One of the biggest problems with Sword of Orion is that its ideas are old like it came out of the 80s. The plot is a mostly generic rinse and repeat Cybermen premise in every sense of the word. Paul McGann and India Fisher's performances are both strong and very enjoyable but she is noticeably given a background role despite it being her first adventure as an official companion. The rest of the actors are not anything particularly noteworthy, but they're still tolerable. The most interesting thing about this story are the references to a war between human's and androids elsewhere in the Galaxy, I want to see that instead.

A cool twist, which provided a lot to think about at the end, I was ready to write it off completely, but the last part helped elevate it.

But besides that, its very mundane, and brings down the story. A paint by numbers Cybermen story, that has a quite cool location not utilised fully, and in a story that drags through, without providing enough new to truly stand out. By no means bad, just a little average.

the most 5/10 cybermen story theres ever been, christ

A paint-by-numbers Doctor Who serial which is entertaining enough while you're listening to it but not really worth going back to.

I heard this one is a fan favorite, for me personally while I am happy others love it, it’s definitely on the weaker side. I think its approach is pretty nice, and I would be sad if BF didn’t try early on to make the base under siege format work in this medium. For this one, I think it works just fine. The Cybermen voices are pretty solid, and I have nothing to complain about, I find McGann is a lot more confident with his portrayal here and overall it’s solid. It does what it wants to do fairly solid, but for me personally, it doesn’t offer much that makes me want to revisit it too often.