Well, how to I start this review off? The Celestial Toymaker was one of my least favourite Who stories period, one I was dreading on day reviewing and having to sit through three episodes of painfully boring slideshows and a bit of a naff final episode. Then along came the news it was being animated! Great, that at least takes care of the photo slideshow not doing the glacial pace any favours, but then the animation turns out to be in a 3D CG style that looked pretty terrible in the trailer and in watching it is only a bit better than I feared. Did it make it easier to watch? Yeah, but it’s sort of like replacing something I hated with something I really don’t like, so… it’s not a major win… Well, with all that rambling over with, let’s actually take a look, shall we?
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Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday / Empire of Death Review
It’s time for a good old fashioned Russell T. Davies two-part finale, complete with world, nay universe-ending stakes and a returning foe. Strange feeling nostalgic for something that was only last done 10 or so years ago, but there you have it. Was it a good RTD finale though? Let’s find out and close out the Fifteenth Doctor’s first season.
Continue readingDoctor Who: Rogue Review
I normally don’t like putting reviews of two of the same thing in a row on the site, but it’s been a very busy week at work (as tends to happen in the summer, sadly…) so back-to-back new Who episodes it is! Rogue was a strange one, on the one hand I enjoyed The Doctor exploring a more romantic side to himself, but on the other hand the rest of the story was quite generic. Not bad, but felt very samey. Still, Ncuti Gatwa pulls the story up with his performance yet again! Let’s take a look…
Continue readingDoctor Who: Dot and Bubble Review
“Dot and Bubble” is a strange story to review. It starts off as a very on-the-nose look at modern society’s reliance on mobile phones and social media and then towards the end turns the spotlight on a much nastier and longer-lasting aspect of society instead in a really great last 10 minutes. Can the latter make up for the rest? Let’s take a look!
Continue readingDoctor Who: 73 Yards Review
As the end credits rolled on “73 Yards” all I could think was “this was written by the same guy who wrote Space Babies…?” Yes, this episode is something of a marvel, a really great and creepy story that is also one of RTD’s beloved “Doctor-lite” episodes he used to do. This season of Doctor Who is on a hell of a hot streak now, it makes me even more confused about what episode they chose to open it with! Let’s take a look…
Continue readingDoctor Who: Boom Review
“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!
Continue readingDoctor Who: The Devil’s Chord Review
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!
Continue readingDoctor Who: Space Babies Review
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!
Continue readingDoctor Who – The Invisible Enemy Review
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?!
Continue readingDoctor Who: The Underwater Menace Review
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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