I always enjoy the Top 10 Doctor Who story list I do each year, I believe unlike the lists either side that It’s pretty unique to this site. 2023 was a tough year to fill out the bottom and middle because a lot of stories were “very good” but only three or so I actually gave a full 5 to. Interested in which ones landed where? Let’s take a look!
Continue reading
The first solo Fifteenth Doctor story has aired and… hmmm. It’s an odd one, to say the least! It has a lot of that classic Russell T. Davies focus on a companion’s family life which is fine but it also has that early RTD issue where he’s aimed the tone perhaps a bit too young, like when he had the good idea of alien body snatchers and then ruined it by having them fart all the time, and Ncut Gatwa isn’t at the same level he was in his debut in the role. It’s a mixed bag of an episode, so I guess the best thing to do is take a deeper look at it!
Continue reading
The final two-thirds of “In The Bleak Midwinter” has less of a Christmas focus and more of a horror / sci-fi focus with the stories happening around the festive period. It certainly helps the box feel fresher and both stories are perfectly fine in their own right, even if the second story is a little on the plain side. Let’s take a look and then relax over Christmas… before I quickly try and write the review of the new Christmas special on Boxing Day or thereabouts!
Continue reading
I’d like to say “I love it when a plan comes together!” but in reality it just so happens that this festive Doctor Who boxset is able to be reviewed on Christmas Eve itself, with just a little bit of “why not?” schedule managing by myself. That being said, I’m putting both halves up today because I don’t want to worry about handling my blog on Christmas Day itself, nor do I was to put up a Christmas story review after Christmas (new TV Who special aside because that actually airs on the day itself, so can’t get around that!) “Twenty-Four Doors in December” is a good old fashioned heart-warming story set in roughly modern-day revolving around a down-on-his-luck man looking for a Christmas miracle… does he get it?! Well… I mean it wouldn’t be very heart-warming otherwise, but let’s take a look and act surprised anyway!
Continue reading
The latest War Master set continues the trend of stand-alone stories that vary greatly in quality and normally fall into one or two categories of “The War Master acts nice but is actually evil” or “The War Master fights an evil more evil than himself”, but I will give Rogue Encounters some praise for being a bit more outside of the box with one or two of the stories. Let’s take a look!
Continue reading
The second half of the Audacity set is, as the title plainly points out, set during the “Great Cyber-War” that was all the talk during the Fourth Doctor’s only TV encounter with the Cybermen. In fact this is a prequel to that story, showing how the war came to an end and even explains some of sillier aspects of the Cybermen from that period away in a fittingly silly way, all leading to an unexpected reveal at the end of the story that flies in the face of this “new era” being advertised, but I was happy though! Let’s take a look.
Continue reading
Now the 60th Anniversary stuff is out of the way it’s time to catch up with the Big Finish audio releases, and thankfully there isn’t actually that much to catch up on! “Audacity” was advertised as a fresh start for the Eighth Doctor, back in his younger velvet coat days with a new companion, and while this is true only until the end of the last episode of the set I can say that “The Devouring” is still a fun companion introduction story, if nothing else. Let’s take a look!
Continue reading
Well… that was certainly a thing! “The Giggle” is the last of the three 60th Anniversary specials and acts as the Fourteenth Doctor’s regeneration story… sort of? It’s hard to get into that bit until the spoilers section (it being partially featured on the next time trailer at least means mentioning it isn’t spoilery!) but even beyond that it was a pretty bonkers story from start to finish, so let’s take a look!
Continue reading
I didn’t know what to expect going into “Wild Blue Yonder” because so few details on it were available beforehand, but what I got was actually a good old fashioned claustrophobic sci-fi story with a really fun “conceptual” enemy and some weird visuals… so I was very happy indeed! It feels like ages since I watched a new Doctor Who story that was just a stand-alone good sci-fi story, so let’s take a deeper look.
Continue reading
It’s time to finally look forward after a marathon of older stories as the 60th Anniversary trio of specials began airing last night with “The Star Beast”, an adaptation of the comic of the same name (which I reviewed HERE, and I also reviewed its audio adaptation HERE!) making this the third time this story has been covered on this blog. That being said, the story is more about the debut of the Fourteenth Doctor and his coming in contact with Donna Noble again, believing there must be a reason why he has his old 10th Doctor face again. Oh and yes, it also has some unsubtle messages for those who worry about that sort of thing. Either way, let’s take a look!
Continue reading
Hogan Reviews 