The Ninth Doctor #18

'What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow' (2005) from Doctor Who Annual 2006.

It's very different to experience a Doctor Who story from more of a writer-development perspective rather than canon-development. I don't really care as much about how this Sally Sparrow and the Blink Sally Sparrow could possibly be the same person, and instead find interest in how this plants many seeds that Moffat will later flower in the televised version. As a short story, though, it's plenty of fun, and shares a lot of the mystery and even dread that Blink has while being shrouded in that child-like fairytale wonder.

The Fifteenth Doctor #22

'Spectral Scream' (2025) from BBC New Series Adventures.

I like how this is sort of an extension of the First Doctor story The Arboreals, with a crashed spacecraft adapting to their environment in a unique way. Quite a lot of good stuff going on in this novel concept-wise, and the side characters are fun for the most part, beside the bounty hunters I think as they overstuff it all a bit too much for me. Belinda is okay here, gives her a bit more screentime essentially, but I don't really feel anything for her character. She lacks a lot of what Ruby has I feel like and it's frustrating that she's just been poorly treated.

The Ninth Doctor #17

'Old Friends: The Forth Generation' (2022) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention to this, but I was really not invested in the almost entirely action-based story here. Lots of military / Brigadier communications and Cyberman stuff going on. The partial conversion of the woman in the story was a highlight, but still I didn't have any connection to her or the other side characters unfortunately.

The Ninth Doctor #16

'Old Friends: Way of the Burryman' (2022) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

As a bit of an informal introduction to the Brigadier for me, minus one little First Doctor short story, I suppose a lot of his connection with Nine and their references to their past is a bit lost on me, but I still enjoyed their conversations together. The setting of Scotland with the Burryman and the Forth Bridge is an interesting piece of history with all of the related accidents, and I suppose turning those lost people into Cybermen would be sort of fun maybe if there wasn't a Cyberman story literally two stories ago in these box sets. But the presence of Kreel is quite well done here, even if Nicholas Briggs' performance kind of makes him sound like General Grevious, and as a cliffhanger the reveal is cool. This is generally a pretty solid first-part in a two-parter that doesn't overall work for me unfortunately.

The Ninth Doctor #15

'Old Friends: Fond Farewell' (2022) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

A pretty good concept here, with a funeral home that can recreate a person to attend their own funeral, very kind of Moffat vibes there. The mystery of Flynn Beckett's missing memories is a good one to unravel, and I think I enjoyed this a fair bit. I was unfortunately listening to it while a little stressed at work, and was pausing it quite a lot, so the flow of it didn't quite make it all work for me, but I don't think that was the fault of the story, and regardless of that I think I'd call it one of my favourites from these NDAs.

The Ninth Doctor #14

'Lost Warriors: Monsters in Metropolis' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

Some really fantastic stuff in this one. Very glad I saw Metropolis for the first time only a month or so ago so none of the references were lost on me, and in general it was a really fun setting for a cyberman story. The humanisation of the cyberman was interesting, and comparing that with the true villain of the story worked nicely enough. Not quite sure if it all pulled together perfectly, but it was a very good time overall.

The Ninth Doctor #13

'Lost Warriors: The Curse of Lady Macbeth' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

It's a shame that this is such a nothing story because the setting and the characters are a really fun idea. Seeing the true characters of the Macbeth play is a great idea for a historical, but it's all just a bit boring and leaves me feeling really indifferent about it all. I had little-to-no connection with any of the characters or the way that the story was told, which sucks because the Fuath is a cool concept for a villain, but I couldn't tell you anything about it because this really didn't grasp my attention at all unfortunately.

The Ninth Doctor #12

'Lost Warriors: The Hunting Season' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

Putting Nine in a wartime setting is always so lush. His characters works wonders in that period with his fresh Time War grief, as shown in The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, as well as in Battle Scars, which this story actually bears quite a few similiarities to, with the villain being a hard-up kind of arsehole who turns out to be an alien. Some cool stuff in here with that, and the relationship between him and his daughter and the way that The Doctor perceives that is quite fascinating. Not sure if I find this as enjoyable as Battle Scars, I just think the characters aren't quite as well performed, but the Fleshkins are a nice little idea and serve as a well-done switcheroo revealing the true villain of the story.

The Ninth Doctor #11

'Respond to All Calls: Planet of the End' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

Some very cool stuff going on here, but I don't quite think it all lands together well for me. I really love how Nine is portrayed here, it feels the closest to how he appears in Rose that I've experienced so far with his EU. His conversations with the Guardian AKA Fred, and the way that she responds to him, is all rather poignant, and their relationship only gets more lovely as it goes on. The story does get a little bit convoluted for me in that kind of high-tech Ravagers sort of way, with Incorporations and mind palace regeneration energy type f**kery going on that is very easily lost on me in an audio-only format. But when it worked, it worked well here, especially with how The Doctor was immobilised for like 100 years, which always works well as an idea for a seemingly-immortal being such as him and I love how it's used in episodes like Heaven Sent or kind of implied in The Destruction of Time. Definitely one I would revisit in the future.

The Ninth Doctor #10

'Respond to All Calls: Fright Motif' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

A bit of a swing-and-a-miss here, and hardly really a swing at all to be honest. Just a very tired style of Doctor Who story for me at this point I think, with the very vague monster that kind of only exists as a big concept, nothing all that tangible. The side characters here really aren't very interesting either, and the poor American accent is highly distracting to me. Nine fits in well with a post-war Paris setting, but doesn't really get the chance to stretch his legs all too well with that as it's barely explored.