This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: 1001 Nights (Smuggling Tales)

This anthology has been an absolute pain to review. I probably would have enjoyed all of this so much more if I wasn't busy trying to decipher what I was actually listening to. Anyway I figured it out in the end, 1001 Nights is made up of the opening and closing segments of the first three parts, followed by the entirety of the fourth part. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are the three other stories in this anthology respectively.

It's a great story as a whole, the setting is vibrant and unique. This is greatly accompanied by the fantastic score throughout. The idea of a creature that assumes identities seems fairly basic at first but it's made much more interesting by the fact that they aren't a generic shapeshifter. The Doctor getting his memories wiped and then left on the floor as the TARDIS flew away painted a tragic picture. That element of the story was resolved too quickly in my opinion though.

This story could have done with an extra part expanding on both the amnesiac Doctor and the false Doctor as that was glossed over very fast. There was a touching scene with the old Sultan. In general this is just a really good story from start to finish. I think it could have done without the other stories even if I can't really see a way they could have been excluded. It was a nice touch that they mirrored the main story's themes of false-identity and storytelling but otherwise they just felt so messy and out of place.

Still, this specific story in the anthology is easily the best and ties everything up quite neatly. In the nicest way possible though I hope I never have to review another anthology like this one ever again.

Next Story: Fanfare for the Common Men