Who Watches the Who?

Reviews/ratings for every single episode of Doctor Who (and TV spin-offs). I also turned this blog into an ebook. SPOILERS aplenty.

[drwhowatch]

Project: Destiny

This storyline has gone over such a time period, I'm shocked how they keep continuity or interest, but found this story weirdly engaging. couldn't recall Nimrod but he was fairly devious here. Lysandra was far too subservient, but glad she got over it and will eventually become a companion. Fun this is is set in current year and the deserted London is reminiscent of lockdown. Ace takes a bit of a back step this story but is fairly reliable. Hex finds out about his mum but is confronted by her zombie form. The Doctor gets sick and is nice to see his secret machinations fail for once.

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The Cradle of the Snake

The Mara is back, and this time there's no puppet! The concept was always semi-interesting in the original stories, but seems lacklustre - might be because I was confused by the self fulfilling paradox element and futuristic setting. For someone who is generally posessed, Tegan didn't get as much to do here. Nyssa as always is most knowledgable one. Turlough is out of his element, but shows how good a soul he is. The Doctor gets to be evil for once, really giving the gang a run for their money.

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The Whispering Forest

Fairly run of mill adventure but guess it's decent to have a well honed crew again. I'm sure this kind of story has been done before - generations later medical ship devolving into a religious tribe. Nyssa is voice of reason again. Turlough gets bullied for his red hair. Tegan doesn't fancy the idea of being abducted (and foretelling her next audio looks more interesting). The Doctor shows some knowledge tidbits but generally bumbles through it all.

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Cobwebs

This felt far more like a proper TV story having all the companions here. Lots of timey wimey-ness, so much so that a virus and crab aliens barely got any play. Turlough is redeemed here, being set straight after Enlightenment. Tegan is (as Peter Davison would say so himself) more annoying then ever not trusting him or paradoxes. Nyssa manages to show up too, albeit as accurately older. The Doctor plays off this larger cast so well that he gets less to do himself bar knowing everything.

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The End of the War

Well this spinoff we didn’t ask for is over, but hey, maybe it was better than one about a school. All in all, it had a similar problem to Class though, that it wasn’t dark like Children of Earth or silly enough as Sarah Jane Adventures - just a weird middle ground with no charm. Yes, they melted the ice caps, but eating the dogs was surely worse. Not sure her makeup holds up in the daylight. Guess it was fairly mean for the general to do a viral genocide but mad for it to be so effective - jeez their purported water deaths are silly. So annoying that they could’ve been mates but both sides escalated it. Kate really isn’t healthy with blackmailing her therapist instead of taking time off and going to shoot someone for littering. Meanwhile, Barclay is battling being in love with a fish and has to keep driving to the ocean to scream but at least can he cry-act well. There really wasn’t the chemistry between them but silly swimming at the end was weirdly cute. Just not quite sure was the point of this ending or the show really. Also I feel this show was not advertised well, maybe because they secretly knew it wasn't good? With a lot of finessing, this probably would've worked better in the normal show with the Doctor as a two parter. Maybe they can stay away from UNIT for a while now?

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The Witch of the Waterfall

UNIT is not going through as big an implosion that Torchwood did. Mad they believed the deepfake vid that long. The next sea devil ambassador is maybe sightlier meaner with his magic. Salt gets less robotic and hornier without being attached to the hive. Kate really needs a holiday - she really has never been as compelling as the Brigadier even when she’s been on the show so long. Russell Tovey is good at cry acting, but jeez ‘you’ll never swim alone’ is utter trite. We haven’t learnt anything really going into finale next week.

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The Deep

This episode is a bit of filler going into the depths, focusing on basic character development, lengthening out what could be a normal story. The evil cabal are a bit silly. The cinematography being shot from afar regularly, the slow mo and dark VFX is bad. This amount of world coordination is fairly unbelievable especially with an active enemy. The returning general’s voice is something to behold. The sea devils are a bit too mysterious given they’ve been in the show 3 times before this spinoff. Kate faces work burnout alongside her illicit office romance - at least he’s done but it doesn’t logistically make sense for him to be shot with her in front. I like buff Barclay - his everyman may be the only good thing about this show, but I don’t like his fishy relationship a few days into his job.

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Legend of the Cybermen

A worthy sequel to the Mind Robber, with more fictional characters than last time with additional mysteries. Hard to keep track of all the new people but good to give Alice in Wonderland a bit more sass or make Dracula a nice guy. Love the Cybermen converting weirder things than usual such as the whale Moby Dick into a submarine, but in general, they weren't very interesting in this story that gave precedent to the companions. Zoe slipped back into the role fairly efficiently, playing both a young plucky robot and older wiser mythological versions of herself. Jamie is a bit upset about being fictional but nice to see him being lusted over which is true to the Outlander novels/show. The Doctor is racist towards vampires, recaps era 3-5 off screen and gets to read his own Target books

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Plastic Apocalypse

I guess, in a way, having silliness alongside heavy handed messages is actually like classic Doctor Who. Miss the outdoor locations of episode 1 whereas this is mostly in the one room. The pollution message is so spelt out but didn't mind the CGI set piece too much. The Sea Devils are just so mean and demanding with unclear magic technology. I do think the Doctor would fare fairly well in this situation. Never enjoyed Kate's relationship with her younger underling. Barclay is actually really endearing speaking his mind and the performance is very human.

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Homo Aqua

An okay start to a spinoff nobody wanted. There is some creepier scenes (Sea Devils standing in the ocean) balanced funny ones (Russell Tovey at the end) so is not quite as dark as Children of Earth. The multiple names for them is confusing but I like the design of them (not the main sexy one), a decent scary update. The 'pollution bad' message hpefully will get better. Does feel like they're treading water (get it) when Avatar and Black Panther 2 did similar civilisations. Kate and her crew are all back with their techno wizardry but their confidence often turns out misguided. They really shouldn't have a show but hey it's better than at a school. Haven't seen much of Gugu yet but she's talking funny. Russell is a little bit delightful but doesn't make any sense that he's hanging around.

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The Wreck of the Titan

Maybe too many disparate storylines but do like their basis in real books. Maybe too much of a filler for the finale. Jamie has accepted this bizarre situation he’s in far too easily. Was getting frustrated by the Doctor being so confident in his wrong answers for the mystery.

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City of Spires

Unfortunately was spoiled for some of this arc reading about it afterwards. The leech alien is a bit freaky but would've liked more integration into the myth of the Red Cap and why this is happening - guess this is more for the followups to explore. Lovely to have (a version of) Jamie back, fairly seemless return but would've liked more focus on his age. He doesn't remember his former life but the Doctor being mistaken for a French dandy was pretty fun.

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The Architects of History

Klein comes to fruition as maybe the most competent (and evil) of the Doctor's companions. The shark people were slightly too brutish. Enjoyed the alternate companion, can't believe she won't be back. Didn't quite understand the (maybe evil?) alternate version of the Doctor, but glad the one we had was simply a hero

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Survival of the Fittest / Klein's Story

Oh boy, do I hate facists. The Vrill are very sweet believing literally anything they hear. Klein's Story is fairly dense as a single part story and fairly neccessary to this trilogy, even including a cameo from Paul McGann (who is delightful)! I must admit, it's been a week since I heard this, can only presume the Doctor was as clever and kind as ever.

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A Thousand Tiny Wings

Doctor Who is best when it focuses on lesser known historical period and is crazy this post WWII colony treated Kenyan people in this way. Interesting alien compared to usual and a metaphor for humanity's cruelty. Klein is back somehow after a long time and find it mad/intriguing that the Doctor decides to take on a Nazi as a companion. The Doctor abhores violence as usual.

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Plague of the Daleks

The end of Stockbridge stories for now, which wasn't too bad of a thematic trilogy. Sad for the humans to go bar the old bat. Needed more clarity on the zombies and how they came about, very similar to The Waters of Mars. Daleks are fairly fallible here. Nyssa really takes charge of her gang showing smarts. The Doctor messes about with some tech  but frustrating to not have him be more in the action.

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The Eternal Summer

The village setting is neat that it recurs. The groundhog day was impressive to make it so convoluted. PIG could've been substituted for Torchwood or UNIT really. The nerd character was fine, but they've done similar before (in Rose) and after (with Osgood). Nyssa really does get to shine in these audios compared to the show but I do miss the wider team. The Doctor faces off against an evil old version of himself which also has been done before and since but still enjoy it.