James Cooray Smith @ Psychic Paper

Injustice for All

Injustice for All

The Dalek Invasion of Earth “I may be wrong, but I thought we said ‘It couldn’t happen here’.” The Dalek Invasion of Earth’s VHS eluded me on its release in May 1990, being an expensive...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... For paid subscribers, but you could always join them. It's The Dalek [Something] of Earth, over at Psychic Paper.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth “I may be wrong, but I thought we said ‘It couldn’t happen here’.” The Dalek Invasion of Earth’s VHS eluded me on its release in May 1990, being an expensive...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... For paid subscribers, but you could always join them. It's The Dalek [Something] of Earth, over at Psychic Paper.

It’s Good, Except It Sucks: Madame Web With James Cooray Smith James Cooray Smith joins Tim Worthington for a chat about Anya Corazón’s origin story somehow becoming Britney Spears’ origin story in Madame Web.

It's the only superhero movie that has genuinely had me looking at my watch - about twenty seconds in - and now James Cooray Smith (@cooraysmith.bsky.social) has braved it too... is there *anything* we can salvage from the tangle of Madame Web?

timworthington.org/2025/03/17/i...

The Three Doctors / The Aztecs (Slight Return) “One more Christmas with you.” On Sunday 15th February there was bad news for fans of one of the BBC’s most popular continuing drama when viewers of (checks...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... "One more Christmas with You". A brief excursion into a parallel reality, of sorts. Free for all @ Psychic Paper, but why not sign up anyway?

The Three Doctors / The Aztecs (Slight Return) “One more Christmas with you.” On Sunday 15th February there was bad news for fans of one of the BBC’s most popular continuing drama when viewers of (checks...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... "One more Christmas with You". A brief excursion into a parallel reality, of sorts. Free for all @ Psychic Paper, but why not sign up anyway?

The Three Doctors “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.” When I was a lad, and the universe less than half its present size, we all saw The Three...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... Free for all for one week, if you read it and like it, why not sign up for regular emails? It's The Three Doctors, at Psychic Paper.

The Aztecs “So when the rainy season comes I hang my head/For all the things I've seen and done and sung and said/And when my tears are dry/I hold my head up high/And...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on Psychic Paper: What has The Aztecs ever done for us?

The Keys of Marinus ”Key of E?” “Is there any other?” The original edition of board game Trivial Pursuit (1981) asked the question “Who created Doctor Who?” and gave the answer...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... For paid subscribers, but there's always the option to join them in the City of Morphoton: Who really created Doctor Who anyway?

It’s Good, Except It Sucks: Morbius With James Cooray Smith James Cooray Smith joins Tim Worthington for a chat about Doctor Michael Morbius apparently being infected with nineties industrial-goth photoshoot energy in addition to vampirism in Morbius.

Morbius is not *great* by anyone's standards, but it's not anywhere near as bad as people seem to want it to be, usually without having even seen it. Why's it seen as so wrong now for something to just be... OK? Here's what me and @cooraysmith.bsky.social thought.

timworthington.org/2022/10/02/i...

The Dominators “All I want is peace! Peace! A little piece of...” The Dominators was not included in the bottom ten of Doctor Who written up by Doctor Who Magazine writers...

For paid subscribers, but you can always become one; on the timely incompetence of The Dominators. buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

The Space Museum “No future. No future. No future for you.” In the post on The Web of Fear a few weeks back, we touched upon how most Doctor Who stories come with a couple of...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... For paid subscribers, but why not join them and find out why I think The Space Museum is good, actually?

"I don’t want a lot for Christmas…" Did you get everything you wished for for Christmas? I didn’t. It’s not that I’m greedy or ungrateful.(Quiet at the back.) It’s just that some of the things...

Free for all. A Christmas Wishlist. @ Psychic Paper. buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

“We so rarely get a chance to celebrate, so this time we must... It’s Christmas. A Happy Christmas to all of us; and incidentally, a Happy Christmas to all of you at home!”

"Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All?" Doctor Who fans, or at least fans of old money Doctor Who, tend to have a greater understanding of the history of television than most people. There’s even...

A festive mystery from 1978, over at Psychic Paper.

buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

The Web of Fear “The distant echo of far away voices boarding far away trains…” Most old money Doctor Who stories come with a couple of anecdotes attached. Back in the days...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on Psychic Paper, for paid subscribers only, but you could always become one and get access to the whole archive as well.

The Abominable Snowmen “In the meadow, we can build a snowman…” In the 1980s more of Doctor Who was missing than is the case today. Not just in that nearly two dozen episodes have...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... Snow! New at psychic paper, the oddly specific crossover between Haisman & Lincoln and Lennon & McCartney.

The Edge of Destruction “Back from the edge. Back from the dead. Back before demons took control of my head.” The third Doctor Who serial has a writing and production history almost...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... We're on the lip of apocalypse at Psychic Paper, as we revisit Serial C. In the right order this time. For paid subscribers only, but why not become one and get access to the archive?

BSB - Part One: "I don't know why you say 'Goodbye' I say 'Hello'." Interviewed for the New Jersey Network’s The Making of Doctor Who in 1988, producer John Nathan-Turner explained his wish to leave the series by saying it...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

Free for All, with a bunch of links to other pieces that have snuck outside the paywall in honour of the day. It's the start of the 1990 BSB Doctor Who repeat weekend, over at Psychic Paper.

The Brain of Morbius “Where’s your head at? Where’s your head at? Where’s your head at? Where’s your heeeeeead at? Where’s your head at? Where’s your head at?” Doctor Who...

For paid subscribers* but with a taster and a link to a free piece for the interested but uncommitted: "Where's your head at?" New @ Psychic Paper.

buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

* Why not become one and get full access to the archive?

Coming Soon…

"All of Me, Loves All of You?" Something that comes up a lot online is the idea of how much of Doctor Who you have to have engaged with (or have recall of) to legitimately call yourself a...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on psychic paper: How much Doctor Who do you have to have absorbed to count as a fan, and what's the most obscure Doctor Who story you can think of?

For paid subscribers, but why not become one and get full access to the archive?

At the risk of talking shop: there are just under 50 Government Bills before Parliament (including Employment Rights, English Devolution, Great British Energy) which aren’t getting the media attention that Coalition Bills at a similar point did. We’re missing proper scrutiny outside of Parliament.

The C Bomb The word “companion” is routinely used in the real world as a description of supporting characters in Doctor Who. But I recently found myself wondering how...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on psychic paper, for paid subscribers, but why not become one and get full access to the archive?

"Look to the future now, it's only just beguuuuuu-un." The announcement of a 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special less than a week after I wrote this led to considerable joy in this household and I’m sure many...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... New on Psychic Paper: New Doctor Who, you say?

Sometimes, being wrong is the BEST.

1990 “It’s all just a little bit of history repeatin’.” “1990 was the brainchild of Wilfred Greatorex, and conceived as literally ‘1984 plus six’; a series that...

I am contributing to Doctor Wno cancellation discourse, whether you like it or not. buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

The Mind Robber “It's too bad that all these things can only happen in my dreams. Only in dreams. In beautiful dreams.” In 1990 BBC Video really accelerated their Doctor Who...

For paid subscribers, but with a taste and a link to a free piece and the chance to opt in. Can't say fairer than that.
buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

Planet of Fire “Fire! I want you to burn!” I wound up with a VHS copy of most of Planet of Fire in early 1990. It was an unlikely choice for only the sixth story I had even...

For paid subscribers, but with a taste and the option to opt in, it‘s Planet of Fire over @ psychic paper. buttondown.com/cooray_smith... (There are also links to unpaywalled pieces further up this feed.)