Well, that was pretty s**t, waasn't it?
There is a 10-minute exposition-dump that completely ruins all of the - rather good, I thought - momentum that the episode had built up, up to that point.
Anita is back, probably last-minute after the incredible response her story got, because she does nothing at all and could have been replaced by a nameless manager.
The interresting Rani is killed.
Omega is a big ugly moster like we all feared.
The charaters are reduced to exposition expositors.
The plan set up in the last episode is thwarted with barely any effort.
3 and 11 get blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos for no descernable reason (happy 20th, I guess).
The Poppy thing is "clever" in all the annoying ways that RTD and Moffatt can be "clever", another impossible girl.
"Sometimes, I think we're all your children" yuck.
13 is back, take that how you will.
THASMIN!?!???!
Susan died on the way home to her planet.
THE ROSE DOCTOR? ARE YOU F-ING KIDDING ME!?!??!??!
This show is washed.
2/10 what the hell.

God there is so much wasted time in these episodes, I honestly can't remember that last time I saw a tight script, must have been last season, what the hell happened between the last season and this? There's like 5 things that happen in this episode and all of them are drawn out to the point of tedium, breaks and pauses and endless reiteration, a bloody flashback to a scene from less than 5 minutes ago!? What the hell is this?
Yet again this episode fall prey to "tell don't show". Ruby tells us that she has PTSD, that she's struggling with all of the things that she has seen and done and been done to her, but the moment the episode calls for it she's a badass action hero who tases the monster and says "go to hell." I don't know enough about PTSD to know that people suffering from it aren't able to do both, but they seem completely incompatible as a layperson, so as a writer it is your job to show us why they aren't, not just have two tell-don't-show heart-to-hearts where she says she's affected by these thing, let me see it, let me feel it, 'cause as it stands, I don't.
As with several of the first season episodes, I have problems with Millie's acting, to be blunt, I just don't believe a word she says. I don't see Ruby Sunday saying these things - especially with the forced stuttering - I see Millie Gibson, the actress, saying lines.
The ending dialogue between The Doctor and Conrod is pretty good, if a tiny bit on-the-nose.

Also, I didn't really like Ncuti in the first scene, why was he yelling? Just giving a kind of energy that really didn't match the scene, the other people aren't yelling, so weird choice.

Box standard, boring, wasted potential. Also, the village should have been Upper Leadworth /j

5/10

It's no Midnight.

The Well works as your run-of-the-mill sci-fi horror story, except it's a secret sequel to Midnight, with half the characterization, half the writing quality, and somehow, despite the fact that Midnight is a bottle episode that is basically 100% talking, half the story.
That's the trouble with making a sequel to one of the greats, you invite comparison, and in this case, in my opinion, I don't think it's a favourable one.

The story feels like it's building to something big and emotional, a big crechendo, and then The Doctor shouts something to the effect of "I got it!" and suddenly the mood is ruined as it tries, for some reason to have a big, high-energy, save-the-day, run-for-your-life moment, only to kill that momentum immediately afterwards, which in my opinion, just doesn't work at all. It doesn't feel like hope just before the world comes crashing down, it just feels like it wants to be that, and tries to be that in the most brash, in-your-face, ott way possible.

A problem I have had with these two series is that the individual episodes feel small, short, like it's missing a little something that nu-who had for each episode to feel as grand as they could. I personally write it down to their reliance on sets and - seemingly - downright refusal to do location shoots, but perhaps there is something in the writing which feels less substantial than some series, I don't know, I'm still chewing on that. But, whatever it is, I feel it here again, it feels like we've just gotten to the middle point and then it's time to wrap everything up in a neat bow. Maybe stories are too verbose, this episode is certainly an offender of that. Just endless talking of being sad and missing your family in a way that is meant to be impactful, but never manages to feel it for me.

All-in-all it's a decent episode of television, no more than that, one that is perhaps a little confused as to which tone it wants to convey at times and spends too much time yapping without telling, or telling without showing, but really, it's biggest sin is being unremarkable.

6/10

It's a fine little Christmas story, full of Christmas joy and Doctor Who-y goodness, though it borders on saccharine at times, especially the ending and the story is nothing to write home about. As with many other, I mostly connected with Anita's story of loneliness.

7/10

Often a Classic Doctor Who story can make a bit of a hash of moving the characters around to where it needs them to be at a given time, but this story does so flawlessly. It's well-written, fun, light and uses the Yetis and The Great Intelligence better than The Abominable Snowmen.
A problem I get with Classic stories once I watch too many of them is the exact problem The Doctor laments in The Pirate Planet, that wherever they go, no matter what, they immediately get put in prison as the sole suspects of the trouble going on. This story toys with the idea of The Doctor and companions being suspicious, in a - I find - very natural way, without ever storing the gang away in a cell for 2 parts 'cause that's the only way the story can actually work. No, the suspicion levied at The Doctor and co. is used throughout the story to create a prevailing sense of paranoia, without anyone ever feeling paranoid, naturally created by being met by an enemy of unknown origin and motive.
The episode 3 twist set-up works really well, just before it happened I thought about the possibility of it happening and how his previous actions could make sense as a deliberately bumbling distraction from the real danger. Sadly it's turns out to be a fake-out to show how much of a self-serving sleazeball the reporter is, which is a bit disappointing. But, I guess necessary in a mystery, red herrings and all that, however, as red herrings go, I don't thing it's that good as the actions don't really make sense once you know he isn't being controlled by the Intelligence.
Notably this is the story known for introducing Nicolas Courtney as The Brigadier, though this wasn't Nic first story (that's Mission To the Unknown) and he's not a Brigadier, which I just think is fun.

All-together it is a fun little story, that decently written with a good sense of paranoia throughout, but it just lacks that special something for me to give it more than a...

7.5/10

Eh, it's fine. The writing is okay, if unexceptional, but it gets the job done.
Now, I have to be honest, I thought it was 'made' as an anniversary release, and not simply given away for free to commemorate 25 years of Doctor Who at Big Finish, so throughout the listening experience I was looking for the story to celebrate the eras of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Doctors, only after finishing it did I realize that it was not meant to do that, and as such it doesn't do that.
So, looking at it as simply a story, the setting and worldbuilding of this new race whose entire trajectory of evolution was altered, by the Daleks and the event of the story itself, despite how interesting that may sound, ultimately I think it was built up pretty uninterestingly. Like one would expect from any mediocre Main Range story at the time of release.
The Characters are fine, but almost wholly unexplored, and arc-wise, there's one interesting thing which happens in the entire story.
All-together, it is the usual fare for a 6/10 Main Range release at the time, to a tee, but it just so happens to have 4 Doctors in it, rather than 1. Though the plot is contingent upon there being several Doctors, I still feel like the stakes and implications of the story itself would've been solvable by one Doctor, were they not trying to make a release with 4 Doctor in it. In other words, it doesn't feel big enough to need 4 Doctors.

6/10

The epitome of middle-of-the-road, it's boring, overly reliant on uninteresting lore drops, does nothing interesting, tries nothing interesting, but at the end of the day, it fills the time and nothing in it (perhaps other than The Doctor referring to Davros as a "cripple") made me hate it in any way. It's really just sort of there.
I got the sense that it was trying to me an homage/adaptation of The Silence of The Lambs, because, well, it lifted a scene directly from the film, but as I have not seen it, I can't comment on whether it succeeds in that endeavour, or is even attempting it.
One of the more negative parts for me is that Paul McGann, who usually gives amazing performances, kinda seems like he's phoning it in at certain parts, which is always sad to hear.
The ending is predictable, if overly convoluted, and nothing about the setups paying off is satisfying because of said convolution.
The story "attempts" to continue C'Rizz's "arc" by having the same scene we've had. What? 7 times, now? And it's about as interesting in this story as it has been the past 6-or-so times. Dear lord, I hope they do something with him. At some point. Ever. At all. Like thinks of an arc. Or a point. Or something. Anything at all. I'm not picky. But, please just not this "You're a killer" "Yes, I'm a killer" "No, you're not a killer" scene again, anything but that!
Frankly, the best thing I can say about this story is that it doesn't overstay its welcome. The writer realized how much story they had to tell, and ended it at that without dragging it out to 2 hours for the sake of format.

5/10

While the story is competently written throughout, it lacks for me a classic Doctor Who hook, which makes it interesting beyond being family drama from the 60s. In fact, very little about the story feels like Doctor Who at all beyond the characters being in it.
So, while it is enjoyable and competently made, I can't love it, only like it.

7/10

At the start of The Second Doctor's tenure, someone high up decided that 4-parters weren't worth it, and that the production teams should focus of stories with 6+ parts where possible. That, as you may know, is a sentiment which didn't stick, and stories like this are exactly the reason why.
It is long, drawn-out and boring having only enough story for 4 parts.
The only notable thing about it is that it introduced the Ice Warriors and the only thing which I found interesting about it was Peter Barkworth's performance as a man who is half machine.
That is, for the first 5 parts, small change, just a short 2-and-a-half-hours!! But after you have battled your way through those five parts (my record is somewhere in the vicinity of 4 months) you are treated to a lovely bit of Doccy Who, with action and spectacle, for the time. Stakes and consequences, tension and release, the good stuff, shame the rest of it is so boring.
Also, side-note, the scientist's costumes are fantastic, the Ice Warrior talking effect is horrible and the computer is unintelligible.

4/10

AND WE'RE OFF, and The Game is off to a great start, an interesting premise, fun light, nu-who atmosphere, returning cast in new roles, it's playing all the favourites, but what's this? Uhhh, The Game fumbles the ball, the plot is moved forward by the companion not being able to say one sentence! Oh, you just hate to see it, it was going so well too!
No, it's all down now, it's losing focus, it's just meandering out there!! But what's that!? It, somehow, recovers, The Game does, it seems like it's gotten itself back on track, focusing on the points that really matter, plot points that make sense, characters acting like they should and who could say no to a big action set-piece? It seems like it's really going to score, and score well!

Oh! There seems to be a development on the field, and it's not good folks, It's a boring, run-of-the-mill villain who over-explains his very basic motivations. Ufff, that's gonna dock some points, still, folks, we've seen that play work out before, haven't we? I recall the 2010 match of Vincent and The Doctor, where the villain was similarly an of-the-week type, and that worked out beautifully, didn't it? And, of course, I need not remind you of The Waters of Mars, once in a century match that! So, just as long as it doesn't hinge the entire plot on the villain being interesting we could still see a hell of a game out there!

Oh no, what this!? A cliffhanger resolved by a character having a sudden, basically unexplained change of heart, the judges are not going to be happy with that one.
But is that a bit of a recovery I'm seeing? A genuinely well-written death scene for the main secondary character, that's nice- but, oh no! 15 minutes of backstory, horrible exposition, a cheesy villain monologue, The Game is just floundering out there!
But, The Game might still stick the landing, he's going for a classic walk-and-talk wrapup, let look at the judges, uhh, they're not impressed. Well, I'm not entirely shocked, it has become a bit of a cliché on the field. AND WE'RE HOME, The Game scoring there, now, it wasn't as clean a score as we, of course, would have liked, and the lead-up was more than a bit bumpy, the judges are going to have to take that into account.
Are? Yes, I am getting word that the judges are ready to score The Game, and The Game gets... a 6! Uhh, not the best, though I am not entirely surprised with the play we've seen here today, but what is it we always say folks? Anything above a 5 is a victory.

Yet another amazing Dalek story for the Black and White era, and in my opinion the first truly great Second Doctor Dalek story.
I am honestly shocked at the amount of story that David Whitaker manages to squeeze into the seven parts, from the initial mystery to the mature, Victorian drama to the grandiose Sci-Fi finale, this truly feels like three stories in one, all of which are well written and interesting.

The one niggle I do have is the occasional badly delivered exposition, which is a recurring issue towards the middle parts, likely there to make sure no kid is left behind as to the goings on, but they are often quite clunky and just simply restating what has just happened.

But looking beyond that tiny chick, this is an interesting story well delivered with social commentary, an uplifting message, further exploration of The Daleks and their nature, the introduction of The Emperor Dalek (btw, what an amazing voice effect!) and the introduction of new companion Victoria while managing to set up and exploring the feelings and motivation of;
Maxtible - the mad scientist, bent on finding a way to transmute gold no matter the costs;
Waterfield - the man who doesn't want to be here, but his hand is forced as his daughter is kept prisoner;
Kemel - the gentle giant, who is looked down upon by his master, though despite his muteness is clearly quite intelligent and kind;
Jamie - who starts to question whether he is simply a pawn in The Doctor's games, while exploring his brave heart (ho ho) and sense of right and wrong;
Terral - a man somewhat controlled by the Daleks, likely due to his unspecified, deteriorated mental state/mental illness;
The Doctor - trying to fix everything while not annoying anyone too much, playing along as much as he schemes.
And others for flavour, I don't know, I guess I am just in awe at how much is achieved by this story, how well it all ties together and how compelling it all is.

Now, normally something like badly written expository dialogue would knock a point off of the score for a story for me, but I am going to make an exception here because I simply cannot justify giving this story less than a 10.
Truly brilliant.

10/10

The story itself is pretty decent, but on principle, I have to give this story a 1/10 for being overtly transphobic for no reason whatsoever.
This, for me, is one of the case studies as to how bigotry affects your reasoning skills, because the transphobic writer of this story made Captain Jack Harkness of all people, the openly omnisexual man from the 51st century, have a problem with trans people. Not the rapist. Not the police officer. Not the slightly withdrawn, quite traditional woman. Captain Jack Harkness, which on its own doesn't pass the smell test, but then puts it down to him not being able to trust his friend because she realized something about herself???
Ridiculous, callous, horrible, terrible.

1/10.

After what has been a stretch of quite boring and run-of-the-mill stories, it's nice to get to one that is just really very good fun, it isn't the deepest of mysteries, but what it sets out to do it achieves quite well. It uses the setting of the divergent universe and The Kro'Ka much better than most other stories set in this universe and it is quite cathartic to see The Doctors and co. finally coming face to face with them.
All together: won't set the world on fire, but was quite an enjoyable listen the whole way through.

8/10

The Doctor believes the ends justify the means, which is the kind of behaviour I thought we were trying to get away from with Big Finish's take on The Sixth Doctor. Evelyn is unobservant and doesn't know her British history. The villain monologues to himself and goes on poetic rants about morality for no apparent reason, yeah this whole thing is a mess.
Another thing, Evelyn dislikes The Doctor's belief that Mary has to die, but when he asks her to ostensibly bring her to her death, she does so without questioning it, which doesn't work for her role in the story, nor where Evelyn is in her personal relation to The Doctor at this point.
Though, being fair, those are the worst elements and the worst moments, the thing in and of itself is decently written and really well acted, those elements and moments just really irk me.

Also, they set up the mystery of who Knox is, letting it brew, letting people speculate, "He is a mysterious villain who seems to know The Doctor" "He has a TARDIS, a stolen TARDIS!" "Is it The Master?" "Could it be The Monk?" only to reveal it's........ someone you don't know! Not even a Time Lord, just some guy! JUST SOME RANDOM DUDE!

Also, tiny thing, yes Doctor, your TARDIS was stolen. Stolen personally, by you!

David Tennant is in this... I've got nothing to say about that, other than the role being a bit uncomfortable, as it is a person with a learning disability or some sort of brain damage, and that is treated with the delicacy one expects of the mid-2000s, that is to say, not great, but could certainly be a lot worse.

4.5/10

It is not often that I get genuinely angry at an audio adventure, since I am usually taking a lovely walk 'round my city or out in nature when listening to them.
However, this is some of the most boring, drawn-out, nothing-of-a-story, thinks-it-has-something-to-say-but-everything-it-says-is-a-tired-cliché Doctor Who story I have ever come across. The biggest compliment I can give this waste of 2-and-a-half hours is that the 'nothing' which makes up this entire story is somewhat competently written.

Now I don't necessarily have a problem with a story that has nothing new to say, I have enjoyed quite a few of them, but I have a problem with a story which has nothing new to say, yet is delivered with the gravitas of a story which is new and bold and untrodden territory, really saying some deep, dark truths about society, and that is exactly what this is.
It's like Jubilee without the wit or quality, it's like The Daleks without the fun or worldbuilding, it's like The Haunting of Villa Diodati without the characterisation or ability to juggle oodles of plot points and characters, it's like Creatures of Beauty without the weight or conceptuality, it's like Jim Mortimore and Rob Shearman were the only ones who had any ideas about what the hell to do with the Divergent Universe Arc.

Now, Paul McGann is Paul McGann and Paul McGann is amazing, but even he cannot give weight to a scene where The Doctor yells to the sky asking why he is being tormented, because, no matter how well that is delivered, outside of deliberately pulpy horror, it is patently ridiculous.
These Monthly Range releases vary in length, but given how slowly every line is delivered, and how lackadaisically every plot point is trodden through, you'd have thought that this was a story artificially lengthened for the sake of format. At the half-hour mark I genuinely yelled out "30 minutes!? But nothing has happened yet!"

I did not care for this all that much.

3.5/10

It is a decent little story. I find it especially fun that it's sort of a take on Orwell's 1984, with The Controller standing in for Big Brother and the obvious lie the oppressed people are made to believe, to show the regime's totalitarianism and fascism, is "There's no such thing as Macra" in place of "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia"
It can drag a bit at points, however, and it is very convenient how The Doctor gets allowed full access to the mine operation room, with no supervision, which they try to address, but fail to do so convincingly, merely hinting at a loosening of The Macra's control over certain people, without ever making it explicit enough.

7/10

The TARDIS Team play cowboys and it's really good fun. Light and relaxed, like a good holiday (similar to The Fires of Vulcan) with a big, tense, dramatic finish like any holiday.
It's a retelling of the classic tale of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, weirdly the first time I heard the story in full - though I did know it by reputation - so I can't speak for its accuracy, but I can speak for how good fun it is, and imagine how much fun it must have been to watch back in the day.

7.5/10

The Celestial Toymaker in a nutshell:

Steven/Dodo: gets annoyed at one of the Toymaker's minions
Dodo/Steven: Don't get annoyed it's just one of the Toymaker's minions
Steven/Dodo: gets annoyed at one of the Toymaker's minions
Dodo/Steven: Don't get annoyed it's just one of the Toymaker's minions
Steven/Dodo: gets annoyed at one of the Toymaker's minions
Dodo/Steven: Don't get annoyed it's just one of the Toymaker's minions
Steven/Dodo: gets annoyed at one of the Toymaker's minions
Dodo/Steven: Don't get annoyed it's just one of the Toymaker's minions

Also Dodo is written to act like a stupid child for some reason, and this has the most stilted dialogue I have ever heard in anything official, boy this whole thing is a mess!

2/10

Well, here we are, The Daleks' Master Plan, one of the most legendary Dalek stories, hell, to us hardcores, one of the most legendary Doctor Who stories, and given that hype, I gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed.
Now, the story is still good, well deserving of an 8, but it generally just feels a bit unambitious, just your run-of-the-mill Dalek story, without much to make it stand out, other than the immense length... and the yellowface.

The plot is basically; The Daleks have assembled powerful people from all around the galaxy (for no apparent reason) and one guy from Earth that has something that enables them to control/destroy/fast-forward time, The Doctor steals it, they play hot potato and then the machine gets destroyed.
Where it really wins back points for me is the fact that it's able to be coherent, fun and engaging for 12 straight parts, that's almost 5 hours! How many stories do you know that can keep your attention without complaint for 5 straight hours? That takes some doing, hats off to Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, that's a damn achievement.

More points come from the good performances, The Doctor is good, Steven and Sara are great, and much as I hate to admit it, the walking hate crime puts in a good performance as well.
The silly little break in the middle in the form of The Feast of Steven really works for me as just that, and of course the "...and Incidentally, a merry Christmas to all of you at home!" is one of the most legendary moments in Classic Who.
My favourite part, however, is the final part and how it completely refuses to pull its punches, killing off Sara in a very affecting scene and seriously injuring The Doctor, leading to one of William Hartnell's best performances (he was always the best at playing gruff) as he yells for Steven to get back to the TARDIS, the only black mark on that amazing scene is how quickly The Doctor goes back to his amused little laugh, a little callous in the face of the death of a person he liked.

So, really, the reason that I was disappointed was expectations, the story is good, quite good even, it just doesn't hold a candle to something as awe-inspiring as Genesis of The Daleks or The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It is quite good, it simply fails to be great.

8/10

The Beast of Orlok is a fun and exciting horror romp through the Schwartswald.
At first, I found the light tone a bit weird, seeing as it was clearly going for horror - a carriage, attacked in the dead of night by a horrible monster lurching from the shroud of the trees - that was until I realized that this story is a send-up of the Golden Age of Horror, with oodles of camp, horrifying monsters, devious schemes to upset the natural order of society and pearl-clutching wives one horrifying revelation from fainting into their husband's arms.
If you see it from that perspective it is really, really good fun, I could honestly see Moffat doing an episode like this - y'know, in a good way.

8/10

Stylistically really impressive and ambitious to have a story set entirely within a radio program, but I wish the actual story lived up to the ambitions of the concept.

When initially being met with the concept, stories like The Natural History of Fear and Creatures of Beauty naturally come to mind, but whereas those stories have a great concept which is heightened by the gripping story, here, the concept is doing all the heavy lifting. The story is your usual "The Doctor takes down a fascist government" plot, and that's about it, it is executed fine, but no better. I really wished they had gotten someone like Jim Mortimore or Rob Shearman in for the writing, because with someone like that at the helm this could have been truly amazing, as it stand it is really good, but no better.

8/10

Exiting finale that tied things up quite neatly.
8.5/10

What a lovely little story, the vibes are off-the-chart, hope they do find Rogue again, has some of the best pacing in the series so far.
9/10

This is a very, very good Black Mirror-esque story that tackles the issues of the selfishness of vapidity and hedonism, the perils of over-reliance on technology, the possible future colonization of Mars - as, likely the only ones who could afford to go are the wealthy - toxic positivity, xenophobia and the self-destructive nature of it.
I think the most insidious part of the story is, even as a modern consumer, I didn’t notice that all the members of Finetime were white, until the very end, because I am so used to seeing media populated only by white people, that it didn’t stand out until the episode pointed out that that, exactly that, is horrible, it genuinely made me feel like I was living in the past.
Now, this is something I feel is very much worth discussing, just on its own merits, but also because the show is Doctor Who. Yes, it is true that Doctor Who, in the sci-fi vein, has always been more progressive than its contemporaries, but even still, the show did quite famously make use of yellow-, brown- and blackface in the past, as well as hiring actual people of colour to play supporting parts without any speaking lines – as having lines of any kind demand more money – while having the white actors play the people of colour with speaking roles (See stories like Marco Polo for example).
So, the fact that it is Doctor Who making these comments on racism in society and how that is reflected in media and vice versa, is incredibly powerful, sold, beautifully by Ncuti’s most powerful scene yet.
Never has The Doctor been able to so personally tackle the issue of racism, and I am overjoyed that it is being done, now that it can, and done so well as this story.
Russel continues to prove that he has matured as a writer and that he can still dish out meaningful and thought-provoking social commentary like a person half his age.
And on the fangirl side of things, I am so happy that we have gotten a run of now four incredibly powerful and well-written stories in a row, they always make re-watches such a joy - like with the incredible run in series 3 from Human Nature, episode 8, to The Last of the Time Lords, episode 13.
9.3/10

Wild, crazy, grand, confusing, lovely, impossible, unsolved, amazing, aaaaaaah!
9.5/10