The Thirteenth Doctor #18

'Citation Needed' (2019) from The Target Storybook.

I was surprised to learn that the Encyclopedia Gallifreya was from a Moffat episode and not some Douglas Adams-type nonsense from the Tom Baker era which it so much feels like. A very fun idea to explore in a story of its own here after seemingly little screen-time, and it's done quite well. The tie-in with the ending of Series 11 is neat too, even if I can't say I remember The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos well at all.

The Fifteenth Doctor #19

'Where Did They Get the Pig?' (2025) from Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition 69.

Including this little RTD-penned short story here because it hasn't been added to the site yet. While not really a Doctor story, I believe it's implied that Fifteen makes an appearance at the end. The rest of the story is a nice little prequel to Aliens of London showing how
Margaret Blaine got her space pig. A good and quick read.

The Fifteenth Doctor #20

'What I Did On My Holidays By Omo Esosa' (2025) from BBC Doctor Who website.

Great to finally have a casual Fifteen story drop on the website like this. It's a good expansion on the opening scene of this week's The Story & the Engine, just adding that little bit more to the world and the storytelling. I definitely want more little things like this cropping up outside of short story collections and full NSAs.

The Thirteenth Doctor #17

'Who-Dini?' (2019) from Star Tales.

I thoroughly enjoy the passing of the narrative baton from Twelve to Thirteen in this story. The story itself is nice, a little convoluted with the shapeshifter element and the Houdini's seeing themselves as young stuff going on, but it was mostly enjoyable and another well-spent time with this TARDIS team.

The Thirteenth Doctor #16

'Molten Heart' (2018) from BBC New Series Adventures.

It made total sense that this was written by the same writer as Fifteen's 'Caged', and honestly I much preferred 'Molten Heart' to that. The rock-people are fun, the general plot is simple and has good world-building. I also love the TARDIS team dynamics. Nice to have The Doctor and Ryan together and Yaz and Graham, mixes it up in a good way. A breezy read that furthers my enjoyment of Thirteen a lot.

The Ninth Doctor #8

'Ravagers: Food Fight' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

I still don't really have any understanding of what the Ravagers are here? They're a star that eats fear by gaming? I literally have no idea. All of the plot of this three-part story certainly falls on deaf ears for me unfortunately, but I am intrigued by Nine and Nova's relationship. The most integral part of Food Fight is the final scene where The Doctor meets her again for the first time and has to retrace his footsteps and develop a new relationship with her. It's a cool set-up for a companion, just a shame that the story surrounding it is too convoluted and confusing for me to appreciate fully. I hope Respond to All Calls is an improvement, and more digestble than this beginning three-part story.

The Ninth Doctor #7

'Ravagers: Cataclysm' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

Continuing my confusion from Sphere of Freedom, and the wiki plot synopsis struggling to make me follow the narrative all the better, it's difficult to summarise my feelings on this part of the story. Audrey is somewhat interesting as a character, but the collapse of time and the universe à la The Big Bang amongst other Eleven-era stories is just too much for me a lot of the time, especially in audio format where I don't have visual cues to follow the events. I did enjoy Nine and Nova's relationship developing more here, the prison scene in particular. Aside from that I maintain the feelings I outlined in my previous review in regard to part two here.

The Ninth Doctor #6

'Ravagers: Sphere of Freedom' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

A really, really wobbly start to the Christopher Eccleston Big Finish run for me here. The non-linear narrative I found to be exceedingly confusing, especially as this three-part story goes on and becomes more and more convoluted. Reading over the wiki plot synopsis, it's making more sense, but personally as a whole the entire project failed to grasp me narratively, likely due to completely refusing to hold my hand through the storyline. Maybe this is a me problem, but I felt a big disconnect as a result of this. As for this first episode itself however, I can commend Eccleston slipping straight back into the role nicely, and Nova is... okay? She's introduced neatly enough and performed fine, but nothing that stand-out as a companion introduction. Similiar to The Bleeding Heart, it does take some getting used to having Nine in a big maximalist science-fiction planet setting after his Earth-bound Series 1 run, and while the immersive gaming set-up doesn't really work for me, nor make it's way into the story even that much, it's nice to imagine The Doctor in these new overwhelming settings some more.

The Thirteenth Doctor #8

'Where's the Doctor?' (2018) from Doctor Who The Official Annual 2019.

Quite a good one. Mainly because it canonises Queen Elizabeth II as being a great big lizard - aside from that it's more of a collage of all of The Doctor's incarnations all being present for her coronation. Not really much of a focus on Thirteen.

The Fifteenth Doctor #18

'"No Signs of Life"' (2025) from Doctor Who Magazine 615.

Echoing the sentiment of some others on this site that six pages just really aren't enough to do a whole lot of anything apparently. All three of these solo-Fifteen stories have felt like a waste of what was a good opportunity to explore his character more in-between companions, but instead they're all faltering. This one here has the most potential, acting as a prologue to a comic strip from fourty years ago, which is a nice idea and a fun way to bridge the gap between Classic and Modern Doctor Who even moreso. While I find the little bit of world-building interesting, the story doesn't really go anywhere without venturing into that Classic story, and I can't say leaves any impression on me. The Panacea is a bit rad though.

The Thirteenth Doctor #15

'Combat Magicks' (2018) from BBC New Series Adventures.

Despite the fact that this took me literal months to get through, I do feel as though it's a rather good read. I've been a bit off with my reading habits lately which is likely the main reason why this took me a while to get through, but it is also long - much longer than any of the Fifteen NSA's, probably because there are three companions to jump around narratively with instead of just the one. Yaz, Ryan, and Graham all have a good amount of time focused on them here, especially Graham who has the most interesting placement in the story for me. The Doctor is a bit so-so, primarily talking jargon, not too much character stuff going on with her. Attila the Hun and the other characters are used well, and the Tenctrama are an intriguing villain - a little confusing and convoluted, but I'm sure they would've worked great in a televised story. This feels like it fits in perfectly with Series 11, alongside stories like The Witchfinders and Demons of the Punjab. Hopefully it doesn't take me so long to get through the next one.