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TARDIS Guide

Review of The Curse of Fatal Death by FreddyPavao

27 March 2025

This review contains spoilers!

The Curse of Fatal Death manages to encapsulate the spirit of Doctor Who extremely well.
All the basic elements of a good Doctor Who story are present here:
  • The Doctor explaining (or failing to explain) crazy concepts to the companion
  • The Master allying himself with the Daleks
  • Good use of time travel (as in the "I anticipated your journey back in time" moments)
  • Regeneration scene(s)
  • and even a twist that brings an unknown element to something already established in the lore
    (as is the case here of the Doctor going beyond the regeneration limit, which back then was something we didn't know how it would happen or what effects it would have - for all intents and purposes, in this reality, when the regeneration limit is exceeded, the Doctor regenerates into a gender-inverted body apparently).
The fact that it was written by Steven Moffat makes the whole thing even more interesting, as we see that Curse served almost as an incubator for ideas that he would apply in his run as Showrunner more than a decade later. We see the Doctor regenerating into a blonde woman just as she becomes the 13th, and also the Master renouncing his villainy and openly flirting with the Doctor (something that we see happening with Missy and the 12th Doctor in the regular universe).
The Curse of Fatal Death does NOT try to be anything serious or tied to the "real" continuity of Doctor Who, and that is precisely what makes it excellent.
It's 23 minutes of pure fun that I like to revisit from time to time :)

FreddyPavao

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Review last edited on 27-03-25

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