“Boom” is a fine example of Steve Moffatt just telling a great self-contained story, like he most famously did during Russell T. Davies’ original run, though he did have the odd classic as show runner. The Doctor steps on a landmine and the entire 40-odd minute story takes place around him as he tries to get out of the predicament. Simple sounding story but actually a brilliant showcase of tension as a storytelling tool. Let’s take a look!
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After what was something of a major misstep of a first episode I’m happy to say I really enjoyed “The Devil’s Chord”. I mean, if you don’t like big over-the-top scenery-chewing villains like I do you may dislike this episode as well, but I had a smile of my face for most of it… MOST of it, can’t say the musical number at the end was good, not because it was out of place (it actually made sense) but because it had crap lyrics and wasn’t catchy at all, two things you kind of need for a musical piece! Well, anyway, let’s take a look!
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Well… that was a thing. A pretty crap thing, honestly. Thank goodness they opened with a double bill because at least I really enjoyed the second episode, but I’ll get to that later. As for “Space Babies” it was a classic case of “had some good ideas but the bad ones drowned them out”, plus it has a lot of Series 1 Russell T. Davies lowbrow toilet humour, which isn’t my kind of thing either. Oh well, let’s take a look quickly, then we can move on to the good one!
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Another season of Doctor Who has arrived on Blu-Ray, so let’s take a look at the story I haven’t seen in the longest time, which is this case was difficult as while Season 15 has two of my favourite Tom Baker stories in “Horror of Fang Rock” and “Image of the Fendahl” it also has three of my least favourites in “Underworld”, “The Sun Makers” and this story, all three committing the cardinal sin of being dull rather than at least “so bad it’s fun to watch and make fun of”. In thinking about it, I’m pretty sure it’s “Invisible Enemy” that takes the prize of the longest since I last watched it, and given this has the debut of K9 there’s at least SOME interest to be found here… Let’s take a look, and who knows, maybe this time round I’ll suddenly really like it?!
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The latest animated Doctor Who release has arrived (well, it arrived a month or so ago, I’m just getting to it now because I decided to wait to get it as a Christmas present…) and while I’m thrilled the range isn’t dead I have to say that the Underwater Menace is among my least favourite Who stories and this release hasn’t changed that opinion. The animation is fun and helps hold my attention more than the screenshot slideshows did but the old idiom “You can’t polish a turd” comes to mind… Let’s take a look!
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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It’s time to end the Multi-Doctor Catch Up Marathon with the very first multi-Doctor story! The Three Doctors aired to kick off Season 10 (and so fans have taken to call it the 10th Anniversary story, though technically that’s not true…) and saw the return of Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor to assist his successor. Sadly William Hartnell was too ill to actually participate on set so he advises from a “Time Eddy”, or a small plastic triangle in someone’s shed, but hey-ho. At least had an excuse, unlike Tom Baker in the Five Doctors! Add in some early fun Time Lord lore and a cheesy villain it’s a good time in front of the telly. Let’s take a look!
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Hogan Reviews 