For those people that are sick of hearing my regular fanboy rants about Doctor Who, I apologies but yes, again this podcast recommendation is related to Basil Funkenstein, M.D., himself. After The Zygon Inversion I have found myself, yet again stuck in an all-consuming world of obsession and I promise that this will be the last one since the only Doctor Who podcast I ever listened to regularly, Blogtor Who, has not released an episode since In The Forest Of The Night. Still, if you ever do go back to series 8, have a listen to that show because both hosts are hilarious and the well of interesting facts is seemingly infinite. Veering back on topic and this week’s podcast is another beauty that is almost as good as the Doctor Who Review, almost.
Mostly Harmless Cutaway: Doctor Who
Now I know what you are thinking; why is a podcast about Doctor Who named after a Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy reference? Well forget that, after all Douglas Adams was once a script editor on the show and his story, City Of Death is often fondly remembered as one of the best stories in the show’s history. All in all, the reference to another realm of sci-fi is mostly harmless. This show is one hundred percent Doctor Who, from the informed conversations about each week’s episodes to the whovian news and the round table discussions of past episodes, classic and new. Much like the very well received Doctor Who Review, a podcast which can really never be recommended enough. Don’t look surprised, of course I was going to shoe horn in as many plugs as I could.
Mostly Harmless is somewhat of a superpod, running since 2010 and bringing together various hosts from all over the Doctor Who podcast universe. Eric from Texas, Josh Z, Cat from Washington D.C., Sean from Austin, Kyle from L.A., Christopher from Edmonton, Erik from Alexandria and even Erika from Edmonton, whom you may recognise from Verity! have all made an appearance on the show. If the list wasn’t long enough, wait until you get into their respective Doctor Podcast worlds but I’ll let you do that yourself if you feel so inclined. There are regular hosts but this rotating cast adds to the variety of the show. Don’t go into Mostly Harmless expecting to agree with everything you hear, don’t even expect the hosts to agree with everything that has been said, the scope of opinion is so large that you would need a TARDIS to contain them all. This of course isn’t a bad thing and whenever there is a negative thought on the show there is an equally positive to choose from, the choice is yours. Another choice, look you know what I’m going to say so I’ll just leave this link here.
As boring as this aspect may be to some people, the production is another strong point of MHC. In between the geek speak there are a wonderful array of songs sampled to split up the chat. Songs that will always fit in with the theme of the episode, even if they weren’t necessarily written for that reason. The rating system is also quite unique, switching week to week to suit the episode under the spotlight. Per example, to fit The Zygon Inversion, the rating system was out of five electrified steel wools or black toothpaste. Actually that was a contentious issue and probably a bad example but rating systems from the past have included soufflés, Moments (not a typo, if you are a whovian you understand why that’s supposed to be a capital) and Me’s journals (also not a typo).
So if you find yourself at your wits end, running out of friends to annoy with your endless requests to discuss your favourite show, head over to the MHC feed to feed your cravings. These people are professional nerds, the kind of people that burrow deep in the Whoniverse and set up their convention stalls so that they never have to leave. All fans from the world of classic Who, new Who and everything in between. As I said before, it’s not just regular episode discussion episodes on the MHC feed, there are mini reviews, outtakes and a couple of retro debates. Even if you decide the show is not your cup of tea, you have to admit that this show has some very cool artwork. The website is very cool as well, with an endless amount of links to topics discussed on the show as well as various chances to voice your own opinion as a listener and the entire back catalogue at your own disposal. Really if anything, MHC is a podcast to make sure that when you are feeling a bit low on Doctor Who related content; it will always be there so that you don’t panic.
