Prerequisites: A basic knowledge of who River Song is would be enough here.

The Unknown is a competent, if unexceptional, opener to this boxset. The central premise here is surprisingly engaging, and while its execution isn't anything to write home about, it's dealt with in a fun enough manner that I was relatively satisfied. Notably, I think it was the right call to have River and the Seventh Doctor suffer from mutual amnesia for most of the story. Unlike with the Eighth Doctor, I legitimately can't imagine River flirting with McCoy in an unawkward manner, and this seems to be pretty much the best solution.

Prerequisites: Most of the RTD2 era, frankly.

As others have stated, The Reality War is rather... quite bad. Honestly, it might be the worst finale this show has ever seen, and that's even counting The Timeless Children. I have no earthly clue what RTD was thinking here; there are just so many elements of this episode that are atrocious. In fact, let me list some of them below:

- Why did the Rani bigenerate in the first place? There being two Ranis served zero narrative purpose (beyond giving Omega someone to eat), and the story did literally nothing with the dynamic of the original Rani being resentful of the newer one.
- Why bother bringing back the Rani and Omega is both are almost completely different from their Classic Who versions? Seriously, the Rani here is not at all some amoral scientist. She's just a random Time Lady villain, and could've been replaced by Missy without much rewriting. As for Omega, I trust I don't need to elaborate on why making him a big CGI monster was a bad idea.
- I had many logistical questions throughout this episode: how were implanted UNIT chips advanced enough to break through the 'wishes'? How was Rogue able to message the Doctor, and even know what was going on? Why didn't the Rani just wish for her ability to procreate back?
- Why does this episode expect me to care too much about Poppy, who literally didn't exist before this episode? The entire script seems desperate to make her the center of the story, when I simply could not care less.
- Plus, I really hated what RTD did to Belinda as a character. The person from The Robot Revolution who would talk back too the Doctor (and had dreams of her own), is now completely gone. In her place, is a single mother who was given a child without her foreknowledge or consent, and then had her reality rewritten so that she was always a single mother. That is just a... gross writing move.
- It's pretty obvious where the reshoots happen, and it's clunky.
- WHY IS BILLIE PIPER THE NEXT DOCTOR??? (assuming of course, that she is). Admittedly, I think Piper has the talent for it, but at this point, I don't trust RTD at all to actually write a good episode featuring a Doctor who happens to look like Rose. It's an awful, fanservicey casting decision that does NOT bode well for the creative future of the show.
- Why did Susan literally get to do nothing this season? She was teased a fair amount, and Carole Ann Ford is getting up there in age. I hope she gets to have a proper role in an episode before she passes.

To be fair, I did genuinely enjoy the Thirteenth Doctor cameo. It was actually rather nice and sweet, and I appreciated how it respected her era. Still though, this episode was just terrible. In all honestly, I've never felt this depressed about the future of the show. Even during the Chibnall era, I was at least reasonably sure that the next Doctor would at least be different. Here...who's to say? I no longer trust RTD to write good Doctor Who, and that makes me sad.

Prerequisites: Enough scattered bits of this era are referenced that you may as well just watch both seasons beforehand, if you haven't already.

Wish World is actually a fairly decent, if relatively not great, piece of setup. I was actually pretty intrigued by this new world, where skeleton monsters roamed the land, and doubters were locked away. It certainly made for one heck of an opening. However, that's also all it was: setup. Without a satisfying conclusion, that's all it can possibly be (just like last season, and we saw how disastrously that turned out).

Side Note: It's absolutely wild that Dimensions in Time of all times is now canon.

Prerequisites: The Robot Revolution, for context for Belinda.

The Interstellar Song Contest is fairly mediocre, but it isn't unwatchable by any means. The premise itself is actually pretty fun, and something the franchise has actually attempted before (on audio format). There are a few things I really liked here. The setting was fun, and I always appreciate it when a Who episode dives into the Doctor's flaws as a character. Done properly, it can make them seem much more fleshed-out, and even build future character arcs. Here, I think the setup was mostly fine, and almost killing three trillion innocents is certainly enough to draw the Doctor's ire. However, I don't think that this episode fully confronts the Doctor with his actions. He certainly has dialogue where he talks about how he "scared himself", but it was barely a moment given to what should honestly be a fair chunk of the episode. Think back to Series 3, where so much of the Family of Blood two-parter is about how the Doctor knows what he's capable of, and desires to avoid it sometimes. Here, there's none of that, and it's disappointing. Add in some pretty iffy political allegories (especially with the actual Eurovision controversy and all), and this episode was never going to rise about 'eh'.

Shave and a haircut

Like most of this season so far, I broadly enjoyed The Story & the Engine, despite not loving it. The concept of a barbershop in Lagos where a giant space spider is fed through stories sounds awesome, and it was admittedly fully engaging. Ncuti here also gave a good performance; I particularly liked his story of Belinda's days as a nurse. However, despite the great premise, this episode is let down by an absolute over-abundance of clunky exposition. The amount of explanations here is off the charts, and it hurt the pacing and flow of the story. Plus, I just found the Barber's plan to be fairly muddled and unclear when all was said and done. Still, I did enjoy most of this.

Side Note: I was seriously not expecting that Fugitive Doctor appearance! That was pretty fun; it was the first Doctor cameo that I didn't know going in.

Prerequisites: Season 1 (not Series 1)

I actually ended up liking Lucky Day quite a bit. It's no masterpiece, but it lacks many of the flaws I can point to in the previous episodes. The twist with Conrad genuinely surprised me, and while I think his heel turn was a little clumsy in a few ways (it works less when you consider that widespread alien invasions have happened quite a few times before), it also worked very well. As 73 Yards showed, Ruby works pretty well as a solo protagonist, and I liked her here. Plus, that scene with Conrad and the Doctor at the end might just be my favorite Ncuti moment so far. For once, he felt like a distinct character, and I really liked his anger.

I unfortunately had the reveal spoiled for me (thanks Instagram), but I might as well address the elephant in the room: yep, this is a sequel to Midnight. My feelings on that are complicated. On one hand, this is ultimately an enjoyable episode, and it'll stand as a relative high mark for the Fifteenth Doctor. On the other hand... that isn't exactly saying much at this point, and it utterly fails at even approaching how good Midnight itself is. For starters, I kinda think that this was retrofitted to be the Midnight creature; the rules it follows and how it behaves don't really match up at all. Other than that, we've got the standard RTD2 stuff: messy exposition, Ncuti crying, an excitable costume change, and uninteresting side characters. Still, for all that criticism, I did genuinely really like the horror here. I like it when Who gets dark, and the concepts here are fun to play with.

Lux is pretty good, although certainly not great. It's admittedly plagued by a lot of issues common to this era: bad expositional dialogue, a rather rushed third act, etc. Still, I really quite liked the concept here. Cumming is great, Mr. Ring-a-Ding looked great, and I quite liked the animated segments. Of course, that brings me to the elephant in the room: the fourth-wall breaking and the actual fans. On one hand, I found most of the dialogue to be pretty poor, and it felt almost question-begging in its assertions about the fandom. On the other, it was kinda sweet in an odd way, and seeing the Doctor physically come out of a tv was fun. Overall, this wasn't anything super amazing as an episode, but it's certainly a big step up from The Robot Revolution.

Prerequisites: None explicitly needed, although I'd recommend at least Boom to give some context.

The Robot Revolution, while definitively better than Space Babies in just about every respect, is still a fairly mediocre season opener. The performances and visuals are fine enough, if unremarkable, but honestly what I most enjoyed was Belinda herself. She wasn't exactly an example of a masterclass in character-work, but I found her quite refreshing. My biggest critique of Ruby Sunday is that I never felt like she had any conflict whatsoever with the Doctor. It made that Doctor-Companion relationship really boring, and I'm glad that it doesn't appear to be the case here. Other than that, the basic plot is... fine. It's got your standard Mrs. Flood cameo, clunky dialogue, and predictable third act twist that I've come to associate with this era of the show. I know this sounds pretty negative, but I don't hate RTD2. I just think it could (and should) be much better than it currently is.

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.

We're all stories in the end, eh?

Prerequisites: New Who Series 7 and the previous Geronimo! boxset.

All of Time and Space is an odd, if pretty great, introductory audio to this boxset (also confusingly titled All of Time and Space). I'll admit, it took a while for me to totally get on board with the entire meta aspect of it, but by the end I was fully invested. While it's true that this story feels like a worse version of Deadline is many ways, being worse than a Robert Shearman audio is nothing to be ashamed about. This is a very admirable foray into the meta-fictional, and I really like the last ten minutes of this. Honestly, this would make for a great episode of the show proper, which is an accomplishment in itself.

I'll have been dead by now yesterday

Prerequisites: Series 7A, and the previous Geronimo! audios for context.

Geronimo! ends off with a rather great story, even if it is a bit overrated. The End features a pretty unique structure, having two concurrent timelines of the same events, with either 11 or Valarie being the one dying. It's remarkably easy to follow, and the tension is suitably brought up. The side characters are fine, although the Time Spiders are a bit boring to be honest. They just seem too similar to other "ancient creatures the Time Lords thought were dead" we've seen. The climax is actually very well handled, featuring a phenomenal scene as 11 accepts his own death for a moment. Other than that, yeah this is a good one.

Robot Riot

Prerequisites: The Inheritance is needed, if only for context as to who Valarie is. This boxset is set after the events of Series 7A, so make sure you've seen that.

The House of Masks is another great entry in this boxset, giving us Valarie's first actual TARDIS trip. Dudman's 11 is as impressive as ever, and his chemistry with Ingar continues to shine. The basic plot itself is really nothing special, but the dialogue is truly what feels notable. There are a lot of actual fun quips that these two have, and I have to give props to Georgia Cook here. As others have said, the villain is actually a bit weak, but what really pulls this audio from good to great is the ending five minutes. Here, we get (to my knowledge) one of the only acknowledgments of the trauma caused by the Time War that Big Finish has produced, and it works really well. Dudman sells the self-loathing stupendously, and it caps this adventure off nicely.

It's all about the money, money, money

Prerequisites: The first half of Series 7 is basically required to understand why 11 cares about who Clara is, but other than that there's no hard prerequisite.

The Inheritance is overall a very good audio, especially considering the somewhat dodgy reputation that most Doctor Chronicles boxsets have. Luckily though, this is a great start to Geronimo!, and it works well on a number of levels. To start, Dudman's 11 really is that good. It's not perfect, but you can quite easily zone out and forget it's not Matt Smith you're listening to, which is a win in my book. Ingar performs Valarie solidly as well, and she and Dudman have great chemistry. The plot itself isn't anything crazy, but it features some truly fantastic emotional scenes with Valerie and her family. It's also got a number of really surprisingly great scenes featuring the darkness that 11 harbors during this time of his life. Overall, I'm quite satisfied, and I look forward to the rest of the set.

This is some fun stuff! Obviously there's not much actual plot, but as a series of short vignettes about the Doctor looking for Clara, this is pretty charming. Dudman's 11 voice is spectacular, and this is a good start to this boxset.

The Last Great Theatrical War

Prerequisites: While everything is technically explained, I'd really recommend being well-acquainted with New Who Time War lore, specifically The Day of the Doctor.

War Stories is a very solid Short Trip; kudos to Patrick Ross! The prose here is nice and pleasant, and Cox's narration is buttery smooth (his Doctor and Bill impressions are fine but unremarkable). The concept here is creative; it immediately strikes me as something that the show itself could do. I also like how this story explicitly acknowledges the grey area in which the Doctor both did and didn't destroy Gallifrey. My only substantial critique here is that the villain here is defeated way too easily, and by merely waving the sonic around. This isn't quite a bad a resolution as The Power of Three, but I wouldn't call it fleshed out. Accepting that, however, this is good stuff. The rapport between Bill and the Doctor is nailed especially well, which I appreciate given the lack of proper Twelfth Doctor content from Big Finish.