Frustrating approach to its villain. But generally, an enjoyable story. The aquatic setting is really interesting and well realised, and used as a good backdrop to explore another side of the Eighth Doctor. The amnesia and forgetting Lucie is interesting, however, a little rushed with little consequence within this story. Its nice to find a world the Doctor was so intent on protecting after the time dedicated there, which was a nice approach to develop and strengthen this Doctor's character.

I feel like Orbis is kinda the Eighth Doctor's version of Trenzalore: the place he defends for hundreds of years and is willing to die for, and I really liked that we got to see Eight in a Time Of The Doctor-esque setting. There were some really heavy hitting moments, like when the Doctor tells Lucie that 'Sometimes people don't want to be saved, sometimes, it's time to die, you should respect that', an (in my opinion) incredibly profound line that really shows how committed he is to the planet. I enjoyed the other aspects of the story as a whole (although the ending was really depressing), and I'm hoping this leaves an impact on the Doctor-Companion dynamic over the rest of the series (shooting the Doctor probably won't do great things for the Doctor's friendship with Lucie I'd assume, and he's 600 years older).

love the idea of aquatic themed aliens and a lot of the stuff with 8 on the jellyfish planet is really cute. unfortunately the episode is tanked when the main villain is introduced – she is fat and transfem and these two things are disrespected and made fun of constantly, including by the eighth doctor himself. really disgusting – not sure i can ever completely forgive briggs for this one.

Orbis was a great start for series 3! I really enjoyed it.

While it was another Eighth Doctor gets amnesia story, I think it worked. It was interesting seeing him 600 years later where he finally settled down in a new life. There were also some great Doctor moments in here too.

Also, shout out to Sheridan Smith for some amazing acting in this one, I think this is the first of the EDAs that I really felt moved emotionally.

Con: The jellyfish and crab (?) people were a bit weird, and the voice effects were a bit silly, but I do think they were effective for the story.

Recommended! Looking forward to the rest of series 3.