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Staggering Stories Podcast #109: The Charming Snake

Doctor Who: KindaSummary:
Adam J Purcell, Andy Simpkins, Jean Riddler and Keith Dunn talk about the new Doctor Who stories Kinda and Snakedance, Primeval Season One, find some general news, and a variety of other stuff, specifically:

  • 00:00 – Intro and theme tune.
  • 00:56 — Welcome!
  • 01:54 – News:
  • 02:11 — Doctor Who: 2012 scheduling secret!
  • 12:43 — Torchwood: UK scheduling secret (UK getting it late).
  • 17:21 — BBC: Television Centre up for sale.
  • 19:25 — Bernard Cribbins: OBE for services to drama.
  • 19:37 — Dead: Roy Skelton (Dalek and Zippy voices).
  • 21:11 — Whooverville: Guests for 3rd convention.
  • 22:59 — LFCC: London Film and Comic Con 2011 – meet us there.
  • 23:22 — Flashing Blade: Flashing in the Park on 2nd July in Hyde Park.
  • 24:38 – Doctor Who: Kinda.
  • 34:15 – Doctor Who: Snakedance.
  • 40:34 – Primeval: Season One.
  • 51:50 – 30 Second Recommendation: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch.
  • 53:53 – Emails and listener feedback.* Hit us yourself at show@StaggeringStories.net
  • 115:43 – Farewell for this podcast!
  • 116:16 — End theme, disclaimer, copyright, etc.

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9 Responses to "Staggering Stories Podcast #109: The Charming Snake"

  1. Below is the feedback we kindly received for this podcast.

    These will be presented in rough order of when we received them. This won’t match the order in which we read them out!

    As ever, please feel free to comment on them here on the blog, though please note we won’t read any such replies on the podcast, for that please continue to email us at show@staggeringstories.net.

    Thank you all!

    • Dear Team!

      I forgot to ask: Did you know?

      That pipes labeled “danger – corrosive” might actually contain something corrosive? Hah!

      But seriously, is The Flesh maybe the origin of the Sontarans? (The brown acid armor and creation vat looked kinda Sontaran didn’t they?)

      Or maybe the early days of the Autons / Nesting Intelligence?

      Later, Adrian

      P.S.
      By the way it was my dupe that typed that horribly long first email that broke you. He sent it before I could edit it. (You can call him Gang-Drian).

      Hah! Again!

    • Hello Staggering Stories Team, the creepy head of Pertwee, and Adam’s plastic and cardboard harem!

      I loved A Good Man Goes to War. Not as much as I loved The Doctor’s Wife, but still – it wasn’t a lame horror ripoff like the Flesh two-parter, it didn’t leave me with a million objections like the American Astronaut/Silence two-parter, it wasn’t a mess of contradictory nonsense like The Black Spot, and finally, FINALLY Matt Smith convinced me with his ability to pull off an angry, threatening Doctor. (And it only took him a season and a half to get there.)

      This episode ought to be taught in writing classes as a study of “How to create vibrant characters from a standing start.” All of the supporting cast – the fat/thin gay married Anglican soldiers, the Sontaran nurse (now second only to Idris as my favorite one-shot character), and the Silurian hunter and her maid were absolutely amazing. I went from knowing nothing about them to loving them all in 5 lines or less, and yes – I’m one of the many, many people who would happily sign up to watch the continuing adventures of the Victorian Interspecies Crime-Fighting, Cross-Dressing Lesbians. Seriously, that’s like checking off half the entries on fandom’s wet fantasies list, isn’t it?

      However, I’m a major skeptic when it comes to the theory that River will eventually kill Rory. To me, that’s a holdover from RTD training fandom to expect the most twisted, hurtful, unexpectedly sadistic kick in the teeth as a “dramatic conclusion.” Look at what that theory requires: a daughter to kill her father stone cold permanently dead — right in front of the kiddies at teatime. That’s not Doctor Who, that’s Torchwood! (Not that I’m STILL furious about the underaged snuff film that RTD announced that I “needed” to see at the conclusion of Children of Earth. Forget Ianto; killing a kid slowly onscreen is Just Not On. Shakespeare and Euripides made dramatic plot points out of the death of children in Richard III and Medea for 2400 years without slaughtering them in front of the audience. Take the hint.)

      We’ve previously seen River compliment the Doctor as a good man. We’ve just seen River urge the Doctor to be a good man. We’ve seen presumably-River kill the Doctor at the beginning of the series. So I just can’t see Moffat — who is on record saying he wants to make Who more optimistic than it was under RTD — leading us down the garden path to surprise patricide.

      Off to listen to the feedback portion of the podcast,

      Nea

    • HELLO TEAM!

      Its my brithday. Well, no. Im lying. T’was my brithday yesterday,…

      So. I Know you’re all asking – what did i get. Well. I Got Presents.

      So. In this bumper length edition of The MISTER M Feedback ; Nicholas Courtney and Elizabeth Sladen – my thoughts on them, A List of what i r eally got for my birthday, some odds ad bobs from old unsent feedback, and the april fools feddback which got lost at the bottom of a bin.

      Present # 1 – The Matt Smith TARDIS Playset. Big, Orange, and multi levels. (From my mum)

      17TH DECEMBER 2010
      Adam? Did yous ee Karen Gillan in Shortlist Magazine?
      Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

      Nicholas Courtney – The Brigadier. He was a good old chap. The first i saw of him was a old VHS Of The three Doctors. I Liked him in that. And Then he was in SJA. I Liked him in that. And know ive seen him in more who epsisodes – Spearhead from space, The Five Doctors, Infreno, etc. I Like him in all fo those. I Liked him. Wonderful chap…..

      24th DECMEBER 2010
      Hello all
      In a very christmassy mood today so i thought id send you my own christmas joke
      Why does santa have such a big sack?
      Because he only comes once a year
      Merry Christmas To all and to All A Good Night!
      MISTER MERRY CHIRSTMAS
      Present # 2 – A Ton of marvel comic books (New Avenegrs V2, V6, V9, New AVneegrs Illuminati, House of M, Avenegrs Dissasembled) From various people.

      DECEMBER 2010
      So, From inbetween Karen Gillans legs, Farewell!

      Present # 3 – Misifits Series 1 and 2. Heroes, only different. (From my aunt)

      Elizabeth Sladen – My first ever series of who was series 2. And by the time we got roudn to epsidoe 3 i was gettign rapidly interested, and wanted to the see the previous years episodes. And Then the doctor became a teacher, Cars drove throguh schools, and i was a bit wary about eating chips. But then tehre was Sarah Jane Smith (introduced by the head of ahntony). And I Thought, Oh. She must have been in the last series and theyve brought her back. And I asked my nan ‘Was she in this last year?’ ‘No.’ She replied. ‘oh.’ said i. Then my nan said ‘She was in it 40 years ago (Yes, slightly misjudged)!’ And then. i realised that doctor who had a HISTORY. And Sraah Jan eintorduced me to that. A Tear Sarah Jane?

      12TH FEBUARY 2011
      By Now you should be close to finsihing rcording on Podcast 100 – So CONGRATULATIONS

      Present # 4 – Primeval Series 4 – Aby Maitland. (From my great-nan – and on blur ray)

      And now! A Piece of feedbakc inside a feddback. Its The letter that never made it – the april fools feddback

      HELLO TEAM (Cositing of Dunn Construct 1, Dunn Construct 2, Dunn Construct 1.2, Crumbly Construct, Mister M, Karen Gillan, El presidente, Fake Construct, and I LIKE MATT SMITH Riddler.)

      I Rather Injyed Doctro who And The Spume of Destiny. It was brilliant to see Al; 17 doctors in one story, even teh ones that we only saw briefly during the amss regeneration in series 8 epsidoe 56! And The Mauve Dalek V Bubblegum cyebrmen war was just isnpired. And it was Great To See Karen Gillan in Who Again (Well, wahts left of her. Those 16ft legs and that 1mm Skirt combo did pleas me. I Was Suprised El Presidente let her out of the cage for a whole episode shoot. I Hope shes back in tough. Keep those videos coming adam). And Rory reached his 1,000,000,000 death! And The Revelation that River is also Donna AND Amy AND The Doctros Mum AND The Doctors Wife AND The Doctor AND Rose AND The TARDIS AND Rory AND Captain Jack (And The Face of Boe) AND Cassandra AND The Doctors Daughter AND Rassilon AND OImega AND The Silence AND The Sonci Screwdriver AND The Master AND The Rani AND Adric was Just such a shock. Keep epsidoes like this coming Vast Toffee (MN) (And im glad he decided to legally change his name to that. Makes for less confusion)

      So Staggering STories Series 56 Nuimber 4. You guys were on fire! Literally. It Karen Gillans Legs again. Is Fake Construct still alive? And What about I LIKE MATT SMITH Riddler? And Guys The fatc that your feedback now alst 67803258676678 Hours doesnt matter. Youre still great to listen to. Although, The dtinking Game (V.59) did cause me to die. Im a ghost now. See you for the netx Podcast.

      MISTER M

      Present # 5 – Being Human Series 3. They Killed mItchell!

      3rd MAY 2011
      P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S I Like Karen Gillan
      P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S And Her Legs
      Present # 6 – Choclate Green and blacks. Yum Yum 4 bars. ive already had 2.

      Fellign Sick from cake, choclate, msifits, Karen Gillan (No. Cant ever get sick of her) and about to go to bed MISTER M
      P.S P.P.S
      P.P.S P.P.P.P.S
      P.P.P.S Love you Fake Keith
      P.P.P.P.S Diddledum
      P.P.P.P.P.S Karen Gillan + Adam J Purcell = A Locked up woman in a basemnt + A Phone call tot he police – Karen Gillan = Prison. I COnclude – DOnt Let adam near karen Gillan!!!!!!!
      P.P.P.P.P.P.S Cause i dont want her to be damaged. Shes mine!

    • Dear Team!

      Firstly, I apologize. This will not be an “Email…Of…Doom” but it will be longer then the last few. An “Email of Near Apocalypse” perhaps…

      So “A Good Man Will (dress kinky for his wife) and Then Tell His Friends He Went To War” was….. made of awesome. (And yes we do say that in America). It totally wrapped up the season in a more than worthwhile way.

      Though I wish SJM would do shorter mini-seasons like a lot of other British TV. Then we could have a consistently great season instead of a stretched out mediocre season with some really, really high notes and some very, very low ones.

      I’d rather have three to four SJM TV “novellas” instead of the varied anthology we got. More like Sherlock is produced with longer cinema style stories that while independent do have connecting elements.

      Actually that would be perfect! We could have three new 90 minute Doctor Who “movies” every quarter! There could be guest “chapter arcs” such as one with multiple Dr Who movies by Neil Gaiman! Or Drew Goddard or Jane Espensen or Paul S. Kemp or J. Michael Straczynski or Ray Bradbury or Gail Simone or Josh Whedon! No Matthew Graham or Judd Winick though! Ok maybe Judd but no Matthew! Or….whomever is your favorite writer at the moment? Who would each of YOU want?

      But I digress! On to “A Good Man Goes to War”:

      Favorite Highlights!!! (Paraphrased as I try not to be pedantic or Ineed to take some Gingko Biloba as I’ve forgotten the exact lines):

      * “Would you like me to repeat the question?”

      * “You really don’t want to find out why I have so many rules!”

      * “We’re the Short Fat Tall Gay Soldier Cleric couple. Why would we need names?”

      * “Why DO you put up with me?” (With a 5 foot tongue lashing afterwards). We need a “Victorian Lesbian Silurian Detective Agency” two-part story! (Canton and Captain Jack could guest-star!) Question though: was she a ret-conned new character? Or an older, pre-RTD character? And her lover’s name was Jenny? A regenerated Jenny from the Doctor’s Daughter? That Jenny didn’t change form the first time she regenerated but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t change the next time.

      * Everything, I mean everything Lorna (?) did. For a second I thought she was going to be a younger River. Too bad. That actress would have made a great companion. I wish the Doctor remembered her. But he pretended to and let her die happy saying he “remembers everyone”. Because as we know, “The Doctor Lies”. (Kind of like Santa, not Satan, although I hear he or she lies too).

      * Every single charming, hilarious, unconsciously bittersweet word the Sontaran said! (Such as “I will destroy you later. Go rest now!” and “I’m a Nurse I can produce copious amounts of lactic fluid!” and “I’ve had a good life. I’m almost 12.”)

      Also, Rory, Rory and RORY! I dub him “Roranicus Maximus Awesomus”! Guess the Roman garb helps channel his 2000 years of memories of kicking @$$ for Amy. The episode should have been called: “Freaking Rory is Made of Awesome (…and you are not)”.

      (But it is too bad Amy didn’t have her police outfit. “Hospital Hostage” Amy didn’t do it for me! Sorry for that, Fake Keith).

      @@@@@

      That said, it was sad to see The Doctor come to the realization of how he is seen by others. Even sadder that he KNOWS this but likes to forget it. “The Doctor Lies” even to himself I guess. Chris W was the Dalek’s “Oncoming Storm” and David T was Davros’ “Destroyer of Worlds” “Who Got Clever” by making soldiers out of his companions. Maybe The Doctor needs some self-reflection or long term intensive counseling. (He could meet with “The Therapist” if we had more Time Lord’s, hah! Does “The Shadow Proclamation” have insurance that covers pan-galactic therapy? Double Hah!)

      Now really, “The Doctor” is more a parent than a physician. (At least in the RTD / SJM eras). Kind of the “Universe’s Greatest Dad” if you will. He needs a mug for Father’s Day (the upcoming holiday not the episode). Dads ask too much of us and let us down when we grow up to see them as merely a man like any other. They are our greatest champion too even if they can’t always express their emotions. God help you if you threaten their progeny as they will burn down the cosmos if you are in danger.

      @@@@@

      Wow. This is getting a bit too long (and sappy) so I will wrap this up.

      By the way…thank YOU all for all the podcasting, commentary, review, et al. I actually really missed being able to listen to you all as I forced myself to wait each week due to the Memorial Day delays.

      And “remember … the force will always be with you”. No, wait, wrong podcast!

      I mean…you are all …”made of awesome”. Really!

      😉

      Sincerely Lost in Time,
      Adrian the American (Allegedly not Ryan Giggs…that apparent dirty ‘ho!)

    • Hello Team!

      (and Hello to his Immensely Fantastic befezzed and eye patched Royal Head of Pertwee, whose existence I thought was simply in Cyberspace, [i.e. imaginary], until I saw the pictures from Gallifrey One!!! I am unable to watch any 3rd Doctor episodes without thinking about him while the credits roll)

      (and incidentally Hello to all the other various cardboard cutouts, hats, eye patches, scarves, plastic figurines, adiposes, etc. that watch over y’all as you record the podcast)

      (“y’all” – that’s the plural second-person pronoun that the English language so desperately needs that nobody seems to remember unless they are from the American South)

      I’m Kirby (of the Planet America) – foreign correspondent for the 20MB Doctor Who Podcast.

      But I am not writing to discuss Doctor Who.
      But first, some background.
      I’m a longtime listener to your podcast.

      I don’t remember how long I have been listening to you (2 years at least), but I have discovered many other podcasts because of your podcast – including the aforementioned 20MB Doctor Who Podcast indirectly because of Rhys Parton’s enthusiastic feedback to you leading to his own podcast and leading to his enthusiastic promotion of Adam and Alicia Pearson’s 20MB Doctor Who podcast reminding me how my own teenage daughters can be immensely unenthusiastic about stuff after being very enthusiastic about Doctor Who leading to my sending feedback to the 20MB Doctor Who Podcast for a chance to win a packet of Bassetts’ Jelly Babies (all the way from the Isle of Wight!) leading to my winning of same packet of Jelly Babies (would you like some?) leading to my sending in audio feedback to Adam and Alicia leading to my now weekly foreign correspondence to the 20MB Doctor Who podcast (at amazing and, dare I say, “staggering” times of the day due to the time difference between the foreign city of Nashville, Tennessee [Planet America] and Britain).
      But enough of that.

      I wish to thank you for your segment on podcast 107 about Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

      I was vaguely aware of the existence of Neverwhere, but had not given it any thought until you brought it up in the podcast.
      My 13 year old daughter loves Gaiman’s “Coraline” (book and movie) and I have several of his books – fiction and nonfiction (including his original 1988 “Don’t Panic – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion”). My girls and I loved the recent Doctor Who “The Doctor’s Wife” episode. Perfection for a longtime Doctor Who fan like myself.

      “Intriguing”, I thought as you waxed enthusiastic about Neverwhere.
      I put the DVDs on my Netflix queue and waited for them to arrive.
      I just finished a 2 night viewing of Neverwhere (neglecting my assignment from Adam Pearson to watch “Terror of the Vervoids” – [6th Doctor], which I will resume watching tomorrow as it will be discussed on the next 20MB Doctor Who Podcast)(which given your podcasting schedule may or may not have gone out by the time you read this)

      Thank you so much for nudging me to watch Neverwhere. What a story and production. I will definitely be purchasing the DVDs. I will also be looking for the comic book (oh, sorry – “graphic novel”) and the regular novel.

      Words fail me about Neverwhere. The story was just fantastic. The cast was just fantastic. The locations were fantastic (I want to visit London!) Paterson Joseph needs to be the 12th Doctor! (and it was so strange to see Peter Capaldi as a fallen angel instead of being a Roman in Pompeii or a civil servant caught up in events he could not control because of the 456).

      Thank you again.
      Kirby Bartlett-Sloan
      (one of the 17.6 Americans who understands and appreciates your occasional references to the Goon Show with your various voices and quotes – Ying Tong Iddle I Po!)

    • Greetings to all the Staggering Story spinners.

      How do the monks like their coffee? Decapitated

      OK first point, Fake Keith, had they kept the Ganger Amy in tact, how would they wake up the real Amy? As soon as real Amy wakes up, Ganger Amy plops.
      Anyway the Doctor didn’t kill Amy, what happened was the Doctor superimposed a hologram of himself in his Tenth incarnation and Amy did what any Tennant fan girl would do when confronted with her idol, flop into a pile of jelly, ready to have his baby.

      Doctor Who Who news,
      Ahead of Tom Baker’s debut with Big Finish his series for BBC Audio (now known as Audio Go) enters it’s third series this September, we’ve had Hornet’s Nest then Demon Quest, this year the series is called Serpent Crest. Episode 1 is titled ‘Tsar Wars’. Episode 2 will see the 4th Doctor trying to protect a magazine editor for certain death from Pitchforks in ‘The Fandom Menace’. Episode 3 will see Colin Baker step into the role as he humiliates the designer of his coat in ‘Revenge of The Sixth’ Any more Star Wars play on words send them in to show@staggeringstories.net where the best one will get a special prize from Fake Keith. (he he he)

      So we have had part 1 of Series 6 and what happened, they reunited in America and erm, they, did erm, what was it again? erm, I can’t remember, now isn’t that a kill joy?, wait did I do that pun before? No I don’t think so. What’s that in the corner, OH MY GOD KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT. (one whack of the lamp later,) right he’s slumped out cold in the corner, I’ll finish him off in a minute and while he’s there I can remember the events of the openin 2 parter. Great story, loved the Canton character, he’d make a great Brig style recurring character if they ever wanted to go down that route. I unfortunately had the worse spoiler from the website where they showed the pictures of the Doctor regenerating, (my fault really, they did warn us) but I got over it and moved on. The child at the end was the biggest triple What bulb moment I’ve seen so far in my time watching Doctor Who, even bigger then Rose in Partners in Crime.
      Curse of The Bad Plot was a bit, meh, for me. I knew from back when Sherlock was airing that when the writer of the middle episode of Sherlock hadn’t written for Who it’d only be a matter of time and here we are. Perhaps the rush swapping affected the editing badly but there we go, moving on.

      Since picking up on Doctor Who in 2007 there have been 4 times I’ve finished an episode of Doctor Who with a huge smile on my face, Partners in Crime was one, (but that may have been down to the fact it aired 3 days after the Torchwood series 2 finalé), The Eleventh Hour, The Big Bang and now The Doctor’s Wife. That goes far beyond the satisfaction we used to get whenever we had a Moffat story in the RTD era, it was just fantastic. To be honest I was a little wary going into this one, having heard great things about Michael Moorcock I thought Coming of The Terraphiles might be something really special. Having got in on audio I was disappointed to find that most of the first half was concerning some old biddy’s hat. Neil Gaiman was being talked up in the very same way.

      And then there was the casting of Suranne Jones, some chick from Corrie who really hammed up the Mona Lisa in Sarah Jane Adventures a couple of years back. Add the fact we were going to get a Blue Peter prop and look what happened last time they let that happen and I was a bit anxious about this one.

      How very wrong I was about it. Honestly one of the best Saturday nights I’ve had for a long time.

      Stunning, spectacular and really well written. The end scene with the Doctor trying to tinker with the Tardis to give her back a voice while Murray Gold’s Mad Man with a Box playing was pure bliss, rather like the start of Amy’s adventures at the end of the Eleventh Hour. And wasn’t the Confidential that accompanied this superb as well, those classic scenes projected into the current Tardis gave me chills, especially the one where they show the scene of Ian touching the Tardis and proclaiming it alive on the exact relevant spot on the Tardis door, and the script excerpts read by Neil Gaiman, perfection. Gaiman has said he is looking to see if a novelisation is viable. Let’s hope it is. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
      Moving onto the ganger 2 parter, it was OK, a bit like last year’s Silurlian 2 parter, take it or leave it 2 parter with a huge arc development at the end. Good but not spectacular.

      The finalé was very good I thought, I like the ‘Doctor’s Army’ characters, like the Mitchell Brother nurse and the fat man character, although before the chop, how could you tell if he was choking. Amy’s wheezing and groaning on their wedding night shenaigans, it wasn’t her it was Idris. (2 women on one night Rory, you lucky man.)I’m on the same wave length that we haven’t had distinct conformation that regen girl is River, it’s definitely implied heavily but not confirmed, but if it is her, then as a human (god what does this mean for the TV movie) does she get the whole 13 cycles or just one or two.

      All in all an enjoyable series and I look forward to the second half.

      All the best Scardis.

    • HELLO TEAM.

      Harry Potetr thign snow! New DHP2 Trailer – OMG! Its brilliant! I
      love it – Dmentors over Hogwwrts / Fire in the Room of Rquirment /
      Siirus talking to harry (Resseuction stone) / Explosions / Snape! /
      Vodlemrot goign yahhhhh!. sigh. Anyway

      Pottermore Coming soon. What is it?

      MISTER M

      • Lagbenro says:

        I think you’re all pondering this too much to be oeshnt. I thought Matt Smith was great, and actually, I think the New TARDIS being all retro can only be a good thing. My problem with Chris Eccleston was that he tried too hard to be cool, and my problem with David Tennant was that he sometimes made the part too comedic (like that dreadful car key joke in the End of Time’).The brilliant thing about Dr Who, to my mind, is that yes, the Doctor was an alien timelord, but there is something believable about his entourage they are normal people who achieved a lot, but don’t necessarily have their names shouted across the galaxy forevermore. I thought Russell T Davies worked too hard to turn his characters into heroes, and in that sense, the way Davros was defeated, and the way David Tennant left, were both a refreshing change for me (they portrayed a degree of humility and a sense of the doctor getting it wrong). Tennant’s doctor was a bit too full of himself, whereas Smith’s doctor, I thought, was the right mix of madman, genius and guy not to be ****ed with. I’m looking forward to the rest of Series 5, and I think Steven Moffat, given the episodes he did as a guest writer previously (I mean, come on the Weeping Angels? the episode with Madame de Pompadour? the creepy gas mask people? Genius), is going to make the show really exciting.And actually, there’s nothing wrong with going back to a more classic doctor. Tom Baker has pretty much lived off that part, and enough people at Dr Who conventions are still happy to go dressed as Pertwee or McCoy. That’s my two pence worth on the issue anyway. Incidentally, an American doctor What?!? It’s like hiring Hugh Grant to play Captain Kirk; he’d be laughed out of the building.

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