The supposed twist (and consequently, the last third or so of the story) is unutterably clichéd, but this is still a really fun story. It's not as Underground-heavy as, say, The Web of Fear, but it does manage to get in some jibes at Crossrail. I always like DW incorporating mythology and folklore, so I liked the use of elves, and the details like the king feeding birds from his 51st-floor penthouse. Sparkling dialogue too.

Oh I was into this WAAAAAAY more then I thought I would be it’s like a 4th doctor version of the doctor chronicles big finish range excited to see where it goes

Phenomenal stuff, obviously. Deeply moving storytelling.

Also the scariest the Cybermen will feasibly ever be. Of course, for a lot of Doctor Who fans that isn't enough, because they've built up such an intense gorefest in their head when they imagine their idealised "Cyberman body horror episode" that nothing will ever satisfy their bloodlust. The tragedy is that Cyberwoman is right there, but they get scared because you can see a woman's belly button in it.

A touching story which has an impact which outsizes its word count. The idea that the Thirteenth Doctor would go out of her way to right the wrong of previous incarnations (and that Paul Cornell would himself encourage this) is a significant piece of rare character development. One which is welcome.

At one point in this book Lane described something so viscerally disgusting that I went "urgh!" out loud. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was but rest assured it was minging.

Great stuff. Unfortunately forever tainted for me because my friends clowned on me because it proved my "John Hurt is pre-Hartnell" prediction wrong, even though one of them had agreed with me. I'm still hurt, Tom.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett being relegated to this role in this episode should be considered some sort of hate crime. In a just world he'd be everyone's third or fourth favourite Doctor

Storytelling should be about open possibilities! That's why I wait until the corporation that owns my Favourite Intellectual Property gives me the green light before I start coming up with my own stories.

And thank goodness they did. Now, thanks to this episode, all Doctors are canon. Provided they're retconned to be cops.

oh we are soooo back

I suspect I spoiled something for myself because I was confused and looked something up, but whatever it's fine

Torchwood finds a new twink and Jack f**ks him after he turned down the job offer

Jack: *saves twink from being killed* come with me... heh, not the first time

THIS IS WHY THE DOCTOR IS ALWAYS SAYING STOP, JACK

definitely picked up on the Everything Changes parallels, those were fun, it's been too long since we've seen Jack Harkness standing on a roof

I see the next episode has "Aliens & Sex" at the beginning of the title, if it pulls from Day One I'm gonna lose my f**king MIND

Ichor presents a new low for the range, and actually a new low for DWU content as a whole. There is nothing of merit in this entry, no semblance of effort. There is hardly a story, and its only visual is mainly depicted by random selfies of people, which are static and uninteresting compared to the at least relatively atmospheric art that has been used previously. Bill Baggs continues his unabashed streak as the worst actor ever to live. The story is incomprehensibly dull, painful, and morose. Even the location footage (usually never done in this series) is remarkably poor. The fact that this was charged money for is ridiculous and disrespectful — the costs of completionism, what we do because something is in the Doctor Who universe, because it mentions Liz Shaw, these costs have become far too great. I have consciously chose not to watch any more P.R.O.B.E. Case files after this. If I do end up returning to this series, it will be quite some time later, as the absolute lack of effort that has been put into releases like this offends me as a professional creative.

This is atrocious. It hurts more that this is actually a good idea, a good plot idea, that they're trying to put effort into this somehow. It hurts more than if it was just bad entirely. Because you get those glimpses of hope: But Bill Baggs is just so damaging as a performer that nothing can save it. He is actually getting worse as an actor as these episodes go on. I cannot think of a worse performance I've seen given by anyone. Cast him into the pit.

P.R.O.B.E. Files can only afford one minute of actual acting

This would be an all timer finale perhaps even the best of the show? A shame it's bogged down by the hybrid prophecy/ general Gallifrey lore. It's hardly mentioned throughout the series and is framed in a massively confusing way. A threat to the time lords? But they're gone aren't they? Lost in time somewhere I thought? Oh no, wait - as of the last 5 minutes of last weeks episode they're back! There wasn't a big enough deal made out of it for that part of the episode to work. However, everything involving 12 and Clara is predictably incredible - genuinely one of the best doctor/companion chemistries in the show and eventually the payoff to the hybrid is a good enough answer for me. Clara's ending for me isn't as final as I'd like and isn't as hopefully bitter-sweet as any of the previous companion departures, just seems like Moffat really didn't have it in him to commit - he doesn't like endings.

Yeah, really not a fan of this one. Like it was so boring? All he did was talk. #RIPDOCTORWHO Would be so much better if the he was being shot at by daleks the whole time.

I adore how they almost lull you into a false sense of security with this episode, for the most part it functions as a typical episode of the show. It really gives you hope all the way up until the end. Also, Capaldi got that s**t ON

LEAVE US ALONE MARK GATISS PLEASE. (Really cool direction in this one though)

Remember, never take your meds - they cloud your psychic abilities of whatever

Love the cameo of Ryan, Yaz and Graham (2d character joke)

A story that comes with an almost intimidating reputation. I told a friend involved in script writing that I had just got around to listening to this and he told me how a whole bunch of writers and writing teachers he knew would gather together on Halloween every year and listen to this story. This leads one to wonder, if I don't like it am I the problem? Well I don't believe anything is objectively good or bad but, its an irrelevant question here anyway because this is really great, and I think it gets better the further I get away from it as it seeps into further into my bloodstream.

Full of tension, atmosphere and brilliantly written secondary characters, I find it hard to find much to write because Shearman handles the material so deftly he doesn't really leave much room to discuss anything, it's just all great. It's by far the best Fisher and McGann performance so far and the first time I've properly felt the Eighth Doctor's back against the wall. Added to this is an antagonist who by having a very simple motivation is actually made far more compelling then the number of villains with overly-convoluted plans.

Having gone through periods of obsession with both Orson Welles and 40s noir and detective media, this story has a lot in it that should work for me. Unfortunately, this leads me to being more critical of it, perhaps unfairly. I also have a bit of a soft spot for Mark Gatiss having grown up with League of Gentleman and him being a genre nut like me, shown by the excellent horror documentary he made for the BBC about 15 years ago, and his breakdown of genres on the now defunct Film Program radio show. However, this is where we get into what disappoints me the most about Invaders from Mars: that in trying to incorporate so many genres into one story it ends up being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. We have gumshoe noir, 30s sci-fi, gangster flicks and espionage thriller, and while Gatiss knows his stuff he’s not as deft at bringing all these elements together.

It doesn’t help matters that most the story takes place in my least favourite of those afore mentioned genres, the gangster story (I’m much more a police procedural guy). I don’t find these types of people particularly engaging, which isn’t helped by Gatiss’ habit of making characters seem like caricatures or pastiches. This is fine for comedy but not as effective in drama, even light-hearted drama, and Who especially can live or die on the strength of its supporting characters.

The much mythologized ‘War of the World’ broadcast doesn’t play as much a part in the overall plot as I’d have liked as it is such a rich source for historical Doctor Who shenanigans, and feels, like everything else, yet another element thrown into a broth. As far as I’m aware this was the first Who story Gatiss wrote, so I understand the urge to throw all your ideas and things you love from the era into one story, and it does keep the pace up, but personally I prefer fewer ideas and elements and allowing them space to breathe.

This perhaps makes it sound like I think it’s a bad story, but I don’t. There’s fun to be had and its rarely boring. I would probably have given it a 6 if my interest in the playground it’s taking place in didn’t raise my expectations.

For me this is the first bad Eighth Doctor Big Finish story. I wouldn't call the performances outright bad, but it feels to me McGann and Fisher don't really know what to make of the material, and I can't say I blame them. It's also a shame to have the Brigadier's first meeting with the Eighth Doctor be one featuring dialogue and elements that feel like they were written by a horny teenager. The story also meanders quite a bit, and the Brigadiers occasional narrating of the messages he is typing saps whatever pacing there might have been. As for Brigham, he could have been a really memorable larger-than-live villain but ends up being pretty tedious.

One aspect I almost liked, despite amnesia being an overused trope, was the idea of the Doctor as an amnesiac in an asylum with a cellmate claiming to be the Doctor and having all his memories. This could have made a pretty good regeneration story, but here its stretched to breaking point in an already overlong story.

Diverting although unsatisfactory. The high point is the way in which the story conjures a futuristic yet timeless Venice. The sense of its decline, both physically and metaphorically, is well sketched and along with certain aquatic creatures evokes both Poe and Lovecraft, all with added class war which I admit I'm a sucker for. Sadly these elements don't all pull together for me, and the sci-fi conceit seemingly necessary to turn this into a Doctor Who story feels undercooked and tacked on.

Perhaps envisioned as a companion piece to Tomb of the Cybermen, but could also be seen as a remake. It seems to hit a lot of similar story beats anyway. Meanders a bit at the start but does eventually pick up momentum. Most of the twists aren't particularly surprising , but this doesn't detract form the drama too much, especially since we seem to be heavily in homage territory. Ends abruptly, and seemed to me that the fate of some of the admittedly thinly written characters were unresolved, unless I just missed something. There's fun to be had but not wholly engaging.

The Doctor runs into some old friends, Liv Chenka and Tania Bell and spend their time in a place not unlike ikea.

I do think it works better when the Doctor has a companion, and its something the 9th Doctor adventures have lacked. With Liv and Tania running into the Doctor they do fill that role. Liv I’ve heard before and I’ve always enjoyed Nicola Walkers work. Tania I don’t know, but other than being old friends of the Doctors you don’t need anything more to enjoy this story, there were a couple of references to stuff I wasn’t aware of, but nothing that impacted on the story.

The flatpack shop is new to the area, yet its always been there and why are the staff masked?

This isn’t the ‘biggest’ adventure, more of an interlude. Getting reacquainted with Liv and Tania, isn’t as momentous as the Tenth and Sarah Jane, but this is a post war Doctor and I suppose more could have been made of that.

Flatpack is based on ikea, even referencing the fact that Ikea is intensionally hard to navigate so that you keep hold of something in case you can’t find it again. The sprawling array of furniture to buy, and as the Doctor discovers, not all is of the time.

There is a part where you know what the big reveal is, if you hadn’t guessed already, and its a waiting game for the Doctor and co to catch on.

Overall I enjoyed it, I do feel there was potential for a grander audio. Its not groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend an hour.

Really great introduction to the 8th Doctor’s adventures. A fun slice of historical Sci-fi with an alien race that provides some interesting commentary on free will and the things that drive us, although these aren't explored with too much depth. What we get instead is a bombastic adventure with grounded stakes and an engaging and well performed larger than life cast of characters. McGann is enthusiastic and satisfyingly deceitful whilst giving enough indication of his moral compass – strong but unsure in himself, pragmatic but easily waylaid. India Fisher's new companion, Charley Pollard, is a great ball of energy and bounces well off McGann's Doctor. A thoroughly enjoyable second pilot for the Eighth Doctor.