This Week In Time Travel

Comedian and writer Riley Silverman joins Alyssa to celebrate, consider and critique the controversial River Song. Also, the Doctor Who PR juggernaut marches on while still managing to say VERY LITTLE before the premiere date! Will Thursday’s DWM break that trend? Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Riley Silverman.

Chip demonstrates he’d be a rubbish time traveler because he can’t even manage simple time zones. Alyssa melts through the floor over Jodie Whittaker’s Marie Claire UK photoshoot. And there’s plenty of actual news to talk about, including that premiere date announcement video that doesn’t just break a glass ceiling, but also breaks new ground. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

ALYSSA: (talks to Chip about her suggestion for a series about Problematic Faves) CHIP: (dictates a response via Siri, which changes the text to ‘Problematic Babes’) ALYSSA: “Yup, there’s our episode title.” We return from our unexpected hiatus in time travel bringing you Rachel Talalay, who joins Alyssa to celebrate the late Michael Pickwoad. Also, we launch a new segment about those episodes that we both enjoy and cringe at, simultaneously. Reality Bomb’s Joy Piedmont and Verity!’s Deb Stanish are here to help us define Problematic Faves. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Rachel Talalay, Joy Piedmont and Deborah Stanish.

Alyssa’s first book is out! We take time to talk about “The Black Archive #22: Hell Bent” and the themes Alyssa explored from the Series 9 finale. Plus: the SDCC afterglow, the LFCC record, and more publications and articles that tell us we may be on the verge of a Doctor Who Golden Age… Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

Alyssa and Chip retreat to the memory palace and enjoy the highlights of the new Doctor Who era’s and Jodie Whittaker’s debuts in San Diego. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

News floodgates opened before Comic-Con! Entertainment Weekly got an exclusive, then the Radio Times got another one! Fans selected their favorite episodes for a BBC America marathon, prompting Chip to play his one note just a little louder. There are toys! And Daleks with tiny plungers! In this, one of the most economical and efficient This Week in Time Travel episodes ever. (So much so, you’ve got time to check out our friend Tom Dickinson’s new podcast, The Moment, as well. Two thumbs up.) Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

Over the last half a century, the most consistent thing about Doctor Who has been the least consistent thing: the character of the Doctor. Regeneration after regeneration, is the Doctor reinvented top to bottom, or is there still something that we can point to, at any time from 1963 to today, and say, “That’s who the Doctor is”? Rachel Donner returns for the news and a dive into the psyche of a Time Lord. Chip Sudderth and Rachel Donner.

We thought we might take the weekend off of TWiTT, because SURELY there wouldn’t be news about Doctor Who before Comic-Con, right? Chip’s theory was found wanting: New composer! New comic! New…uh…leak! (Which we will NOT spoil for you.) Alyssa and Chip tackle all of the news while recovering from the Families Belong Together rally. (Has Doctor Who ever inspired you to action, either personal or political? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook!) Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

OK, we know that fan art is a visual medium. And podcasts are…not. But we’ve brought along some fan artists who’ve made a real impact. Nathan Skreslet and Ly Cao from Pixel Who are here to talk about the fan artist community in Doctor Who, what it’s like to reinterpret the show, and what it takes to make a business of it. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Nathan Skreslet and Ly Cao.

Kara Dennison and Derek Kompare join us as our Fandom Perspectives series takes a look at aca-fans—those fans for whom deep dives of exploration into themes and cultural criticism make the Doctor Who experience all the richer… Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Kara Dennison and Derek Kompare.

Your two fried cohosts take a quick tour through the news of the week and bring you an in-depth conversation about what “canon” in Doctor Who really means with rabid fan and New Testament scholar Mark Goodacre, in an archive recording from Chip’s Two-minute Time Lord Podcast, episode 316. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Mark Goodacre.

For every character, for every dramatic plotline, for every ship: there’s a fanvid. Kim and Sage of Head Over Feels return to This Week in Time Travel to talk about their expertly curated collections of fan-edited videos guaranteed to make you swoon or swear. Plus: Erika and Liz from Verity! stop by with a report from Twitch’s first week of streaming classic Doctor Who episodes, and Chip and Alyssa have strong feelings about Radio Free Skaro’s scoop that some missing episodes may be in the hands of private collectors. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Kim Rogers, Sage Young, Erika Ensign and Lizbeth Myles.

It’s a short, live-and-in-person walk through the news of the week including a new venue for classic Doctor Who, a new book series about Doctor Who book series, your chance to welcome Jodie Whittaker, and another fan convention setting the wrong example. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

Some fans are content to consume stories. Others want to expand on them, or even transform them. Part two of our Fandom Perspectives series is about fanfiction, a creative outlet that may even have contributed to the return of Doctor Who. Paul Cornell joins us to talk about fanfic’s role in the wilderness years, and Shannon Sudderth and Alyssa compare notes on fanfic in the RTD years and today. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Paul Cornell and Shannon Sudderth.

At its best, fandom culture is all about participation! We begin our Fandom Perspective series by looking at cosplay with friend and East Coast costumer Amanda-Rae Prescott. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Amanda-Rae Prescott.

It’s a snack-size edition of This Week in Time Travel looking at Free Comic Book Day, the new Time Team, and the eternal question: can the Eric Roberts Master drezzzz for the occasion in audio? Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

Our Doctor retrospective series concludes with, of course, the Twelfth Doctor. It’s a giant-size, Series 10-hair-size, celebration of everything he brought to the role courtesy of the Hugo-finalist Verity! podcast’s moderator, Deb Stanish! Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Deborah Stanish.

Alyssa promised that she would make Chip watch his very first reconstruction of a missing classic Doctor Who episode, as chosen by a random #WhoAgainstGuns donor. Thanks to David H. Adler, it’s time for “The Macra Terror” in living color…well, not color, but in living motion…well, not motion. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke.

Let’s go back to 2010 and welcome the worldwide goodwill ambassador from the BBC, the Eleventh Doctor, who ushered Doctor Who into even greater global popularity. Radio Free Skaro and Lazy Doctor Who’s Steven Schapansky joins us! Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Steven Schapansky.

He launched the show to new heights and became one of the most beloved Doctors of all of time and space—but he had his share of detractors! Shannon Sudderth helps us discuss David Tennant’s Doctor. Chip Sudderth and Alyssa Franke with Shannon Sudderth.