Latest / A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast / Top Ten - Frazer Gregory

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Top Ten - Frazer Gregory · A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast

• 0:03
  Hello and welcome to Hamster top ten.
• 0:07
  Today I have chosen somebody who is very dear to my heart, Mr.
• 0:14
  Fraser Gregory. Now I can remember when I very
• 0:18
  first met Fraser, super nervous about recording a podcast.
• 0:23
  I was late to the recording, so I think he thought it wasn't
• 0:26
  going to happen at all. And I think you can hear the
• 0:29
  nerves in his very first podcast, even though he's
• 0:32
  typically amazing in a, you know, smart, witty and funny but
• 0:37
  but nervous and one of the many. But this is probably one of the
• 0:43
  biggest rewards of doing Have A super blonde Penknife has been
• 0:48
  to watch Fraser go from that nervous first recording to one
• 0:55
  of the giants in the podcasting scene.
• 0:58
  Like he he straddles. He's done FTE now, he's done
• 1:02
  trap one, he's done who corners the corner.
• 1:07
  He really has made a name for himself.
• 1:09
  And it's not just because he defends the quarks and the
• 1:13
  dominators like the madman than it is.
• 1:15
  It's because he just have really, really interesting
• 1:19
  things to say. Yeah.
• 1:22
  He is a force of sort of intelligent discourse, just in a
• 1:27
  very engaging way and in a very deadpan way.
• 1:31
  He's hugely funny as well and he's got a lovely ass too.
• 1:35
  I can say that because I've met him in person and he gives a
• 1:37
  nice hug. So I mean honestly, it's win,
• 1:40
  win, win, win, win with Fraser. He's just one of those special
• 1:43
  peoples in my life. And of course, for his top ten,
• 1:46
  he has been as contrary as usual and chosen a rum bunch of
• 1:51
  stories that he happens to enjoy or enjoy celebrating because
• 1:56
  nobody else does. Before I get into that, I very
• 2:00
  quickly want to talk about Fraser's blog that he started
• 2:04
  for the 60th anniversary. So he has gone through the
• 2:09
  online thing where it asks you lots of questions.
• 2:11
  You have to choose between this story and that story, and it's
• 2:14
  given him his, you know, ranking of Doctor Who's stories, and
• 2:18
  he's writing an essay for the top sixty stories in his list,
• 2:25
  going up to #1, and it's called Skies Full of Diamonds.
• 2:31
  His sky is always full of diamonds, and if you want to
• 2:33
  find it, it's that Sky's fullofdiamonds.wordpress.com
• 2:38
  I'll suggest you do. If you enjoy smart readings on
• 2:42
  Doctor Who's stories with a personal touch and lots of wit,
• 2:46
  you're going to love this blog, I said to Fraser this week, I I
• 2:51
  had absolutely no doubt that he would have some interesting
• 2:56
  choices, that he would give it an interesting spin.
• 3:01
  What I didn't suspect is just what a good writer he is And you
• 3:07
  know like his essays are getting longer but there's a a verve and
• 3:14
  and the smarts to his writing that I just really love reading.
• 3:18
  Like this fella should be right. He should be the note how
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  stammers and Walker So if you if you want to read what one of the
• 3:29
  best guys in podcasting thinks is the top sixty stories and
• 3:36
  just have a blast with it, check out Sky Solid Diamonds.
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  It's Fraser's passion project this year and nobody attacks
• 3:44
  Doctor Who with more passion than this guy.
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  So check it out. OK, on with the motley and what
• 3:52
  a motley bunch this is. So we're starting with Fraser's
• 3:58
  number one. I don't think this is in any
• 3:59
  kind of order. I mean, he's done.
• 4:01
  I think he's done one per doctor.
• 4:02
  Actually, no, he hasn't, actually, because I can't see a
• 4:05
  Colin Baker story. Outrageous.
• 4:07
  Fraser, we're starting with the Space Museum.
• 4:11
  Of course I am the master. I bought them all.
• 4:20
  The Space Museum. Yes, my Mark and Sarah on Two
• 4:24
  Watch, who absolutely love this as well.
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  I think it's coming in for a bit more appraisal, and not just the
• 4:29
  first episode, which is all the time travel shenanigans.
• 4:35
  It is a little limply directed in places.
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  But I don't know, there's a sort of sitcom here about this.
• 4:40
  We spend so much time with Ian, Barbara and Vicky there.
• 4:44
  Do you know what I mean by by a sitcom here?
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  It's sort of witty. You can sense Dennis Spooner in
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  the air. There's some bounce to the
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  dialogue. Vicky's really fun inciting a
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  revolution. The jokes about Barbara's
• 4:56
  cardigan. Ian gets to play the thug as
• 4:59
  well. He's got the gun and he sort of
• 5:02
  gets involved in fist fights with the Xerons.
• 5:05
  No, the Morocs, Morocs, Jesus Christ.
• 5:09
  Look, it's never going to be the best story in the world, but I
• 5:12
  think it's certainly better than its reputation and it's one I
• 5:16
  always enjoy revisiting. And it's the first time I met
• 5:19
  Fraser talking about the Space Museum, so of course it's on the
• 5:23
  list #2O here we go, the Ice Warriors.
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  When Fraser and I and side did the Seeds of Death commentary,
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  he kept mentioning ad nauseam how it wasn't as good as the Ice
• 5:37
  Warriors. So of course that's on his list.
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  It's a good story. I think it's it feels like a
• 5:44
  heart and all historical because there's such depth of
• 5:47
  characterisation in it which I don't think you often get in
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  Trout on the story, certainly not in Season 5.
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  And I think Derek Martinez's direction.
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  I think he genuinely convinces that you're on a tundra in that
• 6:04
  tiny studio in BBC Television Centre all wherever they're
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  filming it. And Dudley Simpson's sort of
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  haunting, screaming score really helps sell that as well.
• 6:17
  Yeah, I I'm not sure it goes to six episodes, but I think
• 6:20
  there's a lot of depth and a lot of substance to this.
• 6:23
  The plot runs on the spot a bit, but whilst it's doing that, the
• 6:27
  characters are absolutely riveting.
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  And with a guest cast like Peter Butterworth, you know, and and
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  Peter Salas, I mean, you're in good hands.
• 6:37
  You're in good hands. Oh, look at #3.
• 6:40
  OK, everyone puts in a pert. We.
• 6:42
  Why am I doing that music? It should be is the clause of
• 6:56
  Axos partly distilled but also 70s psychedelia distilled?
• 7:03
  Yeah, I think this is really underrated as well, Fraser.
• 7:07
  It has so much going on in it. It goes by by a lick.
• 7:12
  And some of those partly 6 part, as you know, feel like they take
• 7:15
  an entire lifetime to get through.
• 7:17
  Clause of Axos is over and done with before you know it.
• 7:20
  It's got a brilliant role for the Master.
• 7:23
  Teaming up with Unit, which is just to be Brigadier, is
• 7:27
  marvellous in this, but I think the star of the show is both
• 7:32
  Michael Ferguson and the design work around Axos itself.
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  It doesn't always work, but there's a real effort to make
• 7:39
  Doctor Who weird again. After you.
• 7:43
  Sort of. I think the last time it was
• 7:44
  this weird is the mind robber, but before that, it's way back
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  in Hartnell's time and this is weird with a beard.
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  Those tentacles coming out of the wall, the sort of bubbling
• 7:55
  wishing that is like sort of washing up, bubbles being CSO D
• 7:58
  into the background, that weird fucking phallic eye falling from
• 8:01
  the roof. The spaghetti axons.
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  It is weird with a beard. And I do like Doctor Who when
• 8:07
  it's weird. Good choice, Fraser.
• 8:09
  Oh, good grief. What am I supposed to say about
• 8:12
  this Underworld? It's been facetious now.
• 8:19
  Underworld, Yes. Well, it does have a very nice
• 8:21
  episode. One, I think with the Doctor and
• 8:25
  Leela exploring the spaceship and and, you know, being zapped
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  by the the nice Ray and Alan Lake, you know, going a bit
• 8:32
  crazy and a fabulous special effects of all the rocks coming
• 8:37
  around the ship. I think all of that's great.
• 8:40
  Then we hit the CSO tunnels and not a lot happens for free
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  episodes. This is going to be a struggle,
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  Fraser. I do like the people where they
• 8:50
  go down the lift shaft, you know that sort of with the doctor
• 8:55
  flapping his. My good friend Paul Quinn
• 8:59
  recently said he loves underworld because the novel is
• 9:03
  so strong. And I've recently read the novel
• 9:06
  because I'm doing this commentary soon, and actually
• 9:09
  you sort of take out some of the more limp performances and the
• 9:12
  lackluster direction this story really comes alive.
• 9:16
  So as a story, I think this is reasonably effective.
• 9:22
  That's all you're getting from me, Fraser.
• 9:24
  All right, number 50, Megloss. Yes.
• 9:28
  Finally, I feel like the Megloss Renaissance.
• 9:31
  We're in the middle of it right now.
• 9:34
  I mean, it's Tom Baker with prickly cactus.
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  Make up plain evil. What more do you want?
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  What's that Jacqueline Hill's in it too.
• 9:44
  Absolute gold. The weeks for the Sabbaths and
• 9:47
  the Dions are absolutely out of this world.
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  I mean, operatic is the word. I think there's some judicious
• 9:55
  use of new technology as well to create it was it seems to create
• 10:00
  the the base rising up out of the sand on his old furor.
• 10:06
  Just, I think this is a really fun story.
• 10:10
  It's got lots of great dialogues.
• 10:13
  You're the Doctor. What?
• 10:15
  Yes, you're back again. I say what a marvellous memory.
• 10:19
  It's really funny. Arrest the doctor, find him an
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  old counts, and then the guns right in his face.
• 10:27
  That's very, very funny. But my favorite thing about this
• 10:30
  story is the thing I usually hate is the time loop.
• 10:34
  The chronic hysteresis blast. Here we go again.
• 10:40
  Well, now it's pro circuits jammed.
• 10:42
  Well, that's easy. Just waggle his tail.
• 10:43
  Thank you, mistress. Replayers complete.
• 10:46
  I love it. I think Terrence Dudley's
• 10:49
  direction is very good. Terrence Dudley is a far more
• 10:51
  efficient director than he is writer of Doctor Who.
• 10:55
  And I was a shame he didn't do more because I think he he gives
• 10:59
  this a little bit of bounce. It it moves.
• 11:01
  You know, he moves and he's got those tiny sets underground, but
• 11:05
  he manages to shoot them in really inventive ways.
• 11:09
  Yeah, it's it's absurd, you know.
• 11:12
  How the hell did Megalos come to be?
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  Did Mr. Cactus and Missus Cactus get Cactus C and make young baby
• 11:19
  Megalos? Best not to think about that.
• 11:22
  Or did he just one day wake up, Sentient?
• 11:25
  I don't know. But it is really fun.
• 11:30
  And I'm old now and I've decided that when Doctor Who is fun,
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  I'll give it a pass. I'm talking of fun.
• 11:38
  We ride to destiny. We Charlotte do, honey.
• 11:43
  We Charlotte do Silver. Nemesis.
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  Oh, my God. I've just done this as a
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  commentary with Matt Michael. You know, it was a who
• 11:53
  absolutely hands down lady Painful is my favorite thing in
• 11:56
  this campus Christmas. She beams into a cafe in modern
• 12:01
  day Windsor and just says to her servant, who's very perturbed by
• 12:04
  the whole affair. Oh, exactly where we were, of
• 12:08
  course. My house in Windsor Fire, and
• 12:12
  she fucking checked through the window.
• 12:16
  Oh, it's glorious. I think you may have the most
• 12:20
  emasculated side men ever here. I mean, they have a tiny sort of
• 12:23
  hint of gold and they're sneezing about the place and
• 12:27
  blowing up. And do you know what?
• 12:31
  In terms of a script, right. You've got three episodes, so
• 12:34
  it's shorter than usual, so you think you'd get to the point.
• 12:36
  And yet there is a comedy subplot in every single episode.
• 12:40
  Is the the Queen in episode one? The Skin is in episode 2 and
• 12:43
  Missus Remington in episode 3. Unfortunately, again, I've come
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  to the conclusion that all three of those things are very fun.
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  I can't. I can criticize them sort of
• 12:56
  structurally and in terms of padding, but in terms of
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  enjoyment, I'm there. So now I I come to adore Silver
• 13:06
  Nemesis Fraser, right? We're skipping into the new
• 13:12
  series next number 7, Night of the Doctor.
• 13:16
  What a great choice. Oh, can you still remember the
• 13:19
  collective excitement when this dropped?
• 13:21
  I was volunteering in a charity shop at the time and a link came
• 13:24
  through from my friend Jack and he said just watch this and
• 13:27
  don't go on social media. So I I clicked on it.
• 13:31
  Oh, what's this? Oh my God, it's Paul McGann.
• 13:34
  I didn't care about the charity at that point.
• 13:37
  What a beautiful gift that is for the fans.
• 13:42
  Paul McGann was resplendent, I thought, given it's just an
• 13:46
  extra. It had great production value.
• 13:49
  It was such an enticing window into more adventures with Paul
• 13:53
  McGann. It's almost annoying that it
• 13:55
  exists because he could have been spearheading the show at
• 13:58
  this point. Just fabulous in every single
• 14:01
  way. I'm not usually one that needs
• 14:04
  to tick boxes like this because obviously we never saw Paul
• 14:07
  McGann regenerate the 50th anniversary.
• 14:11
  This just felt right. Yeah, this felt really right.
• 14:16
  I was perfect. Paul.
• 14:17
  Megan, you are gorgeous. Hey.
• 14:21
  Oh, interesting choice, Fraser. Hungry Earth and Cold blood.
• 14:25
  Now, these aren't his favorite stories, I would add.
• 14:28
  This is just the list he's compiled.
• 14:30
  He's actually said what is it? Unloved stories I love.
• 14:36
  So he's choosing the Hungry, Hungry Earth and Cold Blood.
• 14:38
  Oh good. No one's clamoring to do that.
• 14:40
  And I know I can rely on you, Fraser, so maybe we'll do that
• 14:43
  commentary. I do read a lot of the first
• 14:46
  episode, actually. I think it's a big sloppy kiss
• 14:50
  to the Jon Pertwee era. You know, you've got the the
• 14:53
  village, which has been surrounded by a protective
• 14:55
  bubble. Very the demons.
• 14:57
  You've got the Silurians in there.
• 14:59
  Yeah, it feels very, very Jon Pertwee at a point where Matt
• 15:05
  Smith is still absolutely on fire as the Doctor.
• 15:09
  See Series 5, my favorite part of Matt Smith's tenure and
• 15:14
  certainly his performance. He's just loving the role at
• 15:17
  this point and he's having a great time, which is good
• 15:19
  because Karen Gillan as Amy Poulton's, I know what she's
• 15:23
  doing in this a bit where she's down with the Silurians and
• 15:27
  she's kidnapped and Rory appears on the screen in the sense of
• 15:30
  sort of being afraid for her life.
• 15:32
  She just goes very, very odd. Odd choices, Karen, but Matt
• 15:41
  Smith's having a whale of a time.
• 15:42
  He's surrounded by some fun characters as well.
• 15:44
  Chibno puts in the family, so we're still remembering the
• 15:48
  families at this point. I do think it falls apart in the
• 15:51
  second episode. I I think the sequences between
• 15:56
  the character's name is it rest track.
• 16:00
  Amy, you know, we're talking about the the fate of the Earth.
• 16:04
  I just don't think any of that works because these people do
• 16:06
  not have, you know, the authority to speak of the
• 16:09
  peoples of the Earth. So that's a really whole way and
• 16:13
  it wraps up in a load of action which doesn't really go anywhere
• 16:17
  and the silo is just go back into hibernation.
• 16:19
  So why did the story happen in the 1st place?
• 16:22
  But I do like that first episode.
• 16:25
  That's enough for you, Fraser, #9 Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding
• 16:31
  through the Glen, Robin Hood Robin Hood with Fraser's Merry
• 16:35
  Men and robot. Sherwood Robot or Sherwood.
• 16:38
  Eli has been controversial. This one, Fraser, Sy and I did
• 16:44
  this for Hamster and we had an absolute hoop with it.
• 16:47
  I think the funniest line in that entire season is where the
• 16:51
  Doctor Robin all right, each other's throats screaming their
• 16:55
  heads off and Clara just goes. It's so funny.
• 17:03
  This episode looks gorgeous in the midst of all this sort of
• 17:07
  darkness in Series A, I mean, Clara's beautiful red dress, the
• 17:11
  green sunshine, the the the sun is out, the water is glistening
• 17:16
  at the beginning. It looks absolutely beautiful,
• 17:19
  but it is a really fun romp as well.
• 17:22
  And playing about with that question of what's myth and
• 17:25
  what's real gives it more depth than I thought it actually had.
• 17:31
  Yeah, I I've come to very much love Robot or Sherwood in later
• 17:35
  years. I could have done with a robot
• 17:37
  or Sherwood or two in series 9, you know, which is a very grim,
• 17:42
  very depressing season. But yeah, right at the beginning
• 17:46
  of Capaldi's rain you've had Deep breath and into the
• 17:48
  Darling, which are both very dark and then listen next which
• 17:51
  is very dark and this is, this is the ultimate antidote at this
• 17:54
  point it's and you know Capaldi, I would say he's trying to shit
• 17:58
  all over everyone's good time in this episode.
• 18:00
  But actually the comedy comes from the fact that he's a
• 18:02
  massive victor Meldrew walking around whilst everyone else is
• 18:05
  having fun. It's it's the the the conflict
• 18:10
  between that which makes you laugh.
• 18:13
  Yeah, this is great. Absolutely brilliant choice,
• 18:15
  Fraser. And finally we're skipping into
• 18:18
  Jodie's era. Nikola Tesla's night of terror,
• 18:22
  which I agree is massively underrated.
• 18:25
  I think this one hits the ground running and never stops.
• 18:29
  Sometimes I think we forget how lucky we are and how good we
• 18:34
  have it. I think if you dropped just
• 18:37
  Nikola Tesla's night of terror after the TV movies that here's
• 18:41
  one episode of Doctor Who for, you know, the 20 twenties,
• 18:47
  everybody will be loading it as something very special indeed.
• 18:52
  The production value in this thing is at as well.
• 18:54
  We're in Niagara Falls, we're in the streets of New York back in
• 18:57
  the day. We've got enormous scorpion
• 19:00
  creatures, you know, scuttling around in fantastic action
• 19:04
  sequences. We've got Jodie Whittaker, the
• 19:07
  inventor, absolutely loving the fact that she's rubbing
• 19:11
  shoulders with these greats from history.
• 19:13
  You know, being a massive geek about it.
• 19:16
  Yaz gets to do like, action set pieces that are really fun.
• 19:20
  Graham and Ryan do comedy shtick.
• 19:23
  There's a sequence on a train, and I love sequences on a train.
• 19:26
  Angeli Mahindra is in there bearing her teeth and having a
• 19:30
  great camp time as the villain. And he's teaching us a lesson
• 19:34
  about really important people in history as well.
• 19:37
  Ask that what you people are talking about when you say this
• 19:40
  is very average or below average.
• 19:43
  This is great television. Yeah, phrase a brilliant choice.
• 19:47
  I really love Nikola Tesla's. Not a terror.
• 19:50
  In fact, I may watch it tonight. I an intriguing list, my dear
• 19:56
  friend. I will come to expect nothing
• 19:59
  less from you. The only thing left for me to
• 20:03
  say. Is, you know, the point of these
• 20:06
  top 10s is to celebrate people that have supported the podcast,
• 20:11
  is to say that Fraser has held my hand throughout this entire
• 20:16
  journey ever since I first met him.
• 20:19
  But not just with the podcast, through my entire life as well.
• 20:22
  And there's been ups and downs in the last three years, and
• 20:26
  Fraser's always been there, like this beacon of support.
• 20:29
  He's the most incredible man and he won't thank me for saying
• 20:34
  this, but he's a a wonderful father and a wonderful, I
• 20:38
  thought say wife, then husband to his wife and the best friend
• 20:43
  you could possibly ask for. He's an incredible man.
• 20:46
  He's a fantastic podcaster. Please check out Skies,
• 20:51
  fullofdiamonds.wordpress.net.com Put a sky full of diamonds and
• 20:58
  Fraser Gregory into a Google search engine.
• 21:01
  You'll find him. He's one-of-a-kind.
• 21:04
  Fraser, I love you.