When I first saw this range, Subterranea was the first story that stuck out to me, and the one I've been waiting for ages to listen to - the cover art looks phenomenal, the description is intriguing and the reviews hyped this story up to be a classic - now I've finally listened to it, it's not what I was expecting - is this good or bad?

There's not too much to say about the Doctor in this story - with quite a lot going on, he's rather pushed to the side and feels a lot more like he's just witnessing what's going on rather than taking charge and being the Doctor. He's barely involved and a lot quieter than usual, which feels fairly odd. Same can be said for Romana, although she's still a little rude - but it's better than her being the damsel in distress every week.

The Silex definitely bear similarities to the Cybermen - infiltrating society, converting the population, using scraps and spare parts to rebuild themselves... At points it's hard to understand them, and I couldn't always follow what's going on - and they were defeated far, far too easily; the "pretend to be their commander" trope is played out and old, and it meant that this story didn't get the satisfying conclusion it deserved.

The underground world is a great setting - the dark and stereotypical caves of Doctor Who with a twist, with the inhabitants forced to take residence to shelter from the poisoned surface. We explore this world really well, and this worldbuilding is so fascinating and vividly described that it's my favourite part of the story, and I really enjoyed and invested in what was going on. This story has a dank and dark atmosphere that would look really awesome on TV, but at the same time, has features that bode excellently on audio at the same time.

Mole people! Need I say more? Yes, the Doctor and Romana get captured by mole people and then become friends with them. Like I mentioned previously, the worldbuilding for this species and the tension between them and the Silex is built up really well, with the cliffhanger of them being betrayed by one of their own people as the Silex come to attack them. They're a really fun and unique species, but thrown into a serious episode like this, and their colours really shine as they try to brighten this story up but the threat of the Silex is overpowering for them and they lose all of their love and warmth.

Loving the 80s synths already - Hopefully I won't get bored of them by the time I get to Survival. But yeah, a stellar score for this episode - this series has really excelled at that!

This story is a mixture of good things and bad things - it's got a lot of unique concepts, being referred to as a "dickensian story"... but in space. The species and planet is introduced really well, and the threat is established excellently, but really is just a Cyberman knockoff, and the focus on the species means that we don't get much of our main cast. To be honest, though, that's not too much of a problem, because we see the Doctor and Romana every episode, so it's nice to see a different kind of core cast for once. Because they're not as involved, one might suggest that it could fit with any other Doctor, but in my opinion, I don't think this would work as well with other Doctors, as the ideas really match his doctor - a bubbly and excitable species thrown into a dark and depressing situation - sounds a lot like Season 18 to me. Did I enjoy this? Yes. Did I enjoy it as much as I thought I would? Not really. But I'd still give it a go if you haven't already.

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

Previous Story: The Haunting of Malkin Place

This is a story with a rich atmosphere and deep sense of claustrophobia. Part 1 is especially good with the looming threat of the Silex, before they get explained they really do feel like this unexplicable force of nature. The second part is still good but takes away from the excellent mystery of the Silex.

The supporting cast are fairly good, Matthew Cottle as Mr Maxwell Wilberforce Bell especially stands out. In general, this is just a really fun story that feels like it could slot in perfectly during the appropriate era of the show and it's a shame K9 wasn't in this story as I think he would suit this story very well.

Next Story: The Movellan Grave