Planet of the Spiders is a fantastic finale to this era, as well as a deserving sendoff to Jon Pertwee's Doctor. Those scenes in the cave during the final 2 episodes where he acts off against the Great One are brilliant, and this line from the Giant spider herself is fantastic:

'Is that fear I can feel in your mind? You are not accustomed to feeling frightened, are you, Doctor? You are very wise to be afraid of me. '

Mike Yates also makes his return here, and acts well in his final performance, playing off alongside Sarah Jane. Unfortunately this story suffers from a few things that stop it from being perfect:

• The shoddy green screen on Metebelis Three (last year it was a beautiful blue crystal planet now it looks really bad and desert-like)
• The lack of UNIT regulars (Brigadier and Benton are in Parts 1 & 2 but go missing for the rest of the story, which for Pertwee's final story, is a crying shame)
• The chase which takes up half of Part 2. Why didn't the spider just teleport him back to the monastery immediately?
• And unfortunately the regeneration sequence itself. Bear with me.

The regeneration itself is a shame because Pertwee is barely intergal to it and not the main focus. You get the fact that he's dying, but the arrival of Kan'po really throws the balance and the tone right off. Overall, Planet of the Spiders is good but let down in certain areas. 8/10 - 4/5 stars.

The Marian Conspiracy is easily the highlight of the small number of Big Finish's output I have listened to so far (the others being Helicon Prime, Storm Warning, Sword of Orion and The Spectre of Lanyoon Moor). It's status as a pure historical works to its advantage, managing to craft a brilliant story. Evelyn also makes a superb first impression, and immediatly works wonderfully alongside Colin Baker's 6th Doctor. It's such a shame that these 2 weren't on TV together, as I believe they have the potential to rival pairings such as 2 and Jamie or 3 and Jo. Overall, a solid 9/10 = 4.5/5 story.

Rose is an important episode, as it brought the show back after a long hiatus. While this story is a fairly standard typical alien invasion plot, it is probably what the show needed to bring it back. No need to go all out crazy with Daleks or Cybermen, just a simple story with Rose going about her daily life, before getting thrown into the Doctor’s life after nearly being killed by Autons. Speaking of the Doctor, Christopher Eccleston immediately makes a big impact, making an effective first impression. I really like how the episode explores these themes of if the Doctor is even a safe person for Rose to be around, and her trying to understand what kind of danger she’s in for. If there was one negative thing I had to say about this episode, some of the visual effects also don’t look that good, especially the scene where Mickey is getting pulled into the bin. So overall, while not a perfect 10/10 story by any means, Rose serves as a fairly good introductory episode and does set up the first series and the revival as a whole pretty well. 7/10 = 3.5/5.

The Power of the Daleks is easily one of the most important stories in Doctor Who's 60+ history. We've got a new Doctor, we've got the Daleks, and we've got an S tier story to go along with them. Ben's distrust of the Doctor is really well-played by Michael Craze, as he is initially suspicious of who he considers to be an imposter. Polly, on the other hand, is more willing to accept the Doctor's new incarnation and personality. After all, stranger things have happened...

The Daleks themselves are easily the highlight of this story. After being turned into a cheap joke in The Chase (1965), they felt like they had lost some of their menace. But this story shows the Daleks at their best; manipulating the human colonists of Vulcan to get their way. I have never been scared of the Daleks (personally I reckon the Cybermen are much more of a scary concept); but this story came close to making me scared of the Daleks. This really just goes to show that Dalek stories don't need some universe-ending threat to make us fear them.

Overall, The Power of the Daleks is a 10/10, 5 star, S tier story. Easily one of the greats of not just the 1960s, but Doctor Who itself. Only downside is that none of it exists for us to enjoy, making those glimpses that are the 8mm film clips all the more precious.