Magic Bullet Productions

 

Click the links to go directly to articles on:

Doctor Who: the 2005-Present Series   Change and Decay: Doctor Who Season 18    Humour and Miscellany  50 Things About...  Doctor Who: the 1963-1989 Series    Overviews    Magic Bullet Behind the Scenes

Newest article: 28 Stupid Things About "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (and 22 Cool Ones)


Doctor Who: the 2005 Season

Rose by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The opening episode of the new series of Doctor Who proves to be very, very now.

The End of the World by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
Visually lovely and intriguing themes-- and could it be a sign of things to come?

The Unquiet Dead by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A chillingly rendered black comedy-- but what are the Gelth's true motivations?

Aliens of London/World War Three by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
Alien creations with augmented pig cerebellums are innocent OK.

Dalek by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
An instant classic, and we never use that term lightly.

The Long Game by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
The revolution will be televised with extreme prejudice.

Father's Day by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Never trust a human not to try to change history.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
Keep Mum-- she's not so dumb.

Boom Town by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A pun in the title, a sting in the tale, and a quick lesson in Welsh.

Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
The party to Endemol.

2005 Season Overview by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Jury out: intelligent resurrection of classic concepts, or radical new series for a new millennium?

The Christmas Invasion by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
No turkey for Christmas this year...

The Oncoming Storm? 2006 Season Overview by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
BAFTAs or brickbats? You be the judge!

 

Change and Decay: Season 18
A series analysing Tom Baker's final season as Doctor Who.

The Leisure Hive by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A torrid tale of love, life sciences and lizards in a leisure facility.

Meglos by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
The Doctor is beside himself-- but is this a bad thing, or, actually, quite good?

Full Circle by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The planet Alzarius: an ecological parable, and a nice place to pick up unattached young men.

State of Decay by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The stakes rise as behind-the-scenes tensions flare, and Doctor Who gets Hammered.

Warriors' Gate by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The Doctor has a death wish, Romana goes to Gormenghast and Stephen Gallagher gets his own back against the unionised employees of Granada Television.

The Keeper of Traken by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Doctor Who raids the Shakespeareian tradition to give us a new companion, an old enemy and a brilliant debut for Anthony Ainley.

Logopolis by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The final chapter of the saga, in which the themes of change and decay resolve into ones of nostalgia and regression.

 

Humour and Miscellany

The Doctor's Kill List by Mike Kenwood
How many kills has The Man Who Never Would actually racked up between 1963 and 2017? We have the damning facts, figures, and  statistics.

Rose No More by Alan Stevens
Has the Eleventh Doctor's "crack in time" retroactively changed the events of Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways? Indeed, in the current Doctor Who universe, does Rose even exist? Find out!

Doctor Who Celebration: Twenty Years of Cheated Memories by Alan Stevens
1983 saw the now-legendary 20th Anniversary of Doctor Who event at Longleat House. One of us was there. Thirty years on, he's prepared to tell all.

The Death of Doctor Who by Alan Stevens
A lightheartedly morbid look at how all the various Time Lords shuffled off this mortal coil, and what David Tennant has got to worry about.

The Doctor Who Confidential Drinking Game by Fiona Moore
Want tips on how to lighten up the post-Doctor Who half-hour? Grab a glass and follow the instructions.

The Doctor Who Confidential Drinking Game part II by Fiona Moore
They didn't let up for the second season, and neither did we.

The Doctor Who Confidential Drinking Game part III: Torchwood Declassified by Fiona Moore
No one connected with the series escapes the Drinking Game treatment.

The Doctor Who Confidential Drinking Game part IV: Totally Doctor Who by Fiona Moore
We mean it: No one.

The Doctor Who Confidential Drinking Game part V: Confidential Series 3 by Fiona Moore
We could just go on forever, honest.

 

50 Things About...

28 Stupid Things about "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (and 22 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Thirty minutes of people trying to get a mobile phone signal, followed by fifteen minutes of people rushing around to get into place, followed by "Journey's End".

40 Stupid Things about "The Twin Dilemma" (and 10 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
"That awful creature. I've never been so frightened in my life." The temptation to add "And the slug was pretty scary too!" is irresistible.

28 Stupid Things about "The Three Doctors" (and 22 Cool Ones) by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
A story which makes extensive use of Cromer-Key.

33 Cool Things about "The Mind Robber" (and 17 Stupid Ones) by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
"This world that we've tumbled into is a world of fiction. Unicorns, minotaur, Gulliver's Travels, they're all alive here." "Then what are we doing here?" Well, Zoe, I've got some possibly disturbing news for you...

28 Cool Things about "The Mind of Evil" (and 22 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which the Master has a more successful time as an Earth exile than the Doctor, and we all learn many interesting facts about Chinese languages.

36 Cool Things about "The Web of Fear" (and 14 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which the Doctor joins the Underground movement, and the Great Intelligence bypasses Victoria.

32 Stupid Things about "Arc of Infinity" (and 18 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which John Nathan-Turner goes to Amsterdam in order to avoid making a story about Amsterdam, and Tegan's cousin stars in a porn film.

54 Stupid Things about "Battlefield" (and 6 Cool Ones) by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
A story so spectacular that it cannot be contained within the numerical limits of an ordinary 50 Things article.

42 Cool Things about "The Sun Makers" (and 8 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A future in which ordinary people are exploited by corporations entwined with governments intent on extracting every last inch of revenue from citizens and perverting the welfare system. Nah, it could never happen.

34 Cool Things about "The Keys of Marinus" (and 16 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which the First Doctor reveals he's OK with oppressive fascist dictatorships, so long as he's not the one being oppressed, that is.

32 Cool Things about "Time-Flight" (and 18 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
"The story just about gets away with Kalid, mainly because it's hard to figure out exactly what ethnicity he's a caricature of."

34 1/2 Cool Things about "The Curse of Peladon" (and 15 1/2 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which we explore the invention of quantum politics.

38 Stupid Things about "Mawdryn Undead" (and 12 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
An unwatchable serial about an alien in disguise as a schoolboy at a British school with an ex-companion of the Doctor's as a teacher. But enough about Class.

25 Stupid Things about "The Next Doctor" (and 25 Cool Ones) (It's A Tie, Folks!) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A real chocolate-box of a story:  it's pretty, it's Christmassy, and too much of the contents will make you sick.

30 Stupid Things about "The Visitation" (and 20 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Containing many entertaining, but ultimately useless, facts about seventeenth-century England.

30 Cool Things about "Castrovalva" (and 20 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which we learn what a Time Lord has in common with a duck. No, really, we do.

27 Cool Things about "Survival" (and 23 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Read to the very end for Ten Things Russell T. Davies Ripped Off for the 2005 Series.

31 Cool Things about "Ghost Light" (and 19 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A story that doesn't know when to stop evolving.

47 Cool Things about "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" (and 3 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
"Throughout this '50 Things...', we suggest you substitute the words 'Eighties Who' for 'Psychic Circus', and see where the parallel leads you..."

32 Cool Things about "The Happiness Patrol" (and 18 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The story that sparked a dozen faux-outrage pieces about Doctor Who's alleged leftwing bias.

25 Cool Things about "Dragonfire" (and 25 Stupid Ones) (it's a tie, folks!) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Because "Weevilfire" just didn't work.

29 Cool Things about "Delta and the Bannermen" (and 21 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
It's a Fabulous Fifty Things about the Fabulous Fifties!

27 Cool Things about "Time and the Rani" (and 23 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The proof of the pumpkin is, indeed, in the squeezing.

25 Cool Things about "Terror of the Autons" (and 25 Stupid Ones) (it's a tie, folks!) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Everything you want to know about the Auton Invasion, except why.

27 Cool Things about "Spearhead from Space" (and 23 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
On 16mm film, so you know it's special.

35 Stupid Things about “The Reign of Terror” (And 15 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
In which we actually do research, which is apparently more than the writing team did.

33 Stupid Things about “Doctor Who: The American Telemovie With No Name” (And 17 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Party like it's 1999. Or don't.

48 Stupid Things about “Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks” (And 2 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Who knew such madness could come from a single innocent piece of brickwork?

30 Cool Things about “The Seeds of Doom” (And 20 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Gardener's question time.

47 Stupid Things about “An Adventure in Space and Time” (And 3 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Your handy guide to the historical inaccuracies in the BBC's 50th anniversary docudrama.

27 Cool Things about “The Ambassadors of Death” (And 23 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Is Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart building an army of clones? Why did John Abineri trim his moustache to look like Hitler's? And most importantly, why is every woman in the serial wearing white vinyl boots?

32 Cool Things about “The Krotons” (And 18 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A story which was filmed mainly because it contains neither spanking nor dominatrices.

47 Cool Things about “Genesis of the Daleks” (And 3 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Finding out what's cool about it, by autopsy.

32 1/2 Stupid Things about “Attack of the Cybermen” (And 17 1/2 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Now with even more Cyber Controller.

29 Stupid Things about “Revenge of the Cybermen” (And 21 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
“I like to laugh. You can’t take this business too seriously, can you?” --David "Vorus" Collings.

60 Stupid Things about "Frontier in Space/Planet of the Daleks" (and 40 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Another double-length "50 Things About...",  now with added socialist philosophers!

27 Cool Things about "Silver Nemesis" (and 23 Stupid  Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The anniversary special we all love to hate turns out to be more Cool than Stupid-- who knew?

56 Stupid Things about "The Trial of a Time Lord" (and 44 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
A "50 Things About..." double-length special, with added BRIAN BLESSED!!!

45 Stupid Things about "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel" (and 5 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Are we human point 2... or are we dancers?

32 Cool Things about "Carnival of Monsters" (and 18 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Nanti denari here...

26 Cool, So To Speak, Things about "The Ice Warriors" (and 24 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Sss. Sss. Sss.

35 Cool Things about "Pyramids of Mars" (and 15 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Return of the Hand of Sutekh.

32 Cool Things about "An Unearthly Child" (and 18 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Who is smarter, two schoolteachers or an illiterate cavewoman?

31 Cool Things about "City of Death" (and 19 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Once more, with Parisians.

33 Stupid Things about "Terror of the Zygons" (and 17 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Continuing the series.

26 Cool Things about "The Ark" (and 24 Stupid Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
As before.

41 Stupid Things about "The Moonbase" (and 9 Cool Ones) by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
But we're not telling you which is which.

 

Doctor Who: the 1963-1989 Series Reviews

The Hidden Factor by Alan Stevens
A brain-twisting exploration of time travel and the bootstrap paradox in "The Evil of the Daleks".

World's End by Alan Stevens
A look at Terry Nation's first draft for "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", why it was changed, and what we lost in the process.

The Daleks' Master Plan: The Unfolding Text by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore with thanks to Donald Tosh
A companion piece to our earlier aticle on "The Daleks' Master Plan", written for a Celestial Toyroom special on members' favourite Doctor Who stories.

The Wheel in Space by Ann Worrall and Fiona Moore
It's got Zoe in it, which makes up for a lot. 

The Hidden Factor by Alan Stevens
Exposing the bootstrap paradox that underlies a classic Dalek story. 

Destiny of the Daleks by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Oh look-- Daleks!

The Daleks by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Yes, it's about war and violence-- but perhaps not the way that one might think.

Robot by Fiona Moore
What's the point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?

The Web Planet by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
The secret to doing stories with giant maggots, pantomime ants and Mexican-wrestler bumblebees is knowing when to stop.

The Green Death by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
There's two reasons everybody remembers this one, and one of them is the giant maggots.

The Invasion by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
The only Troughton-era Cyberman story that we actually think is any cop. And we're going to tell you why.

The Mutants by Fiona Moore
The Third Doctor is thrown into an allegory of Apartheid-era South Africa, but is everything completely black and white?

Day of the Daleks by Alan Stevens with Fiona Moore
Find out how this early-70s serial influenced later Dalek stories-- and why it drives a time machine through established Dalek history...

The Chase by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Terry Nation's absolute intellectual masterpiece, the pinnacle of his writing career. Or not.

The Power of the Daleks by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Patrick Troughton's first Doctor Who story-- is it a stunningly iconic classic, or an overrated runaround?

Earthshock by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Is it a travesty of Davis and Pedler's original ideas... or the best thing to happen to the Cybermen since Mondas broke out of orbit?

An Analysis of Death to the Daleks by Alan Stevens

Were the Daleks really past their best in 1973? What was Galloway really up to? And, most importantly, why was Sarah Jane Smith grabbed and dry-humped by two Exxilon rebels?

An Analysis of Resurrection of the Daleks by Alan Stevens
It's got Daleks, it's got action, it's got an all-star cast and a brilliant premise. So what went wrong?! Find out what happens when John Nathan-Turner, Eric Saward and Terry Nation lock egos!

The Mad Mariachi's Master Plan by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
Why is the Doctor Who story "The Enemy of the World" like "The Daleks' Master Plan"? Why is it continually overlooked by fan commentators? And why, oh why, did anybody think it was a good idea to have Patrick Troughton dress up as a Mariachi band leader?

The Evil of the Doctor by Alan Stevens
Previously published in In-Vision, this is the revised and expanded version of the controversial "Remembrance of the Daleks" review which was applauded by some, hated by others, and the subject of an extended rant by Lawrence Miles. Is the Seventh Doctor godlike and omniscient-- or amoral and genocidal?

The Faceless Ones by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
A Troughton-era tale of mystery and kidnapping at an airport... hides a behind-the-scenes story of duelling egos, deteriorating cast/crew relations and the problem of sex in Doctor Who. Find out how!

The Tomb of the Cybermen by Alan Stevens
A controversial look at a long-lost Doctor Who story. Hailed as a classic upon its rerelease in 1992, is it truly worthy of the name-- or is it a poorly-written, racist pastiche with less depth than an ant's swimming pool?

 

Overviews

Genocide of the Daleks by Alan Stevens
A detailed exploration of Doctor Who Magazine's classic comic strip "Emperor of the Daleks!", and how it helps us better understand the Daleks... and the Doctor!

Dalek Art by Alan Stevens
Do the fascist mutants of the planet Skaro have an artistic side? Are they the ones behind the mysterious carvings on the planet Spiridon? And what is their strange connection with modern British sculptor Barbara Hepworth... and plagiarism-courting American artist Roy Lichtenstein?

Resurrection of Fear by Fiona Moore
How is "Resurrection of the Daleks" like "The Web of Fear"? No, it's not a riddle... it's one of the great overlooked connections of Sixties and Eighties Doctor Who.

Doctor Clueless by Ann Worrall
Is Thirteen the lucky number? An exploration of what's right and wrong with Jodie Whittaker's first season.

Sometimes The Pattern Is More Obvious by Fiona Moore
What can the anthropology of classification explain about fans' obsession with continuity, and can it ever be cured?

You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends? by Fiona Moore
The casting of a woman as the Master was controversial... but did anyone notice the actual revolutionary message the regendering sent? Find out about the new kind of chaos Missy causes!

Jon The Second by James Cooray Smith
In his third essay for Celestial Toyroom, Jim considers which actor was the official Doctor Who during the 17-year hiatus-- the answer will surprise you!

Women of Paris, Men from Atlantis by James Cooray Smith
Jim takes on the controversial question of what really caused Doctor Who's meteoric rise, and spectacular plunge, in the ratings in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A Matter of Memory by James Cooray Smith
Why is it the Doctor can sometimes remember the events of multi-Doctor adventures, and sometimes not? One man dares to tackle this question-- and survives!

Davros in Context by Alan Stevens
Should Davros have returned to the series after the end of "Genesis of the Daleks"? Perhaps not...

The Man Who Invented the Daleks: A Review and Personal Reflection by Alan Stevens
A companion piece to the Interview with Alwyn Turner, reviewing and commenting on the life and work of Terry Nation.

The Sound and the Fury: Is Doctor Who Better Suited to Audio or Video? by Fiona Moore
In these days when much Doctor Who-related material is only available on audio, we tackle the crucial question: is audio just a poor substitute for video, or does it add something to the programme which the videos fail to deliver?

Not as Primitive as they Look: An Anthropologist on Doctor Who by Fiona Moore
Magic Bullet's webmaster and co-production manager is persuaded to put on her other hat and take a quirky mystery-tour around the primitive tribes of Doctor Who.

Doctor Davros, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Daleks by Fiona Moore
An introspective and insightful essay, examining the Cold War origins of the Daleks, and considering "Genesis of the Daleks" as an allegory of something very sinister indeed.

 

Magic Bullet Behind the Scenes

By special arrangement with the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, we bring you five complete issues of their magazine Celestial Toyroom themed around "The Robots of Death" and Kaldor City, edited and written by Magic Bullet and friends. Right-click to download, or left-click to read in browser:

Celestial Toyroom 506 (portrait)
Celestial Toyroom 506 (landscape)

Celestial Toyroom 508/9 (portrait)
Celestial Toyroom 508/9 (landscape)

Celestial Toyroom 516 (portrait)
Celestial Toyroom 516 (landscape)

Celestial Toyroom 520/1 (portrait)
Celestial Toyroom 520/1 (landscape)

Celestial Toyroom 531/2 (portrait)
Celestial Toyroom 531/2 (landscape)

That One With The Killer Robots by Gareth Kavenagh
In 2012, The Robots of Death and Storm Mine caused a sensation at the Manchester Fringe Festival... as stage plays! Find out how and why in this retrospective from the producer himself.

Skulduggery: A Kaldor City story by Fiona Moore and Alan Stevens
Set between Occam's Razor and Death's Head, this short story features Carnell offering some innovative solutions to Firstmaster Landerchild's problems...

Tournament of Shadows: The Taren Capel Chess Game by Alan Stevens
The events of Kaldor City: Taren Capel were dominated by a very peculiar chess game. Want to follow along? Here are the moves in full...

Welcome to Kaldor City, Population: 1 by Dale Smith (offsite)
Doctor Who books writer Dale Smith offers a critical overview of the Kaldor City series, exploring what it is, and could be, about.

Interview with Alan Stevens by Chris Duecker (offsite)
An interview with Kaldor City co-creator and Faction Paradox producer Alan Stevens.

A Day in Kaldor City: 8 August 2002 by Douglas McNaughton
Behind the scenes on the recording of Kaldor City: Taren Capel and Kaldor City: Hidden Persuaders, featuring details of the strange links between David Cronenberg and Kaldor City, the real story behind Edward Woodward's nickname, and a mini-interview with series writer Jim Smith!

Recording Kaldor by Jim Smith
An account of the recording of Kaldor City 3: Hidden Persuaders, by one of the CD's authors.