DOCTOR WHO - Type 40 EXTRA: MIND PROBE - Roundtable Special! | Ncuti Gatwa | DW60 & MORE! *NEW!!* 

Great stream with outstanding Panel! Thanks 😊!

How am I getting my Doctor Who fix? Following a re-watch of The Twin Dilemma and Season 22, whole stories at a time, this year I'm watching The Trial of a Time Lord, one episode a week, which should take me right up to the new 'Season One.' And I'm loving it! Watching all of Colin's run in order has given me a better appreciation of his Doctor, and his subtly altered performance upon his return following the hiatus. At other times, when there's nothing new on TV, I've been listening to the audiobooks of the Target novelisations, sometimes four or more in order over several weeks. They too give me a greater appreciation. I think of them as being like sucking a toffee rather than chewing one. Twenty-five minutes of an audiobook can sometimes be only about ten minutes of screen time, and yet they give me just as much entertainment, just as much Doctor Who feel and fix as a TV episode.

These informal relaxed chats are great to watch! I do feel that the concept of a Doctor Who Magazine has perhaps become a little redundant given the rise in Podcasts and streams like this one are giving fans instant gossip, analysis, and some humour mixed in. I have the strong view on DWM that one of the primary reasons for its decline came sometime in the last decade or so, as new editors and contributors came in off the _huge_ success of the television series, and didn't have the same drive and outlook that past editors and contributors did - back in the 80s and 90s we were all fans, all pulling together in the same spirit and adapting to a 'Doctor Who' with no active television series. Gary Russell, Gary Gillatt, Clayton Hickman, all fans. And they didn't talk down to you, they talked TO you. Because we were all the same really... That solidarity and shared experience gradually disappeared after 2005. And today there is a wall between fans and the editors/contributors to DWM that is so high and thick that we almost speak a different language now. The 'connection' is no longer there between fan, and this magazine. One of the defining memories that come to mind that highlights this is the feature piece Gary Gillatt penned for the 1996 Christmas Issue, I remember this issue vividly as it was release just before Christmas, I was in town late shopping, it was dark outside, and I was skimming through it by the Cathederal as I was leaving the Precinct and WH Smiths. It was titled 'The Mourning After', where he talked to us about the highs and lows of the TV Movie, why it wasn't going to go on to anything more, what it meant to the fandom, and where we went from here... it was the editor of DWM talking to us, voicing and sharing in our own feelings, and yet encouraging and reassuring us that we would go on as before. We were all in it together. That sort of respect, duty, and consideration for its readers is something I personally associate with DWM at its finest...

What a lovely surprise. Loved this Roundtable chat. It was great seeing you chatting to members of the Community. I think it would be fun chatting live to you guys .Any extra to (my) Friday morning Type 40 fix is very welcome. PS... Still checking out the back catalogue. Really loved the 3rd Doctor ( MY Doctor) discussion.

Oh how lovely to see Gary, and the rest of you, of course. Sorry I missed the live. Great stream! Im finally onto to the Davison era in my linear rewatch. Im very excited! I did already watch Castrovalva but I think I’m going to give it a proper launch and use my box set, which I had to dig out. I knew when I bought it I wouldn’t be getting to it for awhile, and wanted to wait until I got to it.

I wasn't alive back then, but wasn't there a similar long break between the Fifth Doctor and Sixth Doctor? The Twin Dilemma and Season 22, is similar to what is happening today with Church on Ruby Road and Series 14.

Great show guys... Ah there's nothing better than fans getting together and talking about the fandom they love so much... 😊 As for my Doctor Who go to, anything from the 3rd, 4th or 5th Doctors mainly..

Great show as always! The fortnite collaboration during Jodie’s era allowed you to explore the tardis and a Doctor who Museum!

Wonderful discussion, Dan and panel, with great contributions from all. It's become really apparent how your polished format lends itself to any type of subject, and having stalwarts like Charlotte and Sarah, whilst including great guests like Keegan, Nigel and Gary, is a definite winner. It never ceases to amaze me what great synergy there is between guests of differing ages on these streams and this, of course, was no exception. Nigel and Keegan were very impressive, the kind of fans to whom it's a pleasure to listen; I've heard Gary on many a watch-along and review panel and they are always greatly enhanced by his thoughtful, good natured, knowledgeable, contributions. Many thanks to all and, although perfectly happy with anything you guys produce, I look forward to future innovations. All the best for now. Paul

With reference to Nigel's comment about 1970s Blu-rays looking better than stories from the 1980s, I've found that it's simply the case that British television from those eras does look better in the 1970s. Maybe it's something to do with a change in the videotape used. Wasn't it two-inch tape in the 1970s and one-inch tape in the 1980s?

I too am teetering as to whether to continue with DWM. I have no interest in reading about three-quarters of Issue 600. That should not be the ratio for such a landmark, celebratory issue. But I've been buying it for so long, and it's been such a major part of my appreciation, understanding and love of the show - it's so intertwined with the show - that to cancel my subscription is a very difficult decision to make, even though I know that for more than five years now I have yet to finish reading each new issue.

I could go on and on about the topics you went through in this installment... So many interesting strands. I have been thinking on my own first experiences with Doctor Who, and what Charlotte and Sarah spoke about with the extended Universe/Media, and it all rang so true. I came to the series with episode 4 of Keeper of Traken, was thoroughly captured by the energy and ideas of Logopolis and Castrovalva, but this was also the time when the BBC showed Carnival of Monsters, and this story combined with these other two have stayed with me to this day. I remember that Carnival of Monsters serial so vividly, because of the incredible ideas and escapism. In 1982 I then had my first encounter with Doctor Who magazine, in Junior school. When the weather was poor we were brought inside and one of the diversions offered was a comics bin, filled with stuff like The Topper, Whizzer and Chips, possibly some Star Wars Weekly, and... Some of the first issues of Doctor Who Weekly. I remember they had the first issue, but the other that sticks to memory is #6, with that Jon Pertwee/Linx cover, and while I sort of had an idea who this was thanks to Carnival of Monsters I suspect this was also the time when I had been reading the Doctor Who hardbacks in the little School library and one of which was The Time Warrior... To cut to the point - when you try to answer the question as to why Doctor Who went on to have such a strong and dedicated fan following as it did, you have to recognise the very important role that the expanded Media played in this, allowing young fans of the television series like me and you the opportunities of accessing a wealth of novels (Target/WH Allen) , this 'Doctor Who Magazine', exhibitions like Blackpool and Longleat, and on occasion grails like the 20th Radio Times Anniversary special. So as with Charlotte and Sarah I agree too that an Extended media Universe is very important to Doctor Who's continued longevity and survival. At that time in the 1980s I had no idea about the Fanzine Underground out there, that only came in the 1990s. But by 1990 as we well know the existence and long-life of the novels and Magazine now combined with the arrival of the VHS release schedule to make 'Doctor Who' basically self-perpetuating... they all inspired the fanbase to keep it going, make our own clique, and basically form a subculture that was so strong it could actually trigger a new Novel line from Virgin Publishing, and sustain independents like BBV and Reeltime. Doctor Who Weekly is very special, I always get an electric thrill whenever I see those covers and that design. And it isn't often fully appreciated just how incredible a feat it is that this Magazine has been running since 1979, and actually went through fifteen years with no television series on air!! And yet (I'm rambling here) it isn't really remembered that the BIG comic back in the early 80s was 'Star Wars Weekly''. This launched in early 1978 and surely had a big part in acting as the springboard for 'Doctor Who Weekly' to be commissioned by Marvel UK. I was a little too late to catch the Star Wars bug, but the Weekly comic was something I was very aware of as it was _so_ popular. And yet, again, this popularity sustained it only until 1986, when it was finally cancelled and moved to 'Spiderman and Zoids'... in a marketplace where comics generally had *very* short lives, and even the longstanding 'Spiderman Weekly' titles and the seemingly invincible Transformers weekly have all longsince vanished, that truly does make Doctor Who Magazine an outstanding publication. An unspoken national treasure. So how it has arrived at this stage where it is being so neglected and poorly managed is actually heartbreaking to watch and think on...

Great show. Thanks, Dan, Sarah, Charlotte, Nigel, Gary and Keegan. Where am I with Doctor Who now? I love Classic Who, but I feel distanced from New Who because of where it's ended up in recent years, and I feel very little excitement about what is to come. I'd like what's in the can to be shown and done with as soon as possible, to get it out of the way, to get that bit nearer to perhaps a five year break, and the proper rebrand and soft reboot that we should have seen last November. I don't want yet another gap year and then another Doctor coming in overseen by Russell or another showrunner under Bad Wolf's stewardship. Following Russell's Imagine programme, I have very little faith that Bad Wolf understand the show; I think they're just following Russell's lead, believing that he knows best. I want to be excited, but I feel really down on 'Season One'. Our introductory image to this new Doctor, in his first full episode, was of him dancing in a skirt in a nightclub. That didn't look like the Doctor to me, the outsider, the misfit, the man out of time. The 1st Doctor in The War Machines' Inferno club didn't fit in his surroundings, but he wasn't self-conscious, he was confident in himself. Ncuti's Doctor more than fits in; he's the coolest person there. Some call this Disney Who. I see it as Russell's Doctor Who, not real Doctor Who, but one man's interpretation of Doctor Who, and what he wants to do with it, regardless of the long term fans or even the general audience that is expected to watch it. Gary's comment about the gap between the Christmas episode and 'Season One' being like the one between The Twin Dilemma and Attack of the Cybermen had me thinking, what if Season Eleven had ended with Robot, and we'd had a long wait to see The Ark in Space? And back then, we wouldn't have been able to re-watch our recordings or see it again by other means. Our beloved Doctor had gone, replaced by this curly haired clown. First impressions last, and maybe they fester, and Ncuti's nightclub twirling, followed by a lacklustre episode, I doubt will do him any favours in enticing back the general public.

Another great show and panel. Thanks again Dan. Have you got a cat yet?