classic doctor who

We are going to celebrate the great one-off villains of the First Doctor's era by counting down some of the best! No monsters or faceless hordes (so leaving off the Daleks--they got their own episode:-) but rather we are looking at the megalomaniacs, the schemers, and the scoundrels. Some are funny, some are scary, some are down-right devious, but all are unforgettable.

In Part III we will look at my pick for the #1 Best Non-Monster Villain of the First Doctor Era!!

Part I looked at my picks from #10-6 and Part II looked at my picks for #5-2. Please check them out.
 
The First Doctor and the Daleks for an in-depth discussion of the Daleks and how they define this era. This is a different sort of list.



Upcoming:
Serial #29: The Tenth Planet
4 episodes, 1-3 exist, 4 is missing:-(
Team TARDIS lands at the South Pole where a team of scientists are monitoring a spaceship from the planet Mondas...
Monday, January 30th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

We are going to celebrate the great one-off villains of the First Doctor's era by counting down some of the best! No monsters or faceless hordes (so leaving off the Daleks--they got their own episode:-) but rather we are looking at the megalomaniacs, the schemers, and the scoundrels. Some are funny, some are scary, some are down-right devious, but all are unforgettable.

In Part I we will look at some honorable mentions and Villains #10-6. Next time, we will look at my picks for Villains #5-2. My #1 Villain is getting his own little episode in Part III. 

NOTE: See Vanquishing Villains #1: The First Doctor and the Daleks for an in-depth discussion of the Daleks and how they define this era. This is a different sort of list.

Upcoming:
10 Best First Doctor Villains (Part II)
We are going to continue are list with Villains #5-2 for the First Doctor.
Monday, January 16th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Still reeling from the traumatizing events of "The Daleks' Masterplan," Steven and the Doctor land in France days before the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Separated from the Doctor, Steven gets caught up with the Huguenots who fear a plot to assassinate the newly married Protestant Prince Henry of Navarre. 

_____

TAVANNES: Thank God.
CATHERINE: God had very little to do with it. What is this?
TAVANNES: The list, Madame. When those Huguenots are killed we need have no further fear of a Protestant France.
CATHERINE: We have no need of lists, Marshall. The good people of Paris know their enemies. They will take care of them.
TAVANNES: The good people? Madame, if you rouse the mob the innocent will perish with the guilty.
CATHERINE: Innocent? Heresy can have no innocents. France will breath of pure air after tomorrow.
_________

DOCTOR: I was not responsible.
STEVEN: Oh, no. You just sent her back to her aunt's house where the guards were waiting to catch her. I tell you this much, Doctor, wherever this machine of yours lands next I'm getting off. If your researches have so little regard for human life then I want no part of it.
DOCTOR: We've landed. Your mind is made up?
(The Tardis doors open.)
STEVEN: Goodbye.
DOCTOR: My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don't quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're all too small to realize its final pattern. Therefore don't try and judge it from where you stand. I was right to do as I did. Yes, that I firmly believe.

___________



Upcoming:

John Lucarotti's Historical Triumphs
A special episode exploring Lucarotti's three fantastic historical serials: "Marco Polo," "The Aztecs," and "The Massacre." Considering one writer's themes and his contributions to the early years of Doctor Who.
Monday, July 18th

Serial #23: The Ark
(Episodes: "The Steel Sky," "The Plague," "The Return," "The Bomb")
NO MISSING EPISODES:-)
Monday, July 25th



Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

A special look back on the Daleks as villains that shaped the First Doctor's Era. The defining villain for this period in the show's history, the Daleks gave the show direction and turned the Doctor from a silly stubborn old man into a hero. This podcast will consider the serials: "The Daleks," "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," "The Chase," and "The Daleks' Masterplan."

___________


Upcoming:

Serial #22: The Massacre
(Episodes: "The War of God," "the Sea Beggar," "The Priest of Death," Bell of Doom")
NOTE: All missing
Monday, July 4th

John Lucarotti's Historical Triumphs
A special episode exploring Lucarotti's three fantastic historical serials: "Marco Polo," "The Aztecs," and "The Massacre." Considering one writer's themes and his contributions to the early years of Doctor Who.
Monday, July 11th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Using the directional device they stole from the Monk, Team TARDIS races to Kembel to stop the Daleks from using their Time Destroyer....meanwhile Mavic Chen appears to consolidate his power but may be losing at his own game...and the Daleks prepare their Time Destroyer as the others squabble.

_________

CHEN: Now do stop this masquerade! See, I know he  [the Doctor] is trying to usurp my position with the Daleks.
STEVEN: That is absurd. The Doctor's always fought the Daleks. Why don't you believe us? We don't know where he is.
CHEN: Yet I find you at the entrance to the Daleks' secret headquarters. I know the Doctor's here and that he's trying to take my place. But I'll soon change that.
STEVEN: Why can't you understand the Daleks do not make allies?

_________

DOCTOR: Well, my boy, we finally rid this planet of Daleks.
STEVEN: Bret, Katarina.... Sara.
DOCTOR: What a waste. What a terrible waste.

___________


Upcoming:

The First Doctor and The Daleks
A special episode looking back on all the First Doctor Dalek serials and considering how they shaped the show and the Doctor.
Monday, June 27th

Serial #22: The Massacre
(Episodes: "The War of God," "the Sea Beggar," "The Priest of Death," Bell of Doom")
NOTE: All missing
Monday, July 4th



Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

On the run from Maverick Chen, the Daleks, and an unexpected old Enemy, Team TARDIS flees with the taranium across time and space....

_______

STEVEN: You killed Bret! You just shot him down.
SARA: He was a traitor. Between the three of you, you had stolen the taranium, the most valuable mineral in the universe. It was needed desperately to spread the peace which was founded in the solar system, to reach the whole galaxy.
STEVEN: What was the taranium going to do?
SARA: How should I know? I had my orders.
STEVEN: Your orders. And even though it meant killing one of your own people, you obeyed them blindly, without question?
SARA: One does not question the orders of the Guardian.
STEVEN: You didn't stop to think how it came to happen that a space security agent, one of your own people, was a traitor?
SARA: No!
STEVEN: You didn't give Bret a chance, did you. You couldn't question Chen and you wouldn't question Bret.
SARA: Look, what do you want me to say? That I believe your fantastic story?
STEVEN: It's true.
SARA: It mustn't be.
DOCTOR: I'm afraid it is, my dear.
STEVEN: But Bret had to be killed.
SARA: Shut up! Bret Vyon was my brother.
____

CHEN: Without me, their plan cannot completely work. Without me, they are but nothing. Nothing! When I am next to the Daleks, only they stand between me and the highest position in the universe. Then will be the time for me to take complete control!... You are a fortunate man, Karlton. You will have a high place in galactic history.
KARLTON: The highest, next to you.
_________

CHEN: Three time machines in one infinitesimal speck of space and time. Of course, a coincidence is possible, but hardly likely. You would agree?
MONK: Oh, yes, I would agree.
CHEN: Then why have you arrived here?
MONK: Three, three time-machines? Yes, well, the odd one out belongs to a certain Doctor.
DALEK: The enemy ship!
MONK: Yes, that's right. The enemy. I have an old score to settle with him, but I'm sure yours is the prior claim.
CHEN: He is a friend of yours?
MONK: Friend? No, no, an enemy. An enemy to end all enemies! I came here to inflict a terrible vengeance on him. I mean, we're all on the same side here, aren't we.


Upcoming:

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan, Part III (Episodes 11-12: "The Abandoned Planet" & "The Destruction of Time" ) We will also discuss the serial overall.
Both missing
Wednesday, June 22nd

The First Doctor and The Daleks
A special episode looking back on all the First Doctor Dalek serials and considering how they shaped the show and the Doctor.
Monday, June 27th



Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the lo

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Desperate to save Steven from his poisoned wound, the Doctor lands on a jungle planet searching for medical help. Meanwhile, a secret agent named Bret tries to warn Earth about the Daleks' alliance with the Outer Galaxies and impending invasion of the solar system. Soon Team TARDIS finds itself working with Bret to discover the Daleks 'masterplan and save Earth...even from the Guardian of the Solar system himself!

NOTE: It might be helpful to watch "Mission to the Unknown"--or listen to the podcast on that serial--prior to this one as that episode serves as a prequel to this one.

_______

DOCTOR: These are Daleks. Now you listen to me, young man, I am in charge of this situation.
BRET: Sir! Will you shut up! At least that's stopped you arguing.
DOCTOR: Well upon my soul.
BRET: Now, look here, I don't care what happens to you, but I have got to warn Earth.
DOCTOR: Yes, and you will have to do far more than that. If the Daleks are doing something drastic, then we have to stop the Daleks. Now will you shut up, sir?
_____

STEVEN: She pressed the wrong button, Doctor.
DOCTOR: She may have wanted to, dear boy. She wanted to save our lives.
BRET: It must have been quick.
DOCTOR: I hope she's reached her Place of Perfection.
STEVEN: Yes, but not that way.
DOCTOR: She didn't understand. She couldn't understand. She wanted to save our lives and perhaps the lives of all the other beings of the Solar System. I hope she's found her Perfection. Oh, how I shall always remember her as one of the Daughters of the Gods. Yes, as one of the Daughters of the Gods.
____



Upcoming:

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan, Part II (Episodes 5-10: "Counter Plot," "Coronas of the Sun," "The Feast of Steven," "Volcano," "Golden Death," "Escape Switch" )
All missing EXCEPT: "Counter Plot," & "Escape Switch"
Wednesday,  June 15th

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan, Part III (Episodes 11-12 & End Discussion: "The Abandoned Planet" & "Destruction of Time")
Both missing
Wednesday,  June 22nd


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Odysseus and company are trying to invade Troy. Guess who thinks up the horse scenario? Oh, and Vicki might be Cressida....yeah, The Cressida. Hold your horses for Doctor Who's The Myth-Makers!

So, in all honesty, I recorded this one several times and also cut it down considerably. I may come back to the Myth-Makers in the future. Still not sure I did it justice. I also think that how I feel about this ending has changed with every viewing...so there's that!

_______
STEVEN: Well, the Doctor said they were Greeks. We're probably in Greece.
VICKI: Oh, but that would be wonderful, wouldn't it? We might meet the Heroes!
STEVEN: Those men who carried off the Doctor wouldn't be heroes, or anything like them.
_____

DOCTOR: Yes, yes. I'm afraid we must face up to it, Odysseus, man was never meant to fly.
ODYSSEUS: Wasn't he now? Well, that seems to me a great shame. Now if your machine won't work, Doctor, I propose to fly you without it.
DOCTOR: Oh? What do you mean?
ODYSSEUS: Simply this. That my catapult is ready and it seems a great pity to waste it. Now you have failed me, therefore you are expendable. I propose to fire you over the walls of Troy.
DOCTOR: Ah, but I have another idea. And a much better one.
ODYSSEUS: It had better be. Well?
DOCTOR: Have you ever thought of a horse?


Upcoming:

Celebrating Companions: Vicki
We need to take a moment to say goodbye to our revolutionary, our Cressida, the Doctor's first pea in the pod companion, dear Vicki!
Monday, May 9th

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan ("The Nightmare Begins,"** "The Day of Armageddon," "Devil's Planet," "The Traitors," "Counter Plot," "Coronas of the Sun," "The Feast of Steven," "Volcano," "Golden Death," "Escape Switch," "The Abandoned Planet," "Destruction of Time")
All missing EXCEPT: "Day of Armageddon," "Counter Plot," & "Escape Switch"
Buckle in...this is a long one.
Probably will be broken into multiple parts.
Monday, March 14th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Vicki wondered what was happening over on that planet on the scanner....well, it isn't good. Welcome to Mission to the Unknown!

A group of humans have crash landed on a planet and one appears contaminated by the varga root which turns him into a killer fluffy thorny cactus. And the varga are not the most dangerous thing in the jungle.....

CORY: All right. I suppose you've heard of the Daleks?
LOWERY: The Daleks invaded Earth a thousand years ago.
CORY: That's right. Well, they haven't been active in our galaxy for some time now, but that doesn't mean they've exactly been sitting around. In the last five hundred years, they've gained control of over seventy planets in Ninth Galactic System and forty more in the Constellation of Miros.
LOWERY: Don't see why that should concern us. I mean, they're both millions of light years away from our galaxy.
CORY: Hmm, that's what we all thought. But about a week ago we had a report from the captain of a space freighter. His navigator spotted a space ship of a type never before used in our system. He saw it only for a second but he gave us a good description.
LOWERY: So?
CORY: What he described was a Dalek spaceship.


Upcoming:

Serial #20: The Myth-Makers (Episodes: "Temple of Secrets," "Small Prophet, Quick Return," "Death of a Spy," "Horse of Destruction")
NOTE: All of these episodes are missing.  
Monday, February 28th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

A planet has two dawns before exploding and Team TARDIS landed on it, of course. Welcome to commentary and analysis of Galaxy 4!

The Doctor, Steven, and Vicki land on a planet due to explode and must navigate a conflict between the beautiful Amazonian Drahvans led by Maaga and the monstrous Rills. But appearances can be deceiving....

MAAGA: This is a fight to the death for existence itself.
DOCTOR: I see.
MAAGA: in which one of us will be obliterated.
________
RILL: But if there is a choice, the Doctor must go. He travels further than we can. And everything he has shown he stands for is what we believe in. So it is better that he goes.
STEVEN: I'm sorry. You can't blame me, though, for being suspicious. In that case, there's something you ought know. Whilst I was in the Drahvin ship, they said they intended to leave this planet in yours.
RILL: We are prepared to take them with us.
STEVEN: Well, that's not what they mean. They take your ship, you stay here.
RILL: We must hope they do not succeed.
_____

RILL: To the Drahvins we are ugly, so they become frightened.
DOCTOR: You are different from us, of course, but at least you are intelligent.
STEVEN: Yes, what difference does it make what your form is?
DOCTOR: Importance lies in the character and to what use you put this intelligence. We respect you as we respect all life.


Upcoming:

Serial #19: Mission to the Unknown
 The one-episode prequel to "The Dalek's Master Plan"
Monday, February 21st


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

We've made it through the second season of Classic Who!

This special episode looks at the second series overall. It's a weird one, right? We change out the entire cast, start getting comedic episodes, the Doctor is suddenly gradually becoming the star....so much to talk about!


NEXT TIME:
Serial #18 Galaxy 4 (Episodes: "Four Hundred Dawns," "Trap of Steel," "Air Lock," "The Exploding Planet")
All episodes missing except Air Lock. BBC has animated this one though!


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

The Vikings are invading! And there is a Meddling Monk....who has a TARDIS? Introducing one of the great episodes of the First Doctor....The Time Meddler!

The Doctor, Steven, and Vicki land in 1066 in a Saxon village and quickly discover that someone appears to be trying to rewrite history.

DOCTOR: So that's it! You're a time meddler! No wonder you wanted to get rid of me. And what are you trying to get up to this time?
MONK: I'm sure you'll approve, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Are you quite mad? You know as well as I do the golden rule about space and time travelling. Never, never interfere with the course of history.



Upcoming:

Doctor Who's Second Season
A retrospective on the very eventful second season of Doctor Who wherein 3/4ths of our original cast departed and the show gained a sense of humor. 
Monday, February 7th

Serial #18: Galaxy 4 (Episodes: "Four Hundred Dawns,"** "Trap of Steel,"** "Airlock," "The Exploding Planet"**)
**NOTE: Episodes 1, 2, and 4 are missing
Team TARDIS arrives on a planet "two dawns" away from exploding and must navigate the complicated relationships between the two native races desperate to escape destruction...
Monday, February 14th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Ian & Barbara are our first companions, our original audience surrogates, and such a large part of Doctor Who that it would have been difficult to see the production continuing without them. Their loss ushers in a new era and signals the end of Part I of Hartnell's time as the Doctor. The Doctor, and the show, is never quite the same. In a very real way, these two companions are never "replaced" in function--rather the Doctor absorbs their roles.

Let's take a moment to celebrate these two companions who perhaps taught the Doctor more than any of the others--compassion and courage that comes from empathy towards others and the moral wherewithal to feel obligated to help.  The Doctor as we know him would not be the Doctor without his first two human friends.

____

NEXT TIME:
For Classic Who: The Time Meddler (Episodes: "The Watcher," "The Meddling Monk," "A Battle of Wits," "Checkmate")--Monday, January 31st


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Bring on the bonkers' insanity of Doctor Who's  "The Chase!" A serial that can only be fully appreciated if you just go with it. But seriously--how can you not love this one? Mostly commentary (because this one doesn't want me to analyze). 

The Daleks have built a time machine that can lock on to the TARDIS. Now, the Doctor and companions are being chased through space and time, ending up on futuristic worlds, atop the Empire State Building, meeting Dracula, and encountering all sorts of monsters along the way.



DALEK: The Dalek Supreme has ordered they are to be pursued through all Eternity. Pursued and exterminated!
____
DOCTOR: I have the directional instincts of a honing pigeon!
___
BARBARA: You're from Earth?
MAN: No ma'am, I'm from Alabama!
_____
DOCTOR: I must see what's on that table.
IAN: Must you?
DOCTOR: Where's your spirit of adventure?
IAN: It died a long and painful death when those bats came out of the rafters.
____

BARBARA: All we've been through will remain with us always--and it will probably be the most exciting part of my life.
IAN: It was fun, Doctor. Thanks for the ride.
DOCTOR: I shall miss them. Yes, I shall miss them.


Upcoming:

Hannah & Brianna Talk Doctor Who: The Flux
Monday, January 17th
Hannah and I are going to talk through our thoughts on the last season of New Who--which Hannah is in the process of finishing and I've had some time to think about. Should be a ton of fun!

Celebrating Companions: Ian & Barbara
We need to take a moment to cry and laugh, and create a montage of adorable photos in our brains celebrating two of The Greats: The School Teachers We All Wanted to Have
Monday, January 24th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

The one where Doctor Who finally asks, "can we change the future?" And there's a museum....in Space! Like a "Space Museum?" Commentary and analysis.

Team TARDIS arrives at a planet where they seem to be invisible and incapable of touching anything. Then, our Fearsome Foursome sees themselves as future exhibitions at a museum! Realizing they have skipped a time track and had a glimpse into the future, the Doctor, Vicki, Ian, and Barbara "arrive" at the museum where they are now visible to their future captors, the Moroks. Now, all four must attempt to prevent the future they have already glimpsed....

DOCTOR: All we have to do is to wait here until we arrive.
BARBARA: I beg your pardon?
DOCTOR: You see, my dear, before they actually put us in those glass cases, we must have arrived here sometime in the Tardis. These people saw us and thought we were worthy people to be put in their Space Museum--
BARBARA: I see! I think.
DOCTOR: But nothing has happened to us yet. What we are doing now is taking a glimpse into the future, or what might be or could be the future. All that leads up to it, is still yet to come.
_____

BARBARA: But Doctor, what can we do now?
DOCTOR: My dear Barbara, you must try and remember, the short time we've been on this planet, we've met people, spoken to them and who knows, we might have even influenced them.
VICKI: That's what I was trying to say, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes, I knew you were, child, yes. Yes, I knew you were.
IAN: You mean we don't necessarily have to change our own future. It could be changed for us.
DOCTOR: Quite so, yes, quite so, my boy.


NEXT TIME:
For Classic Who: The Chase (Episodes: "The Executioners," "The Death of Time," "Flight Through Eternity," "Journey into Terror," "The Death of Doctor Who," "The Planet of Decision")--Monday, January 10th

For New Who:
Review of "Eve of the Daleks"-- January 5th
Hannah & Brianna Talk Doctor Who: The Flux--January 10th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

GIANT INSECT-PEOPLE IN SPACE! A great theatre production coming to you soon! Commentary and analysis for Doctor Who's  "The Web Planet!"

The TARDIS gets dragged down to the planet Vortis by a dark and mysterious force. Soon the captured Doctor and Vicki are trying to outsmart the terrifying Animus and her Zarbi (giant ant) minions in order to survive. Meanwhile Ian and Barbara find themselves assisting the Manaptra (Butterfly-like creatures) in a rebellion to reclaim their planet.

IAN: Those things out there.
DOCTOR: Well, to use the term of Earth, I suppose we should call them insects.
IAN: Ants? I've seen a colony of ants eat their way right through a house. That size, they could eat their way through a mountain. Why are they that big?
DOCTOR: Size is only relative. In this rarified atmosphere, it appears that evolution has chosen that particular form of life on this planet.
IAN: Ants.
DOCTOR: Yes.
____

NEXT TIME: 
For Classic Who: The Crusade (Episodes: "The Lion," "The Knight of Jaffa" (missing), "The Wheel of Fortune,"  "The Warlords" (missing))
Episode 1: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54yjfg
Episode 2: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3lgbi2
Episode 3: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54yg31
Episode 4: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3lgcfs


I will also be reviewing the next episode of New Who, "The War of the Sontarans" sometime this week.

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

This special edition of the podcast has my dear friend Hannah and I discussing "The Romans"....among other things!

This was an experiment for us and there were a few minor recording issues, but I think we ended up having a pretty interesting discussion that covers both this serial as well as other aspects of Classic and New Who.

Enjoy!
____
NEXT TIME:  The Web Planet (Episodes: "The Web Planet,""The Zarbi,""Escape to Danger,""Crater of Needles,""Invasion,""The Centre")


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

The one where the Doctor has way too much fun....a perfect serial to introduce Newbies to the First Doctor! Commentary and analysis for Doctor Who's  "The Romans"

Team TARDIS has been chilling in a Roman villa when the Doctor and Vicki get bored and go to Rome to meet Nero! But there is conspiracy afoot. Meanwhile, Ian and Barbara are captured by slave traders and suddenly must survive their very own adventure.

DOCTOR: On my arrival, I was rather under the impression that there was some sort of intrigue going on here, hmm?
NERO: Well, nobody said anything to me. Nobody said a word and I am always informed of intrigues!
______
BARBARA: Oh, it isn't fair, Ian, is it?
IAN: No it is not. Still, got a funny side to it, hasn't it.
BARBARA: Yes.
____

William Hartnell, take a bow! We'll chat about how brilliant Dennis Spooner is at dark comedy, the horror the comedy conceals, how the lyre-scene reveals the truth, and what these pure historicals can do better than New Who historicals....


NEXT TIME:  Hannah & Brianna Talk Doctor Who--a special podcast in which my friend Hannah and I chat over The Romans some more!

The following week we will continue on with The Web Planet.


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

My Dearest Vicki!!!!! A new companion is coming to the TARDIS. Commentary and analysis for Doctor Who's  "The Rescue"

On the planet Dido, Vicki and Bennett have been terrorized for months by Koquillion, a monstrous being whose race murdered the enter crew of their spaceship after they crash landed. The rescue ship is coming soon and they just need to survive a few more days. But everything is not as it seems....

DOCTOR: We can travel anywhere and everywhere in that old box as you call it. Regardless of space and time.
VICKI: Then it is a time machine?
DOCTOR: And if you like adventure, my dear, I can promise you an abundance of it. Apart from all that, well you'll be amongst friends. Hmm? Well? Now, suppose I leave you here for a moment to think about it, hmm?
____

This was the serial that sold me on the First Doctor my first go through Classic Who. For real. I talk about why in my commentary. I also discuss Bennett as a symbol of colonialism and the ways in which his relationship with Vicki exposes how abusive relationships work. We talk about Vicki, of course, particularly her relationship with the Doctor and why I think it special.


NEXT TIME:  The Romans (Episodes: "The Slave Traders," "All Roads Lead to Rome," "Conspiracy," "Inferno")


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Let's Celebrate the complicated legacy of Susan Foreman, the Doctor's Granddaughter and First Companion!

I'll discuss Susan's (perhaps unfair) reputation as "The Screamer," what makes Susan special as a companion, her unique relationship to the Doctor, Mentor/Mentee relationships generally between the Doctor and Companion, the problematic aspects of Susan's development and departure, the deliberate parallels between her departure and Rose Tyler's, and her overall legacy within the history of the show.

One day, she shall come back. Yes, she shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties.


"Look, if they don't understand, they can't, they can't hurt us at all. I understand these people better than you. Their minds reject things they don't understand." (to the Doctor)
"I love your school. I loved England in the twentieth century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life." (to Ian and Barbara)
-An Unearthly Child

"Oh, look, Grandfather. I understand the Sensorites. They're timid little people. Because their minds and mine can communicate sometimes, they trust me."
 "Grandfather and I don't come from Earth. It's been ages since we've seen our planet. It's quite like Earth. But at night, the sky is a burnt orange, and leaves on the trees are bright silver."
The Sensorites

"I never felt there was any time or place that I belonged to. I've never had any real identity."
"One day you will. There will come a time when you're forced to stop travelling, and you'll arrive somewhere."
-The Dalek Invasion of Earth


NEXT TIME:  Serial #11 The Rescue (Episodes: "The Powerful Enemy" & "Desperate Measures")


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com