I'm so mad that such a fun episode with a really good premise and potential for relevant social commentary got ruined by that speech at the end

They had a 10 quid budget, david tennant, and a dream and they made one of the best episodes in all of television

This is just 11 and 12 arguing for like half an hour and its amazing. Also there's vampires and river song references so what more could you want. The mystery is neat too but it takes a back seat to the fun multi-doctor interactions, which works for a short trip story.

Really fun and intruging drama that brings up a lot of questions about Time Lord ethics and political intruige. I loved Romana and her decisive leadership and also Leelas unique perspective that contrasted and complimented her. Very fun banter between all the characters; I really liked Brax here. K9 is delightful but I thought the slave disguise thing was a bit uncomfortable. As someone getting into Gallifrey it was a little hard to follow at times since there are so many new characters and organisations and plot threads. I imagine it would be even better if you re-listened to it later to get the full experience. However this doesn't stop it from being a super interesting introduction to the series and im excited to listen to more.

(Also, they mention the Doctor occasionally which makes me very happy; they're my favourite character)

I've watched this three times now and every time I do, I like it a bit more. Obviously the biggest issue is the whole "lets starve the spiders instead of shooting them" at the end, which makes absolutely no sense from a moral perspective. But otherwise its a really fun episode with some decent character work