My first Chibnall era review, and this is the rating I wound up giving an episode that I would consider above-average for his era. These Chibnall reviews are going to be rough.

The story is the special's best foot forward. It's not the most original idea but for Doctor Who it is great. A time travel show with a fun (and distinct) time travel plot. Like too many Chibnall stories though (e.g. Rosa, Arachnids in the UK, Can You Hear Me?) good to decent Chibnall ideas tend to struggle with execution. And while some like Rosa or the Tesla episode fare better than others with this trend, Eve of the Daleks is sadly yet another dud for the 13th Doctor. The fun idea of the time loop is largely wasted, in my opinion, and the writing around Yaz and 13 is just atrocious.

Dan is a name I had to check because even though the actor is charming, the character means nothing to me. I think all I will ever remember of him is the painful writing where he states, without any specific reasoning or examples, how fabulous Yaz is and how much her feelings are for 13th. But Yaz is a cop we were never given any reason to respect, and if 13 has any feelings towards her, we are only ever told as such, not shown.

Beyond that, all the acting, sadly Jodie included, came across as flat to me. This is such drudgy material, none of the actors seem super engaged in Eve of the Daleks with the sole exception of the lovely people piloting the Daleks (along with the always reliable Nicholas Briggs voicing them).

Special effects were tolerable relative to the standards of the era, but I don't see myself wanting to rewatch this one any time soon on my own volition.