As a student of linguistics I was quite looking forward to this audio. Unfortunately, I must admit I don't really get the hype.

The Ish itself isn't as interesting as it could be. Honestly, I think the premise is flawed; there's only so much you can do with a virus that erases your vocabulary, and while the audio does mention the implications multiple times we aren't really given liberty to focus on them.

A big problem I have with this story is establishing English as The Language of the future. I have never been a fan of the use of English as the default in sci-fi; I much prefer the concept of the universal translator or a "Universal Standard" conlang. English being the end-all be-all reaks of colonialism.

The story itself is fine. A little convoluted and confusing, and the ending feels pretty rushed while the middle sags. The first episode is good and I like Peri and Warren's initial interaction. The word association games are fun.

I knew, going in, that I was likely to be disappointed by this audio. I tend to take "best/worst story ever!" fandom-wide opinions with more than a grain of salt.

I just really don't feel like this story did anything new, interesting, or groundbreaking with the Cybermen. It's a generic origin story with forgettable side characters. While I have warmed to the Fifth Doctor a little with his audio outings so far, this story didn't really do any of the things I liked with the others.

There are some really good moment - Yvonne's return home comes to mind - but they are few and far between, and not enough to hold up this audio.

Maybe I'll like it more on a relisten. Maybe I just have far too high expectations for a good Cyberman story that can never truly be met. Maybe being told over and over again that this will knock Cyberwoman out of the fabourite spot for me has soured it for me before I ever gave it a try. Or maybe it really is just not as good as everyone says.

It is fully possible I would have enjoyed this story much more if I didn't already know what the Monk's deal is. Unfortunately, I've known about him for ages and was fully prepared for the twist, so none of the build-up did anything for me. That's obviously not the story's fault; no one could have expected this show to have such staying power, and not many people today write for rewatch value, let alone back then.

Still, when I try to think of how I might have experienced this story had I not been familiar with the Monk already, I can't help but feel that it still would have fallen flat for me. Most of the intrigue is condensed in the first episode, and yet the reveal of him being a fellow TARDIS owner is left until the last. It leaves the middle episodes to meander, never really doing or getting anywhere. It's a lot of walking back and forth between the beach, the village, and the monastery. The plot simply isn't strong enough to hold up while we wait for the reveal.

The late reveal also means we have very little time to explore who the Monk is, why he's meddling and in what ways, and why it's wrong. All the examples given for things he's done are things that have really happened, so we have no way to compare them to what history might have been like, or any reason to view them as bad. We just have to take the Doctor at his word, even though, notably, there have been many stories where the TARDIS team's actions can be considered meddling.

There are a few fun scenes here and there, and I like the village woman. The viking deaths are a little more gruesome than I've come to expect from this show, which is neither here nor there.

Despite this being Steven's first proper outing, I really don't feel like we got to know him at all. I'm hoping that changes soon.

All in all, it's a fairly average story. It's not terribly boring but not very interesting either. It's an important moment in the history of the show but doesn't add any lore beyond the idea that other people can have TARDISes, which is a forgone conclusion. I wouldn't say it's skippable, but it's not a must-watch either.

I have long since leant that I don't enjoy Terry Nation stories, nor do I enjoy Dalek stories, so this was a very pleasant surprise. It's a charming little story with a lot of humour that never drags overmuch.

Honestly, I think this story would be a perfect candidate for colourisation. You could cut out most of the middle episodes without losing much of its charm. Almost every place we visited stuck just a bit too long in the aftermath.

I think this story's greatest problem, which is somehow also it's best quality, is how unthreatening the Daleks are. It allows for a very fun and lighthearted story, but that sort of story doesn't really work with the way the Daleks have been set up up to this point.

There's a lot to love in this story. The Beatles cameo, terrible American accents, an explanation for the mystery of the Mary Celeste (what a waste, we could have spent an entire serial on that at some point), Dracula and Frankenstein fighting Daleks, Vicki mimicking the Mechanoid, and, of course, Ian and Barbara's send-off. They haven't overstayed their welcome, but I can't say I'm particularly sad to see them go. I'm looking forward to some fresh blood on the show with how much I've been enjoying Vicki, and they seem happier to be off the TARDIS, anyway. It's a really sweet and fun scene. I wish more companions could have such fantastic, non-lethal send-offs.

This story blends a classic Doctor Who plot - the colonisation metaphor and subsequent revolution - with something new that will become a staple of the show - sideways time travel. I think both parts work quite well here, though they have been done better elsewhere.

The sideways time travel left me a bit confused. I don't think the explanation really works, but it was easy enough to look past and just enjoy the story. I do think it's a bit odd that this story is firmly on the side of time travel bein able to change the future, to the point where the Doctor doesn't even mention paradoxes.

The revolution story was fine. It wasn't really the focus of this serial, and it works well for what it is. I really like how Vicki gets to shine helping the revolution happen. I also really like the little detail of the Moroks wearing white while the Xerons wear black, I think it adds to the metaphor.

All in all, this story is nothing special but I never felt like it dragged and I had a pretty good time watching it, and that's all I can really ask for in this era.

A fairly standard affair, which is surprising considering the interesting concept of living dust and the Master's first audio appearance. I wouldn't say I was bored, exactly, but I wasn't overly invested or interested in the story.

It took a turn in a completely different direction in the middle, after the Master reveal, which made it feel like two different stories mashed together last-minute. While the ending did merge them semi-satisfyingly, it didn't really work as a whole.

I don't remember Bev at all. I'm not sure where she was supposedly introduced; really, this felt like the second Seven and Ace story in a row to bring in a new character which the established ones seem to already know well. There's a history there I feel left out of, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but is something I feel should be used sparingly.

This is an interesting and tense story, but I do have a few issus with it. First is the inclusion of Madam Vastra; unlike the first few cameos she isn't a reference to an older story but simply a character who happens to be here now, much like the UNIT people. With every episode having someone this is becoming increasingly fanserving and unbelievable. At least the UNIT people had the actors to help pull it off, but nothing with this Vastra feels like the original.

My second issue is the music. The sound design seems to have taken a dive, and the music is incredibly loud and distracting, and doesn't fit the scenes it's overlayed on.

Honestly, while there isn't anything egregiously wrong with each individual episode of this series, I just can't wait to be done with the series as a whole.

While not as overly long as The Reign of Terror, The Crusade suffers from many of the same problems. Namely, multiple missing episodes, lack of explanation as to the historical era we're in, and a fairly thin plot.

I wasn't very engaged with this story. The fourth episode and the latter half of the third were the only ones where I was even interested in what was going on.

The guest cast is good, but their characters are all very flat and not particularly interesting. This isn't helped by the brownface and general racism, though even the white people aren't safe from being caricatures. That being said, I loved Ibrahim.

Vicki has fully cemented herself as one of my favourite companions. The First Doctor grows on me more with every story. Ian and Barbara are great as always.

Honestly, these are getting a bit dull. We're not learning anything new about the main mystery and the rehashing of both previous episodes and episodes of the main show isn't making this any more interesting.

The Doctor has yet to make a reappearance and the cliffhanger isn't really drawing me in considering how quickly and easily the previous big one was solved.

I'm not a big fan of podcasts generally, so I was a bit wary when this episode started with three friends basically recording themselves hanging out. The rest isn't like that at all, and has more of the audio drama style I enjoy much more.

The main three girls have very distinct voices, which is good because I often struggle when listening to an all-new cast of characters for the first time. Cleo feels a bit like a caricature to me, but I can tell that isn't going to be the case for the rest of the series; there's a basis there for something much more in-depth. I really like the way her transness was integrated naturally into conversations.

This is just the beginning so there's still not much to say about the story itself, but the intrigue builds.

Definitely an intriguing start, and I'm already excited to get to the rest of the series. It's short and to the point, and the sound mixing is really good - I can still perfectly understand what the Doctor is saying despite the static.

I have to give credit where credit is due, trying something new with the poem telling most of the story was interesting and a lot more palatable than the regular rehash full of bad jokes. I don't want to be too harsh on it because it was fine, as far as poems written in this style go; there were a few lines that didn't quite fit the rhythm but for the most part it worked out.

I was a little disappointed at the return to form after, but it didn't have a lot of space to ruin everything with terrible jokes (though the ones that were in it were atrocious).

The "old English" in this is atrocious, the mixing of modern slang with it even more so. The last section however almost makes up for it, bringing out some actually funny jokes that aren't just nitpicking everything bad in the original story.

I get it now. I completely understand why this is considered one of the worst, most boring Classic serials. This is the first time in my life where I've had to look up a Wikipedia summary of a story to understand what was going on, and it's the first time I've ever actively considered dropping a Doctor Who story in the middle.

I really wanted to like this serial. The first episode is actually quite good; the atmosphere is fantastic, the alien costumes and sets are all phenomenal in my opinion, and in general it seems like a great set-up for an intriguing story. In fact, I had fully expected to finish this serial saying it's no more slow than many 60's stories.

Somewhere around the third episode it starts to fall off for me. It's probably equally due to my subtitles not working as it is for the story itself, but I found myself bored and confused. I didn't try to binge it and instead spaced out the episodes as is recommended, but honestly I feel that only made it worse for my comprehension.

It reminds me a bit of The Daleks, in that it's a new concept with interesting aliens bogged down by spending far too much time on side quests while trying to make us care about identical lookingside characters, except the Daleks went on to become reoccurring villains while The Web Planet fell into obscurity. I think the Web Planet is more enjoyable for me purely on the lack of oversaturation.

The sound design for the Zarbi was interesting but quickly became grating. The way the Menoptra spoke was annoying, even more so because I struggled to understand them without subtitles. I like their ballet-like movements and poses, though.

The concept of the low-oxygen atmosphere bothers me. It's interesting on paper but is barely explored beyond the first episode, and directly clashes with the concept of giant, intelligent insects. Insects don't have a respiratory system like we do; they don't have lungs and they breathe through their skin. The oxygen flows through their body using the movement of their muscles rather than a central heart pump. To grow that big they would require extremely high levels of oxygen in the air. Yes, it's nitpicky - they're aliens! They probably don't have the same internal systems as Earth insects! But it's still enough to stretch my suspension of disbelief and take me out of the story a little, especially seeing how much thought was put into the alien insects with the costumes, movements and even death scenes.

This is pretty standard fair for a Doctor Who episode. It's fun, but it's far from perfect. While I did come out of this episode having had a pretty good time, a lot of it falls apart a little under scrutiny, and this review will reflect that.

Let's start with the Eurovision concept. This event has never been one I was particularly interested in (though I do have a good amount of knowledge about it on account of a friend of mine loving it), so this episode wasn't one I was really looking forward to. I think the episode succeeded is striking a balance between being exciting for fans of the event without alienating people who don't care for it. I was a little disappointed with the selection of song snippets we got, all of them being very pop-y and only one not being in English (excluding the song at the end, which I'll get to). I would have liked to see rep for one of the countries that always goes for a heavy metal song.

Unfortunately, I don't think this episode really managed to strike a balance between the high energy, fun, campy Eurovision stuff and the darker, more political stuff. It kept bouncing between them, givingme a sort of emotional whiplash. I think it would have worked better if we got the initial shock of everyone getting sucked out into space and then stuck with that vibe until the end.

So let's talk about the darker, more political stuff. I don't know if the writer was trying to write an allegory, but I'd like to give them the benefit of a doubt, because the alternative is ignorance. Unfortunately, the allegory is not a great one to make. Sci-fi racism is always difficult to pull off, and while I appreciate that they didn't try to explain why people don't like the Hellions, their actions and the way the story treats them does exactly what I don't like about scu-fi racism stories.

The villains are flat (because a tragic backstory does not a good villain make). Their motivation is solid - revenge against the corporation that ruined their planet. But by making them take it too far and claim they only do it because they have evil in their heart makes it seem like the story - and the Doctor - is siding with their oppressor. Sure, Cora then goes on to have an emotional song that gets the crowd cheering, but that's not going to fix anything. People who hate Hellions will continue to hate them. Unfortunately, history has shown again and again that oftentimes violence is the best way to cause change. Maybe "acceptable" Hellions like Cora, who have their horns cut and can pass as human (or whatever humanoid species is prolific throughout the galaxy at this point) will be allowed to sing and have rights and whatnot, but ones that are unwilling to conform will continue to deal with prejudice. Or maybe I'm just thinking too hard about this.

Politics aside, I didn't really care for the side characters in this one. They were all extremely one-note. Lynn had no reason to actively save Cora if she hated her, and that thread was never resolved. Mike and Gary were relegated to plot devices, and their introductory squabble was left completely hanging; I think it's possible they were going for a "they remembered why they fell in love in the first place" thing with Gary watching Mike work for the first time, but they didn't continue with that and it's a plot I greatly dislike anyway because it never actually resolves the problem.

Even the stuff I like is tainted. We have another appearance of Catkind, but she's furless and (for some reason) French. The Doctor getting to go dark again and the fear he clearly inspired in everyone but the villain is great, but he talked about it like it was caused by Kid and the "ice [he] put in [his] heart", as if it hasn't been an aspect of his character since forever. Belinda finally got to stand out again, but she has completely lost her dislike for the Doctor - where's the woman who was so offended by him scanning her DNA without consent when he nearly electrocutes a guy to death? Why does she immediately go to hug him after that rather than ripping him a new one?

Then there are the two twists. I'm happy to finally see Susan after all the name-dropping in the last series, but her cameo comes out of nowhere and is incredibly jarring. It's - for lack of a better word - loud. It completely overtakes the episode at some sections.

The Rani reveal made me leap out of my seat and chear and pace across the room. I usually back out of an episode as soon as it ends because I like avoiding the next time trailers, so it was incredibly lucky that I caught a second of this post-credits scene and realised it was still part of the episode. It feels like a really weird choice to put it there. After I calmed down from the hype of my favourite Time Lord appearing on my screen again, I realised what it meant and started feeling dread. Now, my thoughts on this choice could change drastically depending on what actually happens with her during the finale, but I'm very far from optimistic. The Rani has never been interested in world domination or obsessed with the Doctor, and this feels like the way RTD is taking the character, which I'm very much against. The bigeneration was bad enough when the Doctor did it, but this "myth" happening twice in a row is maddening. Mrs. Flood immediately lost all her personality, which makes this reveal even less satisfying than if she had just regenerated normally - and I was so lookingforwardto seeing her take centre stage after so long.

Now come the nitpicks, of which I have two: one, people don't freeze instantly in space. So much of the resolution hinges on this happening which elevates it from a minor niggle to something more groan-worthy. The second is that Cora says she spent "all those years working on this song" and then the song is bad. It's terrible. It's a perfect example of everything I dislike about the genre. Maybe it's a metaphor but it seems to be about love from the few lines we got to hear so I don't think it is. Girl, stick to a language no one understands.

Anyway, my enjoyment of this episode (or lack thereof) is pretty tied to how the finale will end up going. As a standalone, however, the politics are pretty bad (still not as bad as Lucky Day) but it's overall a pretty fun romp, even if my review doesn't show it.

It's entirely possible that my enjoyment of this story is owed in full to the presence of India Fisher, who I missed quite a lot. It's not Charley, but her character is fun and interesting.

Still, I don't think that's the case. It's an atmospheric story with an interesting concept which was well-realised. The twists were telegraphed and easy to predict (which I personally think is a good thing). The side characters, while somewhat flat, were all unique and served their purpose.

Five's level-headedness didn't ditract from this story for me, possibly because he wasn't in a lot of it. I always enjoy seeing (or listening to, in this case) him be put in his place, and Nyssa gets to shine as she does that. I'm really enjoying this particular TARDIS team so far.

I was really looking forward to having some fresh blood behind the scenes - and, finally, a Black writer for our first Black Doctor (seriously, why did that take so long?) - but unfortunately, I have to say I didn't really vibe with this episode.

I'm not sure if the pacing is off, or if it's more my problem with bottle episode and especially stories that rely heavily on a bunch of people standing in a room and talking that bothers me. It's another case of feeling like both too much and not enough happened in this episode.

The concept is interesting, and the execution of the stories being told in (frankly gorgeous) artwork works really well. We've had stories about stories (which I personally think is a lot of fun as a trope), but never quite like this.

Belinda was barely in this episode. It definitely feels like at least one scene was cut, after she gets caught by the cop but before she's in the alley looking for the barbershop. Her role basically starts and ends with telling Abby that "Hurt people hurt people", a line which felt tacked on both from a story perspective and with the audio mastering. These series are too short to continuously sideline the main characters like this, though I do appreciate Fifteen getting more of a focus.

Speaking of, that's really the main thing I enjoyed about this episode. Like Belinda said, wanting to belong is very human, and I loved the scene of him walking through the market, thoroughly in his element. It's just nice to have a story set on contemporary(ish) Earth set outside of the UK, especially Africa, which I don't believe we've been to yet, and even more so to a specific country rather than the nebulous continent so many (non Who) stories are set in.

The Doctor's anger at Omo's "betrayal" felt unearned and out of place. Maybe if we had seen them bonding more it would have been more powerful, but then it would have been even more jarring that Omo essentially begging for the Doctor's help gets such a vitriolic response.

Jo Martin's cameo as the fugitive Doctor was fun and exciting, though it does raise a few questions on how much the Doctor remembers of being her considering he was fobwatched.

From the moment stories were used to sate some sort of beast I was reminded of Rings of Akhaten, one of my all time favourite episodes - which unfortunately isn't a good thing. Much like The Well being a sequel to Midnight or Lucky Day opening quite similarly to Love & Monsters, referencing an old favourite forces me to compare the stories, even if subconsciously, and like most people, I am likely blinded by nostalgia and my love for those established stories, and am much more likely to be critical of the newer ones. As such, the ending where the Doctor uses his past lives to overload the engine falls flat for me; nothing will ever compare to the feeling I got watching that grandiose speech with the music swelling in the background when I was twelve.

That being said, the resolution was still fun. All the old Doctor cameos always get a smile, no matter how overdone they are. The tree-like brain/heart thing was gorgeous (though I do wish they hadn't spelled out the symbolism). I like that everyone was forgiven and they all ended up on good terms with one another.

The acting was really good throughout the whole episode (though some of the side characters felt quite flat and didn't really feel like proper characters), it was gorgeous to look at, and it did something a little bit different, even if it reused some staple tropes. Overall, despite my general feelings of "meh", there's definitely a lot to enjoy here.

Oh boy, here we go again. After a solid run of episodes we run face first into the dirt of bad politics. And, almost worse, a boring story.

My first thought as I finished the episode was, "Who was that for?". The main point of the story seems to be about misinformation and the alt-right pipeline, and how that's bad. But the Conrads of the world aren't watching this; they're too busy complaining on Xitter and in YouTube comment sections about how Doctor Who is too woke now. The people who are watching the show are likely already aware that misinformationis bad. It doesn't help that the message is incredibly heavy-handed, with the Doctor looking directly at the camera and saying Conrad is a terrible person.

I don't tend to speculate while watching, but Conrad was putting up a lot of red flags from the beginning. He got caught by the Shreek's marker and after hearing the Doctor tell Ruby exactly what it does he didn't immediately run out of his hiding place and ask for the antidote for himself; he took a very stalkery picture of Ruby and plastered it all over the internet; and while I don't watch many romcoms, it definitely read to me as off how much he pushed to get a date with Ruby after having her on the podcast. Safe to say, I wasn't exactly surprised when he turned out to be a prick, especially since we already had that twist earlier in the series (done a lot better, I might add).

Ruby is ostensibly the main character of this episode. Unfortunately, stopping the momentum of this series in its tracks to focus on a previous companion doesn't really warm me to Ruby, especially when she's one of the blandest companions to date in my opinion. After a full series and an extra episode I still don't feel like I know her, and that's made even worse in comparison with Belinda, who had only one or two lines in this episode which were already so full of personality. They tried for depth with Ruby discussing life after the Doctor, but her thinking she has PTSD felt very scripted and really fell flat for me.

UNIT is back in all its messy RTD2 glory. They didn't introduce any new child soldiers, which I'm grateful for, but they have yet to do anything with the existing characters, either. Shirley is back, but she only gets a handful of lines and is once again reduced to a punching bag to make a point about how terrible the villain is. Ibrahim has no character or personality beyond being Kate's boyfriend, and while I don't have very strong opinions on Kate's sexuality, I would like to say that at least dating a subordinate would be out of character for her - if only she had a consistent character in this era.

A big part of what bothers me with this episode is how entrenched in real life it is. Doctor Who, as a sci-fi show, has always commented on current issues, but usually with at least a few layers of metaphor. Darker episodes have always been set either in thepast, the future, or some alternate reality, being more character-driven. Episodes set in the modern day, even heavily political ones, always cussion it by either making the bad guys aliens or splicing in lots of jokes, going for a more lighthearted tone. This one is set in the modern day, in a world that is identical to our own except for the clear existence of aliens. None of it is played for a joke, the tone is sombre, and it just feels far more real than anything we've seen from Who before (maybe except for The Green Death, but that was before my time and as such I can't comment on how similar it felt).

And that leads me to my main problem with the episode, which is, of course, the politics. Setting aside the implicit racism of the fact that this is Fifteen's third Doctor-light episode in already short seasons and our new WoC companion getting sodelined for an old, very white one, the optics of the actual episode are terrible.

Because UNIT is, first and foremost, a military. They come in with uniforms and guns. Maybe the basic premise of the prank (make UNIT look stupid for reacting to fake aliens? Make it seem like UNIT are the ones who put those guys in costumes?) is kind of senseless, but everything around it is what actually makes UNIT look bad, not just in universe, but for the viewers as well. In our current political climate, you'd be hard pressed to find someone watching this episode who doesn't at least know someone who knows someone who ended up in conflict with the police during a protest, if they haven't been in that situation themselves. The imagery of armed soldiers taking away civilians, manhandling them and pointing guns at them while the civilians film or livestream it is one we are all familiar with from real life, and it paints UNIT as very much in the wrong.

The episode refuses to engage with that, however. It compares UNIT more to the WHO, a scientific organisation constantly under threat of being defunded. But scientists don't go around pointing guns at people. Usually, if you know where to look, you'll find exactly how much taxpayer money they receive and what tey do with it. Now, I don't know if Conrad is telling the truth about UNIT being completely opaque with that stuff (they don't dispute him, but it's also a high tension situation), but if he is he's making some really good points. Sure, he's doing it for attention and personal gain, and that makes him a bad person, but him being terrible doesn't automatically make UNIT the good guys.

But this darker side of UNIT isn't explored here. Maybe this episode was designed as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff, but a backdoor pilot doesn't work if the show it's in grinds to a halt. I'm not more interested in watching the spinoff because I want to see what's gonna happen - I'm just annoyed at this episode leaving me hanging.

The climax, while exciting, leaves a lot to be desired. I like this darker side of Kate, but it falls flat within the context of the episode. The Shreek is scary and the tension is good, but after seeing the Shreek costumes earlier in the episode the CGI version is obviously digital and lacks weight - it doesn't interact with the world the way the "fake" ones did. The highlight of the episode was Conrad's quick switch from begging for his life to once again being sure of himself, but when a single acting moment is the best part it's more telling on the rest of the episode.

Then comes the Doctor's speech. At first, I thought it was part of this darker UNIT, and they somehow projected the illusion of the TARDIS and the Doctor around Conrad's cell or into his mind as we've never seen a materialisation quite like it, but I don't think that's actually what was happening there. While Gatwa's acting during that scene was fantastic as always, the writing felt incredibly ham-fisted, and honestly, somewhat out of character. I'm interested in a darker Doctor, but I find it hard to believe that he would be perfectly alright with UNIT jailing someone for life (let alone the non-sapient aliens they appear to be keep in cells). The whole thing felt off.

Once again, I find Mrs. Flood to just be another Susan Twist. Whether Conrad return in the finale or not, this episode has proven itself to not be able to stand on its own. Its only purpose is to introduce a spinoff and deepen existing mysteries without giving us any new clues.

All in all, this was a boring waste of an episode in an already short series, with poor politics and even worse optics. The more I think about it the more it annoys me and the more I lower my rating of it. It's especially disappointing after a pretty solid run of episodes, and I can't say I'm looking forward to the spinoff.

I really want to say I enjoyed this episode and just leave it at that. Unfortunately, I have far too much to say to be able to do that. It definitely has its strengths, but it also suffers from a lot of the same problems as the rest of RTD2 so far.

The episode opens immediately after we left off with Lux, with the same sort of odd characterisation choice for Belinda no longer having any sort of antagonism with the Doctor. They change clothes in a shot-for-shot remake of the previous clothes changing scene from the very last episode, with Toxic playing overtop. I really don't get that choice; it was fun, meta, and an obvious joke in End of the World, but here it just feels tacked on. The repetition of the scene (while we still don't get to see any other rooms in the TARDIS!) definitely doesn't help immerse me in the episode.

I've seen arguments both for and against the Doctor and Belinda ending up with the exact same space suits as everyone else, and while I didn't mind it that much, it did take me out of the story a little. What bothered me more is the Doctor flashing his psychic paper, apparently showing up to test the troopers, but then ending up in control of the whole operation. I almost agree with Cassio in hindsight, though I found his actions a bit too extreme while watching.

Still, as the episode continued I left my worries behind and got properly invested. The atmosphere was potent. Aliss, especially, did a phenomenal job making everything more tense,being obviously distressed and the only one left alive.

I really appreciate the Deaf representation. I think it was handled really well; there's a lot of aids without eradicating the condition, while still showing how some people remain subtly bigoted. You can really feel her frustration when people turn their backs on her or turn off their subtitles without even noticing.

Belinda got to shine as a nurse again, though I felt she was somewhat sidelined for most of the episode.

The first jumpscare was really expertly done in my opinion, fast enough and jarring enough to make me thing I was just imagining something behind Aliss, affected by the musical sting and Belinda's reaction more than anything. Really fantastic.

And now we get to the big twist: this is a sequel to Midnight. I thankfully went into this episode not knowing that, having avoided spoilers and leaks. I think I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the first half of this episode as much as I did if I had known. That being said, I really don't think this episode needed to be a sequel. Worse, I think it suffered for it. I think the monster acted too differently to be the same one, especially taking its motivations into consideration - I genuinely don't believe the original Midnight entity was toying with the passengers or laughing at them (whether or not the Doctor believes it, or if it's in character for him to say that, is a matter of some debate that I would be very open to having). It doesn't help that the way it acted in this episode alone was somewhat inconsistent.

The reveal itself doesn't really work for me either; I find it hard to believe that people 400,000 years in the future know the old name of the planet. I don't have an opinion on the flashback either way - it's the most necessary of the *three* flashbacks we've had in these *three* episodes (gosh, talk about repetitive and formulaic), but I don't think it added much. The Doctor crying also felt the most deserved in this one and as such didn't take me out of the story, but it's definitely cheapened by having happened every episode so far.

The way the monster flings the soldiers around didn't bother me as much as some other people, but I do think there were probably scarier ways to have it kill that are just as safe for TV. I really like the way Shaya weaponised the monster to stop Cassio, it was clever and powerful.

The ending felt a tad bit rushed. The mirror thing had been set up pretty obviously, though I'm not exactly sure how (or even if) it worked, or how the creature went about smashing the mirrors in the first place (did it swing people at them?). While I appreciate them not fully showing the monster, I would have preferred to not even see the silhouette of it in the hallway.

I didn't notice the airlock counting an extra person, but I definitely thought it was possible that Belinda was just imagining the whispers, only hearing them after everyone else said they didn't have the creature on them.

I liked Shaya sacrificing herself and the implication that it didn't work. It was obvious to me, as the Doctor was running behind her the whole time and never got flung back, even when Shaya paused at the edge of the well. A needless sacrifice is one of the best parts about this episode.

The mystery of what happened to Earth continues to intrigue. I think it would be even more poignant if the non-humans looked a little more alien - even just Star Trek-style forehead bumps would do the trick, especially now that Doctor Who has the budget to make its aliens look the part. I also think it could have been integrated into the story a bit better.

The ending is dragged down a little for me with the appearance of Mrs. Flood. I really enjoyed her little cameos up to this point, but in this episode she just feels like amother Susan Twist, and I *do not* trust RTD to have it pay off after the way that plot was handled last time.

All in all, I think this is a really solid episode bogged down by the stories around it. I think it could have been a 10/10 for me if it was more of a standalone, without the season-wide mysteries and the ties back to Midnight. I would love to see the earliest drafts of this story.

This is, all in all, a fun episode that I would gladly watch again and enjoy. It's paced better than many episodes in this era, has interesting side characters and quite a bit of heart, as well as fantastic atmosphere.

I think my main complaint would be the villain. Mr. Ring-a-Ding just wasn't very good. Some of his scenes felt powerful, but for the most part he was a little annoying. The "don't make me laugh" thing was an obvious set-up and felt very strange and kind of stupid in the introductory song. I didn't feel the flashbacks were necessary, especially after the even shorter-term flashbacks in the very previous episodes, and the harbinger reveal was groan-worthy.

On top of that, the animation was clearly done by computer rather than using cell animation, leaving it in a sort of uncanny valley that made it hard for me to focus on the actual story. When the Doctor and Belinda got animated it looked really stiff, and made the already forced-feeling moment of honesty between them feel even more wooden and out of place, which led to me being completely unable to believe that Belinda learned to trust him more during this episode. I do like how the "real" body Lux was building was clearly referencing those youtube videos where a sculpter makes "X but realistic".

The thing is, there's a difference Whoniverse story with a near-identical premise: Torchwood's From Out of the Rain. I can easily compare Lux to the Ghostmaker and say that I by far prefer the latter.

Let's move on to happier things. I really liked the scene with the fans; while I was hoping for a deep cut with the favourite episode, I must admit them all being so adamant about Blink was quite funny. It was an exciting moment, and I enjoyed it. It was nice to have a bit of downtime before the third act with a bit of meta humour.

I think the episode handled segregation very well for the runtime available and considering the episode wasn't about that (much better than Dot and Bubble handled racism, in my personal opinion), but I'm a bit miffed with how surprised Belinda was to learn about it.

The set design and costuming were great, though I'm again left begging for them to show us the wardrobe room.

This review might be leaning a little negative, but I really did have a good time.

I think I might have been a little distracted while listening to the first half of this story, but I found it pretty middling. Usually, folklore-inspired contemporary Doctor Who stories are my bread and butter, so it's odd that this didn't really capture me like they usually do.

The story itself is nothing special. All the twists were incredibly predictable, which isn't always a bad thing but also doesn't really do this story any favours.

The side characters were likeable enough, if quite flat; I liked Phillip and the professor, and it's a shame they met such grizzly ends.

Sixie's first meeting with the Brig was a highlight; I appreciate the Brig recognising him instantly. Evelyn is even more enjoyable than in her first outing.

There's nothing particularly bad about this story, but no standouts either. As middle-of-the-road as they come.

This is a pretty enjoyable story. Belinda is instantly likeable; she's a nurse who actually gets to use her skills in the story, she's not star-struck by the Doctor, she has a strong personality and agency. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her.

The story is a little more lackluster. Despite the fast pace, it feels very empty, like very little happened. Some of it is due to not really getting to know the side cast and a lot of the quieter moments being rushed through. It's a very simple and straightforward plot.

I must praise Sasha's actress for her acting. The big smile with the tension in the eyes was extremely poignant. Despite that, I really didn't feel that we had gotten to know her enough for her death to have much impact as a viewer. Lingering on her moment of death and focusing on the Doctor crying (again) felt more like the writer was trying to get me to feel something than giving a beloved character a proper send-off. Despite that, I do realise that it's realistic, considering how much time the Doctor spent with her, and I appreciate that she wasn't immediately forgotten about and her presence was felt throughout the episode.

I like the "twist" at the end. The message is solid, and the execution was pretty good. I will say, however, that I don't love the amount of flashbacks used, and the proposal scene was a little heavy-handed. All I needed was his line in the beginning saying "girls aren't good at maths" for me to know he's a condescending prick.

I especially liked the ending, with Belinda telling the Doctor off for scanning her DNA and believing she's just jump on the opportunity to travel with him after seeing what happened to Sasha. I enjoy this darker side of the Doctor, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

Other highlights include the polish robot and the Mrs. Flood cameo.

In general, while this isn't likely to ever be a favourite episode of mine, it does have me excited for the rest of the series, which is all a series opener really needs to do.

I literally just finished listening and already I forgot what this audio was about. It's just completely unmemorable.

I don't like Five much at the best of times, and while I like his characterisation best in the last few episodes, which do have Peri in them, none of that has translated to this story. Peri has never been one of my favourite companions, and the Ice Warriors are a reoccurring antagonist I find fairly dull. All this led to me having very low expectations, which were only slightly superseded by this story actually being mostly serviceable. While it's not very interesting and doesn't do anything new, it wasn't a complete snoozefest. Still, it's not a story I'm likely to revisit, just because there's nothing there.

I'm gonna go ahead and say it: Option Lock is mid. There are definitely worse entries in this series, but this book struggles with many of the same issues.

The most notable one for me is the lack of focus on the Doctor and Sam. There are many moments in this book where I felt like the author wanted to be writing literally anything but a Doctor Who novel, which is a shame, because their stronger moments are what save this book from a lower rating and weeks of frustrated reading for me. While Pickering was an interesting and well-rounded character, and Sargent had his moments, I felt that most of the side characters were fairly one-note - not to mention that there are far too many of them.

Another recurring issue in this series that this novel struggled with is the pacing. This book spends so much time describing the minutea of the American political and defense system, the way every little thing about launching missiles works. It strikes me as a very odd choice to feature and name a president of the United States in a British sci-fi novel. It's possible that I just don't enjoy war stories (which I don't), but the way tense and initially fast-paced moments ground to a halt to explain things really grated on me.

Then there are other, more minor things. Aside from Vampire Science and maybe Genocide, this series has a bad track record with its treatment of women, and this book is no different. It also relies on the secret society controlling the world, a pretty well know anti-Semitic trope, made worse by the imagery of the Khameirians. It just left a veneer of bad taste over the entire book that I couldn't quite ignore.

That's not to say it's all bad; I already mentioned that I liked Pickering, and his and Sam's relationship is really wonderful. There's also more of Sam and the Doctor interacting the way I like, and the Doctor's terrible driving is a highlight. The concept of the Khameirians is interesting, if a little underdeveloped.

Then there's the stuff that's neither here nor there. The writing is pretty solid; some of the descriptions are vivid, but some are a little sparse and left me confused. Other than the military stuff and the first quarter of the book, the pacing actually wasn't too bad. The epilogue is good, though I know it's unlikely to matter.

At the end of the day, I think this book just isn't really for me. I understand why it's generally considered one of the better books in this series.

This isn't the worst Dalek story put there, but considering the general quality of Dalek stories that doesn't say much. I think there were some interesting concepts (such as the library and water-based lifeforms) and some fun moments (like the character who never got to speak and Ace getting to blow things up, as usual) but it's a pretty middling story for the most part.

What really dragged it down for me was the sound design. While the voice acting for the Daleks is quite good, their voices are extremely grating in this story. On top of that, there's this terrible high-pitched whine in every scene in their statis chamber that gave me quite a headache. The beeps and chirps used for almost every machine in this audio were also very annoying. It made it very difficult to get through.