jesus f**king christ

i never realized how much i missed 13 but by far she was my favorite part of this episode. yaz mention in big 2025 is crazy

i also think the scene where the doctor and belinda gradually casually forget about poppy, accentuated by poppy’s coat getting smaller and smaller until it finally just disappears, was uncharacteristically well done, a properly tragic and dread-inducing scene. i have now finished praising this episode

first doctor to die by suicide, purely so belinda can remain forever a single mother living with her parents in a reality completely different to the one she originally came from with zero idea of what her life was really like. #wholesome i literally f**king hate this so much. and if i said worst companion exit of all time

i never properly bought 15. he’s a good actor but what was he ever supposed to do with any of the material he was given. he never had a chance to BECOME dr who. give him an occasional gravitas-laden speech, make him quirky and silly and wacky and crazyyy, we got all that but we never got that moment where the actor actually becomes dr who, and now that he’s gone it all just feels like a wash. i don’t hate the idea of billie piper as the doctor though! i will always prefer a new face for the doctor rather than an old one, but i also feel generally more forgiving to the idea of the doctor taking a companion’s face rather than taking their own again (still not over “fourteen” sorry). very much stunt casting and yet another disheartening symptom of rtd being unable to look anywhere but the past, but i think she absolutely has what it takes for the role - if she really even is the doctor. i’m absolutely #befuddled at why the screen shattered during the doctor’s first??? regeneration scene? and then he woke up in belinda’s f**king nightmare hell world? and then joy to the world and then billie piper????? and then the credits, well, credit, ncuti gatwa as the doctor, jodie whittaker as the doctor, and “introducing billie piper”????? AS???? AS FUCKING WHO????? DOCTOR FUCKING WHO???? and as curious as i am about all this, i also really don’t want to care. the prospect of these lingering questions being answered a year or two from now does not excite me nearly as much as just another fresh start would. i cannot wait for rtd to go

doctor who in its current incarnation is defined by nothing more than hype moments and aura, completely devoid of anything resembling substance or respect for the audience or even itself. it doesn’t seem to think itself capable of great things anymore, and that’s just soul-crushing to see as a fan. we got heaven sent ten years ago. we got the doctor falls eight years ago. what the f**k is the point anymore. if the show itself refuses to care, why the f**k should we. but i do. but why do i have to?

the pacing is laughably bad, the sound mixing is atrocious, and the tacked on regeneration is unnecessary and ugly, but at the end of the day this is still the war games. peak is peak, even if it's neutered

a really strong start! having recently finished my first go through the 1960s stories, i’ve found myself really eager for more, and these second doctor audios seemed like a good place to pick up from! i love the confidence in going ahead with establishing a timeline post-“war games”, pre-“spearhead”, i already find it really fascinating. michael troughton’s performance as the second doctor isn’t 1:1 voice-wise, but the dedication to the replication of patrick troughton’s mannerisms does wonders to really make it feel like 2 never even left :) i also really quite liked raven’s voice, i found it relaxing. the other characters this story, silas and catrona, didn’t particularly do much for me, but they served a decent enough purpose, more specifically cat did.

the story comes to a weak and half-baked climax unfortunately, but it does very little to harm my opinion on the story overall, which i found to be an atmospheric, engrossing, ominous, thoroughly interesting and also quite comfortable listen that i really enjoyed!

an improvement upon the generic and unfocused mess of “sphere of freedom”, but still fails to remain interesting for most of its runtime. everything to do with the centurions in the last story felt like an unimportant detour, and the fact that it gets continued in this one - for one short sequence - both makes it seem more important but also more frustrating since it has nothing to do with anything else happening

i go back and forth on liking nova or not, but for the most part i think she fulfills her purpose and has occasional moments of likability. audrey has potential to be a decent antagonist, and the elaboration on her character in this story proves that further, but she still has ways to go before i feel that she actually fully works

in short, better than the last story but still just not good. i hope “food fight” can at least wrap things up decently

I was very excited for the return of Christopher Eccleston, but there really isn't anything about this story in particular that feels anything like a very grand return. A boring story, confusing, muddled and inconsistent pacing, and even the acting from Eccleston himself doesn't seem to go very far beyond "serviceable". I'll continue listening to the 9DAs because Nine is one of my favourite Doctors and I'm also still very interested in immersing myself further into the audio stories, but this is far from a great start.

my very first doctor who audio!! :) i really wanted to listen to this one because i just finished watching through the 1960s tv seasons for the first time (easily one of my favourite eras of who) and wanted some more, and also because i really quite liked katarina for the short time we had her back in the myth makers--the daleks' master plan, so i thought this one sounded really interesting! this was funny, exciting, super original and creative, and all around really impressive. not only a great additional showcase for a short-lived companion, but also even a great showcase for every other character too! both doctors along with steven, jamie, and zoe were written for the most part really faithfully and played really well in a way that makes it feel like they never even left :) you can definitely hear the age in their voices, but the fact that it's the same actors at all (bar 1 and katarina) is really more than enough already. i'm really impressed with this story, i thought it was a great listen! looking forward to exploring more :)