Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro » Doctor Who Podcast

Radio Free Skaro Blogs for SPACE

Steven — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:04:33 +0000

SPACE (www.spacecast.com), the home of Doctor Who and Torchwood in Canada, announced today that Radio Free Skaro will be blogging for the nation’s sci-fi channel, by way of our own Warren Frey! Warren will naturally be blogging about all things Doctor Who leading up to the Canadian premiere of the last three David Tennant gap year specials on SPACE, as well as the upcoming series featuring Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor in Spring 2010.

Click here to read Warren’s introductory blog entry, and stay tuned to radiofreeskaro.com for future updates on our new relationship with SPACE!

Gary Russell experiences HAVOC

Chris — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:39:55 +0000

Last night at the monthly Doctor Who New York (DWNY) meetup, special guest Gary Russell — former Doctor Who Magazine editor, author, actor and current script editor — was presented with a swish Radio Free Skaro “Action by HAVOC” mug. Thanks go to Barnaby Edwards (no, not THAT one) from DWNY for this honour. Second photo courtesy Andre Tessier.

Radio Free Skaro presents Bridging The Rift

Steven — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:18:04 +0000

A couple weeks ago, Radio Free Skaro released a special Wednesday Cutaway episode of our podcast, focusing on the controversy surrounding Torchwood: Children of Earth and the perceived homophobia centred around the series. Hosted by Katrina, Nat and Erik, the episode proved to be extremely popular. Buoyed by this success, Katrina and Nat have decided to forge ahead and start their own weekly podcast.

And so, without further ado, we at Radio Free Skaro are proud to announce our very first spin-off podcast, Bridging The Rift!

From the Bridging The Rift website:

The Doctor Who Universe fandom is wide, diverse and vibrant, but it’s split into enclaves; be it ‘old fandom’ or new, LiveJournal or forums, Torchwood or Doctor Who, and the many different types of creative pursuits.

Bridging The Rift is a podcast that hopes to bring the Doctor Who Universe fandom together. We’ll be highlighting and discussing hot topics and debates; trying to see all sides of the argument and hopefully coming to some conclusions. We’ll also be exploring the fandom’s creative pursuits, helping you to find the best Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures fan art, music, fiction, animation, films, reconstructions, comics, costumes and crafts.

Our two main co-hosts are not only fans of all three Doctor Who Universe shows, but also the fandom’s creativity. We’re also aiming to bring in guest hosts to bring new perspectives to our discussions and cover all sides of the story and all the corners of the fandom. So join us weekly, with new episodes usually released on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Subscribe on iTunes, add our feed or download directly from the site.

Here’s a link to Episode One – Torchwood: What Happens Next?

Party like it’s 1963

Chris — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:21:56 +0000

Among the other announcements today, it has also been revealed the TARDIS will be getting a rather retro feel. As has previously been discussed on Radio Free Skaro, the press have leaked rumours that the TARDIS would have a white, retro feel inside but little or nothing had previously been mentioned about the exterior. Set reports from today’s filming quite clearly show changes to the exterior of our beloved blue box, such as the return of the St. John’s Ambulance logo that adorned the door in William Hartnell’s era.

Gillan and Smith on set with the retro-feel TARDIS.

Announcing…Skaro Shop!

Steven — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:24:47 +0000

In honour of our impending 150th episode of Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro (as well as the looming third anniversary of this humble podcast), we are celebrating the occasion on two fronts :

1) The ever so slight redesign of the Radio Free Skaro logo and website, and (most excitedly),
2) The launch of our official Radio Free Skaro Merchandise page, Skaro Shop (www.zazzle.com/radiofreeskaro)!

Covering the announcements in reverse order, Skaro Shop has a wide variety of RFS-related merchandise including t-shirts, mugs, hats, buttons, and stickers featuring our new Radio Free Skaro logo, as well as shirts and such featuring various catchphrases that we’ve trotted out during those moments of awkward silence over the years. Want a “MADOC!” shirt? You can now get one! Eager to strike fear in your friends by wearing a shirt featuring the (fictitious) beast PEDANTOR!? Well, it can now be yours! Be the first person on your street to own an official Radio Free Skaro ringer-T and be the envy of all your friends!

The link to our shop can be found on the right-hand side of this website. There are Canadian, US, and UK versions of the store. Sizes and colours vary for the many shirts and such that we offer, and our affiliate Zazzle accepts PayPal and all major credit cards. Thanks, as always, for your support, and we think you will all find something to your liking at our new store.

Lastly, with the unveiling of the updated logo, this website has undergone a necessary tweak as well. All extraneous content can be found along the right-hand side of the page, including links to our aforementioned online store, our Twitter feed and Benjamin Elliott’s excellent “This Week in Doctor Who”. Also, don’t forget to download the latest version of the Radio Free Skaro wallpapers, available for your desktop and/or mobile phone! There’s nothing necessarily new, content-wise, but we think it’s a sleeker, cleaner-looking site that we hope you will enjoy!

Thanks for visiting our site and listening to our podcasts. We hope you enjoy the next 150 episodes as much as you’ve (hopefully) enjoyed the first 150.

At The Roof of the World

Steven — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:21:34 +0000

After months of planning, fundraising, training, retraining, panicking, more planning, more fundraising, and, finally, one good solid week of panic beforehand, Neil Perryman has successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, reaching the world’s tallest free standing mountain on June 18. And now, the photographic proof (as seen above). We at Radio Free Skaro offer our heartiest of congratulations to Neil, and we also offer our immense gratitude to all of you who helped him get up the mountain.

As you can see, though, this was all one gigantic ruse to promote the most ostentatious new logo unveilling in the history of branding, but, yes that is our slightly reworked logo that Neil is proudly displaying. In the next couple of weeks, not only will this website have a slightly new look about it, but you will be able to purchase T-shirts, hats, buttons, coffee cups, and all sorts of memorabilia with the new Radio Free Skaro logo on it (along with a few extra surprises). Hooray!

Neil, glad to have you “down and safe”, as it were, but your descent from Cloud 9 will probably take a little while longer.

Breaking News: Impressive Torchwood Trailer Airs

Steven — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:51:50 +0000

Those of you who listen to Radio Free Skaro know that the general consensus of the hosts in regards to their thoughts on Torchwood veer from indifference to disappointment to pleasantly surprised to, even, anticipointment. With few highlights (“Small Worlds”, “Something Borrowed”) in the Torchwood canon, compared to many lowlights (take a bow, “Day One”, “Cyberwoman”, “Meat” , “From Out of the Rain”…), our enthusiasm is somewhat tempered by the upcoming “Torchwood: Children of Earth”, airing in the UK from July 6-10 on BBC One, and in the US (BBC America) and Canada (SPACE) later in the month (hopefully).

But then along comes this dark, bleak, moody little trailer that aired on the Australian channel UKTV earlier this week :

Good stuff! Sure, it’s only a trailer, but it does make us use a term that hasn’t been heard in these parts for a long time regarding Torchwood : modest anticipation.

You have our attention, Torchwood. Please don’t screw this up…

Thank You, Radio Free Skaro Listeners

Steven — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:53:38 +0000

As you read this, our friend Neil Perryman is either on a plane to Africa, in Africa preparing for his climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, or at the very top of the mountain itself, admiring the view and his accomplishment whilst breathing deeply into a respirator.

We only met Neil for the first time in February at Gallifrey 20 in Los Angeles, but we here at Radio Free Skaro immediately hit if off with him, along with the rest of the Tachyon TV entourage. When we heard that Neil was joining an expedition to climb Kilimanjaro for charity, we knew that we had to do our best to help, so we implored you, our dear listeners, to come forward and give what you could towards this noble cause.

And you all came through in spades. Neil’s target of raising £3,000 was shattered by almost £1,000 thanks to numerous generous donations. Well over £400 (a very conservative estimate indeed) was donated by Radio Free Skaro listeners, or, at least by people who were kind enough to mentions us when they donated.

Thank you, everyone, not only for all your kind donations to UNICEF, but for listening to us prattle on week after week about Neil’s worthy trek. Most of you have never even met any of us, or Neil, yet you still freely gave what money you could. We really appreciate what you have contributed to the cause, and we know that Neil is very humbled and pleased, as well.

Thanks again, and please note that donations can still be given to Neil’s cause until January 2010 by visiting the Just Giving website.

Cheers,

The Three Who Rule (Warren, Steven, and Chris)

Who Party in Toronto – June 13, 2009

Steven — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:23:42 +0000

Those of you in the Toronto area should circle Saturday, June 13 on your calendar, and those of you who aren’t in Toronto will want to be on that date, as well. On that day, Who Party 14 will be taking place, a one day Doctor Who convention taking place at the Best Western Primrose Hotel in downtown Toronto. Featuring such notable guests as Rob Shearman, Toby Hadoke, Colin Teague, and Lance Parkin, this is shaping up to be one of the biggest conventions that our fair country of Canada has seen in some time. Who Party is being put on by the Doctor Who Information Network, the longest running Doctor Who fan club in North America.

UPDATE! (June 5) James Strong, director of several Doctor Who episodes including The Satan Pit, The Impossible Planet, and Planet of the Dead, has been added to the bill!

Full details of the convention are available at www.whopartytoronto.com, and you can get instant Twitter updates from the convention by following whopartytoronto. Also, check out the official DWIN website and the DWIN blog for more news about Doctor Who in Canada.

Also, for a teaser as to what to expect from Messrs Hadoke and Shearman, you can check out what these fine fellows had to say to us when we interviewed them at Gallifrey ’09 :

Radio Free Skaro #123 – Shearman After Dark (Interview with Rob Shearman with Jason Haigh-Ellery) – direct download: rfs123.mp3

Radio Free Skaro interviews Toby Hadoke – direct download: RFShadokeinterview.mp3

Radio Free Skaro #124 – Two Scoops of Hooray (Interview with Toby Hadoke and Phil Ford) – direct download: rfs124.mp3

Doctor Who Returns To BBC America

Steven — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:51:16 +0000

According to Variety Magazine, Doctor Who will moving from the SciFi Network (soon to be called SyFy, to rhyme with “iffy”) to BBC America, starting with the gap year specials. The 2008 Christmas special “The Next Doctor”, which aired in Canada on SPACE in March 2009, will finally get its US premiere on BBC America on Saturday, June 27, at 9:00 PM. The remaining four specials have yet to be scheduled, but they, along with Series 5, looks like they have found a home.

This is also interesting news, given the Podcast 8 (for lack of an actual name) focusing much attention on the plight of US broadcasting Doctor Who earlier this month. Anyway, here’s the link to the Variety story.