So, the Haunting of Villa Diodati does take place at the same time as a classic Big Finish story and makes it… unable to fit, while at the same time taking ideas from nearby stories as well. No doubt, not denying it. It’s also a really good story, so enjoyable that I don’t mind at all that history has been altered, as it tends to do a lot. So why is the story good? Well, it’s funny you should ask, because I was just about to write a review of it!
It wasn’t my original plan to have these reviews go up the same day as the next episode, I swear! Anyway, Can You Hear Me? was a good episode, with the rarely-if-ever-used in the revived series idea of a God-like immortal villain walking around and hamming it up a bit, plus a look at mental health that while not as good as a certain past episode that tackled the subject, was still handled well. What’s my overall view? Read on!
Really behind at the moment thanks to work, but I refuse to let a Doctor Who review go up after the next episode has aired! I’m cutting it close this time, though! Praxeus was one of those in between episodes you get in the more arc heavy series, one that exists in its own little bubble and is perfectly fine, but you won’t really remember it a few weeks after it airs. So let’s review it!
Well, that was a bit crazy, wasn’t it? Fugitive of the Judoon on paper sounded like a pretty normal story with a returning alien race and turned out to be quite the mind bender. Since this is pre-spoiler warning, I’ll just say this: I didn’t see THAT coming, and I’ve watched, listened to and read a LOT of Doctor Who over the years! Let’s take a closer look then…
Another fun story from Series 12, this time not ruined by a heavy-handed delivery of an otherwise fine message. Another pseudo-historical for the Thirteenth Doctor, and once again it was great, informative for the younger, and just a fun episode for the older. Basically… let’s take a closer look!
A little bit late with this review, but still (just) before the next-to-air episode, it’s time to put down in words my thoughts on Orphan 55. I’ll be honest, I was really enjoying it for most of its runtime, it was a good base under siege story with some properly creepy monsters, sadly there was a twist that not only didn’t really work in Who’s history, but didn’t work at all due to its lack of subtly. Want to know what I’m going on about? Read on!
The new series of Doctor Who has (finally) started with a two-parter named “Spyfall”, which is at east an actual pun on “Skyfall”, unlike a certain episode last season that set me off… ANYWAY, Spyfall is Chris Chibnall’s best effort so far, which comes as a big relief after his rather poor track history in the last series. Throw in an unexpected twist and it’s a good near-two hours. Let’s take a closer look!
My idea of reviewing a story from every season as its released on Blu-ray immediately ran into a problem thanks to the release of Season 23, a season that’s actually one long story, albeit a story that is clearly segmented into four parts. Rather than review the whole Trial of a Time Lord (which I didn’t have time to do due to a certain six film, six game marathon) I was going to just review one part, but that didn’t seem right either. Thankfully, on the Blu-ray, is a special “Standalone Edition” of one of the stories, with all the Trial stuff cut out, so I’ve decided to review that, and then later do an additional paragraph or two when I reach this story during a review of Trial proper. With all that said, how is Terror of the Vervoids when all the Trial stuff is removed? Let’s find out!
The Season 10 Blu-Ray… came out a couple of months ago, but now after several changes in my life, from job upgrades to moving, I’m back and settled, so I finally stuck on the restored version of a story from arguably my favourite Doctor Who period. Hooray! Planet of the Daleks, unlike the other ones I’ve reviewed, is actually the “centrepiece” of this set, and while I didn’t bother with the updated effects, I did enjoy the re-colourised Episode 3 and the general clean up. So let’s look at the story that inspired quite a few direct sequels, though none on TV, funnily enough!
A week after the Season 18 Blu-ray release and we get an even more anticipated HD release for Doctor Who: another fully animated missing story, in this case The Macra Terror! Yes, I never thought I’d see the day… would be an understatement, even after the release of Power. So how does the animated version stack up, and how is the story overall? Well…
Hogan Reviews 