This was absolutely delightful. I read the illustrated version, I think without the illustrations this would be a 4.5, but I have to give top marks to the book with those included. RTD fleshes out the world of Rose Tyler, especially with making Mickey a much better character with band mates! Then the Auton attack is also widely expanded with some classic matter of fact RTD descriptions of mostly odious people getting sliced up. On top of that, in the novel the London Eye collapses! This was truly a treat to read, and I hope there are further illustrated novelizations.

This story was good fun, and classic Torchwood. Torchwood has always interestingly wedded the subversive with the aristocratic, and this story is no different. After Queen Victoria's death (funny enough we just in January had a story based around exactly this - Lord of Misrule), her youngest, Beatrice, is given Torchwood. She completely stumbles in and upsets a perfectly negotiated truce with a group of Zygons living peacefully. It turns out, however, that Beatrice is not quite as innocent as we'd think. Was King Edward VII replaced by a Zygon duplicate? It's likelier than you think!

This episode is the lightning in the bottle that people are still trying to catch 20 years later. It is a supremely confident, instantly iconic debut for Doctor Who in the 21st century. It's not perfect, but boy does it have charm, and gusto. Rose feels unbelievably real in a way that is so difficult, and it feels like a whole world of adventure is being opened up. Christopher Eccelston isn't completely dialed in yet, but his madcap adventurer is great fun. Noel Clarke is, uh, appropriately pathetic. Camille Coduri is instantly memorable. Autons? Bringing something so basic to life, it fits this episode like a glove. Truly a classic.

And so, we've made it to the end of my mega Sixth Doctor listen. I can't believe it's all over. Really, this story is one out of four parts which involved the Valeyard's scheme taking place throughout the Sixth Doctor's life. Now we're here with Mel, who gets rather little to do unfortunately. The Valeyard suddenly replaces the Doctor who is sent to be deleted by the Matrix and is saved by Genesta, who is a pretty naive young Time Lord. I found it a bit surprising to spend so much time focusing on their relationship, and then it's never even confirmed if she was real or not. The Valeyard's plot is using their bacterium creatures to infect the TARDIS and from then the Matrix where he can replace every Time Lord throughout history. Really, only the Valeyard could be the villain for the Sixth Doctor's final story.

The star of the show is Colin Baker who turns in a great performance. He is constantly put on his heels, frequently unsure of whether or not he's even going to get to survive. In the end, the Doctor dies in a moment of self-sacrifice where he redirects the TARDIS to be hit by deadly radiation to kill himself to regenerate/die and foil the Valeyard's plan. Baker gives a great performance as he summons all his courage, and has a touching final scene accented by a perfect cameo from Sylvester McCoy.

All in all, it's a worthy final story for the Sixth Doctor that sends him out well while not contradicting what little we saw on tv. Long live Colin Baker!

I'll admit it off the top: plotting wise this story is a 3/5 or a 3.5/5. It's not particularly gripping, probably a little too long, and plays very fast and loose with canon. However, that is not the primary way to judge this story. Because this story is a big anniversary tribute to the Sixth Doctor era, and on that respect it's a smashing success.

The Doctor is trapped within a web of tv shows inside tv shows in the 'Ludosphere', where actors are constantly getting killed and it's all being broadcast for entertainment purposes. It's essentially a mash-up of Vengeance on Varos and Bad Wolf. Here we encounter a who's who of villains: Androgums for our first course, the Cyber Leader played campy as ever by David Banks (seriously, the Cyber Leader sits in on a late night talk show of sorts and riles up the crowd with a knowing overuse of 'Excellent'. So funny), Davros (who tells the Doctor 'been a while', yep, a canned line of dialogue), a seriously surprising reveal of the Ainley Master, and then at the end: Daleks.

The whole thing is essentially satirizing Colin Baker's two seasons: the excessive violence that the show came under heavy criticism for, people complaining certain things are too boring. The villains, 'Muskoids', are literally disgusting blobs that engorge themselves on Audience Appreciation. Hell, even the actual Doctor Who theme song becomes in-universe as the opening to the Doctor's program Trials of a Time Lord. The Doctor (joined by Nicola Bryant as full on warrior queen Peri who is delightful as usual) is constantly threatened by cancellation, in which the lead actors get killed. Sound familiar? Hell, the final cliffhanger are Daleks saying 'DAVROS IN DISTRESS'. We weren't going to forget Hans Zimmer's best work!

The story ends as we have a rare three-way melee between the Daleks/Cybermen/Master, and how does it end? The Master discovers the 'producer' is simply an AI that has been synthesizing stories from throughout the universe to produce the Ludosphere. That doesn't remind me of anything at all! It turns out, in every single story: the Doctor wins. So it comes to pass! And Mel ends it by sending a signal to everyone watching tv to stop watching and go outside which is a bold message for a franchise based around a tv show.

Between The Quin Dilemma and this story, I think they did an excellent job of paying tribute to the Sixth Doctor. Ever since I started the Sixth Doctor's audio stories, I completely understood why Colin Baker is so beloved for his work with Big Finish. It's easily the biggest improvement between the tv show (where he's fine - it's really the production that screwed him over), and him showing us his true potential. He'll likely be passed by Paul McGann soon, but as I write this, Colin Baker per my estimation has put in more hours being the Doctor than anyone alive. Here's to another decade!

The Fifth Doctor attends a play honoring the First Doctor who is secretly played by the Twelfth Doctor in disguise. Isn't that fun?

This story is nothing special, but it is written in first person from Chaucer's point of view, so that's fun. The characters all act rather modern though, and the villain is undercooked.

This was a fun one. Raine is an unexpected addition, but the the team with her 7, and Ace is great to see in short story form. The idea of a massive sci-fi video game replicating what it's like to hack computers is a novel one. I only wish we'd actually met the villain.

Just a fantastic story, and it's so much fun having old Jo traveling with the Doctor. We meet a little sick girl who is being helped by 'angels', and it turns out that those 'angels' are actually Cybermen. Well, that's awkward. Some serious dark moments that push this TARDIS team to the absolute limit.

I just really loved this story. The audio design was completely on point, I got into the different layers of the plot, and the Third Doctor and Sarah were perfectly realized. The 3DAs are almost all bangers, no different here.