I have been hesitant going into this series due to my lack of enjoyment of series 14/season 1, but I have gone into it with an open mind, avoiding leaks, trailers and exclusive clips to try and bring my enjoyment back of the show and keep it all fresh.

The Robot Revolution is a weird episode to me, it vaguely reminds me of classic who stories like The Sun Makers, with rebels trying to fight against their oppressors, entering the rebels hideouts, cute robot pets, the companion taking a leading role. It's a staple of Doctor Who and always has been. Although it gives me more of the vibe of RTD's/Benjamin Cooks reimagined, colourised edits of classic who. When watching it it feels like I'm watching a colourised version of 1964 story, The Robot Revolution parts 1-4, edited down into 45ish minutes, cutting out vital pieces of information and only including action sequences and necessary exposition, because the entire episode moves way too fast and with completely random moments, seriously what was with the random cat murder? I know there's a scene out there somewhere on the cutting room floor where Belinda interacts with this cat on the way in from work or in the garden, that actually would've added emotional weight onto this otherwise needless cruelty.

The general idea of the plot works well, but kind of starts to lose me a little in the third act when RTD starts to throw out a bunch of buzzwords and doesn't really expand on it all that much. Alan as a villain does very little for me because his 2 minutes of screentime at the beginning of the episode failed to convey properly that he was an incel, and more so just gave off the vibe of weird nerd who doesn't fully know how to interact with women, not the vibe of 'hates women and wants to control not only them but entire planets'. It's not until the third act when he's revealed as the villain just how controlling he was of Belinda as teens, and I can't help but feel like moving those scenes to the start of the episode probably would've helped the reveal be a bit less jarring.

For me, the best parts of the episode are the small scenes we get of the rebel hideouts, I love the parts of this show where we see small bands of survivors, hiding away trying to figure out how to overthrow their oppressors, and this episode does that really well, but the scenes are too short, and the rebels aren't characterised to their fullest potential. Manny is the rebel with the most lines (he's nice to look at as well), but even he doesn't have much to do rather than sneer and blame Belinda for Sasha 55's death.

Now, talking about Belinda. This isn't Varada's first time on the show, but it is her first as a full time companion and I have to say, I am interested by her. My favourite companions have a bit of 'I don't want to be here' energy to them. Tegan, Barbara and now Belinda all fit this bill, and I am interested to see if she is going to keep this element further into this season or if it's going to be thrown away by the start of the next episode. Following on from the last season, this TARDIS team already feels more grown up and mature. They are no longer giggling schoolchildren besties, but now adults who can have grown up conversations. Belinda chastising the Doctor for scanning her DNA without consent stood out to me as something Ruby wouldn't even have considered to be something that could be problematic, or have called out the Doctor for.

One of my main criticisms of series 14/season 1 was the lack of conflict between the two main characters, which already seems to be solved one episode into series 15, so if they continue along this route then I may potentially like this season a lot more than the previous. But for now, I give The Robot Revolution a 6/10. Enjoyable, but way too fast paced with a messy third act.

nyssas been having bad dreams of traken, which is understandable given the circumstances, however when she finds a jewel in a box she starts having someone elses dreams. its trippy and weird but its nice to see some familiar old faces and establishes a cute little bit of lore.

this is great at creating very abstract concepts and communicating them in a way thats somewhat understandable. its freaky science fiction with multiple layers. the dialogue between the main characters is witty, the side characters are great and the enemy is bewilderingly complicated in a way that only benefits the story.

the story is told from nyssas perspective presumably a while after shes left the tardis in the future, and its got a very depressing vibe. theres some really cool moments like her literal death but i feel like the dar traders are undeveloped and its not really overly explained what their exact purpose is. the story takes a weird turn in the last 15 minutes as well and none of it really meshes well with other elements of the story. not the best companion chronicle.

promising to be an epic 6 part adventure, it just turns out to be a long and unexciting plod. its one of the most disappointing releases from the fifth doctor range in recent years. its overly confusing and doesnt do a great job explaining itself, the concept sounds way better than the way it was actually executed. its 6 parts and yet ive got barely anything to say about it other than the cast do a relatively good job.

a purely engaging and thrilling story from the fifth doctor adventures. its another murder mystery and if we're going by the timeline of serpent in the silver mask -> black orchid -> the merfolk murders then its 3 murder mysteries in a row. but tim foleys writing here makes me deeply care about the entire cast of characters. adric gets a lovely little romance with a guy called henry, nyssa bonds with a soldier over losing their families, the doctor gets to revel in playing detective after some comedic teasing by tegan being very enthusiastic to solve the mystery. its all really well crafted

Have always loved black orchid from the first time i watched it. only 2 parts but very entertaining. part 1 doesn't really do anything to build up the plot. it just sets the scene and its really cosy to watch the doctor playing cricket, meeting ann talbot and the cranleighs, learning about what happened to george cranleigh and having a fancy dress party. a lovely little 2 parter

not much to say about this one other than its a standard murder mystery, but that doesnt mean its not good. all a murder mystery really needs is engaging side characters and this has them in spades. its also not really predictable and does a unique twist involving time travel in the reveal of the murderer.

one of the most intriguing bits of this audio is a potential romance between tegan and one of the side characters. its a real softer side to tegan that i enjoy

This story is straight up horror. It's hopeless, it's bleak, it's atmospheric, it's scary. It might be the bleakest story yet. There's a specific moment in part one, where nyssa is held by the, as yet unknown, entity. its a truly spine chilling moment and sarah sutton really sells the moment.

one quote in particular from a later part stands out. nyssa develops a close relationship with matthew, the village reverend who falls in love with her. she rejects him and he later accuses of her being a witch. nyssa is betrayed and hurt but the specific line "matthew, is this all because i said no?" hits HARD, especially with her delivery.

the ending is delivered perfectly as well. everything gets tied up and explained.

It's honestly hilarious. There's not many stories where I can say I'm laughing throughout but this one manages to just be funny, constantly. nyssa shines here as she settles, almost disconcertingly well into her role as nyssa the destroyer, even the doctor is put off by her over enthusiastic performance. the world building itself is done exceedingly well and the main royal couple manage to be fantastic, layered side characters in their own rights. the story almost gives the illusion of being a very cliched- which it kinda is but it also does it in such an entertaining way you dont care.