The First Doctor #24

'Quinnis' (2010) from The Companion Chronicles.

More than anything this has made me excited for the future adventures with Susan and the Eighth Doctor with her son Alex, and the brief frame story of her mentioning that is cute. The main story itself however didn't really work for me. The setting was quite visually striking (at least in the way I pictured it - in a way very influenced by Elden Ring which I'm playing at the moment), but for some reason I found the rest of the plot quite disinteresting, with Meedla and the Shrazer - I also didn't pick up that the woman villager simply owned a piglet, and didn't herself look like a piglet, so I assumed all of the village people looked like pigs as well. More of a me problem there, although I kind of preferred that.

The First Doctor #23

'The Gift' (2005) from Short Trips: The History of Christmas.

The first of very likely many First Doctor stories that somewhat depends on your knowledge of future events in order to get the full extent of the story itself. I haven't met the Brigadier in Classic Who so I don't really have any understanding of him or his partner in the context of the show, but here they had a nice brief time that I can understand the cuteness of, despite the smaller details being lost to me. A very simple story aside from that with not much else going on other than the fanservice of seeing this incarnation meeting Lethbridge-Stewart.

The First Doctor #22

'Bide-a-Wee' (2004) from Short Trips: Past Tense.

Certainly an interesting premise, very similar to that of Pleasantville, and experiencing the mystery becoming slowly unravelled was intriguing, although I had some fears as to what the story was going to be about when The Doctor first asked Prentice to stay away from the child and then proceeded to take the child to an ice cream parlour by himself... I thought it was about to go to a far darker place than it ended up going (seemingly?), and after that had been de-escalated I suppose my expectations were altered and I didn't find the payoff all too interesting. A fairly simple "the past isn't all that great" story, with some kind of poor characterisation of The First Doctor overall.

The First Doctor #21

'The Price of Conviction' (2008) from Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership.

Another serviceable little pure historical - I like how these First Doctor stories are shedding some small light on events that I personally don't know anything about. They serve as a good jumping off point and oftentimes moral exploration for my own research deeper into the period if it interests me enough. Here I don't feel all too much towards the story, but Susan is once again given a nice space within the story and it's overall a pleasant enough adventure.

The First Doctor #20

'Urrozdinee' (1994) from Doctor Who Yearbook 1995.

A very sparse and brief story in which The Doctor and Susan have practically zero engagement with the rest of the story about politics in a futuristic Paris. Pretty nothing unfortunately, but Susan and The Doctor are well understood in their writing.

The Fifteenth Doctor #14

'Everyone Must Go!' (2024) from Titan Comics.

Quite easily one of my favourite stories featuring Fifteen thus far. Just really jaw-dropping artwork on every page, some great moments of The Doctor and Ruby both while together and separated, and honestly, my favourite Doctor Who villain in quite a while! The Scream Sommelier has it all: awesome design, frightening presence, scene domination, as well as a bit of campiness. The imagery of his scream cellar is so visually lush, and there are just countless panels featuring him that are so cool. Even most of the alternate posters for the comic series. The Scream Sommelier's little final Toymaker-esque moment was a lot of fun. The Cybermen design is also great, and they serve a good purpose in the story, adding some worldbuilding to them in the Doctor Who universe as they are manifested from the fear of a young refugee of their attacks. I also really enjoy the Cankaranka too despite their brief presence in the story. Ruby's time spent with them, and her dealing with the consequences of her Doctor-like actions harkens back to companions like Clara in a really great way. Her characterisation here is worlds above her characterisation on-screen.

The Fifteenth Doctor #13

'Scream' Free Comic Book Day (2024) from Titan Comics.

Straight off the bat, the art-style here is gorgeous, and it's a great introduction to Everyone Must Go! - essentially serving as the pre-title sequence in a very effective way. Immediately establishes a some good communication between The Doctor and Ruby in the TARDIS, a few highlights of The Doctor's past, establishing an entity attempting to make him afraid. A fun brisk mini-adventure in 18th century Yorkshire and a stellar final panel.

The Fifteenth Doctor #12

'Eden Rebellion' (2024) from BBC New Series Adventures.

There's undeniably some very interesting worldbuilding woven into this story - and I highly respect its exploration of indigenous cultures in a high science-fiction fantasy setting - however, the story itself feels a little drowned out and muddled in this overly convoluted world it's trying to be set within, and the set of side characters and their motives and relationships, despite seemingly being very present, just feel a touch vapid and uninteresting to me. It's a tricky one to really describe my feelings on outside of "it just didn't do it for me", so I suppose I'll have to leave it with that. Definitely some cool stuff in here though, it just doesn't all come together in the end personally.

The Fifteenth Doctor #11

'Sting of the Sasquatch' (2024) from BBC Audio Originals.

Great stuff here - fits in with the fantasy theme of Season 1 really very well with dimension-hopping telepathic sasquatch. Nice to have a bit of Doctor-heavy story - his interactions with the main sasquatch are good and form a nice couplet of this and On Ghost Beach with similar themes of travelling aliens meeting. I especially love the ending with the two extra companions for the episode actually joining the sasquatch in their spaceship at the end, a really bold move that I can't recall seeing before in the modern era of the televised show. A big winner here.

The Fifteenth Doctor #10

'On Ghost Beach' (2024) from BBC Audio Originals.

Susan Twist's narration and voices are spectacular - and the story element of Ruby and The Doctor battling memories forcing themselves into their heads is really cool (although a little repetitive here). Some great stakes, and an interesting climax and villain. Adds quite a big possibility to The Doctor in quite a frightening way. Somewhat overlong of a story, but a very pleasant time spent.