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

Previous Story: 1963: The Assassination Games

It's alright but pretty unremarkable. The story isn't anything I haven't seen before. There were some good moments for Ace and I enjoyed the 11 cameo if only because I like hearing all the actors try an impression of him (Sophie Aldred's one was actually pretty good). I'm struggling to even write anything out. A really middle-of-the-road nothing story.

Next Story: Battlefield

Shockwave didn't leave much of an impression on me.  The most that stood out was Sophie Aldred's narration.  She's so good, and adds a lot to the experience.  I love her impressions of both the Seventh and Eleventh Doctors.  The actual story around the dying sun, the cult around it, and spaceship was pretty unremarkable.  It might just be me, but I found it full of creative ideas that never really get a chance to get fleshed out, and the characters were pretty boring.  Even the Seventh Doctor being manipulative kind of felt tired and unnecessary here - same with Ace having to advocate for people.  I feel like I've just seen this with a hundred different and better flavours by now.  This was written by James Swallow, a prolific writer who has done a bunch of stuff I really enjoy and can have a good voice for the Doctor.  I wonder if the format of Destiny of the Doctor might have been too restrictive for something that could have been more creative than this.

This is an absolutely fantastic Seventh Doctor and Ace story. The Doctor and Ace arrive on a spaceship orbiting a dying sun, and there's these strange doomsday worshippers called the Senders who believe that they will ascend to become higher beings when the sun's shockwave hits.

It's basically like Doctor Who does a space disaster movie (so similar to Voyage of the Damned in that regard), and really does a good job of demonstrating this Doctor's more manipulative side. We as the audience are made to question why he has brought Ace to an event which we are told sees the death and destruction of many human colonies, and which is one of those events the Doctor can't interfere with because it's a fixed point in time, and we query this Doctor's motives when he refuses to save the Senders from their pretty suicidal beliefs.

I like that the Voice of Stone turns out to be a Time Lord psychic cube from the Eleventh Doctor - a lovely callback to stories such as The War Games and The Doctor's Wife - and also how this Time Lord device has developed a mythological status within the eyes of humanity (a neat touch).

Overall, this is a thrilling addition to the Destiny of the Doctor range, and one that really captures the dynamic of this particular Doctor and companion.