This is a weird one, and not in a bad way.

Orbis picks up immediately where we left off, with Lucie getting a nasty visit from the Headhunter. They've got access to the TARDIS; bad news is it's apparently leaking time waste and destroying the vortex, a side effect of the Doctor's absence.

Like Sisters of the Flame, we get a more vulnerable, more serious Lucie, and it works well here too. Sheridan does a good job selling her dismay at the Doctor having forgotten her, while still mining some good comedy out of the situation. Olsson is still strong as the Headhunter, and she's back to being very sinister and cryptic. Her true scheme is hinted at at the end of the story and we'll see who's she's really working for by the end of the season.

The Doctor is a little out of his depth here, having gotten amnesia (again) and been stuck on Orbis for 600 years! McGann turns in a fun performance, giving us a Doctor who's lost, but perfectly content with his new life tinkering with new inventions and living with jellyfish people.

The people of Orbis themselves are charming, just very sweet, innocent people, especially our one-off companion Selta, played very well by Laura Solon. It's very fun to imagine these people as literal giant jellyfish, wobbling awkwardly as they follow the Doctor around.

Next we have the Molluscari, our villains, who are - delightfully - some kind of giant oysters with pincers. The sound design really shines here, as we get the Molluscari clicking their pincers and clapping their shells to cheer for their leader. It makes for more fun imagery. The leader, Crassostrea, is our antagonist, played by Andrew Sachs, who turns in an immensely entertaining performance. This is one villain who's just silly and fun in the best ways. Also, his female organs are growing in. Good for her!

A nice, vivid story that ends in sheer horror, Orbis is a great start to the season.

4.5/5

This one's a lot of fun. Lucie is alone, separated from the Doctor and completely out of her depth. Luckily, a giant centipede, played by the wonderful Alexander Siddig, is here to help her out.

The story focuses mostly on Lucie as our protagonist, and her characterization here is fun. She gets to make some mistakes and learn from them, and we get a rare glimpse into a more serious side of the character. Miller and Siddig have great chemistry, and Rosto's a fun character in his own right. We have the return of Nikolas Grace as Straxus, and he's as smarmy as ever. There are some great back-and-forths with him and Lucie, arguing like petty children. Zarodnix is a pretty thin villain and only really exists as a way of getting the real baddie into the picture. Kenneth Colley does a really good job regardless.

The Eighth Doctor's side of the story is fine. He deals with the Sisterhood of Karn (coincidentally, he'd meet them again in Night of the Doctor on TV) and they're basically there to answer his questions and provide another Morbius connection. They get a bit more to do in the next story. I will say that Katarina Olsson isn't great as the leader of the Sisterhood. Her attempt to do a wise old lady voice is pretty silly, and the fact Olsson is already in a much more prominent role in this range (the Headhunter) just makes the whole thing distracting.

Overall, really fun first part of the story. Lucie is at her best and really shines here.

A letdown after the very strong Sisters of the Flame. This episode only actually starts halfway through, and we get virtually no time to explore Morbius's conquest. It feels like no-one is present for any of this except our main cast.

Cast-wise, no complaints here. Paul and Sheridan are as great as ever. Samuel West is fantastic as Morbius, for what little time he gets. Grace and Siddig are back from the previous story and they're still good here, just underserved in their roles after last time.

The resolution is so quick and simple it's barely a blip on the radar. Good enough cliffhanger, though (or, pair of cliffhangers!).