Oi! Spaceman: Adventures In Media Criticism

In this slightly delayed episode, Shana and Daniel discuss The King's Demons and The Five Doctors and basically just giggle. King John as a cartoon lion and a proposed Susan Foreman: PI spinoff are both mentioned. Main Topic: The Five Doctors and The King's Demons. In the US first. Magna Carta. A ton of face makeup. Tegan's costume. Turlough's missing backstory. Kamelion. Constipated stare fight. Tegan is cold. King John. Robot of Sherwood. A rollicking good time. Sexist First Doctor? Christmas. Grandfather! Kitchen sink syndrome. Nostalgia vignettes. Emo hair and fucking Queen Elizabeth. Sarah Jane and Pertwee. Fascinating coats. Shada? Classic Who fan-girl. Susan Foreman: PI. Who didn't come back? The price of being an artist. Not truly iconic. Flavia. No reason for trivia. Borusa: the Twat-Lord. Wrapping Up.  Find Our Stuff!  Find us on iTunes! Or Facebook! We love email (oispacemanpodcast@gmail.com)! And all our episodes are on oispaceman.libsyn.com. You can also find a text blog associated with this podc

In this episode, Shana and Daniel discuss the final part of the Black Guardian Trilogy: Enlightenment. Believe it or not but gender politics and sexual orientation actually come up once or twice. Also awesome Tegan, the campy Captain Wrack, class structure, and the boredom of the Eternals.  Main Topic: Enlightenment. Shortest ever. No longer about Doctor Who. Disney geek. Argumentative. Teacher voice. Bowie. The art and artist. Moving on to Enlightenment. Men wearing leggings. Bird hats. Maybe Jim Henson saw Enlightenment. Costuming. Tegan's butt and Wrack's Rack? Repressed gay Turlough. X-men. The Black Guardian as a metaphor for repressed homosexuality. Choosing Turlough. Turlough and Ashildir. Turlough and River. The Eternals. Shana remembers The Mind Robber. Bored Eternals. Hellenistic. Tegan's costume change. "The gobby Australian." Non-hetero Five. Querulous Five. Shana's Four and Ten. Davison was wrong. Stinkers. Hard to root for the Doctor. Wanted it to be longer. Super-creepy Ken Doll. Shana facepalm

In this episode Shana and Daniel are joined by Nicole from the Terminus podcast. She's a big fan of the Moffat era (and hates RTD with a burning passion) so obviously that becomes a topic of conversation. They then move on to discussing the redheaded stepchild of the Black Guardian Trilogy, Terminus, with some discussion of Nyssa's characterization, the portrayal of slavery, and a bit of Norse mythology to boot.  Main Topic: Terminus. With special guest Nicole from the Terminus Podcast. Daniel's terrible joke. Turlough is so gay. All the good ones are taken. "Reach out and touch someone." The dreaded Moffat discussion. No consequences. Having it both ways. Clara's death. On-screen emotion. Being told how to feel. Soap opera versus sitcoms. Companions in New Who. Feminized Amy? The cannot be whole without a man trope. The RTD/Moffat debate. Moving on to Terminus. "Fairly entertaining." "Fairly interesting ideas." Campy. The half-watching experience. Digging into Nyssa. Smart companions. Why did Nyssa take her

In this episode, Shana and Daniel are joined by Phil Sandifer of Eruditorum Press in discussing Mawdryn Undead. First they discuss Phil's new book Guided By the Beauty of Their Weapons and the horrible politics of Vox Day, and then a bit on their obvious disagreements on Moffat and feminism. Also: gay Turlough, the Brig as a character, and a brief puppy interlude.  Main Topic: Mawdryn Undead. With special guest Phil Sandifer of Eruditorum Press. The worst joke ever on Oi! Spaceman. Militias in Oregon. Phil's new book and anger at Vox Day. The Hugos. Moffat and Vox. Shana invents an adjective. PhDs are meaningless. Phil on Moffat and feminism. "When you're talking about feminism always listen to the woman in the room." Fan culture in 2010. Queering characters. Moffat's back catalogue. Representation matters. Uncomfortable. Superficial. Production. Explicitly political science fiction. Pulp adventure and the valorization of colonialism. Moby Dick. What is the political? Don't pay attention to Vox Day. The alt r

This week Shana and Daniel discuss "The Husbands of River Song" and have bad flashbacks to the Matt Smith years. Cuddly genocidal monsters and our first canonical polyamorous character in Doctor Who are discussed. Also some general discussion on River Song as written and performed, Daniel's coarse comments on the sexual prowess of several Doctors, and looking forward to 2016. Also: a very brief discussion of why they didn't cover Earthshock last week.  Main Topic: The Husbands of River Song. Flames. Earthshock. No shittier than what we've already done. Character dynamics. Moving on to The Husbands of River Song. Going to talk about sex. The Narrative of River Song. A return to the Eleventh Doctor era. "River's kinda dumb." Speculations on writing process. A female Captain Jack. The sexual prowess of the Doctor. Eleventh Doctor as creepy boyfriend Doctor. Boyish charm. Leftover Strax dialogue. Kilgraving. Getting nutritional value. Leching on Alex Kingston (sorry!). Address to criticism. Mixing of tones. Carto

In this episode Shana and Daniel take a break from Doctor Who (partly because doing an hour on Earthshock made for an incredibly boring coversation) and instead do a bonus episode discussing the first season of the Netflix show Marvel's Jessica Jones. The show, and this this episode, contains significant material about abusive/coercive relationships, mind control, significant violence, and rape, so those triggered or upset by discussions of these topics should stay far away.  Main Topic: Marvel's Jessica Jones, Season One. Shana leads. Why not Doctor Who? Tennant as a villain. Daniel's relationship with television. "Why do we even care about Moffat's Who right now?" Brian Michael Bendis. Comic book Jessica. Comic-to-television transition. Doctor Who is a writer's medium. Melissa Rosenberg. The MCU. Daniel doesn't know anything about postmodernism. A lowercase-v villain. Big-picture themes. Problematic racism. Jessica's powers versus Luke's. We love Rosario. Trish and her mother. Malcolm and intersectionality.

In this episode, Shana and Daniel are joined by Jack Graham to discuss the Tenth Doctor story "Planet of the Ood." This one doesn't get political *at all* they assure you. Slavery vs wage slavery, the value of simpleminded politics, how to be a good ally to oppressed peoples, and capitalism are all addressed. Also, a brief discussion of what Jack thought of Series 9 and praise for Catherine Tate. Main Topic: Planet of the Ood. The spectre haunting this podcast. Halves of a single corporate entity. Might get a bit political. If you don't like Planet of the Ood.... A clear discontinuity. "What have Daniel and Shana gotten wrong." Not the Shabogans. Thoughts on Series 9. Written by women. A future episode on "Listen." Moving on to the Ood. Robot Jack and emotion. Small-r romance and political idealism. Not just an it. Asking the right questions. Directness. Human resources. "Who Made Your Clothes?" Justifications of slavery. Just five million. Lawrence Miles' douchebaggery. A reading from Phil Sandifer. Privileg

In this episode, Shana and Daniel do a whirlwind discussion of the last four episodes of Series 9, focusing on the death and resurrection of Clara (spoiler alert!) and Moffat's treatment of grief. Also the return of Ashildr, authoritarianism and collateral damage, and deterministic systems.  Main Topic: Sleep No More, Face the Raven, Heaven Sent, and Hell Bent. Sheep Go to Heaven. Completely irrelevant. Gatiss and whimsy. Bethany Black. Not puzzleboxy. Nancy Kress. Found footage. "That's not how subduction zones work." Face the Raven. The Doctor and young black men. Harry Potter. Non-queer Me. Sexual dimorphism. The weight of Clara's death. A response to Journey's End. Moffat proving his feminist bonafides. Leaving the show. Refugees and the Men in Black. Restructuring. The wall of diamond. Leaving Heaven Sent exactly as he came in. The Perfect Companion. A brief digression on fan response to Clara's tits. Authoritarian Me. "Jenna Oswald." The longest time between beginning and end of an episode ever. Overkil

Daniel and Shana are joined by working actor and the current Ben Jackson for Big Finish Elliot Chapman in what was supposed to be a thorough discussion of Castrovalva. As it happened, very little actual analysis of Peter Davison's first story actually occurred. Instead, the trio discuss Elliot's work for Big Finish, including working with Anneke Wills and Frazer Hines, as well as some of his techniques in capturing the authentic Ben without resorting to caricature. They then move on to discuss the Fifth Doctor era in general, especially the soapier elements and some of the pacing issues in Bidmead's script. Finally, they have a brief conversation about the actual story, largely revolving around the ideas of creations overcoming their creators and the role of the tapestry as TV screen.  Main Topic: Castrovalva. With special guest Elliot Chapman. Phallic symbols. Promiscuous Elliot. Other podcasts. Ben Jackson. Shana's podcast boyfriend. The buck stops with the script. Replacing Michael Craze. Frazer and Anneke

In this episode Shana and Daniel wave goodbye to Tom Baker (for now) in their discussion of Logopolis. First, though, Daniel rambles on by himself for a few minutes about why you're not getting a discussion of Sleep No More and Face the Raven today. There's some computer science, some mispronouncing of words, some chat about Hitler and even a little bit of conversation about the episode in question. Shana might even prefer Ainley to Delgado!  Main Topic: Logopolis. Sexual fetish out the gate. Out of order recording. "Jack Graham and Hitler." Americans don't get parlaimentary systems. Last stories. "Who's that White Dude?" Bratty Four. Billions of people killed. Dad's going through his goth phase. Resourceful Adric. Bidmead. Pacing. Preistly numerology. Visuals. All have wedge-heads. Authortarian monitor. Neal Stephenson. Moustache-twirling. Terror of the Autons. Jokers and Batmans. Regeneration. Interiority of the Master. Deserts. Daniel can't pronounce "Logopolitans." Cultural appropriation of radio telescop

In this episode, Shana and Daniel take a look at Tom Baker's penultimate story: The Keeper of Traken. First they discuss a bit of the real-world politics surrounding the Paris terrorist attacks from the weekend, in particular the not-particularly-surprising revelation that Gareth Roberts is a right-wing douchebag. After moving on to the titular episode, they discuss Nyssa, Adric, the burnt-up Master, and the limits of political authority.  Main Topic: Keeper of Traken. Irish racist. Terrorist violence. Only white people eating baguettes and wearing berets. Gareth Roberts and Twitter. Killing tens of thousands of people with drones. Representation. Us and them. Daniel is too effeminate. Nyssa and the Return of the Master. Costuming and sets. Ainley. Kassia. Traditional femininity. Nyssa's costume. Other costumes. New blood. Adric as companion. "Math things." "What a haughty stuck up bitch!" The Master and the Melkur. The Keeper. The Paparazzi? Whither evil? Yin and Yang. Systemic corruption. Shana Godwins the

In this episode Shana and Daniel discuss the two-part Zygon story "The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion," and discuss false equivalencies regarding oppressed peoples. Also a brief discussion of "Kill the Moon." That's about it really. Main Topic: The Zygon Invasion/Inversion. Body Image. Truth or Consequences. Kill the Moon. Abortion. Daniel's idea for an abortion short story. Feminism in a box. Metaphor in SF to talk about political ideas. The Oppressed Must Break the Cycle. Questioning Assumptions. Amazing Grace. "Doctor Who is finally doing what the Oi! Spaceman crew wants it to do." Men in Black. Revolutions by the young. General Lady. Hitchley. Humanize is a racist term in this context. Shana hasn't seen Alien Nation. Shana is surrounded by notes. Not like there are obsessive fans. Never get to hear the perspective of the splinter group. Five Rounds Rapid. Die in the fire or live in chains. Praise for Jenna Coleman. Innocent bystanders. Emo Doctor is back. Wilf knows. Osgood and Me. Doctor goes Jesus.

In this episode, Daniel and Shana finish up the E-Space Trilogy with a discussion of Warrior's Gate. And of course a story with the enslavement of an alien race has no particular political significance, right? Also: a discussion of non-determinism and Eastern philosophies, and a bit about the BDSM implications of Romana's torture scene. Main Topic: Warrior's Gate. Anthropomorphic lions. Correction. Nothing political. Understanding E-space. Shana likes Daniel's notes. Revisiting Tom Baker. Great Romana moments. Shana doesn't like Lalla Ward. Tamm's eyebrows. How Romana leaves. Fucking the Tharil or Andred. Moving on to Adric. The representation of the teenager. K-9 the slave. "You have to talk louder than that." Daniel mentions Jurassic Bark. TV Logic. Farnham's Freehold. The Tharils. A Marxist reading. Diminishing the evils of slavery. The Sam Seeley. Masculinity. Much Ado About Nothing. Math or Sex? Non-deterministic action. The I Ching. Dick and the Tharils. Eastern mysticism. Tharils and Traflamadorians.

In this episode, Shana and Daniel barely even bother to talk about plot and story, so fascinated were they by the gender issues in the most recent two-part story of Series 9: The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived. Is Ashildur genderqueer? Is Clara queer? Are the Mire 'roid-ragers? Is Leando an abusive boyfriend? Also alternative masculinity as portrayed by the Doctor and by the perhaps-appropriately-named Sam Swift the Quick. It's probably more fun than it sounds.  Main Topic: The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived. Daniel shouldn't ruin Queen. Shana took notes. If you thought you were political before.... Did you like these? Silly tone with a core of darkness. Ash/Me. One story or two? A J.D. Salinger reference. "Arthouse films from before 1994." A Phil Sandifer reference. Shana might get bitchy about pronouns. A reading from Jack Graham. Maisie Williams. Defining some terms. The danger of being publicly queer. Moving into the episodes. The safety of the closet. Sexualized by the Doctor and Clara. The only th

In this episode of Oi! Spaceman, Daniel and Shana get silly, discussing being uncomfortably political, read some Twitter messages on the air, and eventually even chat a bit about the second part of the E-space trilogy: State of Decay. Sparkly vampires, eldritch horrors, and Leela's possible place in this story are all discussed.    Main Topic: State of Decay. Retirement age. Not Wings of Desire. Someone will get that joke. Shana will never listen to any podcasts. An email from JB Anderton. Sexy Romana. Romana and Astra. City of Death score. Political Doctor Who. Tweeting at JB. Uncle Terry. The Witch Lords. Originally Leela. Not gender-fuckery. Adric is a weird character. A little milquetoast. Vampires with metallic bands across their eyes. Interesting. Witch Lords and Time Lords. Daniel says "like" a lot. Kalmar vs Ivo. Logic vs. Pathos. Callbacks to Face of Evil. After the Roman Empire. Eldritch Horror Vampires and race essentialism. Adric the opportunistic little shit. Leela versus three immortal vampires.

In this episode, Daniel and Shana are highly amused (and at least somewhat impressed by) the second two-part story of Series 9, "Under the Lake/Before the Flood." A base-under-siege with a nifty Golden Age SF time travel twist, this story inspires discussion of subjugated peoples controlled by mental conditioning, the way that that metaphor might reflect modern-day patriarchal structures, and the use of time travel paradoxes in Moffat Who. Also: email about military adventurism in the Western world, discussion of the space opera elements of Blake's 7, and a rough definition of the word miniarchist. All that and a rubber monster, too.  Main Topic: Under the Lake/Before the Flood. Shana's Intro. Daniel didn't hate this. Where have these characters been? Semaphore. Sophie Stone. New producer. Our deaf listeners? An email from Henry, our miniarchist friend. Quote, unquote. Literally. "Don't ding a poet!" Blake's 7. The Underwater Menace DVD and the possibility of streaming. A letter from Tom and military metaphor

In this episode, Shana and Daniel are joined by Holly B. of the City of the Dead podcast to discuss the Third Doctor story "Carnival of Monsters," and end up wandering over most of the Pertwee era in the process. The miniscope as metaphor for Doctor Who *and* male gaze, the appearance of Ian Marter before Harry Sullivan, and the awesomeness of Shirna are all discussed. Also: a brief discussion of the Capaldi era so far.   Main Topic: Carnival of Monsters. With special guest host Holly B. of City of the Dead. Nothing New Series. Rebooting the show. Small things in small rooms. The New Pertwee Era. Metebelis III. Chickens. Adorable Katy. Reading Pertwee wrong. Self-awareness. Shirna and Vorg. Shirna is awesome. The Miniscope as television. Dishrags and Daleks. Holmes the vegetarian. Jo and the male gaze. "Nothing difficult, nothing political." Stage play. Parodies of the Third Doctor. Anti-immigration gray dudes. The obligatory Quentin Tarantino reference. Daniel was a bit bored by the politics. President Zarb.

In this episode, which was recorded late and was edited minimally -- forgive the animal noises and the verbal tics please -- Daniel and Shana discuss the first two-parter of Series 9: The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar. It's a fairly rambling conversation but Shana and Daniel actually disagree to some degree about the overall merits of the episode, but agree on Michelle Gomez's performance, myriad pacing and structural issues, and the anarchist rock star Doctor. Is Davros the Dark Lord of Skaro? Is the Doctor dying? Is Clara queerbaited and fridged? All that and Shana does a Dalek impression besides.  Main Topic: The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. Star Wars. Hogwarts. Dalek impersonation. Mostly Wednesday. Titles. Positives. Clever symbolism. Performances. Genesis. Who's the best Master? Michelle Gomez and Moffat's writing. Parallels. Mysteries. Giffable. Q. Pacing. One big story. Rule of cool. Rock-star Doctor. #planeshavestopped. Queer-baiting. Unit incompetence. Daniel mansplai

In this episode, Shana and Daniel are joined by James Murphy of the Pex Lives podcast to discuss the introduction of Adric (and, for this show, 80s Who) in Full Circle. Since James is a bit of a Moffat defender, they also put him on the spot and force him to defend the horrible sexism, racism, and general horribleness of the last few years of Doctor Who. (He survives, barely). It's an overall very fun and discursive conversation that barely even mentions oligarchy at all.  Main Topic: Full Circle. Introducing guest host James from the Pex Lives podcast. James likes Steven Moffat, with massive reservations. Racism? What are we missing in the Matt Smith era? Agreeable James. Perspective shift. Writing for Tumblr. Looking forward to Series 9. Capaldi as the final author of the scripts. How do we keep watching a show we don't like? Moffat's next project. Moving on into Full Circle. Adric has a little brother complex. Adric is petulant and worried. Adric and Zoe. Behind the scenes with Lalla Ward. The focus on To

In this episode, Shana and Daniel are joined by JB Anderton of the Who37 podcast in discussing the Douglas Adams classic: City of Death. First though, lots of discussion of Steven Moffat and the general failures of the last couple of years of Doctor Who. They then discuss some personal history among the three of them, the relationship between Romana II and the Fourth Doctor, and debate the ethics of sexual consent with a maggot spaghetti man. All that and comparisons between Clara Oswald's being split in time with the Scaroth.    Main Topic: City of Death. Introducing guest host JB Anderton of the Who37 podcast. Who has the more racist family? Onanistic podcasting. JB's history with Who. Splintered superfans. Moffaty plot holes. What Classic Who does for Shana. Meeting J.B. Whiny Sarah Jane. Chicago TARDIS panels. Why City of Death? Bye bye Duggan! Wandering around Paris and Dudley Simpson. "First draftiness." Production history. "Might could." Romana II. Duggan the parody. Julian Glover. The physical relatio