The conversation continues beyond Doctor Who this week as Christian Cawley and James McLean turn their attention to the changing world of film, gaming, and digital entertainment.

Starting with the prospects for DC Studios’ Supergirl and the current state of superhero cinema, the discussion broadens into the future of the cinema experience, the decline of physical media, and what it really means to own the films and games we pay for.

Along the way, they consider whether streaming has changed our relationship with entertainment forever, why Blu-rays and boxed games still have a place on the shelf, and whether services like Steam have fundamentally altered consumer expectations.

Also discussed:

• Is superhero fatigue really to blame for declining cinema audiences?

• DC Studios, Marvel Studios and the challenge of rebuilding franchises.

• Why some films still deserve to be seen on the big screen.

• The continuing appeal of Blu-ray and other physical media.

• Sony’s changing approach to physical PlayStation releases.

• Steam, digital ownership and the risks of an all-digital future.

• Evercade and the resurgence of physical retro gaming.

• Windows 11, ageing hardware and planned obsolescence.

The full uncut edition of this week’s podcast discussions can be found on our Patreon, along with the Kasterborous Archive.

Doctor Who artist Lee Sullivan joins Christian Cawley to look back on a career that has spanned Transformers, Marvel UK, Doctor Who Magazine, and some of the most memorable comic strips of the Seventh and Eighth Doctor eras.

Beginning with his childhood love of comics and Gerry Anderson, Lee explains how an ambition to become a comic strip artist eventually led him from British Aerospace to Marvel UK, where he cut his teeth drawing Transformers before unexpectedly becoming one of Doctor Who's defining artists.

The unedited interview is available on our Patreon.

The conversation explores the creative process behind classic Doctor Who Magazine strips, the challenges of sequential storytelling, and the evolution of the comic throughout the Wilderness Years and beyond.

Along the way, Lee discusses:

• How Transformers became his first professional comic strip work.
• Breaking into Marvel UK and working with editors including Richard Starkings.
• Becoming a Doctor Who artist during the programme's 25th anniversary.
• The enduring popularity of the Seventh Doctor comic strips.
• Bringing the Eighth Doctor to life in comic form.
• Storytelling techniques, page layouts and visual pacing.
• Working on graphic novels, illustrations and Doctor Who publications beyond the comic strip.
• Why Doctor Who has remained such a constant throughout his career.

Whether you discovered Lee Sullivan's artwork through Doctor Who Magazine, Marvel UK's Transformers, or later Doctor Who books and illustrations, this interview offers a fascinating insight into one of the franchise's most recognisable artists.

Learn more about Lee Sullivan and his work: https://leesullivanart.co.uk/

What can Tracy Island, Wonky Donkey and a TARDIS tell us about growing up with television in the 1990s?

Well, Christian Cawley is about to find out.

He chats with author Thom Gray about 100 Objects of '90s Children's TV, his celebration of a decade of CBBC, CITV, Saturday morning shows and programmes that have since slipped from memory, which is out now from Candy Bar Books.

Thom explains how the book came together, the challenges of researching children's television from the period, and his conversations with around 35 people who helped make it, including Pat Sharp, Anne Wood and Tony Robinson.

We also delve into some of the 100 objects themselves, including Anthea Turner's famous Blue Peter Tracy Island, Wonky Donkey from SM:TV Live, the MicroSoap Rubik's Cube, and the TARDIS. Doctor Who might have been absent from television for most of the 1990s, but it wasn't entirely absent from children's TV. Thom explains how the TARDIS continued appearing elsewhere during the Wilderness Years, prompting a wider discussion about Doctor Who's curious place in the decade.

Plus: forgotten programmes, VHS tapes, YouTube archaeology, and why '90s children's television is ripe for rediscovery.

Chris Carter has returned to 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe and created a new director's cut — but unusually, his preferred version is shorter than the film we already had.

James McLean and Brian Terranova have watched the new cut and join Christian Cawley to discuss what's changed, including its renewed emphasis on horror, alterations to Mulder and Scully's relationship, and whether Carter has actually made I Want to Believe a better movie.

But that raises a bigger question: when should creators stop changing their own work?

From Chris Carter and The X-Files, the conversation moves to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, George Lucas and Star Wars, fan edits and the very idea of a definitive version.

Films and television are collaborative works involving writers, directors, actors, editors, composers, and producers. So when somebody returns decades later to create their preferred cut, whose work are they actually changing?

And does being the director necessarily give them the final word?

With Christian Cawley, James McLean and Brian Terranova.

What happens next to Doctor Who — and who might actually make it?

Christian Cawley and James McLean discuss the latest speculation surrounding the programme's future, including Netflix's apparent lack of interest and Amazon's much more welcoming response to the prospect of getting involved.

Could Amazon do for Doctor Who what it once did for Ripper Street? Would moving further into the streaming world give the programme greater creative freedom, or would something important be lost along the way?

Then there's the small matter of Billie Piper.

With Mark Gatiss discussing the unresolved ending to the most recent series, Christian and James consider whether a future production team really needs to explain what happened — or whether Doctor Who should simply move forward.

From Sherlock and Dallas to Blake's 7, Sapphire & Steel and the Seventh Doctor's final adventure, we look at the peculiar power of an unresolved ending — and wonder whether Doctor Who's controversial cliffhanger might actually be helping to keep the series alive in the public imagination.

With Christian Cawley and James McLean.

The BBC has formally begun looking for the production team that will take Doctor Who into its next era — and some of the details suggest the series could be made rather differently in future.

This week, Christian Cawley and James McLean examine the BBC's new Invitation to Tender for Doctor Who, including its emphasis on high-concept science fiction, distinctively British storytelling and episodic writers — and the intriguing suggestion that the programme may no longer follow the traditional showrunner model.

Does the tender represent a genuine fresh start for Doctor Who? What does the BBC's instruction not to consult previous BBC Studios or Bad Wolf production teams tell us about its intentions? And with a new production unlikely to reach television until 2028 or 2029, what happens in the meantime?

That leads to something rather more controversial: Doctor Who Reboot, a fan project using generative AI to create an unofficial continuation of the series.

Christian and James discuss the results, the potential intellectual-property problem, and the much bigger question of whether using AI to recreate Doctor Who is fundamentally at odds with the programme itself.

After all, if the Doctor is a character who repeatedly champions human creativity, individuality and freedom over technological conformity, is AI-generated Doctor Who a particularly strange contradiction?

Plus: the Master's latest trick may have nothing on the Kasterborous YouTube channel finally passing 200 subscribers.

With Christian Cawley and James McLean.

Why did radio drama and comedy remain such a strong part of British broadcasting — while largely disappearing from American radio?

In this edition of Kasterborous, Christian Cawley and Brian A. Terranova start with the very different audio traditions on either side of the Atlantic. Along the way, they encounter The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Star Wars on radio, Big Finish, and some almost-forgotten Doctor Who radio productions.

That leads to the peculiar British tradition of bringing television comedy to radio, including Dad's Army, Fawlty Towers and Blackadder.

But why did The Black Adder change so dramatically after its first series? Christian and Brian discuss the huge scale of Rowan Atkinson's original medieval comedy, the reduced budget that helped reshape the programme, the transformation of Blackadder and Baldrick, and whether moving comedy into the studio actually made it better.

There's also Red Dwarf, live studio audiences, Jeeves and Wooster, Not Going Out, Fawlty Towers, panel shows, and the question of why British and American sitcoms developed such different approaches to comedy.

In this episode:

• Why radio drama survived in Britain
• Doctor Who before Big Finish
• The British tradition of comedy on radio
• The Black Adder vs Blackadder II
• What happened when the budget disappeared
• Do sitcoms need a live audience?
• Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
• British vs American sitcoms
• When sitcoms start becoming dramas

Presented by Christian Cawley with Brian A. Terranova.

Kasterborous: Doctor Who, classic television and science fiction conversation since 2007.

The Master has been cheating death almost as long as the Doctor has been saving the universe — but can all those different incarnations actually be fitted into a coherent timeline?

Christian Cawley and Brian A. Terranova take a trip through the Master's complicated history, from Roger Delgado and the decaying Master to Anthony Ainley, Eric Roberts, Derek Jacobi, John Simm and Michelle Gomez.

Along the way, they revisit an old theory connecting the Master of the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie with The Deadly Assassin, examine Big Finish's rather more elaborate attempt to make sense of the Master's regenerations, and consider what Eric Roberts has brought to the role on audio.

----------------------------------------------------------------
You can watch this week's episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUCImw-B1Cc
----------------------------------------------------------------

But continuity is only half the story. Was Doctor Who robbed of a potentially definitive Master by giving Derek Jacobi so little screen time? How does his colder interpretation compare with Delgado's original? And did John Simm effectively get a second chance to play the Master when he returned opposite Peter Capaldi?

It's an attempt to untangle one of Doctor Who's most complicated characters — and work out what actually makes a great Master.

With Christian Cawley and Brian A. Terranova.