Over on Sending a Wave...

In February this year, Wendy (who has guested on a number of our shows with more to come) was lucky enough to interview Nathan Fillion, Captain Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly, with his friend and author PJ Haarsma. This episode is available on the Sending a Wave podcast feed (pop over to sendingawave.blogspot.com to subscribe) or click here to download manually...

Show 18: Doctor Who (The Sensorites)

Show 18 is here, and the topic is the seventh story in the original run of Doctor Who entitled The Sensorites. As usual, you can click here to leave a comment on the relevant topic on our Facebook group.

The Sensorites is not widely regarded as one of the very best of the original run, and the three of us approached it with trepidation, but actually we were pleasantly surprised.

To download to the episode directly, please click here.

The Sensorites is not available to buy yet on DVD, but the 2002 VHS release can be found on various sites such as Amazon Marketplace or eBay.

Because we have moved to a fortnightly show (instead of 2 per month) there are three episodes this month - the remaining shows are:

16th April: Neverwhere

30th April: Doctor Who (The Reign of Terror)

See you in a fortnight!

Show 17: Doctor Who (The Aztecs)

Show 17, which covers the sixth Doctor Who story, The Aztecs is now available to download.

You can download it direct by clicking here.

The Aztecs is also available on DVD, for some suggestions as to where you would like to buy it, click here.

As usual, we would love to hear your thoughts on the show and have set up a thread on our Facebook group.

Show 16: Red Dwarf 1

Hello, as we said a few days ago, we kind of forgot about the 20th anniversary of Red Dwarf, so instead of the previously announced show, we have chosen to cover the first series of Red Dwarf for this show.

So, here is the revised schedule for the next couple of months:

19th March - Show 17 (Doctor Who - The Aztecs)
2nd April - Show 18 (Doctor Who - The Sensorites)
16th April - Show 19 (Neverwhere)
30th April - Show 20 (Doctor Who - The Reign of Terror)

As usual, we have a Feedback section for this episode on our Facebook group, so please feel free to leave us comments or feedback on the show.

Show 16 can be downloaded direct by clicking here.

Schedule Change

We had a recording session this weekend and recorded a handful of shows. Paul realised last week that Monday was the twentieth anniversary of Red Dwarf, and we also decided that we couldn't let that moment pass. We have been meaning to do a Red Dwarf show since day one (our title comes from that after all) so, in a change to our advertised program (I have always wanted to say that) the show that comes out this week will not be the advertised Doctor Who (The Aztecs) episode, but will be our Red Dwarf 1 show. The Aztecs will be on in a fortnight, and the Neverwhere show, originally advertised for the 19th of this month will now be on on the 16th of April. Sorry if you were really looking forward to Neverwhere - that is a cracking show, but it's only pur back by a few weeks!

Smeggin' Hell!

Well, we're a week late - but on the 15th of February 1988, episode 1 of Red Dwarf, Series 1, aired on BBC2.

Hard to believe 20 years have gone by since the launch of what was to become a favourite amongst sci-fi fans and celebrities (Patrick Stewart is a big fan, don'tcha know...).

With the idea of a film seemingly dead and buried at last, and a ninth TV series turned down by the BBC last year (strange considering the popularity of sci-fi at the moment) it seems that its all over for the crew of the Dwarf. And they never got back to Earth...

The history of Red Dwarf is well documented on the DVDs and here at Cadmium2, we will be covering the show in our own unique style. Let's face it - we have to - it's where we got our name from! That won't be for a little while yet but it doesn't stop us celebrating their anniversary.

Pop along to the Facebook group and join in the discussion of the best and worst of Red Dwarf...

Show 15: Timeslip 2 (The Time of the Ice Box)

Yes, it's that time of the fortnight again! The latest show, our fifteenth, is out there in the Internet ether. In this show, we cover the second story in the Timeslip TV series, called The Time of the Ice Box. There are two more shows in the series, and we are hoping to cover the third in May and the fourth in June.

The Timeslip series is available as a complete boxed set containing all four stories. Click here for some places and prices where you can buy them.

You can download the latest episode direct by clicking here.

If you would like to remind yourself of our coverage of the first tale, The Wrong End of Time, click here.

As usual, you can leave us feedback on the show by visiting the Show 15 Thread on our Facebook group.

The other announcement this month is that we would like to give our listeners a chance to be on the show. There are two possibilities:

1) Join us in studio. This means that you will be with us when we record (either in Daventry, Northants or Hailsham, East Sussex) whatever show we happen to be doing.

2) If you have an opinion on something we have covered and would like to express it in person over the phone, or Skype, we can get you involved in the show that way.

If you are interested in either, either email us of leave a comment on the Facebook Thread set up for that purpose.

Take care, see you all in a fortnight!

BBC7...

In the preamble in show 14, we discuss the merits of some of the shows on BBC7, which is a digital radio station here in the UK. One of the members of our Facebook Group has confirmed for us that you can indeed listen to the station live over the internet and use the listen again function overseas.

So if you like audio drama (science fiction or not) as well as comedy then have a look at the BBC7 homepage. Their Seventh Dimension slot may particularly be of interest to the people who listen to this show, if you click the link it will tell you what is coming up for the next week. The slot is one hour per day, with series running Monday to Friday, and then the Saturday and Sunday slots tend to run independently (it is the weekend slot that usually plays the Big Finish 8th Doctor during their first run).

The serials run from one episode to twenty, some of them are repeats from Radio Four, whilst others are made especially for BBC7. There is some awesome stuff on here (hence this blurb) and I really encourage fans of audio to have a look at it. And if anything amazing comes up I will try and post it on here, but the best way to ensure you miss nothing is to favourite the page from the link above.

Show 14: Doctor Who (The Keys of Marinus)

In this show, we look at the fifth story of the first series of Doctor Who, titled The Keys of Marinus. This is the second story to be written by Dalek creator Terry Nation, and the first of only two shows that he wrote for the show that do not contain the Daleks. It is also much more difficult to get hold of, since it has not been released on DVD yet and is not available on audio CD. Yup, for this show we went back in time and watched a VHS tape, folks!

We have checked, and the story is available from both amazon.co.uk and amazon.com as a second hand item from their marketplaces, but you will pay quite a lot of money for them. As we get into the rare episodes you will find them harder and harder to get hold of, but if they still exist in the BBC archives they will eventually get a DVD release. There are people who like to watch the episodes before we review them, and for those people we have this peice of advice: wait for the DVD release, you will get a much better product than you will on a second hand VHS tape.

And, as you will hear, this is an interesting story - the first of several "quest" type stories for the first Doctor, and this particular story shows many similarities to The Key to Time series from many years later!

As usual, we would love to hear what you think of this show, and as ususal there is a discussion thread set up on our Facebook page.

The episode is already on the podcast feed, and can also be downloaded manually by clicking here.

Next up (on the 20th of this month) is our discussion on the second Timeslip story, The Time of the Ice Box. See you then!

Show 13: Nebulous (Series One)

Show 13 is here, in which we look at Nebulous, the BBC Radio 4 series. As usual, there is a discussion topic on our Facebook page, please contribute your thoughts!

If you would like to download the show manually, click here.

That's it for January, see you in a fortnight for Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus!

Show 12: Doctor Who (Marco Polo)

The first show this month sees us looking at - or rather listening to - the fourth Doctor Who story from the first ever series. Marco Polo no longer exists in the BBC Video Archives, however luckily some fans made audio copies of the shows as they were transmitted, and it is the case that every story that does not exist on video exists on audio, all of which are now available from the BBC on CD. This play is also available via audible.com – click the link and your browser should direct you to that page.

Marco Polo is the first of many purely historical stories that were quite an integral part of the first few series of Doctor Who. At seven episodes long it is quite lengthy, but worth listening to to try and imagine what it would have looked like!

If you would like to download our show manually, click here.

In a fortnight we cover the first radio show that we have looked at in detail – the first series of Nebulous.

One Hundred Years Ago Today

William Hartnell, the actor who created the role of the Doctor in the 1960s, playing the first incarnation of the character from 1963 to 1966, was born exactly 100 years ago today.

Although ill health forced him to reluctantly relinquish the part in 1966, he remained very fond of the series and in 1972, with his health rapidly deteriorating and memory failing, managed to film one final performance as the character in the tenth anniversary special, The Three Doctors, which aired between December 30, 1972 and January 20, 1973.

It was his final professional performance; he died on April 23, 1975, aged 67.

Happy New Year

It's a couple of days late, but we would all like to wish our listeners a happy new 2008. We have been busy behind the scenes working out what we are going to do this year, and have decided to put out a new show every two weeks instead of two per month (it means we do an extra two episodes in the year, removing the occasional three week wait).

We have also decided to go weekly for the months of May and June, so in those months you will get 8 shows instead of 4, so you can take us on holiday with you! (Please make sure you take us somewhere nice!)

So Cadmium2 will be going thirty shows this year, and the first two come out this month. On the 9th we look at the Doctor Who story Marco Polo, and on the 23rd we look at our first bit of cult radio, the first series of Nebulous.

As usual, we would encourage you to join our Facebook group and leave us feedback, see you in a few days!