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Review of Utopia by dema1020

4 June 2024

One of the Doctor Who stories in the new series that easily ranks among the most important out there. Introducing two different incarnations of the Master that would go on to have a huge influence on the character, reuniting Jack with the Doctor, the Doctor revealing a lot more details about his home and history than he ever had before in the new series, paying off the YANA plot thread, and depicting the end of the universe, Utopia does a lot and almost completely pulls it off.

I say almost completely because I do find the plot around Jack and the Doctor and TARDIS' animosity towards him a little forced but a solid reason for why we end up so far in the future. Most of the special effects are good, but for the end of reality, things don't look all that different from your average Doctor Who story, just with a bit more night shots than usual. The music, on the other hand, is unforgettable, not just the end, with our big reveal, but throughout, such as when the Doctor is talking about Gallifrey. Murray Gold does some of his best work for this episode.

While it can be debated how well all of Utopia pays off in the Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords, but Utopia holds up well on its own and is a fantastic piece of entertainment all on its own. An excellent and critically important story to Doctor Who history.

Review created on 4-06-24