean though. I know exactly what you mean. And I think that's where a lot of people online started to get their knickers in a twist on it, where they weren't bothered so much about the colorization. You know, everyone thinks that's pretty cool for modern audiences. If you want to watch it in color or if you still want to watch it in black and white, it's up to you. I think it's more the edit and the. The. And popping the regen in but hot take. Yeah, Yeah.

Harry: I like the fact that they're adding a regeneration.

Garry: Oh, Harry's up for it. Yeah, I know you would be.

Harry: Here's my, here's my thinking. I love like YouTube fan edits that, that people do that are like people who are really good with like Photoshop but as a video. So videoshop where they, they edit, I don't know, like two doctors meeting that would never meet up, that kind of thing. And I think, you know, like this is, this is really cool stuff. I'd love to see them do stuff like this in the show. So if they edit a really good scene, like they produce something which seems convincing enough and it sort of bridges the gap between Patrick Troughton and John Pertwee, then I'll be happy with that. I think it's cool. And what Russell T. Davis is really adamant about with this is that it doesn't replace the War Games. It's a separate version of the War Games. The War Games, the original is still the 10 part version. And let's be honest, it will probably be better because if the Daleks is anything to go by that was. I personally feel really badly edited and really badly truncated and I thought you probably better going off with like a four part story for a colorization. Why would you pick the 10 episode long serial and truncate it to 90 minutes? It. It doesn't really make sense to me that. But it should be a really nice colorization. It looks a lot prettier than the Daleks did. I'm gonna watch it anyway and yeah, I think the regeneration will be cool, but let's see how it turns out.

Garry: So Harry is having his Tom Baker moment and he would have absolutely murdered all of them in one shot. It seems actually Genesis of the Daleks, that's your fave story, isn't it, that's your, your number one, right?

Harry: Did I put it as my, I think I put City City of Death as my favorite.

Garry: No way.

Harry: Yeah.

Garry: You put Genesis of the Daleks as your favorite when I last asked you.

Harry: It's up there.

Garry: But not anymore. It's not in the number one spot anymore.

Harry: No, no. I mean, I think I like all of season 13 more than anything in season 12. Season 13 is a, is a gorgeous, gorgeous season. But, sorry, I think, I think Genesis fans. Yeah, sorry, Genesis fans, but City of Death is the best Tom Baker story, the best classic. Who story.

Garry: Is that City of Death with that bit of music that plays a billion times every three minutes. Yeah, gotcha. Yeah.

Harry: So the one you were singing, Garry, sounded a bit like the one that they put into Sharda. The.

Garry: Oh yes.

Harry: Could be the one where they added all the animated bits because they were kind of riffing a bit, a bit off City of the City of Death soundtrack in that. Which was cool.

Garry: Probably is, mate. Yep. So that's the War Games. Our view on that. Maria is absolutely livid about this.

Maria: I, I am actually thinking about it. You're not wrong, actually, Garry. I mean, you know, I'm on the one hand, I, I love to see Patrick Troughton in color. I mean that, you know, that's, you know, and I'm hoping it's going to be true to life in terms of obviously the colorization. But, but yeah, this kind of adding things in that weren't there originally, you know. And is it, is it going to make somebody want to explore John Pertwee? Possibly. You know, I, I suppose they have their reasons for doing it. I mean, sometimes I, I just think, you know, do we need to speak, be spoon fed and kind of shown everything, you know, everything, you know, every single second. You know, can we not use our imaginations anymore and, and kind of imagine, you know, the regeneration took place. I mean, I, I, because I, I, I don't know obviously whether they're going to use the new style, sorry, the new series style of regeneration with all the fire and the, you know, and, you know, that kind of regeneration energy or whether they're going to change it. And I think one of the nice things was about the regenerations that you had in the classic era was they were all different and they all look different and everyone's got their favorite. So, you know, well, maybe, maybe this.

Garry: Will be some people's new favorite. Maybe if, if this, if this is a springboard for at least, you know, a handful of new fans to start diving into classic who, then that's not a bad thing, right? That can't be a bad.

Harry: I don't mean to be persnickety here, but I think what I'd rather is seeing that gap bridge between those two doctors rather than yet another, like, I don't know, a few years down, down the line. Oh, by the way, there's yet another secret doctor that was between Patrick Troughton and John Purty. No, I don't want any more of this recorded. I just, yeah, I'm, I'm happy to have that gap.

Garry: Fair enough, guys, fair enough.

Maria: Yeah, they better not have Joe Martin in there because I'll be very, very, very, very, very annoyed.

Garry: Yeah, we'll have to go around and check on Maria if we see any of that going on.

Harry: The candor.

Garry: Yeah, we better move on. Maria's. Yeah, she's like the Hulk. Don't like Maria. She's angry. The other bit of news was the season seven. John Pertwee's first season has been announced as the latest Blu Ray collection box set up for pre order. Lee Binding put something on his Instagram today saying that Season 7 out of all of the box sets was the worst kept secret. Apparently everybody knew about this about two months ago. I think it all started right when somebody accidentally put something on, on Instagram or something, somebody who works at the BBC or somebody like that. They, they were doing a, they were trying to be clever and doing a bit of a tease. It's like, what do you, you know, guess what the next Doctor who collection is going to be? And they didn't realize that I could be wrong in this, but they didn't realize that on their screen, on their desk they had the details or a picture of Pertweet or something to do with the box set on this on their monitor. And so that went obviously viral. They deleted it fairly quickly, but it was too late. You know, the cat was out of the bag at that point. So for months now they've been sort of rolling along with this, like, oh, it could be that. It could be season seven. You'll have to find out, you know, when we announce it. But we knew it was, we knew it was the case. So, guys, season seven, the only thing I'd say on this is I would say we're probably going to get three decent versions out of the four episodes because we've had Spearhead From Space released a few times, DVD and Blu Ray. And the latest release they did on Blu Ray was really good. The picture quality was very, very Cool. So I can't imagine they're going to be able to. To do much more with that, I reckon, other than the special features, of course. I think that that story itself will just be reasonably similar, I would have thought, to the existing Blu Ray release that we've got. And then the other three episodes, I'm not sure. In the middle too. I mean, Inferno is an absolute belter. That's one of my favorite Pertwee stories. So the. The bookending that season is amazing. The two middle ones, I'm not too sure. But what. Jordan, what do you think to. To season seven?

Jordan: I'm looking forward to it. I like season seven. Yeah. No, like you, I thought Spearhead has already come out on Blu Ray, so they're not. Yeah, they're not going to have to do any work on that particularly.

Maria: Yeah.

Jordan: I'm not a huge fan of the Silurians. I think seven episodes, it's a long story. I think that could have. Even if they've just chopped one episode out, I think that would have been fine. And the same with Ambassadors of Death, although I prefer Ambassadors of Death. I think that's. The bets are one out of the two, because I think you've got some nice stuff with Liz and Unit and other characters and that which aren't you don't really have in Silurians. And, you know, Inferno's brilliant. And Inferno suits the seven episodes because it sort of starts off, you get halfway through and then he's in a parallel universe. So it has enough of the story that it can do the shift. Although looking at the pictures, there's three discs for Inferno, so I don't know what they're doing with that one, whether or not it was a bit of a thingy. And there was supposed to be two episodes for Ambassadors, two discs rather for Ambassadors and two discs for Inferno, but there's only one disc for Spearhead, so.

Garry: Right, yeah. How many episodes, Spearhead? Four.

Jordan: Yeah.

Garry: Yes.

Jordan: Yes. The only four part story in that series. I think the rest of them are all seven or eight and they think yes.

Garry: Yeah, you're right.

Jordan: But I'm looking forward to it because I love Lee Shaw. I think she's a really good companion. Obviously you've got the Brigadier. It's sort of start of all that Unit family. John Pertwee's very good from the get go. He doesn't need any sort of warming up. He's brilliant from the get go. So it's a very, very strong season. And then I think there's only one More to go. We've got all of Pertwee's, then we've just got Sarah Jane's first season and then that's it. But no, I'm looking forward to it. And I'll be interested to watch the special features because I love the behind the sofa special features, so it'll be interesting to see if they've got like Jan coding or ever on. Let's see what she makes of some of the special special 70s effect she is on there.

Garry: Yeah, yeah, Yep. That'd be cool. Yeah. It does say that all the episodes are newly remastered, so it sounds like they have.

Jordan: They've obviously done something with Spearhead then. Yeah, because the last Blu Ray one was pretty good because I've got it on the steel book. I think it came out and that was pretty decent. I was, I was quite impressed by it. And then you watch the DVD version, you're like, oh, yeah, no, I can see they have done work on it. Okay, so they might, they must have done something, Something maybe that's new technology or something that they can.

Garry: Yeah, yeah. Really?

Jordan: Remaster, remaster.

Garry: Yeah. My memory is shocking, as you all know, but I can't remember when they released Spearhead on Blu Ray, if they, if that was a remaster or if it was just an upscale for. For HD and Blu Ray. Yeah, but it sounds great. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. This sounds like from what he's saying is that it's been remastered as opposed to just an upscale. So we'll see, we'll see. It might look a bit better, but. Yeah. Harry, what do you think to season seven? Actually, are you still picking up the standard packaging box? Is that you or Maria?

Harry: Yeah, yeah, that's me. Right. Do you know what? The more of these that come out and I, I, the more I want to get all of the limited edition ones and like pay hundreds of pounds for, for that, you know, those, those particularly hard to find sets. But yeah, but this, yeah, this looks really good. Whether I get it in this form or as a standard edition. Yeah, it should be great. And yeah, really good season. Really, like Spearhead from Space Silurians is long and boring. Never seen the Ambassadors of Death and Inferno. I really like Inferno. I can see why. It's some people's favourite doctor story ever. It's not mine, but then again, I've not watched it in a while, so. So maybe if I watched it again I'd. I'd appreciate it more. But yeah, no, and the artwork, as always, looks gorgeous. Pertwee looks very suave. So yeah, should be a good one. But I might have to wait like two years for it.

Garry: Yeah, that's true.

Harry: I'm trying to spend hundreds of pounds. Who knows?

Garry: Yeah, no, I read you, dude. Maria, I know you're probably gonna, you've been a fan of these for a while now, right? Yeah, get these.

Maria: So I, I think this is, this is a really strong season and I don't, I don't get the dislike for the Silurians because I actually like that story very much and you know, there's some really good elements because there's a bit obviously when I think the, when the virus gets released and things like that. So I'm sure that's the Silurians, isn't it? So I, I do like that story very much. Spearhead from Space will look fantastic, I think on the Blu Ray. And Inferno is a good story. I mean I'm Ambassadors of Death. I haven't watched that for quite a while but I, I remember liking it. But yeah, I think seven episodes is a little bit strange on the length for the, some of the stories but I think they're all strong. I've, I've been looking at some of the feedback obviously from fans and I, I think a lot of people will want to go for the limited edition even if they're buying the, the standard edition Blu Rays. So I think that's going to be very popular that. So I think it's going to sell out really quickly. I think it will go like hotcakes. I think it's just one of those seasons that you know, people want to buy and what makes me laugh is lead binding puts out sometimes these cryptic images of colors that he's using on the, on the Blu Rays and I've never been able to guess which, which season it is that he's working on. So you know, if it was the worst kept secret. Yeah, I, I kind of heard a rumor a few weeks ago that it was going to be season seven. But again it was just a rumor.

Garry: Yeah, it's a rumor that spread pretty fast.

Maria: Yeah.

Harry: Tell you what's really cool, that I've just found out the collection, season nine, another John Pertwee season is coming out on standard Release on February, February 3, 2025. So that makes me very happy. And anyone collects. Yeah, well season two just came out the start of December. The William Hartnell. I'm gonna pick that one up before Christmas and this one. Yeah, probably pick this up around springtime. So. Yeah, so I get my pertwee Blu Ray.

Garry: Very nice dude. Yeah. Maria. When they moved over to season seven and started making Doctor who in color, they decided for, for Pertwee initially, for the first few years with Pertwee that they were going to do more location stuff. And because they were shooting in color, there just wasn't enough time to wrangle a new color camera set up and do as many stories as they like. So they were like, we'll have to cut the number of episodes in half almost to accommodate making sort of modern at the time, you know, a modern television program. It wasn't no longer was it a case of just a bunch of black and white standard static cameras in a studio doing the bulk of the work. So yeah, out on location a lot more. Needed a lot more money for stunts, vehicles, all that malarkey, visual effects, you know, explosions and Brigadier setting off, you know, people firing at Bock and all the rest of it. So yeah, they decided to cut it in half. Yeah, that's why there's no, not as many episodes as season six. Okie dokie. That's your Doctor who news. There really isn't much kicking around. It's that time of year where people are just kind of looking forward to the Christmas special. Now we've had the trailer drop for that and not much else is going on. Russell's reasonably tight lipped about stuff. I think the only thing that he's pushing at the minute as opposed instead of season two, is the, the special that's coming up next year, the War Between Land and the Sea. So we'll mention that briefly towards the end when we talk about next year. But let's spend 10 minutes or so talking about our, our fave Christmas specials then for Doctor who. So this is an interesting one that ironically Matt dropped into the Discord and he's no longer here to back up his, his idea. And he was basically like, you know, what's our favorite? The Christmas specials with Doctor who are weird. They're a strange beast. They really are. They have the potential to have this really nice seasonal, magical feel to them. But I don't know what's, I don't know what the deal is with some of them. Some of them are, are better than others, that's for sure. Others, yeah, not too sure. And then of course when Chibbers took over, I'm talking mainly about from 2005 onwards by the way, guys. And then when Chivers took over, he ditched the Christmas and went to New Year. So that was more of a. I think they Called it. They called it the seasonal. The seasonal special as opposed to the Christmas special. So it was a New Year's Day thing. So, Harry, couple of quick thoughts from you then. First of all, do you think that having Doctor who at Christmas is a good thing overall, do you think it should be on New Year's Day as. As Chibbers changed it over to what? Do you think we should skip it all together and use that money and time to, like, make the seat the series in before and after a bit longer? And then secondly, do you have a favorite Christmas special as well?

Harry: Cool. So I'm trying to remember roughly what I said in the article that I wrote about Christmas specials a few years ago. Something along the lines of, I thought having a festive special every year kind of made the format a bit repetitive. It was a bit routine, like having the Daleks come back every year. It was kind of a bit. A bit stale. But I gotta be honest, having been away from them for a few years, with it moving to New Year's and then it coming back next year. Sorry, last year. It's been a long year. It was. It actually made me think, you know what? I really missed this. And I. You know what? Screw it. I love the Christmas special. I think it's lovely and I think, like you say, Garry, it kind of evokes for me a feeling of magic. Like, that was one of the. As a kid, it was one of the things I most look forward to. It was Doctor who more than, you know, anything else. So, yeah, I love a festive special and I love it on Christmas and I think it should be kept on Christmas for as long as possible and not move to New Year's. I question why Chibnall did that. To be honest, I appreciate him trying something different, but, yeah, Doctor who belongs on Christmas Day and I think it should stay there, rightfully. In terms of a favourite, I could pick one of the more obvious choices, but I'm gonna go a little bit left field here. So recently I rewatched the Husbands of Riversong and I really, really enjoyed it. I remember watching it on Christmas Day and feeling very embarrassed, like, watching it with my family, thinking, like, I promised Doctor who's not normally this rubbish. And I thought it was really cringe and I didn't really like it at the time. I was in a bit of a funk with the end of that series. So I, Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan. But I watched it recently and I don't know whether it's, you know, getting a bit Older, mellowing, whatever. But I thought it was really, really sweet. And that whole stuff with, you know, the payoff that we've been waiting for for years at that point with the doctrine river on Durillium, and, you know, like, the sadness that was built up around that, but. But then we find out that a night on Dirillium is 24 years. So then they get to, like, kind of spend a lifetime together sort of thing. And it's. I mean, yeah, who doesn't love a really nice love story on Christmas? And aside from that, it's just good dumb fun. It doesn't make sense. Like, there's people, like, splitting their heads in half and, like, disembodied heads, which are still conscious. I didn't really know what was going on, but, yeah, I really liked it. It was really funny. Capaldi was great. He works really, really well with the River Song character. And I'll finish off by saying, recently I also rewatched the Silence in the Library two parter. And it is crazy that that episode, you know, two episodes that were made several years apart. It's crazy how watching them chronologically, like, just works seamlessly. And like River's sacrifice, I guess you can call it in the. The Library two parter is made a lot more just emotionally powerful because of that. That kind of sentimentality in the husband's A River Song. So it all fits together in a nice neat bow at the end. I mean, obviously the middle of River's story is, well, wibbly wobbly timey. Why me? But, yeah, it's certainly. Say what you will about the Riversong character, but they really. They really ended it really nicely. I think so.

Jordan: Yeah.

Harry: Have that one.

Garry: Wow, that was unexpected. And I've got your article here that you put out a few years ago, and in the closing paragraph, you said, we currently have no way of telling if Russell T. Davis will bring back Christmas specials in his second year of Doctor who. And what this and the recent acquisition of Bad Wolf by Sony means for the show on a larger scale, who knows? But if history is anything to go by, change is certainly coming. And your. Your question was answered because we now look forward to another. Another Christmas special under Russell. So. Okay, dude, that was. Yeah. Surprising. The husband's a River Song. Wow. Maria, what's your thoughts on the old who Crimbo specials?

Maria: I have quite a few thoughts, actually. So I kind of. I didn't realize until I'd actually written them down, because I wrote them all down and I kind of looked at them and I I kind of didn't realize how varied all our Christmas specials have been. I mean, you, you get some that are introducing new companions. So you, you get stories like the Runaway Bride, the Snowmen, the Church on Ruby Road, which I think looking at those, I, I thought they were pretty successful in terms of introducing new companions. I mean, the snow, the Snowmen had the Victorian Clara, which I rather enjoyed. And the Runaway Bride has always been one of my go tos as a Christmas special. I haven't watched it for a while now, but yeah, it's been one of my go to normally. I think where the Christmas special is probably least successful is when it kind of digs into the, the history, the classic history. So you've got things like, for instance, Twice Upon a Time or the Next Doctor, those kind of stories which are kind of, you know, looking at other versions of the Doctor, as it were, and I, I don't think those have been particularly enjoyable for me. I've liked some of the, some of the ones where they've kind of used stories like movies or, or books. So you've got Christmas Carol and Voyage of the Damned, which are kind of things that we're aware of in culture. So those have been relatively successful. And obviously it helps having somebody like Kylie Minogue in Voyages Are Damned. I think she brings a bit of sparkle to it. I think it's really difficult to pick one favorite, I suppose, out of the three that I watched, because I recently watched A Christmas Carol, the Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, which I always find difficult to remember as a title. Anything that's too long, you've lost me already. And I watched the Snowmen. I think out of the three that I watched recently, I would probably say A Christmas Carol is probably my favorite out of those because I had an emotional reaction to that one in terms of the characters that my Michael Gambon was playing, you know, the old miserly man. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, and it was done really beautifully. I mean, I think it gave. Because it was set on an alien planet, it gave Steven Moffat a chance to kind of mine all the things that we kind of know from the story. So, you know, you've got the past, the present and the future, you know, so he was using something familiar that we were all aware of, but it kind of gave him freedom to be quite creative. So, you know, we had, we had the, the air crystals that were stopping the ship from landing and things like that. So, you know, as a story, I think out of the three that I watched recently, that was probably One of my favorites. I think it was just beautifully done. And. And I think the thing I've realized is the showrunners probably only have two or three good Christmas specials that they do really well, and then the other ones are kind of a bit more variable in quality because I. I mean, Steven Moffat has done so many of them. I mean, he's done. I'm easy done. He's done about seven or eight of them, and I'd probably say about three of them are really good. The rest are all a bit middling crap. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: Don't mince your words, Maria. Come on. They're. They're pretty crap, aren't they?

Maria: Yeah, I think, you know, they obviously use them as a vehicle for introducing new Doctors as well, so, you know, things like the Christmas Invasion. I. I really enjoyed Church on Ruby Road. Maybe not so much, although it was. It was good and I did enjoy it at the time. But I think the Christmas Invasion is actually fantastic. As the first Christmas special that we had, I. I think that kind of set a really good standard, even though David Tennant is. Isn't in it until near the end. But when he comes in, you've just got that moment, you know, where he comes in and it just kind of lifts the whole episode. So, yeah, I. I couldn't. I couldn't pick one favorite. And there's. There's. It just depends what mood I'm in. But I would say A Christmas Carol, out of the three that I watched recently, was probably the best. And the Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe wasn't as bad as I thought. But, you know, it's still not up there with. With some of the better ones. And. What. Oh, and there was one of the worst things that I heard the Doctor say, because I don't know why. Obviously there were three Matt Smith Christmas specials, and I just had a craving, obviously, to just watch a bit of Matt Smith as well, and he comes up with, is it humany womany as a phrase for something the characters are doing? And I just. I just had my head in my hands at that point. I hate stuff like that. Timey wimey, humany womany. All that kind of stuff irritates. Irritates me immensely. But aside from that, they're all fantastic fun.

Garry: Okay. That annoys Maria, that stuff, of course. Okay, so what. What's your favorite then? Sorry? What was your favorite out of all of them? Did you say one?

Maria: Oh, I'll. I'll tell you. Out of the three that I watched recently, because the other ones I haven't seen for a while, so I'll say a Christmas carol.

Garry: Christmas Carol. Right, I see that's a popular one for Crimbo, I think, actually. Cheers. Maria, Jordan, what are your. What your thoughts on this? And if you had to pick a fave, what would you go for?

Jordan: I like Doctor who being on a Christmas, because I think Christian was like, oh, but everybody's always, you know, they're drunk at Christmas and whatever. It's like, no, Chris, we're hanging on New Year's Day, so you're gonna have more chance of us following what's happening on Christmas when you've had all that food to soak it up. The New Year's, when everybody's, like, going, you know, 20, 25. Ringing God. Asking for the easy package and not, you know, not the stressed package. So I think Doctor who and Christmas kind of go together in a weird way, because they never really did in the original series, so they never really did a Christmas one. I think my favorite. My favorite is Voyage of the Damned, because it's an action movie and they've got scary robots and Kylie Minogue's in it and everybody dies. So. So is. I do. You know, I do like my. My sort of scarier things, but I. Yeah, things like. Maria said it when. When the Christmas specials go into the past, it doesn't really work for me because you're always doing. It's always Dickensian and it's always Victorian, and it's always, oh, please, sir, can I add some more? And you think, oh, get lost. But, you know, it's. I don't like sort of Doctor who when it does the Victorians and things, because it just bores me. But, yeah, no, Voyage of the Damned is brilliant. And they're like, oh, it's named after the most famous ship in the history of Earth. And it's like, yeah. Have they told you why it's named after? And then it just, you know, everything goes wrong and it's a disaster movie. But the. Another one I quite like is Last Christmas because it's scary. It kind of loses it in its whole. Oh, we're in a dream that's in a dream that's in a dream that's in a dream. It's like, yeah, we get it, Stephen. Let's move on. But it's. I. I love the bit where they go outside and they've got the flare and it's all lit up red and it looks amazing. Then I don't mind Nick Frost as Father Christmas. I think that's kind of. Because he's quite grumpy and he's quite rude and he's quite. He's quite harsh as Father Christmas, which I quite liked that aspect of it.

Garry: Okay.

Jordan: But yeah, Voyage of the Dam is my favorite. And you know what? Kylie Minogue is not that bad in it. I think sometimes people are like, oh, she's rubbish. And it's like, well, okay, she was only famous for neighbors, but she's not bad in this. You know, I thought she was pretty good.

Garry: Okay. Voyage of the Damned, another surprising one. Yeah, I mean, I'm in agreement with you guys. I think Doctor who at Christmas is very cool. No complaints there at all. I think it should be on if you're going to put it on at all over the yuletide or festive period, whatever you want to call it. I think Christmas Day is. You absolutely nailed it, Jordan. I think on New Year's Day everyone is just, you know, reaching for the paracetamol or the Alka Selts or whatever and they're just not in the mood for that rubbish today. I just want to sleep. I just want a bowl of cereal, many cups of tea and sit at the, you know, stare at the ceiling while everything kind of revolves around me. I've got the Zoomies and whatnot. So. Yeah, you're not really concentrating too much, I think. Do you know what? I'm sure I actually read that on a load of people saying that on. On Twitter, actually. It's like it's the first time that I've not seen the Doctor who special live. I'll catch it, you know, later or something like that. Just because I've thrown up for like, you know, the third time today and I need to go to bed because I'm knackered and I don't feel. Yeah, so I know exactly what you mean, dude. Yeah. Just very quickly, I would say that my favorite Christmas special is actually the Christmas Invasion. Just because it's got that cool first time out the door Christmas special for us. And even though the Doctor's not in it that much, it's got a very cool Christmassy vibe to it. You know, it's. I think out of all of them, the most Christmassy feeling. One is probably A Christmas Carol. I think that's got the most, you know, if you're into your classic Christmas vibes, that's got all the visual elements of it being very Christmassy. But I do like the Christmas Invasion. And one thing we can't not include or at least mention. And Harry did Put this at the very end of his article is that lovely moment back in the classic era when. When Hartnell breaks the fourth wall and says, you know, have a. Have a very merry Christmas, or you lot, or something like that, instantly, a Happy Christmas to all of you at home. Which is very nice of the fourth Doctor, the first Doctor to do that. So, Alrighty, Crimbo special, I think all agreement, then. They are good to have them at Christmas. They just need to be good. They're not absolutely freaking terrible. Like, what's the one with the superhero? Mysterio? Yeah. What the.

Harry: I watched that one recently as well.

Garry: I mean, Maria must be livid about that one. Come on.

Maria: Sorry, all of them. I didn't hear that. Garry, what was that?

Garry: Oh, of all the Christmas specials, you must have your. Your hatred meter must be cranked up to 11 for the return of Dr.

Maria: Mysterio for one of the Christmas specials.

Garry: Yeah, yeah.

Jordan: Yeah, That's. That's not a great one.

Harry: It's crap.

Garry: It's crap, that one. Mega crap.

Jordan: Although I do think the Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is the worst one.

Harry: Oh, definitely.

Jordan: I think I have said on the podcast before that it should be forced to people on death row, but maybe that's a bit too far. But, you know, it's bad.

Maria: I did watch it. It wasn't. It wasn't that bad, but I think it kind of sinks in the middle a little bit. There's not enough material for. I don't know how. I don't know how long it is. I think it's an hour. I don't think there's an hour too long. It's. It's. There's not enough. There's not enough material in it in terms of characters. It doesn't build. It doesn't build the characters up enough, I think. And, yeah, I mean, it was all right. I mean, it wasn't as bad as I remember. I mean, there's some. There's some good moments in it, but. And, you know, it's got an ecological message and, you know, which isn't a bad thing, I suppose, but, yeah, it's. It's not one I would go back to again in a hurry.

Garry: Yep, I think we're all feeling that way about it. It's pretty bad. Yeah. Is that one with the kids in it? Cyril and.

Jordan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the irritating kids. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: And the Doctor's the caretaker at the beginning, or pretends to be.

Jordan: It's just all the dialogue and everything. This hammock's developed a Fault. Shut up. It's a hammock. You don't jump into a bleeding hammock, do you? Give over. I'd have just shut the present and got back in the TARDIS and walked away. Whatever. Never mind.

Maria: Yeah, I think that. I think that Christmas special is probably. Isn't a strong one for Matt Smith. I mean, he's coming in as the caretaker in it. You know, he's got some funny moments. He's in full. He's in full funny mode in this one, really. And, you know, sometimes. Can I say it? Is it sacrilege? I think he overplays it a little bit. There's. There's a lot of comedy in it and I know it's Stephen Moffat who writes the dialogue and I think sometime there's. There's. There's not enough serious in it for the funny moments. I think sometimes he get. Sometimes those funny moments overtake the story and. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. It's a weird one. I sometimes think they just. They just write these Christmas specials really quickly and they, you know, they need to kind of, you know, maybe, I don't know, show them to somebody and say, you know, is this good? You know, before. Before they kind of put it out, really. I don't know, is it. Is that weird thing to say? It feels like the Christmas one feels like it's a bit of a chore, you know, and they obviously. I think Stephen Moffat probably likes writing Christmas specials more than Russell T. Davies, but.

Garry: Oh, he loves it.

Maria: He loves it. Yeah. Yeah. But there's. There's love in it and there's. And there's making it good. That's not the same thing. I don't know. I don't know. I feel like I'm being mean now because they are Christmas specials and you're not meant to take them too seriously, but.

Garry: Yeah, I mean, there is that element to it as well. They're not sort of heavy with law and canon and. And all that stuff typically, are they? They are, for the most part, reasonably isolated little. Little stories, I guess. Yeah, that's a good point. Anyway. That's a good shout, guys. Yeah, the old Christmas specials we will see what then the. The upcoming one has got to in store for us. Joy to the world. I mean, it's. The trailer looks pretty good. I'm not sort of, you know, it's not one of the trailers I've watched loads of times on repeat, like some of the previous ones that we've had with Doctor who. But it looks okay, I guess. Well, I imagine this will fall into the bucket of. Yeah, it's an okay Doctor who Christmas special. I would have thought, who knows, could be cool.

Maria: Can I, can I be honest about the trailer? Because I've only watched it once and I, I did actually think, after I'd watched it, I did actually think, is, is Shooty actually funny? And I, I kind of thought, no, he isn't actually. I mean, maybe it was a bit unfortunate because I obviously watched Matt Smith recently and, and you know, he has a, a charm most of the time that suits those Christmas specials. And I just, I just thought to myself, I thought, shoot, is not this, not that funny in this one? So, I don't know. I mean, we've only seen a little snippet of it, so I will reserve judgment, but I'm not kind of excited by the premise, put it that way. I mean, I saw the trailer. It looks, it looks very, it looks fantastic in terms of visuals, but the concept doesn't, doesn't excite me that much. The, the idea of a time, a time hotel. It doesn't kind of have me kind of jumping with excitement.

Garry: Okay, okay, that makes sense. I think, I think we're all feeling a little bit like that with that Christmas special. I don't think we're chomping at the bit, as it were. It'd be nice to sit down and as usual, watch Dr. On Christmas Day.

Harry: But, yeah, it's not going to set the world on fire.

Maria: Well, I'm definitely going to be having a couple of Baileys on Christmas Day, so it will probably, it will probably look really good by the time I've had a few drinks inside me.

Garry: Oh, God.

Maria: So I can't, I, I, yeah, I. Going to be.

Jordan: When you've been drinking since about 8 o'clock in the morning, it'll, it'll be fine.

Maria: Well, luckily I'm not cooking on Christmas Day. I'll be cooking on Boxing Day. So, yes, I, I will be, I will be free and easy with the alcohol on Christmas Day because I'm not cooking.

Garry: She'll be absolutely smashed. Christmas Day.

Jordan: Then it'll go one of two ways at half seven.

Maria: I tell you what, I am actually looking forward to, to Wallace and Gromit, if I'm honest. That's the thing I'm looking forward to. And, and I'm actually looking forward to Gavin and Stacy as well. And I think Doctor who being on at 5 past 10. Sorry, 10 past 5 is probably the earliest that it's been On I think in terms of broadcast because I think it, I think in, I think before it's been on at 5:15. So I think this is the earliest that is actually going out and it's sandwiched between quite strong shows. So maybe, maybe that will mean, you know, there'll be a lot of people that will end up watching it. So you know, fingers crossed it gets some good ratings. You know, hopefully people will stick with it once they've watched a bit Strictly and, and they'll be waiting for Wallace and Gromit.

Garry: So you know, yeah, it's not a bad time. A lot of people said it's on too early, but yeah, I think, I think for the majority of the country here in the UK at least most people have Christmas dinner earlier than like your regular dinner time I would say on Christmas Day. So I think once you've got Christmas dinner out the way and you're sat comfortably, you've had a drink, it's on at a good time really. So yeah, we'll see. See. Should be, should be decent enough watch I think. Alrighty. So as this is the last episode of the big blue box of 2024, let's finish up with your guys thoughts. Just a quick minute on what, what are your thoughts for next year for Doctor who? Are you excited about season two with shooty, the first spin off anything else that's planned future Blu Ray collection set announcements, events and conferences and everything that's announced. Are you guys up for another who year and, and what. What do you think is going to be Maria, why you're unmuted. Let's go to you first. Are you looking forward to, to a doctor who 2025?

Maria: Yeah, I, I am, I think, you know, I'm. I'm looking forward obviously to hopefully trying to get tickets for the BFI event when the Blu Ray comes out. I mean I'm always excited if I can get to tickets for those events. I think, I think the was are going to be putting on more events hopefully next year as well. So you know I'm, I, I quite like, you know, getting together with other WHO fans and having a, having an at us. So I, I'm looking forward to that in terms of the series. Yeah, let's see what series two brings. I'm. I don't know, I'm kind of a bit nervous about series two because obviously it was filmed at the same time as series one. So I'm hoping that our new companion is going to be somebody that I'm gonna love. You know, I'M always a bit excited when we get a new companion because I, I really hope, you know, that I can, you know, that I, you know, I like them and I want to kind of follow their story. I'm a bit worried that Russell T. Is saying that it's going to be a companion arc for the new companion, you know, so I'm hoping it's going to be an interesting story and, you know, handled a bit better than the one for Ruby Sunday. But, yeah, I don't really, I don't really have any thoughts on series two. I'm just hoping it's going to be better than series one. But, you know, let's see. But yeah, I'm excited for 2025. I'm always excited when there's Doctor who stuff going on, whether it's getting out and about or stuff on the tv. You know, as long as there's something to look forward to, I'm happy.

Garry: That's a good sentiment, Maria. Yeah. As long as we've got stuff coming down the, down the pipe in the pipeline, then that's, then that's all good. I agree. And Maria, as listener, if you're not aware, Maria is our, she's our roving reporter, as we call her here on the, on the blue box. So you'll probably see plenty of articles from her about all the events that she'll visit in 2025, which is cool. Harry, my good man, what are your thoughts on 2025?

Harry: Dude, I'm really excited, Garry. Yeah, I think in terms of all the Doctor who stuff next year, obviously season two. I mean, yeah, season one wasn't the best, but it was still fun to watch it and talk about it and go to the cinema to watch it as well. Like it. Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be fun, even if it's not the best. So, yes, regardless, I'm still looking forward to that. And also War between under the Sea. If we get that next year, then, same sentiment. I'm hoping to go to more events, which I'm really looking forward to. Obviously, we, we definitely have capital cut away, which is going to be an amazing weekend, I've no doubt about it. And who knows, maybe I'll continue my Doctor who marathon next year.

Garry: Oh, wow. Yeah.

Harry: Yeah. I've been hung up on Troughton at the minute because, because I've just not been. I've not been enjoying it as much as William Hartnell. So I'm hoping that I can continue that long chronological marathon because I've started it and I'd love to continue it. I just need to get through some of those trout and episodes, which I'm finding a little bit hard going, so. Okay, yeah, we'll see about that one. Maybe the new year is the right time to pick that up again. And last but not least, more articles and more podcasts. That's all. That's always fun.

Garry: Defo defo, dude. Nice one. So you're looking forward to. To a Doctor who year next year as well? That's very cool.

Harry: Something tells me it's going to be a really, really good one. I. I don't know why. That's just my gut feeling.

Garry: Just hold on to that thought, dude. Keep that. Yeah, keep that going. Yeah. And lastly, Jordan, It'd be very weird if you said, actually, no, I'm absolutely dreading next year and I can't be bothered with it. But I assume you're. You're up for more Doctor who next year.

Jordan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm looking forward to. Yeah, the dwas Capital cutaway. Obviously. Maria and I normally do a lot of the other DWAS ones as well, so hopefully they'll be doing some more of them. I quite liked the last series. I think it kind of had a kind of camp that I quite liked. So I'm looking forward to next year to see if it carries on. What, between the land and the sea. Yeah, it's fine. You know, more Doctor who in. In any shape or form is fine by me. So, you know, I do think it's not just the sea devils and the Silurians. I think you'll have. There was a picture going around of like this. This woman dressed in this weird costume. I think you've got the fish people from underwater menace as well. I think they're bringing in anything that's been underwater in Doctor who, I think is going to be in this.

Garry: Yeah, probably. Yeah.

Jordan: So that'll be quite interesting because then, you know, Russia, not only did he bring back the Macra, you know, the most amazing Patrick drown monster ever made, he's also bought. You know, he might also bring back the Fish People Season seven on the Blu Ray. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next beer is up. And the savages, the animation. Oh yeah, I'm quite looking forward to that because I've never heard the audio, never heard the novelization, and I've never read the book. So whenever I see it, it will be a completely brand new Doctor who that I've never experienced before. Whether it's good or bad is, you know, I'll find out. But I'm looking forward to that as well.

Garry: Wow.

Harry: So I think you're gonna absolutely love it. I listened to the soundtrack and I thought it was probably the like out of all the missing episodes, it's the one that I really want to return. Best case scenario, but animated. I'm really glad that they're doing that. So, yeah, it's all there with like the war machines, which is like, yeah, straight after.

Jordan: Really, really good. Yeah. I must admit, even sort of some of the, I, I've heard like bits of it and obviously you've got the pictures and stuff and it does look all right. You know, I, I, I think the Doctor, Steven and Dodo kind of work quite well together. So I'm quite looking forward to sort of seeing them and just having another, another missing Doctor who, you know, added to the, the collection.

Garry: Wowers. You guys are up for it. That's very cool to hear for 20. I mean it would be, yeah, like I said, it would be really weird if we were like, no, not doing any more Doctor who at all. No. So yeah, I forgot about the Savages. Yeah, it's. How crazy is it, right, that you know, the, a TV show that as a matter of circumstance is a double edged sword where it sucks that we have all these missing stories and I'm sure one day, you know, they will, they'll turn up. But for now a lot of these are missing. But through the process of animation and all that stuff, we're getting to experience brand new Doctor who from the classic years in 2025. So that's, that's a crazy thought. And I know we say a lot of, you know, over the, over the last few years that we've all done this where we've all appeared on the roundtable, you've all wrote articles and reviews. I think sometimes I'm very, very guilty of this that take for granted a lot the TV show that we all love, which why we're all here. Not many other TV shows have this amount of love and dedication from people who are still making the remasters. The animation stage shows, audio dramas. The magazine still Doctor who magazine, which is still going, you know, loads of Doctor who events here in the uk. If you're fortunate enough to live here in the uk, there's, there's probably one Doctor who convention or something going on every month, every year. And so it's, Yeah, I think it's sometimes it's, it's, we're easy and fast to be like, oh, that was crap or you know, this was rubbish or whatever. I think sometimes you have to just stand still and take stock a little bit of just how far fortunate we are to. To have a show that's got a dedicated team of people that still. Because they didn't have to do it. Marquez and, you know. And what's the guy's name? McTie.

Maria: Pete.

Garry: Phil. Pete. Pete McTighe. McTeague. Sorry, McTie. Yeah, sounds about right. And on all those guys, you know, that work on it and still they don't have to, you know, they've got their other projects going on, they've got their other things and stuff like that. They don't have to do it. So, yeah, we are. We are fortunate.

Jordan: Yeah. No, I do think that sometimes because when we've done like, the BFI and the animations and things, and we've sort of been in the bar afterwards and you kind of hear people like, oh, that was rubbish. And that was sort of whatever. And it's like, yeah, but be grateful that people are doing it. You know, I. You know, it's. It's nice that people. So you don't get EastEnders season one Blu Ray box set, you know, Coronation street season one on Blu Ray or anything like that.

Maria: We are very fortunate fans.

Jordan: I think sometimes you sort of need to be, like, a lot of love. We're very lucky that we get to have all this stuff.

Garry: Defo. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we are. If you think about some other shows as well, that are just starting to lean into it, like Blake 7, like, they've only literally just got their first series. Blu Ray.

Jordan: I want Sapphire and Steel on Blu Ray, please.

Garry: Pretty please, Santa. I'd like in the future, Christmas stocking, please. Yeah, Right. Anyway, not going to monologue anymore. Thank you very much, guys, for. For jumping onto another big blue box roundtable. Maria, it's been awesome to have you and your. I don't know whether to duck and cover when we meet next year at some point or not, but your views are appreciated, as always.

Maria: Yeah, well, sorry. I'm always gonna. I'm always gonna have the. The classic who corner. I'm always gonna have that corner, you know, because most. I think most of you guys came to the series when it was the new series, so I feel as if I've got to kind of have that corner for classic who. So, you know, as an. As. As a fan of the classic who. So, yeah, I. I'm. I'm always open to the. The views of other fans. So, you know, and I do kind of. I Do take things on board. So, you know, hopefully I. I'm not extreme. I'm not extreme by any means.

Garry: No, no, no, just by. She's harmless, everyone.

Maria: She's.

Garry: Harry. Thank you very much, buddy. Your big brain ticking away for Dr. Who's appreciated as always.

Harry: Thank you very much, Garry. Thank you all. It's great fun to talk to you guys year on year and just to talk about our favorite show that we love so much. Even if we, you know, talk rubbish about it sometimes we. We also talk about the things that we really love about. About it. And that's. And that's great. That's a wonderful thing to do. So long may it. Long may it continue.

Garry: Indeed.

Maria: Actually, Garry, can I say thank you to you and Adam because obviously you do the. The weekly podcasts and, you know, you put a lot of work into those, so, you know, thank you for all the output that you put out as well, because, you know, it's a highlight to kind of listen to those, you know, in amongst all the other podcasts that are out there. So I just want to say thank you.

Garry: Oh, thank you very much. And you're very welcome listening to our beep on a regular. On a regular basis. So thank you very much for that.

Harry: I'll second that, Maria. Like, without you, Garry, looking over our articles and making sure all the formatting and all that kind of stuff, you know, makes sense, yeah, we wouldn't have them out there. So thank you very much.

Garry: Oh, you're welcome, guys. Appreciate that. Thank you very much. And, Jordan, thank you so much for your boisterous charm for Doctor who. I love it.

Jordan: Thank you for having me. And yes, thank you for doing the podcast and having us all on board, because it's a lot of fun and I will get more articles out, but it's not a lot of fun.

Garry: Not at the expense of your.

Jordan: Your Doctor who stuff at uni can probably.

Maria: Jordan's gonna end up with a degree in Doctor who, not. Not a degree in. In acting.

Garry: There are worse things to have a degree.

Harry: Submit one of the articles, Jordan. I'm sure it'll be okay.

Jordan: Yeah, that'd be all right. It's a dissertation, wouldn't it?

Harry: Throw a few references in there, make it look legit, and then.

Garry: Oh, thank you very much.

Harry: Pandemic jargon as well, you know.

Jordan: Yeah, it'll be fine. It'll be fine.

Garry: A lot of love in the room for. For our team and for Doctor who as a whole. So it's very cool. And I think on that chirpy positive Note. Forward to 2025. Let's stick a pin in it there for the December roundtable. These guys all dancing away. Such a good sight, right? Thank you very much, dear Listener, for listening to all of our episodes of the podcast throughout 2024 and the round tables. It's been very cool, entertaining, will keep you informed about what's going on in Doctor who. If you like this roundtable and you've checked out some of the previous episodes, especially if you're a new listener and we'd love to have you as a follower, just search for us or whatever app you're listening to us on now, just hit that follow or subscribe button. That way you won't miss an episode when it lands. Every week with myself and Adam and monthly roundtables for these guys. You can also find every episode on the website, which is big bluebox podcast.co.uk and you can listen for free on there. Plus you can read all the reviews and articles and the convention reports and everything from these guys. So go and check all of that out. While we're saying thank yous, I must say a big thank you to my co host who's not here unfortunately tonight, but Adam the Geeks handbag. A big thank you to you as well, my buddy, my co host. Go and check out his YouTube channel, it's called the Geek's Handbag. Loads of very cool Doctor who and geekery stuff going on over there. Remember that we're at the DWAS Capital Cutaway event next year in April. So if you've not got your ticket yet, book that and then come and grab us for a chat and a point and chat. Doctor who on all things who over at that event is going to be very cool.

Harry: We won't charge for our autographs.

Garry: Well, yeah, fiverr. Until next year then. My name's G.

Jordan: I'm Jordan.

Harry: I'm Harry.

Garry: And Maria is frozen at the worst possible point. And remember.

Maria: That was a lot of fun.