After the closure of Doctor Who Series 10, and the introduction of Jodie Whittaker as the Next Doctor, we reunite for TARDISblend 112 to preview the upcoming Christmas special.

With the episode being Peter Capaldi‘s farewell, an appearance by David Bradley as the First Doctor, and the revelation of Whittaker in her first moments as the Doctor, we discuss the possibilities of the upcoming special.

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It’s finally here! Episode One of Doctor Who Series 7 has hit the screens, and the TARDISblend is here to review the Asylum of the Daleks. The Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) are reunited after being captured by the Parliament of the Daleks. They are under threat from the Dalek Asylum, but fear intervening, deciding instead to forcibly send in “The Predator of the Daleks” aka the Doctor to eliminate the mad Daleks…

During TARDISblend 52, we take a look at the Parliament of the Daleks and the creepy unshelled Prime Minister, and debate the return (of lack thereof) of Classic Dalek Designs in this new premiere episode. We also discuss the major surprise of the episode, introducing a new character earlier than expected, which we’re STILL wondering how the BBC kept a secret until now.

The crossover of themes from Series 6 gets integrated into Asylum of the Daleks, and we examine Steven Moffat‘s approach to the longer overarching storyline across seasons, particularly to the question that should not be asked: “Doctor Who?” Finally, we compare Asylum of the Daleks to the impacts of previous season openers, and provide some Classic Doctor Who recommendations to our listners.

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend!

Doctor Who: Shada
By Gareth Roberts
Original Script by Douglas Adams
Ace Publishing
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Cover Price: $12.99 (Kindle Edition)

In a rather captivating, though curious manner, you might find it astonishing that Gareth Roberts‘ adaptation of the Doctor Who adventure by Douglas Adams called Shada caused music to play in my head.

That sounds a little weird, of course. But when it comes to both Doctor Who and Douglas Adams, the strangeness should not only be expected by now, but mandatory par for the course.

Allow me to explain.

I have found, in my years of being an overly obsessive geek that the best adaptations of already established franchises inspire your mind to create the ambience of the universe you’re investing in. In all types of writing, a good author will not only be able to explain the scene to you, but totally immerse you in it: you can see the brightness (or gloominess) of the sky, you can almost feel the floors or walls of the setting, and you can smell the odors described, such as the scent of rain on a hot day”¦ or petrichor, for example…

As many of you know, while he was working on the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams cut his teeth and refined his craft with the crew of Doctor Who, back when Tom Baker was portraying the fourth incarnation of the Doctor. Adams served as script editor for the series, and also is credited as writing a few episodes of the show.

One of the most infamous episodes written by Adams was once called Shada. This Doctor Who serial was never completed or fully broadcast due to industrial action and protests that happened at the time.

Where am I going with this? Well, as it turns out, the BBC is about to launch a new show called Dirk Gently; which is based on the novels Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul written by Douglas Adams. These two novels, in part, form the basis of the unaired Shada episode of Doctor Who.

Essentially, what happened was Adams decided to take the concepts he really enjoyed from the unaired episode and created a whole new adventure focusing on the detective known as Dirk Gently.