Second paragraph of third chapter: Phil Sandifer: Yeah, we literally organized Shabcast 6 about thirty seconds ago.
This is a book of essays and other pieces by Philip Sandifer, all I think from 2015, the first four of which (comprising the first third of the book) address the Puppies controversy, and the rest being writings on various sf subjects ( Read more... )

The latest of Sandifer's collected essays from his blog, published only last month so it's hot off the presses. There is a lot less to say about this less popular era of Doctor Who - his previous two books covered the seven Tom Baker years, this one book covers five years and two Doctors. There's not a lot of people who pick this as their favourite ( Read more... )

The latest in Sandifer's collections of pieces from his long-running blog, this time looking at the post-Hinchcliffe Fourth Doctor stories (and therefore including not only the Graham Williams era, but the first year of Jon Nathan-Turner's producership). This includes some of the least popular stories ever (eg Underworld) but also some of the most ( Read more... )

Latest output from the prolific Sandifer's blog, with a few extra essays and updates included. This is of course my favourite era of Old Who, the run from Robot to Talons of Weng-Chiang, and so I read the book with more than the usual degree of interest (also looking to see if my brother is quoted again - he is, in the essay on Brain of Morbius but ( Read more... )

All of Sandifer's essays are available on his blog, and all of them will eventually be available in book form as well; but for people like me who find the blog pieces a bit long to digest in the usual format, and want to find the good bits, this is a very useful selection - with each essay prefaced by some introductory thoughts about how they fit ( Read more... )

I will admit, up front, that the Pertwee era is far from my favorite era of Doctor Who. And this is not an uncommon opinion in Doctor Who fandom. Though the heyday of Pertwee bashing came in the 1990s, it’s notable that when Time Unincorporated began collecting major essays from the fanzine scene it devoted an entire chapter to the Pertwee ( Read more... )

So, to recap, we have a pioneering female producer being replaced with a male producer whose first decision is to sack the female lead for being too uppity. Knowing that, it's really hard to watch this story, in which the matriarchal society of the Drahvin is painted as uncritically and completely evil, without wanting to drink heavily and read ( Read more... )

The Space Pirates is missing. But in a way, it has to be. These gaps are as much a part of what Doctor Who is as the TARDIS or the Daleks - something that is not just a DVD set for obsessive 21st century fans, but that has been a living, breathing part of every year since 1963. Without stories like The Space Pirates that flicker on in an imagined ( Read more... )