The most recent season of Doctor Who has been one hell of a rollercoaster, dramatic within and without. First it was split in two, then Clara showed up early, then Amy and Rory left, then news about the 50th anniversary started overshadowing the season, then the show’s producer abruptly quit, then the Tenth Doctor came back, then the Ninth Doctor didn’t, then the final episode leaked early....

The quality of the episodes themselves has been markedly variable, as reflected in our own reviews, and it’s getting harder and harder not to feel so down about the show. But Doctor Who is still the best damn sci-fi show on television, so before the season closes we thought we’d get back in the spirit and comment on our favorite Eleventh Doctor episodes from the Moffat era.

[Come along, honorary Ponds]

A common defense made by anyone who is called out for advancing a stereotype is, “Stereotypes exist for a reason,” the implied message being that they are most often true. But what if by simply saying that, you were putting someone at a disadvantage? What if insisting on the accuracy of a stereotype was one of the very factors that perpetuated it? Scientific American’s June issue has some intriguing information in the article “Armor against Prejudice” by Ed Yong, on the perils of “stereotype threat” and the fascinating ways we can combat it to give future generations a better chance of success.

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The Doctor had a full house for this episode: the Cybermen came back, and Warwick Davis was one of the special guest stars, so... did “Nightmare in Silver” do as promised? Did Neil Gaiman make the Cybermen scary again? Did the Cybermen need to be scary again?

And why do those things on everyone’s faces look like Borg implants?

[I can beat you in three moves.]

Over at Mother Jones, everyone is talking about Jennie Lamere, who just won a Boston hackathon hosted by TVNext. What she created is a program called Twivo, which allows you to censor certain spoilery tweets, so that you don’t get your favorite forms of entertainment ruined just because you haven’t caught up with your DVR yet. But there’s more to this already very impressive story.

[How long would you imagine that program took to create?]

At this point in time we’re all stuck wondering about the new Star Wars trilogy Disney has promised, what the storyline for these upcoming films could possibly be. We’re hoping for something new, something that won’t be a rehash of old themes, but keep Star Wars cool and fun and relevant to a generation of moviegoers who have never grown up without Star Wars.

Is it likely that all tie-in media of the past couple decades will be ignored in creating these films, but that doesn’t mean that they should ignore it. Here’s a brief wishlist of what from the Expanded Universe we might want to see on the big screen.

[“Yub yub, Commander!”]

Never mind the chainmail bikinis—what about those awkward breast plates in armor that we see frequently in fantasy artwork and at the Ren Faire? Whenever women complain about this convention, they are usually shot down for trying to erase women’s true bodies, for insisting that women make themselves more “male” in order to appear strong and capable.

But here’s the thing: those shapely bits of armor would actually get you killed. So the complaint is entirely valid! Now, let’s talk about why.

[Protect your sternum, ladies. You only get one.]

At the end of The Avengers, we watched Tony Stark prove Captain America wrong—after getting torn down for being unwilling to make sacrifices for others, Iron Man sped through a black hole to save the Earth from certain destruction. Unfortunately, what Stark told Captain Rogers during the course of the film was true, at least from his perspective; he’s not a soldier.

So how does someone who is not a soldier recover from having a soldier’s experience, which is essentially what Tony has been doing since he got hit by wayward shrapnel in Afghanistan? That is what Iron Man 3 attempts to answer—and what it finds is what precisely separates Tony Stark from all other superheroes of his ilk.

[Making demons...]

So, here’s a weird question where the Force is concerned—it’s one thing to have fallen to the dark side of the Force, but if you’re being actively manipulated by dark side agents, can you be held accountable for your actions? If so, to what extent?

The conclusion to the Jedi Academy Trilogy is really about healing more than anything else. And that’s all types of healing, be it psychic, physical, or emotional. Sure, things usually get worse before they get better, especially in fiction. But how much worse they get in Champions of the Force likely shocked quite a few readers… because genocide doesn’t exactly sit well with anyone.

[Imagine the destruction of Alderaan. Then imagine it 100 fold or worse.]

Where to begin? For quite some time, I have wanted to embark upon the tasking project of examining female characters across the science fiction and fantasy realms, to see what these genres have given us and how they have changed their portrayal of women over the years. But where on earth (or Middle-earth, or in the air, or the farthest reaches of space) was the right place to start? Suddenly, out of nowhere, a little voice sounded in my ear. I could distinctly hear the words—

“Hailing frequencies open, sir.”

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Being the sort of fan who has been dying for an episode set on the TARDIS for years now, the latest offering from Camp Who was something of a treat. We’re no closer to unraveling Clara’s mystery, but now we have officially seen the swimming pool (and it is thankfully no longer in the library). On the other hand, if big shiny reset buttons upset you, this episode was likely not your cuppa.

[“So we’re not doing hugging, I get that now!”]

The remnants of the Empire in the Star Wars Expanded Universe are kind of like a multi-headed dragon… you cut off one head, but then another angry one pops up in its place, and you have to go slaying all over again. A lot of collateral damage occurs in the process.

In other words, it was a mistake to let Admiral Daala out of the Maw Installation. Not that anyone really had a choice in that matter. It was also probably a mistake to set up a Jedi Academy on a planet where the spirit of a Sith Lord has been chilling out for centuries….

[The original purple lightsaber]

Can I say this out loud? Well… here it goes: it really bugs me when people get all weepy about Severus Snape and his somber, torturous tale. As a Harry Potter fan I usually keep this to myself because Snape fans are a little rabid and also he’s played by Alan Rickman on film, and speaking poorly of any Rickman-played character is probably a criminal offense in most countries.

But it really does bother me. And maybe not for the reasons you would assume.

[You suck at Legilimency, Harry.]

The real question, once the Empire was defeated, once Luke had been cloned and the clone was killed and he’d said no to the Dark Side of the Force for good, once Leia married Han and had managed to find time to have kids, was always going to be—but what about the Jedi Order? Wasn’t that supposed to get rebuilt at some point?

Enter Jedi Search. Because, you know, you’ve got the find the potential Jedi first.

[But first, a detour into those infamous spice mines of Kessel…]

It looks as though Peter Jackson’s plea to direct an episode of Doctor Who has not gone unnoticed—according to three former Doctors themselves (Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann; that’s Six, Seven, and Eight respectively), Mr. Jackson has already met with Steven Moffat to discuss the possibility of fulfilling his greatest super-fan wish.

[More details and thoughts below]

I really love Mark Gatiss. Most of his Who scripts are lovely, and his Sherlock scripts are superb. I think the Ice Warriors are a pretty cool villain from the classic series. But I’m sort of at a loss to understand what I was supposed to get out of “Cold War” this week. Am I the only one?

[I sang this song to my daughter and she’s dead now and stuff...]

Being a Star Wars fan is confusing. It’s confusing because we have the original trilogy, the tie-in media, the prequels, also cartoons and video games, and now more movies are coming that will (hopefully) have some or all of the original cast in them, but that still does not explain to us what the state of Star Wars is right now. What the state of Star Wars will be in fifty years.

Star Wars is a victim of the position it occupies in pop culture. What I mean by that is—every generation of Star Wars fans has a completely unique experience with it. And that phenomenon is not going to go away any time soon.

[Do you know Ahsoka Tano?]

Mark Andrews, the director of Disney-Pixar’s Brave, recently stated that he would be up for making a sequel to the film—provided that they can find the right story. Initially, Pixar made it a point of never doing sequels, but once the company was bought by Disney it became a far more likely occurrence, and they’ve been stacking up ever since. So does this sequel sound like a good idea? What should it address in Princess Merida’s journey?

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I have, throughout my life, been known as something of a Generations apologist. My reasoning behind this is not at all balanced—I am more of an Original Series fan than a Next Gen one, and Generations, to me, had some interesting things to say about being Captain Kirk.

But in terms of a film meant to launch the Next Generation crew into their own slew of Hollywood blockbusters, it is perfectly fair to say that Generations is a meltdown of nuclear proportions. Let’s be real here.

[We burn in time fire, or something...]

In the U.S., radio plays do not have the popularity they once might have enjoyed years ago, but in the U.K. they are an enterprise that continues to flourish. Big Finish has given the many Doctors of Doctor Who new life with their audio dramas, and there are many more to chose from. But lately, good fans had been waiting excitedly for the radio adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. And with a cast counting James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, and Christopher Lee among its number, it wasn’t hard to figure why.

[London Below is calling...]