First look at Karen Gillan in "Oculus"

Following her adventures in Utah, as well as taking Manhattan twice (once with some Angels and once as Jean Shrimpton), Karen Gillan seems to have gone for the US in a big way as she eyes her future career prospects. Instead of heading straight to Hollywood, though, she has been filming Oculus in Alabama with fellow sci-fi powerhouse Katee Sackhoff (most famous as Starbuck in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica but surely just as famous as One Of Many People in Halloween: Resurrection and for appearing alongside Michelle Ryan as they both fought for the title of The Bionic Woman).

Oculus is a forthcoming horror film from Mike Flanagan, the director of the very highly regarded chiller Absentia, who posted the very first publicity shot from the film on his Twitter page this evening. The promotional still features Karen, her co-star Brenton Thwaites and a sinister mirror that may, or may not, be responsible for the deaths of their parents. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

PODCAST: Patrick Troughton in The Mind Robber

Oh, yes. Recorded in 2010 and now lovingly released in 2012 it's the podcasting equivalent of the Brian Wilson album, Smile! Indeed, it is time to venture into The Mind Robber, Peter Ling's odd psychedelic 5-part tale that was beset by behind the scenes problems and managed to turn them into positives, even the unplanned temporary absence of one of the series' lead actors.

Join Joe and Chris as they finally talk about this classic, play some guitar, laugh at themselves and provide a somewhat belated preview of the then-forthcoming 2010 Christmas special and series 6 of Doctor Who. Oh what days they were. Days when we had never even heard of The Curse of the Black Spot. We shall never see their like again.

Listen to THE MIND ROBBER

Image courtesy of the Doctor Who Image Archive
Available playlist on Spotify

PODCAST: The Angels Take Manhattan

It's time to bid what the Doctor Who production office would like us to call "A Pond Farewell" to Amy and Rory and their baggage. Did we cry? Are we glad to see the back of them? Are we to see this, and the taking of her husband's surname as the final step towards Amy accepting adulthood/the patriarchy? There's a strong possibility that we just don't know HOW to feel about it.

Join Joe and Chris as they confuse listeners of the Pharos Project podcast, devise the ideal sequel to this story (which would surely feature another return for Henry VIII), talk over some voicermails, potentially confuse a listener's daughter, discuss alternative alternate casting for Doctor Who's Christmas special and compare their cups.

LISTEN TO THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN.

Image courtesy of the terrifyingly angelic SONIC BIRO.

PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY.

PODCAST: The Power of Three

While writer Chris Chibnall's cubetacular script offered us The Power of Three, the reliably square Joe and Chris can only muster up the power of two. Two people who disagree on whether they liked this episode, that is.

Join them and their ragtag bunch of international feedback comrades as they provide the least incisive dissection of an episode this side of Doctor Who Adventures but with possibly a tad more swearing, much more live phone action, arguably more references to Maxine Peake and - once again - more talk of future cult classic Modified which, like a double Noir, is now leaking off of the silver screen and into Joe's own life. Terrifying.

Listen to THE POWER OF THREE

Image courtesy of the power of SONIC BIRO

PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

PODCAST: A Town Called Mercy

Welcome to a town called Mercy and a podcast called EH?

It's one of Joe and Chris's rare disagreements about the overall excellence of an episode which, you would imagine, would lead us to make jokes about "the quality of Mercy" but sadly we've only just thought of that right now. Can't have them all.

Join us as we talk over some great records and generally disagree the hell with each other. This episode features less singing, guitar playing and talk of future cult classic Modified than last week's and is probably all the better for it.

Listen to A TOWN CALLED MERCY

Image from the ever-merciful SONIC BIRO

PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

PODCAST: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

A *COOL THING* on *ANOTHER COOL THING* - it's a tried and tested approach to story titling which has already given us Snakes on a Plane, Strangers on a Train, Bird on a Wire, Tarrant on TV and Orson Welles. Actually, the more we think about it, it's probably only given us Snakes on a Plane which is no bad thing. That is until Steven Moffat asked writer of silly Doctor Who episodes (and former vociferous critic of silly Doctor Who episodes) Chris Chibnall to give us Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, with results that have now become apparent.

Join Joe and Chris as they constantly interrupt the backing tracks with guitar and uncover the theme of this season of Doctor Who during their discussion of both Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and the hopefully future cult classic movie Modified as well as moving into the final stages of allowing listeners to work out all the events of Joe's private life over the course of the podcast's lifespan thus far. We are considering moving into releasing premium podcasts that are just the audio recordings of Joe's entire day.

During the editing of this podcast, Chris got a Facebook friend request from Paul Cotrulia, the director, producer and co-writer of Modified so if he ends up listening, we hope he doesn't mind our take on it too much.

Listen to DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP.

Image from the ever-reliable SONIC BIRO.

PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

PODCAST: Asylum of the Daleks

Wotcha, kids! Our traditional battles with the world have failed to keep us down once again despite one of our number not really having a home or much of an internet connection at this very moment as well as the technical issue which led to one of us not being recorded for a bit (the resultant fix job in the edit is sadly not as seamless as we would hope but it does mean that for a couple of minutes you get a predominantly Chris-centric podcast, which we know you'll enjoy).

What do we think of the Doctor's exploits in the Dalek Asylum? Will he be able to rescue Donald Pleasence and get out before his neck explodes? Oh, no, we're thinking of the wrong thing again. Did we LIKE it? Did we NOT LIKE it? CAN we reconcile one of the main events alongside our spoiler policy? ARE there any Daleks called DARREN? Are YOU prepared to take the reins of your own brain? Would YOU make a good Dalek?

Listen to ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS

Image, as ever, courtesy of Sonic Biro.

PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

TORCHWOOD PODCAST: Miracle Day Final - The Gathering & The Blood Line

A mere eleven months after it was recorded (and thus more punctual than our episode for Patrick Troughton surreal-fest "The Mind Robber" can ever hope to be) it's our final episode of the short-lived Miracle Day podcast! You can find out what we thought of episodes nine and ten of Miracle Day (except that we've already told you our basic opinion in a completely different episode) as well as hearing our usual impeccable music choices resolutely talked over. In a newly-recorded intro section, your lovely hosts talk about the new Doctor Who trailer, but if you wish to completely avoid such chat you can do so by winding on to exactly 25 minutes dead. See, we're nice to you spoilerphobes. Remember to check in below for our playlist (themed for the Miracle Day episode, whatever we felt like for the intro) and enjoy! Finally.

LISTEN TO "MIRACLE DAY FINAL" - Playlist on Spotify

PODCAST: Series 7, Episode 0

EPISODE ZERO HAS ESCAPED...

No music. No editing.

It's been a relaxing old time in EH?-land. At least in terms of podcasting. We've both been very busy otherwise in our own special and private ways and so we love a good Episode Zero to get us back in the swing of things. For those who haven't heard an Episode Zero before, we just record, talk and then release it free of tricksy editing or background music (and, usually, voicemails but we have a chatty new customer this year so we stuck her on).

The only real important thing to remember is that for these episodes only, our usual spoiler policy is completely relaxed and we talk openly about what we know and speculate wildly about what we don't.

Oh, and for the very first time we solve the mystery of exactly what the Tenth Doctor's very last act was. We think it stands up to canonical scrutiny. Enjoy!

Listen to EPISODE ZERO.3

(image, as you can see, courtesy of the Radio Times)

PODCAST: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Here at EH? Towers we'd like to wish all our listeners a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And also a jolly rest of January. And also a generally decent first half of February. Yes, it probably hasn't escaped your collective attentions that our Christmas special this year is a tad on the late side (beating last year's tardy offering by more than three weeks). While we could give the usual party line about us being lazy bastards, or busy bastards, or crazy bustards (what a day that was!), but we know that you're a generally forgiving and saintly bunch - handsome too! - and that you're just pleased to have us back in the game. After all, it IS all about The Game, and how you play it etc.

Anyway, this year's Christmas offering was, if we cast our collective mind back all that way, probably the smallest and gentlest feeling of any of the specials so far. Was that a bad thing? There's only one way to find out. So, if you wish, try and get yourselves back in the Christmassy mood as you listen to our hosts discuss the philosophical issues raised by half-bees, why the Doctor is like a time-travelling Barney Stinson, outdated claims about the Domino's Pizza thirty minute guarantee, more American Christmas music than we claim there'll be and what single degree of separation Joe has from actress Holly Earl. If you don't fancy that, why not approach it with a hard, cynical February mood? That works for us too.

Good to be back, and hopefully we won't be away for so long the next time.

LISTEN TO "THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE"

Image from Sonic Biro.

Playlist on Spotify.

Last Christmas episode, we plugged a Doctor Who site so this year, have a plug for new-ish podcast The Sonic Toolbox!