Who TV

Doctor Who: Robot Review

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DW Robot

Unlike Spearhead From Space, Robot doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel, while it introduces a very different take on The Doctor, it otherwise feels like a regular Pertwee story. This is something will change immediately after this (in fact the remainder of this season feels like a fresh new show in tone) but as for “Robot” it’s very much still in the past. Does that make it bad, though? No, of course not. It’s a fun story, though one that may have set its heights too high compared to its budget. Let’s take a look!

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Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space Review

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DW Spearhead from Space

In a lot of ways Spearhead From Space is nearly as significant as An Unearthly Child as it’s the first time the show goes through what feels like a proper reboot, and does so successfully. Gone is everything we associate with the character, including its lead actor, replaced with a new Earth-based set up with a group of soldiers who battle alien threats… and it’s in colour no less! The fact that in four episodes they manage to establish the new status quo, introduce new characters and a new Doctor, and create a brand new alien species (the Autons!) is quite the feat. So let’s take a look in more detail, shall we?

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Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks Review

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DW The Power of the Daleks

I’ve experienced Power of the Daleks, which is entirely lost, four different ways now. I first listened to the soundtrack CD, then I watched a photo recon before watching the animated version after it came out two years ago. For this review I watched the blu-ray colourised version of the animated edition… I wonder what will happen when I watch it a fifth time! Anyway, Patrick Troughton’s debut story is a great one, it doesn’t actually hang on the idea of a new Doctor very long and instead tells a tense Dalek story where for five episodes the viewers watch on, waiting for the Daleks to turn on the humans, and when they do: yikes! Modern Who wishes it could have Daleks this threatening… Let’s take a closer look, then!

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Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child Review

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DW An Unearthly Child

How can I properly frame the importance of this episode? It should seem obvious being the very first episode, but it establishes pretty much everything: The Doctor is an alien with a police box that’s bigger on the inside than the outside, that can travel in both time and space. The imagination in Episode 1 for the time is still great today, it’s just a shame about Episodes 2 – 4, which decides to tell a relatively slow story about cavemen… Ah well, let’s have a good look overall and kick off the Doctor Debut Story countdown, shall we?

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Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos Review

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DW Vengeance on Varos

The Sixth Doctor’s TV story section on this blog is still barren, so let’s finally stick one of his televised stories up, shall we? Vengeance on Varos is one of the few true highlights of Colin Baker’s one regular season, full of violence, political messages and a critique on then-modern trends and TV itself… most of which is just as, if not more relevant today! Plus it’s a good story in and of itself, messages aside. So let’s take a look at it!

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Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos Review

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DW Claws of Axos

Fancied watching this last week, and if I don’t do the odd Who review outside of new releases and marathons I’ll never fill out the review pages! So, Claws of Axos comes to us straight from Season 8, a.k.a. the Master season, as Roger Delgado’s first (that we see) incarnation of the rogue Time Lord was in every story. Also featured are the regular UNIT crew, the titular Axos, an American UNIT agent and a comedic tramp! So let’s have a deeper look to see if this all works together or not…

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Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time Review

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DW Twice Upon a Time

The Regeneration Marathon comes to an end, fittingly with a story that has heavy ties to the very first regeneration! Peter Capaldi’s great but possibly underused Twelfth Doctor regenerates in a story that feels more like an Epilogue to his run rather than a full-on adventure, but it at least gives his Doctor a good send off, and sets up the next era with a bang (though while simultaneously trashing a previous era…). Let’s take a closer look!

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Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor Review

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DW The Time of the Doctor

The Time of the Doctor is Matt Smith’s swan song, whilst at the same time being a Christmas special, but also its an attempt to tie up plotholes that Steven Moffat had left, which he sadly does quite badly. Despite all this it is a good send off for the Eleventh Doctor, though I’m not a big fan of the actual regeneration scene either… Mixed bag then! Let’s look at it!

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Doctor Who: The End of Time Review

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DW The End of Time

The 10th Doctor’s swan song, The End of Time, is an odd one. It tells a good story, plays with the lore in fun ways and Bernard Cribbins can do no wrong, but the actual ending is overly drawn out (though that kind of retroactively makes sense now…) Still, lot’s of fun to be had, so let’s take a good look!

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Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End Review

David Hogan2 Comments

DW Stolen Earth Journeys End

We go from a story featuring The Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack and loads of Daleks to… a story featuring The Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack and loads of Daleks! Yes, it’s another two-part series finale Dalek-fest, this time with Davros! … and a 100 other characters, because why not? (I can tell you why not, if you like…) Plus: the regeneration where the Doctor actually doesn’t change, which is… retroactively handy for making the Eleventh Doctor’s final story great, but was annoying at the time. Let’s take a look!

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