So, get this: the Doctor is on his way to take back the nurse but they actually can't, on the grounds that the TARDIS cannot reach May 24th, 2025. They have to find another way to get there, which means getting the TARDIS hooked to May 24th - with a few stops to triangulate. And the first place in which they can get hooked is... *drumroll* 1952! And in 1952 there's this creepy cinema that is actually kind of-haunted by something that's actually the god of light, Lux, but was originally a cartoon called Mr. Ring-a-Ding. The Doctor and the nurse manage to defeat Lux and bring back the people it (he? they?) had turned into celluloid filmroll, and they get aboard the TARDIS.

It gives monster-of-the-week vibes. It gives slightly-creepy-horror-movie vibes, in the beginning. It's got casual racism that is not at all casual, actually, treated with Davies' usual bulldozer-in-the-china-shop subtlety, which may be exactly what we needed - unlike Al from last episode. Let's be honest here, Russel T. Davies' social commentary is not exactly wrapped in paper, it shows, and it's pretty damn good (though it does not top _Dot and Bubble_). It's got a tear-inducing scene in which the boy who was gone finds his mother again, and the warm welcome of the diner's cashier (I cried. I'm objectively an emotional person). It's got weird cartoons, a very creepy cartoon and Doctor Who fans as characters.

I absolutely loved it.

Look, was it predictable? Yes. My little brother, whom I use the account, wrote down what was about to happen and didn't get anything wrong. Was it objectively a monster-of-the week episode with allusions to the bigger plot? Also yes. I actually laughed when I saw how Lux came to existence - I mean, really? A moonlight beam went on the film roll? A bit on-the-nose, and something more out of a fantasy movie, but Doctor Who's been playing with the codes of its genre for the last seasons and it plays out quite well.

But of course I'm avoiding the subject - namely, the actual critic.

The relationship between Belinda and the Doctor is evolving, and it's wonderful! I honestly love Belinda's little quips (this "Ridiculous" was particularly perfect) and their mutual insecurity. The moment of vulnerability while in-cartoon was honestly impressive - though maybe a bit less emotional from the fact that, you know, they were cartoons. As always, Varada Sethu and Ncuti Gatwa are impeccable - and the period costumes are just chef's kiss. The TARDIS sequence was well-done and Tommy Lee's mother was simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming - as usual in _Doctor Who_, I'd say. In terms of new-viewer accessibility, this episode actually explained way better than the last who the Doctor is.

As for the technic… well, _Doctor Who_ is Disney, now, and that shows. Not only because the episodes are obviously expensive, with really good special effects (last episode had a Star Wars-esque aesthetic that I did _not_ discuss enough in my review) but also because they are actually working with Disney's tradition of animation (at this point I feel like I should say I have no experience or knowledge whatsoever about animation). Mr. Ring-a-Ding was really fun to see alongside human characters: it made me think of Jeff Smith's Bones, in a way, but only in aesthetic. Turning Belinda and the Doctor into cartoons was actually genius: they gave off clear Scooby-Doo aesthetic, at least when in 2D. The play with TV and cinema codes, such as rolling the filmroll by themselves and breaking-not-breaking the fourth wall was rather brilliant. Expected, maybe, but I feel like a series that's been running since 1963 has a right to be predictable, when it's well done. Otherwise, of course, the series' producers and writers are ritualistically beheaded and their heads are meat for Whovians' sandwiches.

Speaking of which, the Whovian characters were a delight. Though the scene may have taken a bit out of the plot (as I've seen written in several other reviews, with which I agree), it was a nice homage to the fans and I feel like we came back into the episode rather easily, though of course that's just my opinion. I especially loved the little snippet at the end (very Marvel of them, but also sweet, so I'll let that pass). Lux's death (can we even talk about a death?) was well done, too: it's strange to feel for an evil fifties cartoon character, but I did feel for him (it?) - might be my love for space, but I can't say I didn't empathize with the absolute love for the light and the want to see the stars. The religious commentary was - not exactly strange, but unexpected.

Overall a fun episode, in full _Doctor Who_ spirit, with a little foreshadowing for the episodes to come - I really hope Mrs. Flood is not another wordplay on River Song/Melody Pond, and the first of my brother's predictions was "we're not done with the gods" (maybe not in these exact terms but you see what I mean), which was absolutely right and makes me hope we're not having _yet another god_ for this season's Big Baddie. Seeing what a rollercoaster this season's episodes have been (although, yes, there are only two episodes out if we don't count the Christmas Special), I have hope for next week's! Speaking of which, it's nice to see that though this season only has eight episodes, the writers do not make all of them meaningful and necessary for the season's plot (which is sadly a tendency these days for short-number episodes seasons). The characters can just go to the cinema in 1952, face racism and fight a giant cartoonish monster. And that, my friends, should be the moral of this overly-long review.

Pip-pip!

Signing off,

In Great Need Of An Actual Alias.

So, get this : there's a girl who's been gifted a star by her boyfriend, and this girl goes on, breaks with the boy, becomes a nurse and has annoying roommates (don't we all) until, of course, robots break her door and announce her she's the queen of a planet lit by the star that belongs to her. Except the planet isn't a paradise and the Al Generator is actually directing the robots' actions towards the humans, which means controlling them - although there's a bug : robots can only hear eight words out of nine. Cue to the rebellion and some Doctor-esque timey-wimey stuff. The Al Generator was actually - surprise! - the nurse's boyfriend and a big incel, transported here by accident, who decided to order the robots around like he was in a video game. More timey-wimey stuff, and the nurse doesn't go home.
At this point, we start wondering where the Doctor is. It's The Belinda Episode, I get it : presenting Belinda to the public as the new companion (and we'll get to that in a moment). But I do think the episode lacked Gatwa's presence - and presented the Doctor as a massive creep. I mean, who steals someone's DNA? (the answer is: the Doctor, obviously, but Belinda's concern is valid) Who follows someone at work, steals their adress from workfiles and follows them home?
Let's admit it : Belinda is cute - Varada Sethu is a good actress, interpreting very well Belinda's confusion and her very human reaction of being simply fed up with everyone patronizing her while she's being transported by force in a place she doesn't understand nor wants to be in. She's also kind, conscientious and empathic - all good qualities. She's not a wet towel, either : she actually tells the Doctor no and she speaks for herself. She does show a certain lack of thoughtfulness - really, was setting the sci-fi Roomba to find them the best action to take? She could have... gotten out? - and a rather worrying tendency to take the blame, which, I get it, I do, but if she's to share the TARDIS with the Doctor, the amount of guilt alone will fuel the engines without any problem. But I'm getting out of track here.
Belinda's problem (keeping her cringe ex out of this) is that she's not nearly developed enough. But then, there's a whole season to develop her, so that's absolutely alright! I feel like the Companion Episode works better in the middle of the season, when we've learnt to know them, but there, it's a very personal take.
The other problem of Belinda, of course, is that Russell T. Davies seems to have run out of ideas for his female characters.
Don't get me wrong : she's sweet, and I do hope she'll become her own character, because right know she feels like a strange mix between Martha and Clara, which... I do love both but they've got nothing to do with the new series, you know? The nurse thing is straight Martha, and - come on, you've seen her face in another planet, it screams Clara Oswald everywhere. And we do need new storylines and new characters. I get that it's difficult for a show that old to find new stories, but it shouldn't be some weird mashup of previous characters. (even Ruby, as wonderful as she was, could feel at times like Rose Tyler - which is probably why I liked her so much, now that I come to think of it). Again, this has absolutely nothing to do with Varada Sethu, who was really good both in Boom and The Robot Revolution. It's, as it was in last Christmas' episode, a problem of writing. But there's still hope for the season and for a Belinda they will actually take the time to develop. Because, come on, a companion who doesn't want to be a companion? A kind nurse who is probably sarcastic as heck? She could be an absolute delight.

But let's talk about the episode.
There's so much to say about this episode.
It is rather cringe. I know incel culture is deeply toxic and everything (I'm a girl spending time online and IRL, so, yeah) but, frankly, compared to the elegance Dot and Bubble used in its very concept and its cleverness, The Robot Revolution seems on-the-nose and cringey. You see it coming, your mother sees it coming, your blind and deaf neighbour sees it coming - you know what I mean. It lacks subtlety.
Quite frankly, there's not enough Doctor and, for the little time he has on screen, he manages to be shady, creepy and rather worrying. And not in ye ol' "the Doctor is someting else" way (which, I feel like we're sleeping on an eldritch Doctor) but in a new, "I wouldn't want him to walk with me in a dark street" way. It's so blatantly uncool it's not really funny anymore - like, dude, we just don't steal people's stuff, be it their DNA or their adress.
The Missbelindachandrakinds simply didn't have any personality. Once again, I get it, these people have maybe five minutes of speech - but goddammit, any fanfiction writer knows to give them little mannerisms and ways to make them unique! They are basically "the Interface", "the Wounded" and "the Head of the Rebellion", which is a tad too caricatural. We used to have nuance. (what I'm saying here is - Davies is repeating himself)
So Sasha 55 is important to the Doctor. Yes? But also we don't really know who she is? I'm not asking for her entire backstory, her hopes and dreams - just for a little uniqueness, something that would make her Sasha 55 and not a random character who dies in the first twenty minutes. I feel like that's something we lack in the last episodes.

Look, the episode leaves room for improvement (thank the Lord, because Allan and his treatment are literally the cringiest - what do you mean he got reverted to a foetus and was then crushed by sci-fi Roomba?). The sets are pretty spotless - thanks to this season's budget - and we've got real quality actors. And, of course, the episode itself isn't that bad, it's just not good. I personally want to see where they're taking this. A destroyed Earth seems interesting (and I'll be honest, this dinosaur skeleton in the trailer had me hooked). But I want actual characters.

Till then, I'll be waiting (and watching the seasons I didn't have time for with my brother)
Toodle-pip!
Signing off,
Pandhawk's sister (gotta find myself an alias if I'm keeping up with this review thing)

(Hum, hum, PS from Pandhawk : I give 1 or maybe even 0.5 stars but my sister want to give 2 so I give 2 stars to this story. But so you know.)

AAAAAAAAAAAAH THE NOISES SAVE ME SAVE ME I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE THANK YOU THIS EPISODE IS OVER END OF REVIEW 0/10

Basically a good episode. The idea of a Doctor breaking away from his original companions and going to Rome with Vicki while said companions are getting captured and taken is a really good one. But there is one thing that ruins the whole episode, and it is the treatment of Barbara. From the beginning, we understand that she is the one who does everything in the quartet. But what is unacceptable, even unacceptable, is the scene of quasi-rape on the part of Nero who is a complete idiot, totally obsessed, even rapist. Yes, I destroy him. Barbara's treatment doesn't stop there since at the end of the episode, Ian treats her like a slave, making her work because she accidentally hit him in the face, which started this whole adventure . So I beg you, Doctor Who, tell me that there are not too many other episodes that are sexist to this point. Have a good evening.
3/10

I wasn't a huge fan of the episode.

So yes, at the beginning, we see a new side of Doc, after Susan left. But it's not explored enough! Rare example of an episode where the storyline isn't explored enough.

One more episode to consolidate everything would have been acceptable.

This episode is worth 6/10

The first episode with Daleks was crap, clearly, next to the incomparable The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

What an extremely good arc. We feel all the passion of Terry NATION's writing, and his incomparable pen. It's also the end of Susan's adventures, and it does us the greatest good!

7/10

And this new season starts off with a bang with a very interesting arc, namely "Planet of Giants"! I really like the concept of the investigation in a "gigantic world", until the fine team realizes that it is in fact they who are tiny. The whole story is gripping, the intrigue is thrilling... For this start of season 2, I give it a 5/5 !

And this season ends with an arc that I would call MEH.
I didn't find it exceptional, and for good reason: The arc in question is not supposed to be the end of season arc, but it was added because Donald BAVERSTOCK, the head of BBC programming, wanted extra episodes for the end of season 1.
And, in concrete terms, it's very noticeable. The pace isn't worked on enough, the script is shaky...
A big disappointment for this end of season, I put it on the same level as The Daleks.

If you remember correctly I put The Aztecs in A.
Well the series of very good episodes continues with The Sensorites.
How to say. The beginning is very promising: The Doc who lands in a ship (For the first time in the series, by the way), discovering a mind control problem, and discovering a civilization that seems peaceful but part of which finds that the arriving "humans" are belligerent: WHY NOT. In the future, it will happen, but not at the time: it's an idea.
The resolution of half-crazy humans thinking they are at war with the Sensorites explains everything: the doubt of the fourth Sensorite who himself begins to, let's not lie to ourselves, begins to lose his mind too (Stalin was his man), the poison (And not a bad resolution like yes it was the fourth Sensorite and the city administrator who put the poison blah blah blah)...
Really very good episode, let's hope that the next arc will be as good or even better...

The very good arcs follow one another, as evidenced by The Aztecs.
In addition to being fairly faithful to reality (at least, what was thought of it in the 60s), we have here for the first time the idea of ​​HAVING to not change the course of events, with a Barbara as ashamed of "corrupting" a man who believes in her, who has confidence, just for her own will, but also and above all disconcerted by not being able to help this civilization which is according to her too primitive.
She realizes in certain points what the Doctor feels when them sees us, poor primitive humans according to him.
I also like the idea of ​​this search for an episode almost exclusively focused on Barbara: Ian fights people, okay, but in the end, everything is brought back to Barbara, and in such a logical way that the episode becomes very good.
Really, episode in 6/10.

The Keys of Marinus is, quite frankly, a very good arc. The episodes follow one another, and I like this idea of a quest. Finally, the scenario is not long, and we can feel that the writers had fun. Report at trial, I don't know about you, I found it quite convincing. I was not bored watching this arc and I therefore award it the prize for the best rated classic arc of the moment with 4.5/5.

Well, well, well. You know my opinion on The DALEKS (The Daleks): Good but too long. However, with Marco POLO, in front of whom I was almost never bored, it was really good, while both had 7 parts! Concretely, the idea of ​​making an episode where the historical problems are not monsters from space, it's really good (Madame de POMPADOUR, we see you). Whereas here, although it drags because the Doc could have left with the key without Tegana delaying their escape, which by the way allowed in my opinion to conclude the Tegana arc in a really good way, well frankly the intrigues are well put together. Let's say that we don't have this "olala the liquid driver from the beginning I liked it wellwiareinzechit" which ruins the whole arc. In conclusion, well it's a good 3/5 for this episode! Why 3? Because even though the storyline is very good, I still have trouble with the recons.

I really enjoyed this episode.

A closed-door episode that, although its resolution is easy, keeps us in suspense for the 2 episodes! So yes, to come back to the resolution, the button is easy! But hey... Under a certain scriptwriter, Mr. Steven M., some resolutions make no sense so hey...

No really very good surprise, go to 8!

This episode is just too long.

The first 4 (5?) parts are good. But the others… Here we enter the purely science fiction episodes. The first parts, with the Doc and his companions discovering the planet, trying to escape after discovering the terrifying Daleks, are good, but let's say that it could be better.

The rest, it just seems like the producers had no ideas, the writers either, and it happened like this:

"Ok. We don't have any ideas?

- No

- Uh… What was the reason they had to go to the planet?

- The empty but not really empty liquid conductor

- Oh yeah! Ok, let's play that?

- Yeah… Come on!"

It's filler, whatever you WANT as long as it respects the principle of boring. So for the first parts I go up to 8, for the last ones it goes down to 5/10.

I was... bored?
The episode is long ! (All 4 episodes, then...)
The first one is really good. We discover the universe in the skin of the 2 "protagonists", namely the two teachers of the Coal Hill school, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, whose actor William RUSSEL is now deceased.
But the rest is passable, even downright bad!
The whole story about "yes blah blah blah fire is so good" well it could have been resolved in 2 seconds !
Spoiler: the Doctor makes fire, Barbara and Ian realize that it's true, that they are traveling in time for real, and BAM! End of the story. In short, if you want a quality episode of DW, don't start with this one. Rating of 4/10 so 2/5.

This is a review done by my sister (we aren't British, Scottish or else so enjoy but don't care about the mistakes) :

I've seen the Christmas Special with my brother. While we're both fans, he is way more invested than me - he's seen every episode, while I tend to watch them in random order (keep your tomatoes!). With two such perspectives, we thought, we would both enjoy the Christmas Special.
It left us a weird taste in the mouth. I'm not saying this episode is bad, but it's not good either - it's meh.
Starting with the good points : as always, Ncuti Gatwa's excellent acting. This man could play in a Hallmark movie and make it convincing and heartwrecking. I loved the beginning! The idea of the Doctor bursting in and out of various locations to offer a pumpkin latte and a grilled cheese toast - lovely. The Time Hotel, too, was a really fun concept, and the shots inside were lovely and whimsical in the best ways - I'm talking about the first shots, when both viewer and Doctor discover the inlay of the Hotel. I also enjoyed the relationship between Anita and the Doctor, the mundane really works here. Although I would have preferred that the relationship weren't romantically coded. It doesn't really fits either character. Coughlan plays pretty well, all things considered (see part two of review), and her quick wit and chemistry with the Doctor are simply delightful. And there is a dinosaur. What, do we seem to be asking ourselves, could we possibly ask for more?
While the episode does have great concepts (see: Time Hotel), it doesn't seem to exploit them as well as it should. Coughlan does play her character with talent, but said character isn't deep enough. She turns into a star, alright, but it doesn't feel natural. Her backstory with her mother, while sad, and significant (Doctor Who episodes are allowed to make references to actuality and I've missed any COVID presence in recent fiction), doesn't feel complete. Especially the ending, in which the mother becomes part of the star: very meh, and a bit too "don't worry magical sci-fi saves us all". I, for one, would have preferred to see the Doctor coming, or someone keeping her company. And the Christian end feels placated (a consequence of Disney buying DW, or my own religious issues talking?). The Anita storyline is by far the most significant and endearing but is spoilt by the romantic themes associated - it thrives in the mundane, not the romantic love.
In short (the conclusion we reached together while debriefing the episode), it feels like it could have been two episodes to allow both storylines to develop. While it is an important episode for the Doctor's development, it does feel like nobody really knows where to take this new Doctor, and it shows. The line on the armchairs is pretty wonderful, all things considered ; the moping on Ruby isn't. While I love Ruby Sunday with all my heart, her presence in the episode felt a little placated (if that's the word I want) and the Doctor's issues are just weird. I may be stupid but I don't get why he left and didn't bother coming back sometimes to have coffee with her. While I love both of them and their duo, they tend to steal the spotlight anyway - which is why we're coming back to the Star Seed plot. Nice concept, a return of Villengard (corporate greed at its finest) and definitely not enough screentime for Coughlan who could have shown her acting range had she have been given the opportunity. Joy's outburst: yes. Her becoming a big ball of gas on fire: no. She feels a lot like a mean to an end.

Points given to side characters: Trev's delightful. I love him. His determination to do good and not fail the Doctor (and isn't that a gimmick that will haunt the Doctor) is lovely and endearing. And the lady in the Orient Express, too, despite her short amount of screen time, feels right.

What I expect from a Doctor Who Christmas Special is to make me dream, throw my fist in the air and scream - this one didn't. The concepts in it feel underexploited as a plot part, overexploited as a part of Doctor Who. Again, Joy's too shallow a character to allow the viewer to feel for her (might be my heart of stone though) and feels drowned in the chaos that is the episode, as it doesn't seem to know what it's aiming for and where it's going.
All in all a six out of ten for the acting and the cosy ambiance of it, but its numerous flaws.