i love hype moments and aura

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Red Planets

Once again, the vibes are on point. The setting is really eerie and feels like it's come straight out of McCoy's era on the show. The first half isn't all that remarkable but it manages to coast by on a good bit of tension and really enjoyable character interactions. Arkallax was particularly well voiced and made for a great villain, not too dissimilar from someone like the Toymaker. I also like a good cliffhanger at the end.

Next Story: The Quantum Possibility Engine

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Silurian Candidate

The vibes of this story are immaculate. I'm not even sure what was going on, I just know I liked it. It's very surreal and timey-wimey but also grounded and tense, particularly in the scenes with Ace at the beginning. The idea of a alternate timeline where the East won the Cold War has been done to death both outside and probably inside Doctor Who but I still really enjoyed it here.

Next Story: The Dispossessed

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Blood Furnace

Despite this timeline's best efforts to get me to give up, I'm still going. I will say, I have to respect this story for finally doing something different with the Silurians, even though it takes an hour for it to actually get there. The first half of this story doesn't feature any Silurians and is instead the Doctor and co. exploring an ancient Silurian temple. I don't think I have to say that it wasn't particularly interesting.

I actually quite liked Warriors of the Deep, particularly for it's futuristic setting. To have a story explore that in greater detail is definitely something I appreciate, although it didn't really tackle that aspect as much as it could have. The main thing bringing this story down is just how little actually happens in it and how wasted the whole concept is.

There should have been another way (to write a sequel to Warriors of the Deep)

Next Story: Red Planets

I'm torn cause I think the messaging in this episode absolutely sucks. It's just very clunky and ends up going for a "actually the government establishment are the good guys facing evil injustices from the evil podcasters". It just absolutely fails at delivering the right message and it really proves that even without the Chibnall era production issues he struggles with this kind of thing.

HOWEVER, Jonah Hauer-King smashes it as Conrad and I really hope he gets more roles in the future as smug, obnoxious assholes because he is insanely good. That twist scene where it's revealed it was all a set-up was brilliant and he's really good at making you hate his guts.

Still, the episode is riddled with plotholes (Conrad breaks into UNIT, shoots a guy and starts pointing a gun at multiple people and he still thinks he can paint himself to be the good guy?? really??? after breaking that many laws?? also the fake Shreek scene just makes no sense cause he's trying to say that UNIT have a bunch of costumed monsters but the only costumed monsters there are the one's he hired, they're literally recording the whole thing. How does that in any way prove that UNIT is faking monsters????).

Anyway little ramble over I sincerely hope Pete McTighe doesn't get to go anywhere near the showrunner role but this episode tried it's best despite him.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The High Price of Parking

Not much to say about this one, it's just bad. It's got weird vibes and no plot. The kind of slop that makes it so difficult to convince myself to carry on with this.

Next Story: The Silurian Candidate

I'm actually impressed. This is another idea that sounded pretty awful that's actually been executed really well. It would've been really easy to make the midnight entity a lot less scary or just retread the same things that were already done in Midnight but instead this story opts to go for a new route. It really isn't anything like Midnight and in a way that's what makes it such a successful sequel because that's the midnight entity's whole schtick - evolving and adapting.

Really solid, I think the only thing I would've changed is not have the midnight entity throw people around as that was a bit silly, have them crumple to the ground or something. Otherwise another banger and we're 2 for 3 this season so far. Even the overarching plot is way better here, even if it's mostly the same thing. Mrs Flood is just a much more interesting and dynamic character than Susan Triad and I enjoy every one of her appearances.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Maker of Demons

Well, it's been a little while since I've written a review for Doctor Who (other than Lux). I actually stopped halfway through this one and didn't touch anything Doctor Who for a good few weeks. Not because this story was bad though. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's very reminiscent of stories like The Sun Makers with really blatant and ridiculous satires on different aspects of society. The main idea behind this one is a planet that only serves as a galaxy-scale parking lot, complete with it's own society that formed after getting lost years ago.

There's some solid dialogue in the story and I think the Doctor, Ace, and Mel are balanced quite well. The twist was quite good, even if by then I'd forgotten most of the smaller details. It's mainly carried by the setting and is otherwise nothing special

Next Story: The Blood Furnace

I think this is my favourite episode of RTD2 and that's saying something when you have such heavy hitters as Wild Blue Yonder and 73 Yards. Every single second of this episode is brilliant. I love the visuals, I love the cinematography, the characters. I could go on like that for ages.

After The Devil's Chord, which I thought was pretty messy I thought this 20th century historical would go down a similar path but I'm glad to say it's absolutely exceeded my expectations. I think 1950s Florida is much better realised here than 1960s London was, which is funny considering it's a British show.

Belinda continues to be an excellent companion. She has a lot of character and brilliant chemistry with the Doctor. She has a much more believable friendship with the Doctor at the end of this episode than Ruby did at the same point in the last season, which is impressive considering how little she trusted him in the last episode.

Now... Mr Ring-a-ding. Possibly one of the best characters to come out of Doctor Who full stop. Alan Cumming breathes so much life into him with his performance. The effects for him are fantastic. For the first time in this era you can really see the budget. It's hard to believe that this is the same show that debuted the Quarks and the Chumbleys.

I adore the meta stuff here. I knew that it was coming (it leaked online, which made that line so much better). In an era where Doctor Who is recieving all sorts of hate I feel like it could have been really easy to write the Doctor Who fans as annoying and spiteful as a sort of gotcha so I have nothing but immense respect for writing them with such depth and care. What could have easily been mockery was really sweet and it led to one of the first crying scenes for the Doctor that truly felt deserved. I love that it was left open-ended as to whether they were real or not.

There's a lot of really good emotional beats in this story, from the theatre owner's love story to the way Mr Ring-a-ding was defeated or the Doctor opening about the Time Lords. Accompanied with a swelling score I'm not ashamed to say that this story made my eyes water a little.

Anyone who believed RTD has lost his touch should watch this, one of my favourite stories of his and my favourite of this era. An utter joy, through and through.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Fiesta of the Damned

Oddly enough, I didn't mind this one. If anything, I enjoyed it. I can definitely see though how in a worse mood I wouldn't have been as kind to this story as I am - the aliens are annoying, Ace gets shafted again, the ending completely undermines what the whole story is doing.

There's a lot of flaws and yet I found the acting compelling and the general concept to be a really interesting one, handled fairly well.

Next Story: The High Price of Parking

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: A Life of Crime

Another solid story, but still nothing remarkable. I was somewhat hoping this would be a pure historical as those are always great and the Spanish Civil War is such an interesting and underutilized time period in Doctor Who. I feel like there's a lot of potential there which is why it's slightly disappointing the way this story went.

Once again, really good characterisation. I love a lighter, siller 7, especially after so many stories where he was written as edgy, brooding and manipulative (which, don't get me wrong, can be done really well. It's just that it rarely was). Mel is also great here and I enjoyed her relationship with the Spanish general. I think there were some great moments between the two of them.

The alien plot is deeply uninteresting and it's really the weakest link in this story. Otherwise, I rather enjoyed it and the unique setting made for a refreshing break from the endless quaint English country villages that seem to plague Doctor Who media

Next Story: Maker of Demons

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Dead to the World

In terms of actual plot here I wouldn't say there was all that much. It was fun though. Vaguely Season 23/24-esque but not nearly as good. I think where this story really excels is the character work. Ace doesn't get all that much to do but it's made up for by having such a good exploration of the Doctor and Mel's relationship that it's easy to forget how little they actually had on TV. It's absolutely brilliant and a promising start on the whole to this run, although I've heard mixed things about it.

Decent story with exceptional characterisation.

Next Story: Fiesta of the Damned

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Grand Betelgeuse Hotel

If there's one thing that this set of short stories has been, it's consistent. This one is just as unremarkable and uninteresting as the last two. The only thing going for this was the ending that tied together all the stories.

Next Story: A Life of Crime

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Come Die With Me

Not much better than the last one. Short stories feel like they should be a place for the writers to showcase really interesting ideas that just can't be dragged out into a full story. This one doesn't really have an interesting idea, it just feels like a waste of time which is quite possibly the most damning thing you can call a short story.

Next Story: Dead to the World

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: You Are The Doctor

I don't even remember what happened in this one and I listened to it yesterday. A really unremarkable short story

Next Story: The Grand Betelgeuse Hotel

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Signs and Wonders

I think this is a fun little short story. It's a fun experiment and makes for quite an interesting listen. Not having it be an actual Choose Your Own Adventure is a bit of a missed opportunity but I think this is the only way it would have worked. The Porcians are quite annoying.

Next Story: Come Die With Me

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Mask of Tragedy

Typically, when I finish an arc like this, I should be feeling sad. Instead I feel relieved. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed it, because I have, but it's been an exhausting journey. I did enjoy this story but I think it has a lot of flaws nonetheless. I'm mixed on the Elder Gods stuff in this one, for about half the story it was really boring and frankly not all that grand and bombastic like it should be. I do think there was some really good stuff with To'Koth though.

We finally get a resolution to Thomas Hector and while it was sweet and absolutely the ending that Hex deserves I'm not sure it should have happened. It just sort of cheapens his death and all the really interesting character work that came with it. I'm struggling to find anything else to say about this story. I think it could have all been handled a lot better.

Next Story: You Are The Doctor

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Revenge of the Swarm

I'm not sure what this story is trying to be. It's a pretty straightforward historical (coming off the back of a long arc of ridiculously high stakes). But then it's also trying to be a comedy sometimes? It doesn't end up being all that funny and to be completely honest I checked out about halfways through.

Hector got some interesting character stuff atleast, but I still don't really get the point of bringing back Hex (but not Hex). It just feels quite odd, if you've got the same voice actor why make them play a different character. Hopefully it will be resolved enjoyably but that still won't change the fact that this story is not that great.

Next Story: Signs and Wonders

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Afterlife

Now I quite like The Invisible Enemy. It's no masterpiece, but it's really good fun. It has a lot of charm; I liked seeing K9 trundle about to absurdly epic music, or the main enemy being taken way more seriously than their design deserved. All that is only charming because it was a low-budget BBC production from the 70s. This is a modern story and it should be written to modern standards. Unfortunately, it's a really dull, trad Doctor Who story. I didn't look at the writer going into it, but I could tell it was Jonathan Morris just purely based on the fact that it was a lazy sequel to random Classic Doctor Who story. It also screamed "40 year old man writes about the internet".

I'm not really getting the point behind bringing back Hex, only for him to essentially be a completely different person. I'm sure it'll come to some sort of satisfying resolution but it definitely takes me out of the story a little. It's also the fact that he doesn't get much of a role either, he's possessed for essentially the entire story, a telltale sign the writer has no idea what to do with the character.

Overall, it's not great but I hardly expected anything all that remarkable from a lazy sequel to The Invisible Enemy anyway.

Next Story: Mask of Tragedy

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Gods and Monsters

While I think it would have been thematically better if Hex stayed dead (although I'm not complaining that he's back), this story is still really solid and doesn't detract from the end of the last story. There's some really strong character stuff and I mean it. I don't think this iteration or really even any iteration of the Doctor has ever felt this alien.

The whole mob boss stuff is what brought this story down for me. Granted, it was still pretty decent stuff hence the high rating regardless, just not nearly good as the character exploration we got. Fantastic performances from everyone here, but particularly Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy. I'm curious to see how it all wraps up, hopefully it keeps up the quality all the way until the end.

Next Story: Revenge of the Swarm

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Black and White

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. As someone who thought most of the Elder Gods arc was wildly inconsistent and thought The Curse of Fenric was overhyped, this story had very little going for me. And yet, what a story. The way it manages to get across the scale of a war between the Gods is utterly fantastic. Having a reveal that the Doctor himself was just a pawn on the board for someone else's machinations is genuinely a brilliant resolution to all his schemes for the past couple stories and it's never made the Doctor feel smaller and more helpless in his life (good thing).

The two actors who played both of the main Elder Gods in this story were phenomenal. John Standing in particular as Fenric, truly one of the best villain performances I've heard in a long while (Nobody No-one not included). I really enjoyed the cast of the Black TARDIS in this one, I think they got a chance to shine that they didn't in Black and White. Also... what an ending. I know it's technically not the end of Hex but it's a properly fitting one.

Next Story: Afterlife

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: House of Blue Fire

What's this? An actually good Project story? One that doesn't make me roll my eyes with writing that sounds as though it's been written by a 14 year old? One that actually has something meaningful to say beyond "how many people can we violently kill in a story for no good reason"?

I'm impressed. It's no masterpiece, but it's properly enjoyable. Sally and Lysandra are actually quite interesting as characters, unlike their other stories would have led me to believe. The companion chronicle format gives us some great insight into them as characters, which I really appreciate. And it's just a fun adventure in general, feels like an action movie (in a good way, as opposed to a Briggs way).

I don't really like the Doctor in this but that's mainly because I just don't like this manipulative and frankly mean Doctor. The so-called "elder God" also wasn't particularly impressive. They really just let anyone be an elder God nowadays? I mean when compared to Gods like the Toymaker and Fenric, Derleth doesn't really hit the same.

Still I enjoyed it, great development for the companion team and good vibes. Certainly wasn't expecting the Projects to end on a high note.

Next Story: Protect and Survive

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Protect and Survive

I'm not sure I'm liking this whole "Elder Gods" arc. I'm definitely enjoying quite a bit of it but there are some thigns that I really can't get behind. The main one being the Doctor. Maybe he has some grand plan that needed everything to be like this but frankly I think that'd be a stupid writing decision and to me it feels like he's just being an awful person for no reason. I get that this is part of 7's whole "chessmaster" shtick but even then it feels excessive to have him be this callous.

I also think the story is really messy. We've got two TARDISes with two people each in seperate places (or times) while still being linked. And on top of all that there's a toad mercenary and did I forget to mention this story is based on the ancient epic of Beowulf. Sure, it's makes for some fun moments but I don't think even with 110% attention I would've grasped what was really going on in this story let alone while doing the things I normally do while listening to Big Finish.

Fingers crossed it all has a good conclusion.

Next Story: Gods and Monsters

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Previous Story: Project: Nirvana

I'm a big fan of stories like this that are fairly small scale while still managing to pull off massive stakes. A really great example is Five Twenty-Nine. This story is pretty much that for the entire first part and it's really effective, particularly with things like the constant radio broadcasts and general grounded feeling. It's infinitely more immersive when you aren't hearing the planet Glorb 9 being blown up and instead the quaint little cottage of an elderly English couple.

It's because of all that that I'm slightly disappointed by the reveal that this was all some elaborate scheme by the Doctor to trap two elder gods in a time loop where they die over and over. Don't get me wrong, I think that's really cool (and it gives off Human Nature vibes) but I can't help feeling that it's too extreme. I just don't see how the Doctor could have set it up no matter how much of a chessmaster he is, especially with the flashback scenes that explain how it all happened. I also don't see how he wouldn't have accounted for the Gods lying to get out or the other TARDIS being drawn in instead.

I still think it's a really compelling story with brilliant performances, but there are way too many odd bits and plotholes to give this a full 10/10 in my opinion.

Next Story: Black and White

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Doomsday Quatrain

This story has a fantastic first half - really eerie and atmospheric. But then it just loses my interest. It veers off into technobabble stuff and the main monster of the story is pretty uninteresting. Wow, a mysterious creature that feeds off fear/nightmares with an apostrophe in the name (seriously what is it with aliens that have apostrophes in their name being so dull?), how original.

I also don't know how much I care about the new companion, Sally Morgan. If I was forced to answer any questions about her as a person I'd be stumped. Quite frankly, I just want this arc to be over and done with.

Next Story: Project: Nirvana