Oi! Spaceman: Adventures In Media Criticism

In this episode Daniel and Shana are finishing up the Key to Time with The Armageddon Factor. It's the end of Mary Tamm, the beginning of Lalla Ward, and K-9 gets taken over by an alien menace. Also there's some fairly obvious Cold War stuff going on, a supercomputer that can't be stopped, and some discussion of distant godlike beings.  Main Topic: The Armageddon Factor. Finishing up the Key to Time. The Bristol Boys. The very last six-parter. Not The Odyssey. (Not) ranking the episodes. Baker/Martin and Holmes switching. Predictable plot. Astra the damsel. Black Guardian is the White Guardian. Good and evil. Fake Buddhism. Drax. Comic relief. Drax the plot device. Is the Marshall mind-controlled? Metatextuality. The Mentalis. The objectification of Astra. Evil K-9. The end of Mary Tamm in Doctor Who. Missed opportunities. The Fourth Doctor/Romana relationship. Ambivalence. Next week: City of Death.  Find Our Stuff!  Find us on iTunes! Or Facebook! We love email (oispacemanpodcast@gmail.com)! And all our epis

In this episode, Shana and Daniel spend quite a bit of time responding to some listener email, defend their general lack of respect for the Moffat era, discuss the Bechdel test as it relates to Robert Holmes, and find a few minutes somewhere to discuss The Power of Kroll.  Show Notes: Main Topic: The Power of Kroll. Giant Vagina Cthulhu. Letter from Lee on UNIT and sexual attraction to Daniel. The Knowing Viewer. Letter from WhoBranigan, our very first super-fan. Schpansky. Does there exist a specificically libertarian Doctor Who podcast? Thrift store finds. A more negative email from David. Going against fan consensus. Rejecting false equivalence. No consequences. Statements from creators. Moffat and J.J. World-class expert. Toxic masculinity and the Ninth Doctor. The Ninth Doctor's ultimatum. Nine into Ten. The Ten/Martha relationship. RTD mothers as "screeching harpies." Postmodernist Moffat. Moving on to The Power of Kroll. A massive fart joke. Swampies. Kroll the Cthulhu Vagina. Don't fuck over Bobby H-D

In this episode, Shana and Daniel continue with their look at the Key to Time season with a discussion of The Androids of Tara. Along the way, a discussion of doubles in fiction is discussed, as well as a connection to Gone With the Wind. Also: a response to a listener email about capitalism.   Main Topic: The Androids of Tara. Vaudeville. Doubles and comedy. Romana's clothing as a clue to tone. Another letter from Henry: capitalism. Moving on to The Androids of Tara. A Gone With the Wind connection? The Prisoner of Zenda. Proposing a tumblr. "Rainbow Pope." Princess Strella. Vaudeville Robot Doubles. The Fourth Doctor gives zero shits. Grendel the Master. Romana has agency. A missed opportunity. Mixed-level technology. Comparison to Series 8. Lamia. A pointless death. Scarf-swordfighting. 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. Daniel's Tumblr Twitter Shana's Tumblr Twitter 

In this episode, Daniel and Shana are joined by Jessica from The Web of Queer in discussing the Donna-centric episode Turn Left. Other than the general aura of Donna squeefulness, the trio discuss Donna as the ordinary person who has the seeds of the extraordinary within, the political nature of the companion during the RTD/Gardner era, and the return of Rose Tyler. Also: the metaphysics of the beetle bubble universe.   Main Topic: Turn Left. With special guest Jessica from The Web of Queer. Huge Donna fangirl. "Donna Donna Donna squee." Political discussions on Web of Queer. An email from Henry. Classic Versus New Who. Separating the artist from the art. Capaldi and Lis Sladen. Adam Baldwin is an awful person. McCoy and Davison not liking a female Doctor. The tide of cultural opinion. Moving on to "Turn Left." Donna and her mother. Wilf crying. Political emotion. Radicalization of the companion. Turn Left as an RTD thesis statement. Rose/Martha/Donna as an extension of the same character traits. Daniel likes

In this episode, Shana and Daniel discuss the relationship dynamics of the now-on-Netflix-streaming Series 8 of Doctor Who, viewing the Danny/Clara/Doctor conflict as a deeply dysfunctional polyamorous triad. The topics discussed, including emotional abuse, toxic masculinity, and systemic misogyny, may be triggering or otherwise uncomfortable for some listeners. Also discussed: Clara as a "bossy control freak," some general impressions of Series 8 on a technical level, and a close reading of a pivotal scene from "The Caretaker." Main Topic: The Danny/Clara/Doctor Relationship in Series 8. The Moffat-Hate Hour. Polyamory. Poly in Golden Age SF writers. Our personal histories with poly. Don't talk to Freud. Sexual identification words. Lies Higher Education Has Told Me. Appreciating the Sam Seeleys. The Doctor is Poly. Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack. Basic respect. General discussion of Series 8. "At the end of a silly show for entertainment I shouldn't want to punch the television." Praise for production

In this episode, Shana and Daniel discuss a recent bit of nerd culture misogyny/blindness, then move on to the third part of the Key to Time: The Stones of Blood. Discussions revolve around the relationship between Romana and the Fourth Doctor, spreading into Romana's acceptance by the other women in the story, and whether or not the Cessair of Diplos received a punishment that fit the crime. Also: what's the deal with Romana's shoes?  Main Topic: The Stones of Blood. Vincent Price. A moment of numerology. Steven Schpansky and J.B. Anderton. "Kerfluffle." Comfort the powerful and afflict the powerless. Shana officially forgives JB. Didn't learn much from Doctor Who. Wyatt Cenac. Consent and cosplay. Fun to engage in critical thinking. Secret Lesbians and Vampire Rocks. Who is the Fourth Doctor Becoming? Overtly sexualized high-heeled Romana. Four respected Professor Rumford. Inner Time. Stuffy. Rumford as a Doctor surrogate. Vivien Fay: Bad Guy. Honesty and pettiness. #myqueerwife. #imahorribleciswhiteman. Ju

In this episode, Shana and Daniel explore the first credit on Doctor Who of the late, great Douglas Adams. Does his signature style work well within the Whoniverse? Furthermore, is the Fourth Doctor just turning into kind of a dick? Also: why do people hate Romana I so much? A theory is proposed.  Main Topic: The Pirate Planet. Shana gets the plot. Robot parrot. Talk like a pirate. Neil Gaiman. Bruce Purchase. Moons of Madness! Adams and Moffat. Jelly babies. Named female characters. The awesomeness of the Nurse. Postmodernism and visual indicators. It doesn't look opulent. Formula. Not pasta. Text versus performance. Not following the plot. Contradicting forces. Tom Baker chews scenery. Pacing pacing pacing. Moving on to the positive. Romana the grad student. "People think she's a bitch." Openly misogynist criticism. He fakes it 'til he makes it. Not talking about the pirates as capitalist metaphor. A Pirate Ruling Class? Whither the Mentiads? Shana references Curse of the Black Spot. The 1978 Christmas Tape

In this episode, Daniel and Shana discuss one of the finest Doctor Who stories ever: The Ribos Operation. But first they re-introduce themselves for new listeners, indulge in a bit of fanwankery around some Series 9 pre-release, discuss geek culture for a bit, and respond to Jack Graham's comments about their previous episode discussing The Invasion of Time. Also: Binro as moral authority.  Main Topic: The Ribos Operation. Fred and Whedon. Daniel's favorite. Reintroductions. Fanwankery. The Series 9 trailer, ComicCon, and geek culture. Addressing Jack's criticisms of our Invasion of Time Discussion. Finally getting into the Ribos Operation. K-9 Mark II. Furiosa and Fool. Harry and Four. Honest faces. Eyebrows. Daniel momentarily forgets Zoe. Shana relates to Romana. "What's his name and Unstoffe." Scringestone. Reclining Baker is Happy Baker. Praise for Bobby H-Dawg. Mamet. The Graff. Homphillic. A con-man with a heart of gold. Labyrinth. One day, even here.... Nazis in Argentina. Anarchic spirit. Colonel San

Can you discuss a story called "The Ice Warriors" and barely talk about the Ice Warriors? When there's a fascinating underlying sociopolitical context you can. Also: Jamie likes short skirts and yet another Arnold Rimmer reference. Main Topic: The Ice Warriors. An abbreviated introduction. Jack didn't like our discussion last week. Bad fan Daniel. A shoutout to Pex Lives. The Ice Warriors not so generic. The Abdominable Snowmen is unlistenable. Season 5. Political Troughton. Brian Hayles. Well-rounded characters in The Ice Warriors. Competent Arnold Rimmer. "Miss Garrett." Unspecified far future. "Snowball Earth." The Day After Tomorrow. The politics of global ecology. Ecological thrillers. Comparison to "In the Forest of the Night." Twelve weeks of ice. "Fake Buddhism and Robot Yeti." Claustrophobic. Production. Malthusian Caves of Steel. Oligarchy. Africa. Daniel the Ice Warrior. Design, direction, and purpose. Klingons. Shana falls into a pit of Moffat-Hate. A battle of ideologies. Compuerization. The ruli

This time Daniel and Shana discuss Louise Jameson's last story The Invasion of Time, and speculate as to how little Tom Baker actually cared about the show at this point. Also, our first female Time Lord, neutered Sontarans, Milton Johns being creepy, and much discussion of writing structure.    Main Topic: The Invasion of Time. "Tom Baker throws his weight around, and Leela's nipples are almost exposed." Rockin' it in the Middle Ages. Goading the Sontarans. Doctor Who stories with the word "Time." There are years of this. Hopscotching down the hallway. Williams and Read. Simpleton Leela. Bathing Suit Leela. Not the best Leela stories. Leela's costume. Meeting the Shabogans. Marrying Arnold Rimmer. Rodan: the Romana tryout. Rodan and Leela. The Sontaran battle fleet. The ruling classes and the Shabogans. "Everything hurts out here." Flase dichotomy. High and low. "Why must we talk about the plot?" Elucidating the plot. A pretty good structure. Milton Johns is good at playing skeevy. Charismatic actors. A four

In this episode, Daniel and Shana are joined by the writer of the Shabogan Graffiti blog and host of the Shabcast, Jack Graham, to talk about the Big Finish audio Spare Parts. If you know Jack's work at all, you won't be surprised that this one gets lefty, political, and ranty pretty quickly. Alas, poor Yvonne.  Show Notes:  Main Topic: Spare Parts, with special guest Jack Graham. An inaccurate summary? Shana's introduction to the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. "Beige." The Young Davison versus the Old Davison. Everymanish Davison. Headcanon. Why Jack picked "Spare Parts." Mark Platt's worldbuilding through dialogue. The Cybermen as a concept versus the on-screen reality. A story about the Sam Sealeys. The Doctor haunts the perimeter. Shana needs to ask culturally British questions. Yvonne. Human beings rendered as material. Cultural confusions. Self-described versus self-confessed. Space Communists. Jack goes off. "Qlippothic." Cybermen versus Borg. Dog food. The capitalist-totalitarian state. Big Finish creates ri

This week, Daniel and Shana discuss colonialism, slavery, and the "White Man's Burden" in the context of "The Invisible Enemy." The ethics of a robot dog, the role of the white savior in Doctor Who, and whether it's best to view Leela's treatment through a sexist or a racist lens is all considered. It's not all serious, though, because Louise Jameson looks adorable in Tom Baker's hat.  Main Topic: The Invisible Enemy. Shana gets the plot. Space. More with Finnoula. Interrupting Shana. The Return of Sexism. Starting with fun stuff. K-9. K-9 fandom. The computer geek in A Girl's Best Friend. Scrappy Doo. A brief discussion of "A Girl's Best Friend." Sarah Jane's backstory. Self-indulgent RTD. Existential crisis. Bad science. Ethical quandries. A hospital not an arsenal. "Leela has a point." Trigger warning. Savage Leela: all cunning and instinct. Leela and Sarah Jane as feminist avatars. The Bristol Boys. Diminished Leela. Some behind-the-scenes details. Tom Baker was a dick. Losing ground on progressivism. Rul

In this episode, Daniel and Shana confront the air-quote Savage in their discussion of Leela of the Sevateem in her very first story, The Face of Evil. Lots of sexism, racism, classicism, and various other -isms (implicit and explicit) to unpack here, so you might as well have a listen.  Main Topic: The Face of Evil. Pennant Roberts. Apologies to Fionnuala about Dodo. A personal hello. "Doctor Qui." Leela's costume. Cosplayers. A Dandy Pandy Aside. Jelly Babies and cannibalism. "Civilizing" Leela. If Zoe were around this story would be two episodes long. Question reality. Cargo cults. Red Dwarf. The Tribe of the Sevateem and the Tribe of Gum. National Geographic and Boobies. Leela as a Noble Savage? Capable. Questioning political authority. Both the Doctor and Leela as expatriates. Janis thorns. Sevateem/Tesh marks the Doctor's own psyche? The Doctor's Fuck-up. Tropiness. Existentialism. Fear of Technology. Blackface. Louise Jameson's legs. Shiny imagined futures. The whiteness of Mad Max Fury Road. Productio

In this episode, Daniel and Shana take a break from hiatus to discuss the one, the only, The Deadly Assassin. Max Mad: Fury Road and the riots in Baltimore were very much on their mind during the recording, so this is a bit more politics-heavy than some other episodes, which fits the themes of The Deadly Assassin just fine.  Main Topic: The Deadly Assassin. Zeitgeist. Dogs. Genesis. Fibro-fog. Center. Catch-Up. Masque. Sarah. Web. Travers. Furiosa. Companions. Formula. Masque. Doubt. Exit. Selection. Hinchcliffe. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Politics. Assassin. Issues. Movies. Baker. Exposition. Costumes. Spandrel. Worldbuilding. Panopticon. Vocabulary. Runcible. Monologue. Egotistical. Make-Up. Technicality. Freshmen. Kyriarchy. Skeletor. Women. Thatcher. Twelve. Shabogan. Matrix. Whitehouse. Tipper. Zappa. Popularity. Miller. Freeze-frame. History. Heroes. Biog. Thatcher. Acting. Quote. Hatred. Themes. Feminist.  Find Our Stuff!  Find us on iTunes! Or Facebook! We love email (oispacemanpodcast@gmail.com)! And

In this episode, Daniel and Shana attempt to do a live commentary for Tom Baker's very first story "Robot." They previously discussed this story briefly in their very first regular episode, but thought it deserved a second look. They work off of the Region 1 DVD and hit "play all" at 4:25 in the podcast so you can watch along if you're so inclined.  Note: The puppy was chewing on a toy towards the beginning of this podcast and so there's a bit of noise towards the beginning. It's not too bad and goes away as soon as the conversation starts, but it's worth noting. Listen to Episode 1 of Oi! Spaceman, where Daniel and Shana discuss "Robot," "The Ark in Space," and "The Sontaran Strategem." Discussion of "Robot" starts about eleven minutes in. 

Daniel and Shana take a break from Classic Who to discuss the Tenth Doctor story "The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky," in particular the way that it plays on Third Doctor tropes and the relationship the Doctor has with his two companions, Martha and Donna. In Part Two they discuss "The Stones of Venice" from Big Finish, which has a surprisingly literary bent.  Main Topic: The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky. Bonus: Big Finish "The Stones of Venice." Daniel forgets an episode title. Shana sings like on Bob's Burgers. Some love for Helen Raynor and the writing of women, by women. Divisive RTD/Gardner. A sexist Shana moment. Martha's totally over the Doctor. Donna's relationship with the Doctor's other companions. Shana *loves* Ten. A sexiness that has nothing to do with the way he looks. Why we say "RTD/Gardner". "The hot guy in the jeep." Shana doesn't do titles at all. A Tom Baker moment. Third Doctor tropes in "Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky." RTD/G-era nostalgia. Criticism of Russell T. Davies. Overstuf

In this episode, Shana and Daniel discuss Sarah Jane's first adventure ever, "The Time Warrior," and discuss her relationship with Pertwee versus the one she had with Tom Baker. Also: the introduction of the Sontarans, the invention of the word "Gallifrey," and feminism galore. Bonus content at the end of the episode includes Daniel and Shana discussing the Big Finish Eighth Doctor audio "The Sword of Orion." Show Notes:  Main Topic: The Time Warrior and The Sword of Orion. Exciting weaponry. Last week should have been Douglas Adams. Daniel always messes up the title of this one. Gallifrey. Daniel is an anorak. The Introduction of Sarah Jane. Characters with differing levels of knowledge. Almost called him Strax. Jingo. The Sontarans and Ancient Aliens. Strax and Irongron. Originally supposed to be Bob Hoskins. Daniel gets characters confused. Rubeish. Mr. Magoo. The thin line between scientist and superhero. Not quite Shakespeare. Sarah Jane: Guerilla. Lis Sladen, universally loved by a lot of people. More t

In this appropiately menadering and off-topic podcast episode, Daniel and Shana discuss the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors. Much merriment was had by all, both onscreen and off. Plus: Omega and hagiography.  (Note: Around the thirty-minute mark there is a brief mention of Thomas Jefferson and his relationship with Sally Hemings that may be triggering for some listeners. It's brief but those easily triggered by such topics should be aware it's coming. Thanks.) Main Topic: The Three Doctors. The Bristol Boys. Answering machine adorableness from married couples. The first of the N Doctors Stories. Jo Grant is very Twiggy. Katy Manning is blind. Jo's longevity. The Brig satires himself. Omega was nearly Ohm. Benton is the Rory of the classic series. Jo just hanging out. The humor of The Three Doctors. A satirical sign? Austin Powers. All of the anniversary stories are silly. The Second Doctor plays the comic relief role. Emo Tenth Doctor and Jazz Hand Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3. A cheerleader movie

In this episode of Oi! Spaceman, Daniel and Shana are joined by Lee Russell of Hougly Reviews and the They Must Be Destroyed on Sight! podcast (often co-hosted by Daniel, so go check it out). They discuss the Third Doctor romp "The Sea Devils," with mentions of some terrible creature effects, campy overacting from Roger Delgado, and what Mac Hulke's socialism meant for his work on Doctor Who.  Main Topic: The Sea Devils. Introducing Lee. Shana's initial thoughts on The Sea Devils: fashion victims. With a political subtext. "You don't have to pay attention to that shit!" The Sea Devils in context with the Pertwee Era. Pertwee driving around in boats and Jo Grant getting shit done. A very typical but atypical Pertwee. Can't compare Jo to Liz. Not quite a father/daughter relationship. Moving on to the Master. Eleven-dimensional chess. A useful idiot. The Three/Master dynamic. Turtle drag queens and wisdom. The Master watches the Clangers. Repeated plots in the Silurian stories. Dudes in rubber masks talking poli

In this installment, Shana and Daniel confront Jo Grant in her first adventure, Terror of the Autons, which has some really horrendous CSO in service of a demonic doll. Also: Mike Yates makes eyes at Jo, The Doctor sort of gets along with the Brig and UNIT, and innovative uses for Bunsen burners are found. Not least, Daniel and Shana coin the term: "Daffodil Bukkake." Oh, and some loser with a funky beard makes his first appearance. Main Topic: Terror of the Autons. Daffod-evils. Demon poo baby. More with working titles. A random Family Feud reference. "The Great Robert Holmes." Just someone to hand you your test tubes. Yates as a Ken doll. The introduction of the Classic Master. Bloodless efficiency. "Fifty Shades of Purple." Bowler-hat Time Lord. Shana's introduction to the Delgado Master. Deconstructing the Master's plan in Autons. Death By Daffodil Bukkake. Moffat's favorite thing. The role of plastic in society. Talking about Demon Poo Baby. The Master's obsession with the Doctor. Shana wants to cosplay