Stunning!

Jameson and Baker are both incredible actors; able to play their traditional roles but with an added menace and in Leela's case, cruelty. Not to say there isn't a cruelty to Burner, but it's more subtle and almost scary just how close to our Doctor he is while being despicable.

What a great episode for Brax, where we learn even more about his backstory and get more depth to him! The more we learn, the more fascinated by him I am. What the hell is his relationship to The Doctor!? And his sacrifice, while not making me tear up, did make me emotional.

Interesting that Benny makes an appearance here at the end! Does this mean he has a relationship with her? I've never heard her stuff so never knew!

Literally my only criticism of this audio is that Romana got almost nothing to do; which is totally fine when she got so much in series 2 and in the last episode.

Not quite Mindbomb but damn was this amazing stuff!

I really enjoyed this! Especially after Space Babies irritated me; this feels like a return to form for openers personally.

The premise is incredibly funny, and I love how it was executed! Gatwa and Sethu are amazing, and I looooove Belinda already! Give me conflict! Give me a companion who doesn't take The Doctor's BS, and calls them out on their gross manipulations! And yes, good give me The Doctor's gross manipulations and address them - something 11's era didn't do enough for me with how he treated Clara.

I loved how this episode looked too; especially the robots and how many trippy sequences we had. The time explosion is literally what I want regenerations to look like again, ala Classic Who.

The twist was VERY silly in all the right ways, and it's great how unsubtle its commentary is. I don't care about subtext if I'm having a good time, which I am! Get those incels OUT OF HERE!!

This all being said.... With how fast paced it all was, it was hard for me to feel emotionally invested in the Sasha 55 plot, despite RTD's repeated attempts to make me. I knew her for all of 2 minutes! Why should I act as if she's emotionally important to me, just because The Doctor cried and everyone told us she ruled??? Tbh this ties into my biggest criticism of the episode: none of the side characters really mattered or got to be characters due to the pace. Also Manny was a little much, huh? At least he's very buff..... 

All in all though I really enjoyed and thought the tone balancing was great (again, unlike Space Babies), so I can't wait for the rest of the series!

I wouldn't say this is full blown bad or anything, but it's a little crap, isn't it? After an incredible atmospheric start that is let down a little by constant irritating quipping (my biggest issue with the later part of this era), then the middle just kinda sags after it stops trying to be a horror story, before ending on an incredibly rushed note. And god the romance stuff with the monster is SO annoying and forced. This was so very much written by a het. It comes totally out of nowhere and it's a baffling choice.

And speaking of the straights, how am I meant to get invested in the main human romance when there's literally no chemistry.

I can see why I always forget that this one exists. There's just nothing really to it other than the early atmosphere.

Really cute and sweet coda to the Sarah Jane Adventures 💖💖💖

Daniel Anthony will look young forever, he's great

Love K9, he's super fun! Love Sladen, she's amazing as always. But found the pace of this a bit slow and plodding sadly. Will give a rewatch when not sick with the cold to see if I can focus better and enjoy it more.

Not the biggest fan of this one. As everyone else said the pig rats are weird and nonsense and come out of nowhere. I found the small time skip between Mindbomb and this a little strange, though fine enough I guess. The Nokia gag had me laughing and I love Arkadian, plus the usual performances. Overall it was a fun enough time.

And then that final act was honestly ridiculous. I found it impossible to follow with all the twists and turns, and just generally honestly confusing as hell. And ending the way it did… Especially considering you’ve all said there was a huge hiatus too…

Not even my love of Brax could save how baffled I was in the final 15-20 mins.

What a mess of a story. Mad how Mindbomb, my favourite Gallifrey story yet, came from maybe the weakest series.

This is utterly fantastic! Genuinely so close to perfect; with the only thing holding it back being the typical series 3 underutilisation of Leela.

Everyone is an absolute delight and putting in great performances, and the plot moves at a much better pace than in the previous episode.

All the twists and turns are amazing, and I was able to call the very big one but was still wow'd as to how and why it was happening. Just everything coming together perfectly! Brax, my beloved!!

And seeing Darkel defeated by her own ambition.... Beautiful.

What the hell is the next episode gonna be!? How was this not the finale!?

God, I loved this.

Transferring my review from the old bad rating site for the badge:

What an absolute mess of a movie! In many ways better than I remember it, and in many ways just as bad.

McGann shines. He is The Doctor from start to finish, and for the most part even most of his lines (though not all) honestly feel in character. He's so pretty! His energy is electric and fun. While not amazing, Ashbrook isn't too bad and does her best with the material she's given. The first 10-15 minutes until we get to the hospital has an incredible atmosphere, and honestly I love it. This may have both my favourite rendition of the theme AND my favourite TARDIS interior.

Unfortunately, the script is a little all over the place, as is the direction. The tone shifts constantly, and often the movie is too on the nose with little respect for the audience watching (wow, he's reading H.G. Wells' The Time Machine while listening to a song that loops on the word time!! His regeneration is like Frankenstein, but we have to juxtapose that with the actual film just so you know this!!!). The non Doctor comedy beats never land, and feel almost like I'm watching a kid's movie that's exclusively for kids, and not for everyone. And speaking of demographics, who is this even for? It's got too much continuity randomly name dropped and shown to ever be a good reboot, but it's got too much of what I just criticised (as well as what I'm about to discuss) to really be for die-hards.

I love Roberts in Big Finish, but here his direction just kinda sucks. He has a couple scenes where he feels like The Master, and he *is* a fun time when he hams it up, but when he hams it up and for most of the movie he's not The Master. He's just a weird comic book villain? And it's just a weird choice that doesn't work when the movie is trying to appeal to both die-hard fans and new ones. I'm also not a fan of Yee Jee Tso's performance; finding it very stiff.

And as fun as most of this is.... The final 20 minutes are just a lot of screaming and yelling, and it's just all too over the top and silly to take seriously as a climax. When I think about how I used to hate this movie and how it had the reputation it used to have, it's because of that final act.

But overall? I was more impressed than not! While I can see why this never took off the way they had planned it to, there are gems of things here that just needed polished a bit.

Happy birthday, NuWho!

While Rose is nowhere near a perfect episode - the Autons are threatening but maybe not as much as they could be, the pacing is off at points, some directorial choices are weird, the tone is a bit over the place at times, and the budget shows from the jump; I do think it's a pretty much perfect pilot to introduce the show.

Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston are just absolutely outstanding. How lucky were we to get them to bring in the new era after a 16 year hiatus!

And all the mystery and build up for the recurring important elements - who The Doctor is, the TARDIS, etc. - are done beautifully. Zero notes.

P-p-p!! Pizza!!

This is probably the most bonkers and silliest Doctor Who story I've seen in ages if ever and I love it. So fun!