New New Paradigm

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios, and Series 7 of New Who.

Victory of the Doctor is a fantastic conclusion to this range, and one of the most satisfying audios I've ever listened to. The initial plan against the Daleks is a fun one, and the scenarios the gang puts the Daleks through are fun to listen to. Afterwards, I really liked the scenes with Valerie and Roanna debating whether or not to kill the Doctor. This kind of thing is a great pinnacle of the various frustrations the Doctor has brought into people's lives up to this point, and I love the character conflict it brings. Then of course, the ending was clever enough to be entertaining, and the epilogue was excellent. Shaw did a great job with these characters, and the sendoff he gives them is one of the best. This ranks up there with some of my favorite New Who seasons finales, which is high praise.

Blightedness

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios, and Series 7 of New Who

The Last Stand of Miss Valarie Lockwood is amazing, and easily one of this range's best stories. It's epic, bombastic, and manages to both tie up a number of loose ends from the previous boxsets while also teeing up a great finale to follow. I absolutely adore a lot of individual moments here, but my favorites have to be the very beginning and end. Dudman's performance in both is extremely good, and it just elevates great writing even higher.

Paradigm of Evil

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who

Daleks Victorious is another great entry in this range, although it's probably (relatively) one of the weaker entries in this saga. For most of the runtime, it's a fairly standard, if well-done, Dalek base-under-siege story. On the plus side, it was very nice to see the Paradigm Daleks again; they were horrendously underutilized in the show proper. Seeing them have actual roles and begin to have fleshed-out functions was a great touch. I also appreciated a lot of the story beats on display; this audio does a great job of making you think that the heroes are going to win the day completely (and yes, I had totally forgotten what the title was). The last five minutes here are utterly fantastic; I love how the Daleks actually feel threatening now. That moment when they recover from the Yearn and manage to kill the entire population of Medrüth is truly harrowing, and I loved it. The Doctor's pure despair at the end is palpable. Honestly, my only real critique here (other than the very simplistic story of the first two acts) is the Yearn itself. As was the case in their previous story, I like the concept, but the vocal effects used are extremely garbled. It takes actual effort to decipher what they're saying at any given moment, which is extremely annoying when most of their dialogue is very plot relevant.

Email Job

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who

Didn't You Kill My Mother? is a strong opening to the boxset here, but not really close to this range's best (which is a bit odd, considering how much I love Dorney's work). It's got an intriguing setup, some pleasing Dorney trademark timey-wimeyness, and an excellent third act. I quite liked the reveal of who the consultant was; I didn't see that coming, and it has the potential for some great stories in the rest of the set.

Conversion Therapy

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who.

Sins of the Flesh pleasingly does live up to the hype, and I can confidently say that it's one of the best Cyberman stories I've heard in a long time. On audio specifically, the only story that likely surpasses it is Blood and Steel from the BSNAs, and that boxset is fantastic. Paralleling Cyber-conversion with actual conversion therapy feels like a subject that's both brilliant and obvious, and I'm happy that it was handled so well here. The subject matter is handled with grace, and there's some truly heartbreaking and uncomfortable dialogue sequences here. Of course, it's anything but subtle, but it's not trying to be. The Cybermen are legitimately interesting here, which is something I can't say for the majority of their appearances. This is some great stuff.

Mr. Roboto

Prerequisites: The previous 11DCs, and Series 7 of New Who

All’s Fair is another unsurprisingly great audio from this range (also it has a clever title, which I like). The actual plot, which is that of humans getting infected with an alien virus, is something I wasn't that interested in. Still, the character work on display here is excellent. Giving Valerie her own River Song-esque future romance could've been seen as sloppy writing, but I actually think it works here. Admittedly, I never really trusted Hayden until the last ten minutes, but those last ten minutes are really something special. Having Valerie's death be a point of time they've all seen makes for some great drama, and I look forward to seeing where the range goes next.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

Prerequisites: The previous 11DCs and Series 7 of New Who.

Spirit of the Season is a great opener to this set, and yet more proof of the incredible arc these boxsets have been building to. Obviously, Dudman and Ingar remain great together, and the rest of the side cast is pretty good too. The setting is imaginative, and conceptually, it's almost reminiscent of The God Complex (in a good way). There are some incredible scenes on display here, and the last ten minutes is truly excellent. This doesn't quite break into the 'masterpiece' category, but this is some great stuff.

The guilt of the Time lord

Is It Worth It?: Absolutely. For $10, this is an excellent story.

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios and Series 7 of New Who

Broken Hearts is frankly exactly what I love about the best Doctor-Companion relationships: it examines deeply the conflict that sometimes arises between them. Here, McMullin takes us on a journey that thoroughly explores both the Doctor and Valerie after their traumatic adventure in The Curiosity Shop. Both give fantastic performances, and I love almost everything about their conversations (or arguments, I should say). Even the setting is amazing; I love how they stumble across a random planet that was besieged by the Time War ages ago (and in an actual Eighth Doctor audio), and I love how that informs their dynamic. This is a supremely satisfying and emotional story, and I love it. In a way, this is the Eleventh Doctor's Scherzo, and that's a huge compliment.

You hurt me...

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios, and Series 7 of New Who

Curiosity Shop is an excellent finale, and frankly the best 11DC yet. The concept is simple: the Doctor has lost his memory and Valerie tries to get him to remember before time runs out and the world is destroyed. The execution, however, is fantastic. Goss demonstrates an innate understanding of the Eleventh Doctor as a character, as his unconscious plan puts Valerie in harm's way and he seems to not quite understand why she's hurt by it. That last ten minutes is excellent, and really Dudman and Ingar act their hearts out (Dudman's impressions of previous Doctors are also pretty good). It's so refreshing to see genuine, well-written conflict between the Doctor and a companion, and have the build up to that conflict be so good. I can't wait to start the next audio here.

Lions, Tigers, and Yearn

Prerequisites: The previous 11DC audios, and Series 7 of New Who.

The Yearn is notable for being far and away the lowest rated 11DC story. I was pretty curious to find out why, and the answer is that this is just a pretty basic base-under-siege tale at its core. Honestly, that's mostly it. I do have a few actual critiques though, mostly concerning the Yearn themselves. The idea behind them is cool, but frankly I found the explanation behind their motives and history to be way too abstract and full of blatant exposition for me to really track it. That scene was certainly not helped by the sound effects behind the alien voices, which were particularly difficult to understand. Other than that though, I liked this story well enough. The side characters are pretty good, Valerie's new romance is cute, and as always Dudman and Ingar are amazing together.