Kill God

"Killing Gods. It's not possible..."

Writer: Rob Williams
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 15th January 2017
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 15

Featuring: War Doctor, Alice,

Synopsis

Filled with new purpose, and information straight from the mouth of the War Doctor himself, Alice is closing in on the truth of the Doctor's possible war crime. But can the Master truly be trusted? And will the truth about the Squire finally be revealed? The Time War holds all the answers.

Verdict

Kill God was an excellent comic strip adventure that has continued along the Eleventh Doctor segment of Doctor Who Comic's Tales from the TARDIS very nicely! Now, it has been far too long since I read The Organ Grinder but after reading my own blog entry to freshen the memory of just where the story is currently at, memories came flooding back and I was very excited to be heading back to the Time War. The Eleventh Doctor didn't actually appear but that was absolutely fine as it gave us another adventure with the War Doctor! That is something I always welcome and with these comics, as well as a novel and the audios, this incarnation of the Doctor has now been beefed out with stories and really doesn't feel much like a bonus Doctor now. He's just another one on the list which is brilliant. Of course, John Hurt sadly passed away since I read the last comic strip of the run but the beauty of the comic strip means that the War Doctor will live forever. I thought the characterisation of John Hurt's incarnation was very good and I like how he is rather clueless about who Alice is and what she was doing in the Time War. The continuation from the previous story's cliffhanger was great and I liked the conversation Alice and the Master had regarding gods. I'm a firm non-believer in gods and I think the whole notion is actually quite ridiculous but it works in Doctor Who because at the end of the day it is fiction and that's what I see religion as. Until people can prove otherwise with evidence then I can't see how I'm wrong. Anyway, the young Master still very much intrigues me and that was taken further by the image of the older and more familiar incarnation of the great villain. I think that was just something along the lines of time leakage with the speech also being affected in regards to tenses. That made for some brief difficulty in reading but it was highlighting a point of the Time War so that was not a problem at all. The Overcastes looked very impressive I must say but they didn't really seem to do much. Despite that, they still managed to provide a huge threat and the Doctor's way of dealing them seemed absolutely horrific. It is clear to see why he has revoked his name for this incarnation because to eliminate their threat he was going to make an entire people godless and change their entire history. Alice having to deal with the latest contraption from the Volatix Cabal was intriguing and I'm not even sure you could call what she was being chased by anything close to a Dalek. I loved its referral to the Doctor as the Dark Lord though. That really was brilliant. The idea of the Doctor and the Master having an agreement did seem too good to be true and that was somewhat realised in this story as the latter went his own ways and seeked to escape from the Time War. He knew Alice was from the future so had a route to escape to. But when he entered his own ship of the future and tried to take off, he created a paradox. He soon realised that his future self had concocted the atrocity of a TARDIS and that together with Alice activating the Psilent Songbox meant a disaster for everybody. Timelines were collapsing and merging and there was a complete chronal meltdown. It served as a terrific cliffhanger and I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here! Overall, an excellent comic strip adventure!

Rating: 9/10

Doorway to Hell Part 3

"I know a villain when I see one, and this one's nicked!"

Writer: Mark Wright
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 9th March 2017
Printed in: DWM 510

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Jess

Synopsis

With the Master taunting the Doctor and luring him into the trap, the Collins family are trapped and separated in Hell. The Doctor is doing all he can to protect them but that means he must do exactly as the Master instructs. With the evil Time Lord planning a trip to a time-locked dimension, what exactly does the Master have planned this time around?

Verdict

Doorway to Hell continued in excellent fashion with this terrific third part of the story! Once again, it has been a while now since my last blog but March is actually turning out to be the most prolific of the year but I think I will be limited in my entries until at least the summer, but I do think there is a distinct possibility that this will be the future for Doctor Who Verdict moving forward sadly. Now, I know this issue of Doctor Who Magazine was released nearly three weeks ago now but after catching up on the previous two issues and a trip to Ireland in between has meant that I have only now opened its pages. This comic strip story is the only feature that I have read but as always I will give my thoughts on what looks set to be another excellent issue of the magazine. They're lucky that given the recent price rise the content has improved over the last few months so I will continue to collect the magazine with no qualms. Doctor Who Comic, something else I need to catch up on, has been on hiatus recently but that looks set to return this week and with it being released on a different day to DWM now I think the expense won't look so bad. This issue's cover is fittingly tributed to John Hurt who sadly passed away recently. He of course played the iconic War Doctor in The Day of the Doctor and a number of subsequent audio adventures that really were fantastic and I am hoping to purchase what would be his final performances in the Casualties of War boxset this summer. I'm sure the magazine has done a great job in paying tribute to the legendary actor but that's not the only feature I'm looking forward to reading. The Home Taping piece sounds very intriguing and the advancement of technology is something I am mightily interested by given the age I have grown up in but Doctor Who's experience of it is something I can't quite recall. The only encounter I have is asking my Nan to tape The Doctor's Daughter episode on VHS as it broadcasted as I was out playing with friends. The Dramatic FX feature on The Invisible Enemy should be very intriguing and I'm also looking forward to the feature on Sydney Newman and who was truly the creator of Doctor Who. Surely there should be a definitive answer to that? Anyway, back to the comic strip itself and this has been a part I have been looking forward to reading for sometime now because of the presence of the original Master who was of course played by the superb Roger Delgado. I thought it was great that we finally got this Master and the Twelfth Doctor meeting face to face and that image really did put a smile on my face. That is the beauty of the comic strip format as you can do just about anything you want. I liked how we got this story's placement from the perspective of the Master and it would take place after Frontier in Space. This is important as it's a story for this incarnation of the Master after his last appearance on television. I was intrigued that he thought the Twelfth Doctor was actually the fourth incarnation and he neatly referenced the events of The Pestilent Heart in referring to what he thought caused the Doctor's regeneration. Little did he know. The Collins family being in Hell (I'll roll with it for now) was interesting but with the Master mentioning a time-locked dimension, I am intrigued to see where they actually are. The cliffhanger presented a lot of danger and I really am looking forward to part four now to see what happens! Overall, another brilliant continuation of the story!

The Gift

"Not all visitors to your planet intend to do harm..."

Writer: Rupert Laight
Format: TV
Broadcast: 19th-20th November 2009
Series: SJA 3.06

Featuring: Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, Rani, K9

Synopsis

When the Slitheen's latest scheme to destroy Earth for profit is foiled, another family from the Slitheen's planet arrive - the Blathereen. Though they seem helpful, can they be trusted? As a generous gesture of peace, the Blathereen gift the gang with a plant called Rakweed, which could end world hunger. However, the Rakweed goes wild, spreading spores about London and infecting people, including Luke. Sarah must fight alone, not only to save the Earth, but also her son. Meanwhile, Clyde smuggles K9 into school to help him cheat on a test, and he, Rani and the metal dog find themselves trapped in the school - surrounded by Rakweed. Can the team work together across Ealing - and Antarctica - to prevent Rakweed from devouring the entire planet?

Verdict

The Gift was a great little finale of the third series of the Sarah Jane Adventures spinoff. I must say that this series has been another good one and whilst it may not have quite matched up to the first two series in terms of ratings, it did not falter and it also featured the first appearance of the Doctor in a spinoff! I really liked how this story started straight in the midst of the action with Sarah and the gang running after the returning Slitheen who were returning for the first time since The Lost Boy which served as the finale of the first series. Well, they had featured in the short story of From Raxacoricofallapatorius, With Love but this time they were back in a full story. However, they wouldn't last very long at all. I like how they seem to be the recurring monsters that SJA is now associated with but their stay in this story was a short one. That was because we were introduced to the first on screen appearance of the Blathereen. Now, they had featured in a story before in the shape of the Ninth Doctor novel The Monsters Inside but it was great to finally be able to actually see them. They were noticeably different to the Slitheen in appearance and they sure did make short work in disposing of the Slitheen and saving the Earth from being split and compressed into a giant diamond. I do like how the Slitheen's motive are always driven by money but based on past failures I do question why they keep returning to Earth, knowing that they have the Doctor or Sarah Jane to deal with. The Blathereen giving Sarah a gift in the form of Rakweed was intriguing and despite their good appearance, the idea of Sarah and the gang running into a friendly family of the same species as the Slitheen just seemed too good to be true. Clyde was sceptical throughout the story whilst Rani seemed to be rather accommodating. Sarah Jane's instincts told her that she agreed with Clyde but the prospect of curing world famine was too much for her to turn down. She accepted the gift and after an analysis from Mr Smith, everything appeared to be safe. Of course as viewers we knew that something was going to wrong soon, otherwise we wouldn't be watching and it duly did with a Rakweed mutation. It engulfed Luke making him ill for the first time in his life and the deadly spores soon spread throughout London. I found it a little random that the Blathereen were sat watching this pan out in Antarctica and I found the absence between their appearances in each part, especially once we knew their intent, a little surprising and I think it did slightly hurt the story. K9 was absolutely wonderful though and I loved how Clyde wanted to use him to cheat on a biology test. The frosty relationship between K9 and Mr Smith is excellent too. Clyde and Rani working out what it was that killed off the Rakweed was good and Sarah applied the finishing touch to the resolution as she knew that the terrible wailing was its communication. If that was stopped then the Rakweed was disposed of. Mr Smith and K9 joined forces to produce the frequency that destroyed it across London and then some ingenuity from Sarah soon put a stop to the Blathereen once they returned to the attic. As Clyde put it, they farted themselves to death which is something I'm sure the younger viewers of the show would have enjoyed hearing. Overall, a very good little series finale!

Rating: 8/10

Other Lives

"I've never really thought of myself as a family man."

Writer: Gary Hopkins
Format: Audio
Released: December 2005
Series: Main Range 77

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Synopsis

London, 1851.

Scene of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.

Scene also to a plot to unseat the government, dethrone the monarch and start a republic.

If the Duke of Wellington himself is to be believed...

While the Doctor and Charley are drawn into the murky world of nineteenth-century politics, C'rizz struggles to maintain his dignity against growing odds.

What begins as an attempt to prevent murder quickly becomes a desperate race to avert revolution. Separated from the TARDIS, the travellers are left to wonder if they'll get their own lives back or be forever entangled with the lives of others.

And who is Mrs Georgina Marlowe? What need does she feel the Doctor can satisfy?

Verdict

Other Lives was a terrific little audio adventure that has hopefully got me right back into the swing of things when it comes to listening to Big Finish. This was actually my first audio in well over three months and I don't think I've had a break anywhere near as long as that since I started this blog back in 2013. Hopefully I can fit in a few more longer stories whilst university work isn't too demanding but for now it was just nice to be back doing some performed Doctor Who from the Classic era. I quite liked the fact that this story was simply a pure historical and there aren't enough of them around nowadays which I think is quite a shame. Obviously, I could be a little biased in that comment as I am currently halfway through my studies for a History degree but they always impress and very rarely, if ever, fail. This adventure focused on the Great Exhibition of 1851 which is an event I know quite a bit about after studying it at A-Level and then returning to it in two of my university modules this academic year. I had no idea what the story entailed other than the name and its CD cover as I never read a synopsis before listening so I was quite happy to have a story based around an event I know pretty well. However, I did have an ironic laugh when I realised that would be the case as by listening to this audio I was trying to escape from History for a little bit! It seems to be following me everywhere at the moment though but that's okay. A lot has occurred in the recent stories involving this trio so it was really nice to just get a one-off adventure featuring them. There was no overlapping theme like we had with the Divergent Universe story arc and instead we just got a pure story which I thought was a real positive. Paul McGann was once again superb as the Eighth Doctor and these audios really are wonderful in giving us a whole timeframe and storyline involving the most unluckiest of incarnations. We may have only got to see him twice on screen but these audios are proving just how fantastic the Eighth Doctor really is. Charley was once again wonderful and I really have loved her as companion ever since her arrival in Storm Warning. She was delighted to be able to visit the Great Exhibition and I thought her relationship with the Duke of Wellington was one of the story's highlights. C'rizz is slowly improving and whilst I don't think I'll ever be his biggest fan he did provide a bit of humour here because he was so out of place, That was of course understandable given where he is from but it wasn't nice to think of him being paraded around as a freak I must admit. My favourite aspect of the story was probably the relationship between the Doctor and Georgina. That was really intriguing to see play out and I loved the cliffhanger to part two where she referred to the Doctor as being her husband. Of course, the Doctor was not her beloved Edward but she seemed to be trying to convince herself that he was which was strange. The Doctor was clearly uncomfortable but felt sorry for her. The way the TARDIS went missing was good and I liked how that provided us with a sense of danger for the story but I did feel a little more was needed in terms of explanation for its arrival at the end of the story. Overall though, a very good audio adventure!

Rating: 8/10

Doorway to Hell Part 2

"The Doctor is a threat to you all..."

Writer: Mark Wright
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 9th February 2017
Printed in: DWM 509

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Jess

Synopsis

The Doctor is investigating strange accounts of men being turned into glass and he has found the culprits in the form of Bio-Tech Assassins. But they are merely pawns in a wider game being played by the Master, in his original form, and with the Collins family being subjected to his masterful experiment, can the Doctor cope with losing his TARDIS just as it is back within his reach?

Verdict

Doorway to Hell continued in sublime fashion with this simply superb second part of the story! This really is shaping up to be my favourite Twelfth Doctor comic strip adventure yet from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine as it really does have all of the ingredients for a spectacular story. Now, I'll get back to the comic strip itself but as per usual with my blog entries (no matter how late) I like to talk about the magazine itself and this does look to be another very interesting issue. I've already some of it with Steven Moffat's column always providing some good humour. I loved his response to a fan pointing out an error with The Husbands of River Song and his comments about Captain Jack were also well-humoured. I liked the little preview we got of the upcoming series but this week we have had an incredible trailer released and a publicity image of what to expect from the series finale and to say I'm excited about the return of the original Mondas Cyberman from The Tenth Planet would be an understatement. That story is one of my all time favourites and that first design of the great enemy has always been my favourite so to see them return after over fifty years will be an enormous treat. I'm also looking forward to seeing Missy's involvement in that finale after she will have already appeared in the series. I also seemed to spot the Classic design of the sonic screwdriver in the trailer which has only enhanced my excitement and I am very intrigued to see why that will make a return. Back to the issue itself and I'm looking forward to the interview with Rufus Hound which is very cleverly titled. The indefinable magic feature also looks set to be a very good read. The annual survey is something I love doing as well so I'm really looking forward to critiquing the past year of Doctor Who there. Now back to the comic strip itself and I am actually surprised it took me as long as it did to get reading this comic strip story after the cliffhanger of part one. However, I wanted to make that I read the previous issue before starting the next so as a reward for submitting an essay today I decided the time was right to finally see just what the original Master is up to! Roger Delgado's original incarnation of my favourite enemy returning in a Twelfth Doctor comic strip is just wonderful and it just highlights the beauty of this format. It truly is magnificent. We had brilliant references to the recent stories from DWM involving the Doctor's encounters with Jessica Collins and I liked how easily the Master convinced convinced the Collins family that he wasn't a bad guy in the slightest. He obviously knew all about the Doctor but was merely playing the family for some strange experiment. I do love though that the Master was up to something given the story was set in the 1970s. He could usually be found on Earth at this point! I'm looking forward to seeing him cross paths with the Twelfth rather than the Third Doctor though and I do hope that we get that in the next part. The Doctor certainly knows who he's up against now based on the cliffhanger with Gayle being subject to the tissue compression eliminator. The Doctor had fallen for the distraction of the Bio-Tech Assassins and with him out of the picture, the Master had pounced upon the TARDIS, just as it was back within the Doctor's reach. While all that had gone on though, it appeared that the Collins family, now separated from Max, had somehow arrived in hell. Overall, a terrific part and I can't wait for the third instalment!

Mona Lisa's Revenge

"This isn't anything like a straightforward art theft."

Writer: Phil Ford
Format: TV
Broadcast: 12th-13th November 2009
Series: SJA 3.05

Featuring: Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, Rani

Synopsis

Strange forces bring the Mona Lisa, on exhibit at an art gallery in London, to life. Clyde, Rani and Luke are at the gallery on a school trip as the painting rampages with a Sontaran blaster taken from another painting. Sarah comes to the rescue but ends up trapped in a painting and it's all down to Luke, Clyde and Rani to save the day. The Mona Lisa searches for her brother, a painting so terrifying it shouldn't be looked upon, The Abomination...

Verdict

Mona Lisa's Revenge was a great little story to get me back into performed Doctor Who (well, a spinoff) after a lengthy absence! This is my first blog entry of a performed story since Christmas Day and even if this was The Sarah Jane Adventures, I must say that it was great to be doing something that was not a comic strip! Now, don't get me wrong I do love the comic strip format but when it's all you have done for over two months it can become a little tedious. Sadly, it's all I've had time for lately with the surge of assignments that come with being a second year student at university but I am just happy that I have been able to do what I have done thus far in 2017. I was worried I wouldn't do anything at all and now after a three month absence I'm back in the third series of the terrific spinoff that is SJA. I thought the premise of this story was honestly quite daft but somehow Phil Ford made it work quite well. Could the Mona Lisa really be an alien entity? Well, it appeared so! That idea in itself just seems barmy but this wasn't the first time the Mona Lisa has been central to a story in the Doctor Who Universe. City of Death is of course remembered for featuring the famous painting and although that story was audaciously brilliant, it didn't quite go as far here as bringing the figure of Mona Lisa to life! And on top that, she was armed with a Sontaran blaster! I thought the character development of Clyde in this story was very good and when I thought about what he was like in the first series of this spinoff, you can certainly see how much more grown up is by this stage of the third series. He needed Luke to enter him into the art competition but Clyde was actually quite proud of his talent, especially because it won his class a trip to see the Mona Lisa. The relationship between Luke and Sarah Jane was intriguing and I didn't ever expect to see them end up arguing over a messy room. They did of course make up by the end of the story which was always expected but it was good to see that dynamic and the acknowledgement that it did exist. Harding was quite a humorous character I found which was intriguing because I don't think that was the intention. He was literally in love with the painting of the Mona Lisa and after working his whole life towards the goal, he finally brought it to his beloved gallery. But his love for the painting made him blind to the potential happiness right before his eyes in the form of Miss Trupp. Her getting stuck in the Mona Lisa was quite silly but it seemed to work. Her reaction once getting freed was fantastic though. The hunt for Mona Lisa's brother, known as the Abomination, was pretty decent and I liked the story behind where this piece of artwork got its name. Luke brilliantly came up with a resolution to ensure that the Abomination was never freed and that Mona Lisa was returned to her painting whilst everyone trapped in paintings was brought back to reality. And that was bringing a drawing of K9 to life. I thought that was a very clever resolution and it worked terrifically well. This story was not really hurt by Sarah Jane's absence in part two and I think that's testament to how good the characters of Luke, Rani and Clyde are. Overall, a very good story!

Rating: 8/10

Sub Zero

"Suddenly, without warning, the 'dream' becomes a nightmare!"

Writer: Gerry Haylock
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 12th January 2017
Printed in: DWM 508

Featuring: Third Doctor

Synopsis 

As a guest of a US Polar weather station, the Doctor is involved in the mystery of a missing nuclear submarine. But while the Doctor and Lieutenant Davis are away on a reconnaissance fight, the station is attacked - by Daleks!

Verdict

Sub Zero was a terrific comic strip adventure and has served as quite the bonus feature in the 508th issue of Doctor Who Magazine! Now, I've almost finished reading the magazine itself and I have gone out and purchased the latest issue but as time and scheduling would have it, my assignments have started building up again now so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back around to reading the magazines. Thankfully this morning though I was able to read this comic strip and I was absolutely delighted with it! I love how all out the team behind DWM went to dedicate an issue to the 1970s and I really do think they have done a stellar job. Even the comic strip of Doorway to Hell was linked in wonderfully and now we actually get given a revamped and updated version of this comic strip adventure that was released during the 1970s, long before the arrival of Doctor Who Magazine. I can certainly see why this story was popular as it was fantastic! We had a well paced and exciting build and of course the show's most famous enemy in the form of the Daleks. I really liked the setting of Antarctica and how that developed into Australia as the story went on was magnificent. The characterisation of the Third Doctor was very well done with Jon Pertwee's likeness captured very efficiently which I always think makes for a better adventure. I must admit, I was glad to be doing something from the Classic era of Doctor Who and if memory serves me correctly, this is the first time I have done something pre-2005 this year. Granted my blogging has been very limited this year but that is rather unusual for me. I'm also getting a little tired of the comic strip format so I'm hopeful that my next blog, which hopefully won't be too long away, will be some performed Doctor Who. However, I do have a whole issue of Doctor Who Comic to catch up on as well as another issue of DWM out next week. Anyway, the story itself was full of excitement and considering the story is now 45 years old, I was very impressed with the artwork. The designs of the Daleks themselves were brilliant and it was good to see the Third Doctor in action against his greatest foes in a story released before Day of the Daleks. I also enjoyed the subtle reference to The Evil of the Daleks and it was nice to see the Daleks on Earth once again. Their destruction of Sydney was superb and the Doctor being unable to prevent that aspect of their attack highlighted just how deadly the Daleks truly can be, as if we needed convincing at all. Lieutenant Davis served as a good companion for the story and I liked the teamwork that he and the Doctor shared in defeating the Daleks. The nature of the comic strip itself was strange with events going from left to right across two pages but I did like how each double page acted as a part and we had a mini cliffhanger quite often. Some of them were very good, especially the emergence of the Daleks. The Doctor getting involved in present day Australian politics was intriguing and the trust he managed to gain so quickly was typical of the Time Lord. I really liked that. The defeat of the Daleks came a little bit suddenly but it worked very well I must say. I found it quite humorous to see the Daleks helpless in the snow but the linkage of the ice doors to an ancient tale was excellent. Overall, a wonderful little comic strip and a great gift from DWM!

Rating: 9/10

Doorway to Hell Part 1

"Oh, I can tell you everything about the Doctor..."

Writer: Mark Wright
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 12th January 2017
Printed in: DWM 508

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Jess

Synopsis

The Doctor is called in for an unusual case by Hayes as a man who has been turned to glass is discovered. Whilst the Doctor is away, the Collins family are all abducted and a very familiar foe will make his presence felt...

Verdict

Doorway to Hell started off in superb style with this excellent first part of the comic strip! This has been an issue of Doctor Who Magazine I have been looking forward to reading for some time but thanks to a relentless assignment schedule at university, I still haven't been able to read any of it until now and this comic strip was the first part of the issue that I have looked at that is not the contents page. The idea of a 1970s issue is a terrific one and I like that the pages, upon an initial look and flick through, are recognisably different and reminiscent of what I imagine the very first issues of DWM were like back in the 1970s. This is also a good promotion of the Third Doctor Adventures audios released by Big Finish and although I am yet to listen to them I have heard nothing but praise for them so I'm more than happy with the promotion. The issue does look a good one and I'm glad that with the recent price rise, that does have me questioning whether to continue buying the magazine, that we were given a bonus comic strip in the form of a retro Third Doctor comic strip adventure from Countdown for TV Action. I will be blogging that story when I can get around to it but I do hope that we get little bonuses like this for the extra £1 that I'm not at all convinced is justified. There does look to be some good features this month though with a Terrance Dicks interview standing out. I'm also intrigued by the Time Capsule feature and of course the Doctor Who in the 1970s feature which the issue is kind of based upon. It looks to be a good issue. I thought the comic strip itself was actually terrific and I'm not sure if it was planned or not with the whole Twelfth Doctor storyline that has been going on for the past few months, but the comic strip in the 1970s issue of DWM taking place in the 1970s was quite fitting. I'm liking the relationship between the Doctor and Jessica and it's good to see that she has filled the void of a lack of companion whilst the television series is currently off air. But it will soon be back and I would guess that this could be the last story before Bill and Nardole join the pages of DWM. The Doctor and Jess being separated was good and that allowed for two very different directions for the story to go in. We had the Doctor dealing with a man who'd been turned to glass whilst we had Jess get her house raided and her entire family kidnapped and taken aboard what seemed to be a ship. The Doctor dealing with a creature that seemed to be a mix of the Vespiform and a Zarbi was good but the story's highlight absolutely had to be the cliffhanger. The Master is my favourite villain in Doctor Who by quite some way but to see the original incarnation of Roger Delgado return was simply wonderful. I did not expect it and I really am overjoyed to see where this story goes. The prospect of a meeting between the Twelfth Doctor and the first Master makes me very excited. I look forward to the next part and I'll be sure to purchase the latest issue on the weekend!

The Long Con

"It's not always a contest to see who gets to the fighting the fastest!"

Writer: AJ
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 15th December 2016
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 14

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Alice, Tenth Doctor, Gabby, Cindy

Synopsis

The Twelfth Doctor is back at a convention and he is not best pleased. What has brought him here? And what is the connection with past adventures featuring his two immediate past selves? Words will soon reveal everything, and it won't be as bad as things first seem...

Verdict

The Long Con was another terrific little bonus comic strip in what is still the Christmas issue of Doctor Who Comic! I can't quite believe that it's taken me two months to the day to finish this issue but I guess that it is better late than never! Time really is flying by and with a busy university schedule there really are only so many hours in a day. I'm not quite sure how I managed the daily blogging to the extent that I did in 2016 but I am quite proud of it, and I already believe it is impossible for me to match my tally of last year in 2017. That's absolutely okay and I'm just glad that it is not long now until the brand new series. This bonus comic strip was another of the San Diego Comic-Con exclusives and I liked how we had an intertwined adventure featuring the latest three incarnations of the Doctor. I was quite impressed that considering we only had half the space of a usual comic strip from DWC there was still a detailed story told and it was pretty much three back-to-back original stories. I believe it is chronologically placed a little ahead of where we're at with DWC at the minute but other than the presence of some characters, there were no spoilers so Titan Comics were fine to include it as a Christmas bonus. The trio of the Tenth Doctor, Gabby and Cindy is excellent and I really liked them again here. The characterisation of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was very good and I also thought that the Zoroniss was one weird creature. It almost looked to be an amalgamation of the Morbius Creature and a Titravore with the speech of an Ice Warrior! The way the Doctor challenged it was good and I liked how the Doctor was quite annoyed by it wanting destruction and death in similar ways to so many monsters before it. There were only a few pages featuring this trio before we headed to the rare pairing of just the Eleventh Doctor and Alice. With everything that has gone on with the Eleventh Doctor stories of DWC, it has been quite a rarity to have a story featuring just these two main characters so even if it was only just a few pages long, the brief showing was nice to say. I liked their conversation and the Doctor wanting to experience and admire history was fantastic. I really did like that and he was failing to understand why Alice didn't quite feel the same way about where they were. We then switched gears quickly to the Twelfth Doctor who was companionless, which probably helped for this story. I loved the reference to Selfie and he was rather disappointed to be back at another convention. It obviously wasn't a place he felt at home which is again rather ironic. The Doctor is perfect for comic-con and I did like the mention of the sonic screwdriver just being a fancy pen for his autographs. In this incarnation, I can't imagine the Doctor ever wanting to be seen getting an autograph. The Word-Rider that had been trapped inside him for over two regenerations was intriguing and I liked how it went some way to explaining the change in punctuation for the Doctor that we had seen in the previous pages of the story. It was just looking for a ride home and the Doctor was of course now able to provide that. It looked quite aggressive but that was not the case and we managed to have a happy ending which made a little change. Overall, a terrific little bonus comic adventure!

Rating: 9/10

Selfie

"Cosplayer? Photobombed? These words are just noise.'

Writers: George Mann & Cavan Scott
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 16th December 2016
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 14

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

When the Twelfth Doctor and Clara turn up at San Diego Comic-Con, a quick selfie outside the TARDIS reveals an alien threat among the con-goers and cosplayers! The green-skinned Lady of Neverness can only be viewed through mirrors, photos and quantum snapshots, and has turned up in the background of photos all over the convention! But if enough people view her at the same time, she'll gain the power to breach into our dimension... to feed on the life-force of the whole planet! Can the Doctor and Clara defeat her and save the day?

Verdict

Selfie was an excellent little bonus comic strip story and it was very nice to be back doing something Doctor Who! I think it is safe to say that this is the longest break I have ever had from blogging since I started in late 2013 but it was absolutely necessary with a relentless run of assignments at university. Thankfully I now have a little gap of nothing much to do and with a much needed week at home I am able to slowly get back on track and Doctor Who Comic was the obvious place to start. It is now mid-February and I am only now blogging a story from December's issue which is just very unlike me. I'm hoping to get up to date relatively quickly as they don't take long to read and I'll soon be updated with two issues already released since this one, one of which I am yet to purchase. I am back for now but I expect to be taking another break later in the month as the assignments build up again. The placement of this story in the Twelfth Doctor's DWC run was a little sketchy but I guess it was released at Christmas so there was no real harm done. I am grateful to be able to read it as following my reading, I discovered it was originally a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive story and the odds of me ever going there are very slim I must say. The concept of the story surrounding a selfie was very good and I liked just how well it worked. At half the length of a usual comic strip adventure from DWC, it definitely didn't seem out of place which was a real positive. I thought the pace was exciting and I liked how in a 'bonus' story the plot was actually very good and made logical sense. The threat of the Lady of Neverness was brilliant and I liked the brief history that we got surrounding her. The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor was superb with Peter Capaldi's likeness wonderfully captured. This is the first blog I have done since the announcement that he will be leaving the role following the next series and I must say that is a great shame but I am always excited for a new Doctor to debut. I look forward to seeing how that plays out and I'm sure that given time the Thirteenth Doctor will appear in this comic's pages. Clara was good in this story and I liked how she was delighted to be at the San Diego Comic-Con. The Doctor was, ironically, so out of place and he just couldn't grasp the concept of his surroundings which was terrific. He did though have enough mental stability to send the Lady of Neverness back to the other side of Time and keep the planet safe for another 1,021 years at least. Overall, a terrific little story and it's good to be back!

Rating: 9/10

The Organ Grinder

"It's as we feared. The Daleks have brought the Cyclors into the war."

Writer: Si Spurrier

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 15th December 2016

Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 14

Featuring: War Doctor, Squire, Alice

The Organ Grinder was an excellent comic strip adventure but was rather different to what I expected to be reading! I am more than used to the theme of the Time War in the Eleventh Doctor section of Doctor Who Comic but I was not anticipating an entire story featuring the War Doctor! I mean, I was thrilled to get one as any further stories we get with the lost incarnation are most welcomed in my book but I just wasn't ready for it and it kind of threw me a little bit. Now, I'm not sure if the information revealed in this story has furthered my understanding of the Doctor being accused of genocide in The Then and the Now and everything that has happened since or if I'm even more confused. Either way, I absolutely love it and I'm looking forward to more getting revealed in the upcoming issues as we reach closer to the conclusion of the second year of adventures. Blimey, time is flying by! It only feels like last week that I started collecting DWC whilst in college and now I'm nearly halfway through my second year of university. It's quite surreal how quickly things pass by and speaking of time, I liked how the War Doctor refused to acknowledge that Alice could be from the future. As far as he was concerned, the Time War meant there wasn't one. Seeing a younger version of the Squire was intriguing as she was obviously very acquainted with the Doctor so it begs the question as to why the Eleventh Doctor can't remember who she was. I'm sure that'll be answered in good time and I look forward to it. The biggest surprise in this story though had to go to the appearance of the Master in a previously unseen incarnation! And a very young one at that! I'm very interested to see where in the Master's timeline this incarnation fits but seeing as regeneration has never been depicted as reverting back to being a child, I would assume that he is the Master in his infancy. Some of the Doctor's comments may dispute that but his failure to recognise the infamous pillar design of his TARDIS would suggest it being his very first incarnation. Seeing the Doctor and the Master fighting side by side really does highlight the horrors of the Time War though and that's something I really like. The Volatix Cabal was a very interesting Dalek society and I just loved the whole concept behind them. Daleks who had the ability to be creative. That's quite a scary thought and despite being thought lowly of by the pure Daleks, this society could bring victory in the Time War. I absolutely adored the comment about all wars being won by madmen and it appeared that's what these Daleks were searching for. The Cyclors being explored further was good and I liked how the Doctor's comments at the start of the story sold how terrible they were. Alice and the War Doctor interacting was fantastic but again I'm intrigued to see where this places After Life and Alice's first meeting with the Doctor. The cliffhanger was very good with the emergence of a God-like creature and I'm looking forward to seeing what significance she has in upcoming stories. But for now, an excellent comic strip!

Rating: 9/10

The Jazz Monster

"Someone stole my music."

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 15th December 2016
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 14

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby, Cindy

Synopsis

The Doctor, Gabby and Cindy land in New Orleans at the dawn of the Jazz Age, tracking down the source of the Nocturnes, twisted memetic creatures who ride music and use it as a weapon. Can the TARDIS team change the Nocturnes' tune before they infect all life on Earth?

Verdict

The Jazz Monster was a very good comic strip that has kicked off my blogging of 2017! I would like to extend a happy new year to anyone and everyone who reads my blog but I must start off by saying that I think 2017 could be a pretty quiet year for Doctor Who Verdict which is a bit of a shame but I have taken the difficult decision to put other things first and see my intake of Doctor Who put on the backburner for the time being. My resolution for this year was simply to live my life more and that means experiencing new things and just enjoying myself. Now in the past, when I've gone on a daily run of blog entries, it has often felt like a burden and with my second year at university now into full swing, I just don't need it. Now, I am and always will remain a huge Doctor Who fan but after an incredible run in 2016 which somehow saw me blog more than ever before, I'm taking a backseat and I'll honestly be surprised if I do more than 10 entries a month now. I will continue to get DWM and DWC and will of course watch the new series but once my few Christmas presents are done and blogged, I'm not sure how often I will do things. University and my personal enjoyment has to come first so here's to a quiet year! Now. to the story itself and I thought it was a pretty good start to a comic strip adventure that clearly will continue in the next issue which is actually out next week. I was swamped with catching up on Series 9 before Christmas and during this issue's release and with a break over Christmas it has taken some time to open the pages. I loved the New Orleans setting of the Jazz Age and it was nice to see that Gabby and Cindy were getting that extended break they so yearned. They had both dressed the part and I liked the references we got to The Singer Not the Song with the musical theme. I didn't expect the theme to be quite so expanded upon come the latter stages but I did like how similarities were drawn. There was also quite a bit of ambiguity surrounding the creature the Doctor labelled as 'the boss' and it did appear that he was related to the Nocturnes in some form. The foreshadowing of The End of Time with the Doctor not being too keen on songs ending was a very nice touch and I liked how it reminded us how close towards the end of the Tenth Doctor's life that these stories are set. It was the obvious gap to place a comic series in his timeline and it's worked wonderfully and I like how it continues to be referenced. The mention of The Weeping Angels of Mons was also excellent and I liked how the Doctor's initial memory of a Jamie was his companion during his second incarnation. This time it was Cindy who had fallen for someone in the form of Roscoe but he had been the subject of some alien meddling as he had forgotten how to play his jazz, and he wasn't the only one that had happened to in the area. The Doctor had sniffed out trouble and now it was revealed. However, it was going to be more troublesome than he had envisaged as the method he believed would make this boss of the Nocturnes weaker was actually making it stronger! That obviously wasn't what was expected and I liked how the Doctor looked worried. The cliffhanger was pretty good with the monster rising and claiming that everyone present would be its servants and I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out in the next part. But for now, a very good comic!

Be Forgot

"It's Christmas Eve. Not everything's an alien plot with monsters."

Writer: Mark Wright
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 15th December 2016
Printed in: DWM 507

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Jess

Synopsis

It's the Christmas season and the Doctor is still stuck in the 1970s and is still living with Jessica Collins and her family. The TARDIS shows no sign of turning up which leaves the Doctor stranded and not even Christmas is going to cheer him up. How about a Christmas mystery and the possibility of aliens? Danger usually wakes him up and it seems there's a case right on his doorstep...

Verdict

Be Forgot was a very decent little comic strip that served as Doctor Who Magazine's own festive special. It is usually the norm for DWM's comic story in the Christmas issue to celebrate the theme of the month and I think it's what probably should be done. Now. I'll get to the comic strip itself shortly but as per usual for my blogging of the DWM comic strip, I'd like to talk about the magazine itself as a whole. It's a bumper issue at 100 pages long and thankfully the price remained at what is now the normal £5.99. I must admit I have been thinking twice about purchasing the magazine in future with this price rise and I must say that it is quite a hefty amount of money for a magazine. I don't understand why it is so much but I think I will continue to collect it for the time being but I think there might come a time in 2017 where I pack it in which will be a real shame. The issue though looks a good one and I must say that I have actually read quite a bit of it already with it having been out for over a week now. We were given another stupidly humongous poster and I really don't understand why they are so big and I usually just end up giving them to my younger cousin who I have mentioned in a few blogs in the past. I really liked all the previews of The Return of Doctor Mysterio which of course aired yesterday and it really did get me excited for the Christmas Special. We had a lengthy preview along with interviews from Matt Lucas and Justin Chatwin which were great. Steven Moffat's monthly column was terrific and I liked how every question was about him leaving the show. His answers were very comically and he links it all together very nicely but we've still got a year left of him yet as he was ever so keen to remind us! I thought the feature on The Feast of Steven, which was of course episode 7 of The Daleks' Master Plan, was excellent and it really did shed light on some of its details. I had no idea that the story was initially intended to be half of its actual length and the way they overcame the Christmas Day airing was superb. I am yet to read Galaxy Forum which is quite unusual for me but I am looking forward to seeing what some readers have to say about the animation of The Power of the Daleks. I'm sure I'll end up using some of my Christmas money to purchase that but I do hope it gets positive views! Is it possible that it can't? The review of 2016 will be an intriguing read as there wasn't any Doctor Who on our screens before yesterday but I am looking forward to the 'Power of the Doctor' feature. That looks a very good read. Now, back to the comic strip itself and I must say I am quite surprised at how long the Twelfth Doctor is spending stranded with Jessica Collins and her family. He keeps finding alien intervention which is rather lucky but then Doctor just didn't seem himself which was odd having just watched fourteen episodes in a row where he was very rather different. The plot was actually pretty good and I thought the story of Walter was quite a sad one. I'm sure it was no coincidence that there was a comic appearance with a certain Christmas episode looming and I like the links that can be found between the televised and comic strip formats. The danger turned out to be non-existent which was interesting but I am intrigued to see how long this story arc of the Doctor being stranded lasts. I don't think it'll be too long with Bill on the horizon. Overall though, a very good comic strip!

Rating: 8/10

The Return of Doctor Mysterio

"You're a superhero!"

Writer: Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 25th December 2016
Series: 2016 Christmas Special

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Nardole

Synopsis

Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane! The Ghost is real. Something is threatening New York City and every capital city across the planet and Lucy, a reporter, goes to extreme measures to find out. However, she finds herself caught between the Doctor and the Ghost and together, they try to save the world. How could a Time Lord and superhero fail?

Verdict

The Return of Doctor Mysterio was an excellent Christmas Special episode of Doctor Who and it was just great to be watching a new story for the first time in exactly one year! Although the show hasn't aired a full series during 2016, I must admit that time has still flown since the last episode one year ago but having rewatched Series 9 in anticipation of this story, it was nice to be watching something I hadn't seen before. I've been reading comic strips from both DWM and DWC as well as listening to a few audios in the year to get my Twelfth Doctor fix but now he was back on our screens and it was like he had never left. I thought the setting of New York was good as you can't really go far wrong with it and I really liked the heavy references to The Husbands of River Song. Despite there having been a year between that and this episode broadcasting, the Doctor's final night with River Song seems to still be playing quite heavily on his heart. The explanation of how Nardole was back and travelling with the Doctor was briefer than I thought but I guess that we didn't really need to see it. The Doctor was feeling lonely and he needed a familiar face around him to ensure he wouldn't be lonely. I must admit I am very surprised that Nardole has been brought back but I thought he was brilliant in this episode. He's obviously learned quite a lot about the Doctor already but I do question how he is able to fly the TARDIS. He didn't seem the most intelligent of people in his previous appearance and there were no real indications of that having changed in this story until he was seen flying the Doctor's spaceship! He had even made some pit stops along the way. I think it's a shame that there have already been some negative comments towards Matt Lucas on Twitter as he still hasn't really been given a chance to prove his worth as the companion. Once we see him in regular weekly episodes that will be the time to judge. I liked how Steven Moffat once again managed a first with a Doctor Who episode as we got the show's take on a superhero character. I thought the Ghost looked very good and the idea of doing a story based on the superhero theme was wonderful. Now, judging from the preview in this month's Doctor Who Magazine, the episode was full of references and throwbacks to the original Superman films. Now, I'm not a big superhero fan so I haven't seen that film but I liked the inclusion of the comic strips and the comic scene at the very start of the episode was a fantastic lead in. Grant was a great character and I liked how the Doctor was responsible for his superpowers in a brilliant scene pre-titles where we saw Grant as a child. Lucy was also a wonderful character but her failure to see that Grant and the Ghost were the same person was quite baffling. The moment that was revealed to her was excellent though as at the instructions of the Doctor, we had the superhero save the day. He ended up with the girl he had been chasing for twenty-four years so that was something but I do reckon he wished he'd revealed his identity a lot earlier now! His struggle with x-ray vision during his elementary school years was quite comical and despite not being Christmassy, which I'm fine with, I liked that there was a lot of humour to give the story a light-hearted feel that usually goes with the Christmas Specials. Harmony Shoal was an intriguing enemy and I definitely get the feeling that we haven't seen the last of them. I'm surprised the disturbing species returned so quickly but I am looking forward to what the future holds for them! Overall though, a fantastic Christmas Special!

Rating: 9/10

The Husbands of River Song

"He only has these twelve faces. He'll be around here somewhere."

Writer: Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 25th December 2015
Series: 2015 Christmas Special

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, River

Synopsis

Christmas Day 5343. King Hydroflax is injured and is in need of a surgeon. His wife, Professor River Song, calls in the greatest the galaxy has to offer but she doesn't recognise her other husband when he turns up to the request. The Doctor plays along and we see a different side to River Song, but once his true identity is known, will this be there last night together? The Singing Towers of Darillium await...

Verdict

The Husbands of River Song was an excellent episode to serve as the 2015 Christmas Special and it means that I'm all caught up ready for tomorrow's big return of the Doctor after a whole twelve months off our screens! Well, he did appear in the Class series opener of For Tonight We Might Die but there hasn't been a Doctor Who episode in a whole year and that is a rather long time. I must say that it doesn't feel like a year since I watched this episode but I was glad to be able to give it a higher rating than what I did last year! It jumped up and I am actually quite surprised that I gave it a mark lower last year as when I was watching I thought this was pushing the perfect rating. It didn't quite get there but it wasn't all that far away. It has everything you can want in a Christmas Special and whilst the theme of the big day was kept consistent, we also had a lot of humour and actually a very good story unfold! We obviously had the return of River Song who was starring alongside Peter Capaldi for the first time and I liked the dynamic that River and the Twelfth Doctor brought to things. It was a meeting that shouldn't have happened but the Doctor was very excited to meet her. It was intriguing to see this incarnation of the Doctor alongside a regular character that was not Clara but I thought it was even more interesting that despite the regeneration and drastic personality change, his feelings for River Song certainly don't seem to have altered. He was very cross by the fact that River Song had another husband in the form of King Hydroflax and he literally was crossing his arms at what he had to watch in the earlier moments of the episode. The far future setting was very good and I liked how the Doctor stepped in as the surgeon who would work on Hydroflax. He had the world's most valuable diamond stuck inside his head and River had called for it to be removed. However, by it she meant his head and not the diamond. It was brilliant to see River Song getting up to her own adventures without the Doctor's company and although I experienced that earlier this year with The Diary of River Song audio series, there's nothing quite like seeing it on television. The Doctor's reaction to what she was doing was fantastic and he genuinely was surprised by some of her actions. She wasn't afraid to be committing genocide but she was trying to save people which I'm sure he admired. The reveal of another husband who wasn't the Doctor in the shape of Ramone was very comical and the Doctor once again seemed disgusted and annoyed. I loved that the Doctor got his own 'it's bigger on the inside' moment and it was good that in his mind he got to do it the correct way. His reaction to River having her own alcohol storage was terrific too. Scratch and his goons coming to collect the diamond was a brilliant moment as they were doing it for their ruling king, who of course turned out to be Hydroflax. River had his head in a bag and after some earlier hilarious threatening which saw the Twelfth Doctor laugh for one of the first times, there was a lot of improvisation and then an incredible moment where River poured out her emotion for the Doctor and learned that he had been there all along. That was magnificent and accompanied by later references to The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Day of the Doctor, The Time of the Doctor and Deep Breath, we had ourselves one hell of a reunion. River had planned the escape and the Doctor helped save the day but the pair's story would soon be over. As mentioned in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, the Doctor had brought her to the Singing Towers of Darillium. He gave her the sonic screwdriver we saw all those years ago and with it completed one hell of a story arc. As much as I love River, I do hope her story with the Doctor is now told because it has been a bloody good one! I'm interested to see how Nardole returns tomorrow given what happened to him here as he didn't play a major role either so the fact that he's due to become a companion intrigues so I'm looking forward to his future! Overall, a terrific Christmas episode!

Rating: 9/10

Hell Bent

"Is the firing squad afraid of the unarmed man?"

Writer: Steven Moffat

Format: TV

Broadcast: 5th December 2015

Series: 9.12

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

After being tortured for billions of years within his own confession dial, the Doctor has been pushed to the brink of madness. Returning to Gallifrey, he must face his own people, the Time Lords, but how far will he go in his quest for vengeance? Does he have another confession? And how fiercely does his rage towards them for Clara's death burn?

Verdict

Hell Bent was an outstanding conclusion to the story already started in Heaven Sent and the pair of episodes have ultimately served up one hell of a series finale! The story as a whole could arguably be a three-parter, similar to the way Series 3 was under the Tenth Doctor but I would argue against that and I will be going forward thinking of it as a traditional two-parter series finale. It still seems weird to me that two episodes after her death, Clara was back playing the role of the companion and although the way she was brought back was absolutely fine, I'm a firm believer in a character staying dead if their death is depicted on screen. It has slightly annoyed me in the past in programmes such as Game of Thrones and The Blacklist, both of which I'm a huge fan, but in Doctor Who it doesn't quite seem so annoying and I guess that might be down to the time travel element of the show. After an excruciating 4.5 billion years trapped inside his own confession dial, which had been designed as a living torture chamber, the Doctor was back home. In the modern series, we finally got to see the Doctor step foot on Gallifrey. His refusal to confess the truth about the Hybrid was interesting and the lengths he went to save Clara from death were quite staggering. Her reaction to learning what he had done was brilliant but she did seem at least quite happy that she had been extracted right before her death was due to take place as we saw in Face the Raven. The atmosphere that the Doctor's presence brought to Gallifrey was astounding and I loved how disinterested he was in everybody that wasn't Rassilon. He showed no respect to the Time Lords. He was the man who won the Time War. This was his planet. He installed himself as Lord President and the fear that he brought because he was unarmed was sublime. The Doctor was a war hero and was respected so much that the firing squad laid down their arms and disobeyed their President. I liked the continuity from The Day of the Doctor with the Doctor returning to the barn and I loved the ambiguity that surrounded the woman who entered the barn and saw the Doctor. They clearly knew each other and I do like to think that she could be his mother. Even if she isn't, I'm sure she's a family member of some kind. There was a lot of ambiguity surrounding the Doctor and his family and the 'boy' comment from Ohila intrigued me as well. Could she be family of some kind as well? The Doctor getting rid of Rassilon and the High Council was excellent but I was quite surprised to see him shoot the General. We saw an on screen gender change regeneration for the first time and although I don't think it should happen, I get the feeling we could see a female Doctor very soon in the future. The Cloister Wraiths were an intriguing species and I liked how we got see a Dalek, Cyberman and even some Weeping Angels who had attempted to break into the Matrix but found their efforts in vain. The Doctor, having waited half the life of the universe to get back to Gallifrey, stealing a TARDIS and leaving was just wonderful and exactly what I would have expected and I thought the design was wonderfully retro. Just how Gallifrey escaped the pocket dimension I'm not so sure but I liked the ambiguity surrounding it and I do hope that we learn the answer at some point in the future. The Doctor running to the last fragments of the universe and being reunited with Lady Me, or Ashildr, was terrific and the conversation they had was wonderful. It seemed highly unlikely that she would be the Hybrid prophesied on Gallifrey and the more likely answer was actually in line with The Movie. Was the Doctor really half-human? Judging by the fact he had his memory of Clara wiped by a device that was human compatible and his failure to deny Me's theory, I would suggest that indeed he is. I do hope that gets explored in future but for now, I like that Clara and Lady Me are available for a return and I'm looking forward to seeing the Doctor react to losing his dear friend. Overall, a stunning finale!

Rating: 10/10 

Heaven Sent

"I've just watched my best friend die in agony. My day can't get any worse."

Writer: Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 28th November 2015
Series: 9.11

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor

Synopsis

As if the death of his best friend wasn't enough, the Doctor's situation has only gotten worse. What initially started as an attempt to help clear someone of a false murder charge has evolved into something much worse.

Now trapped in an old rusty castle in the middle of an ocean, the Time Lord is being stalked by a mysterious creature that only pauses when he gives up his deepest secrets. What does this thing want? And can the Doctor escape and find his way back home?

Verdict

Heaven Sent was a fantastic episode of Doctor Who and served as a superb start to the finale of the ninth series since the show was revived back in 2005. It follows on from the events of Face the Raven, the following episode which was expectedly referenced on more than one occasion, and we see the Doctor having to deal with the death of his best friend and companion in Clara Oswald. She had been with him for a long time now so for the Doctor to see her die and be helpless must have been awful for him but instead of having time to grieve, he was teleported to his own personal hell thanks to the trap laid by Lady Me and the mysterious people she had made a deal with. The castle-like setting that turned out to be the inside of the Doctor's confession dial was excellent and I loved the mystery that surrounded it. As the episode went on, we were learning new things about this strange environment and I liked how we got to see that the Doctor was both afraid and confused. He was learning too which isn't always the case and I think that was sold to us by the fact the story was largely a single hander from Peter Capaldi. That was a brave and bold move by Steven Moffat but as he has done many times before, he did not fail to deliver. Obviously, he was helped by the brilliance of Peter Capaldi in playing the Twelfth Doctor but even for an actor as talented as he is, it must have been a hugely challenging script. I loved the scenes in the TARDIS where the Doctor would work out how he escaped the oncoming doom that was presented in the form of his childhood nightmare. I love the idea of the Doctor being chased by something from his nightmares and even though we saw him experience some of those nightmares in Listen, the idea of our hero having them is frightening. What could scare the Doctor so much that he couldn't sleep? I love that concept. We of course got to learn the details of his childhood nightmare but despite the Doctor not having been a child for a very long time now, he was still afraid. The hints that were being left of what he needed to do to get out of his current location and find out just what was going on were fantastic and despite Clara having died in the previous story, she still managed to play a big role in this episode which was good. The Doctor needed his audience. It would be a bit boring if he just tried impressing himself in the TARDIS in working out what was needed to make sure he won. The use of the chalkboard to aid the Doctor and guide his thinking to the right questions was very good and I liked how patient he was in working things out. The revelation about the skulls in the water beneath the castle was quite horrifying, as was pretty much everything that came with the moment the truth was revealed to us. I remember being a little confused when watching on broadcast but I think having the advantage of already watching the episode once made things a lot clearer this time around. Patience and determination was going to get the Doctor out and although he had to wait billions of years, he finally cracked his way through the impenetrable wall. It was four-hundred times harder than diamond and was 20ft thick but the Doctor punched his way through. There was no reset here and the Doctor knew what he needed to do. The bird hint was wonderful and it was actually rather frightening though to see the Doctor basically commit suicide to ensure the new copy of himself was teleported through. Once the Doctor had escaped, things got very interesting indeed. Not only was the Doctor back on Gallifrey, but he quashed the Hybrid rumours of Davros from The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. He'd already revealed that he didn't run from Gallifrey because he was bored, and I think we now knew why. The Doctor was the Hybrid. And he was back home. Overall, a stunning episode!

Face the Raven

"Details won't add up. Reality will have glitches in it."

Writer: Sarah Dollard
Format: TV
Broadcast: 21st November 2015
Series: 9.10

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

The Doctor, Clara and Rigsy are trapped on an alien street in London, that is hidden from the rest of the world.

Ashildr, the immortal hybrid-girl, is taking care of some of the most dangerous creatures in the universe. Not everyone will get out alive; one of them must pay the price and face the raven.

Verdict

Face the Raven was an absolutely superb episode to set up the finale of Doctor Who's ninth series since the 2005 revival and if I was asked what my favourite episode of the series was prior to beginning my rewatch around a fortnight ago, I would have said this episode. That has now changed, up until this point at least, with The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar remaining my favourite so far but that does not mean in any way that this episode has gone down in my estimation. The rating has remained perfect and I loved every minute of it. I'm not sure why I didn't quite appreciate the true quality of the series opener the first time around but that's the beauty of rewatching. Anyway, it was good to see Rigsy back after his first appearance in Flatline during the last series but I must admit I was surprised to see him back at all. He didn't exactly scream the character of someone you wanted to see again but then I guess the same could be said for Nardole and he's now ending up being companion for the next series! The idea of a tattoo that was counting down was terrific and I liked how the Doctor dismissed it as simply being boring until he actually saw the numbers change. That set his mind going and he was on his way to finding out just what was going on. The search for a London trapstreet was excellent and I loved just how much Clara loved the danger that came with dangling herself out of the TARDIS as it hovered above London. She was getting too comfortable with the Doctor and seemed to be getting reckless and that would come back to haunt her at the end of the episode. Once the trapstreet was located, the alien asylum was a very interesting place to say the least. The disguise of the Judoon was fantastic and I also liked that we got to see brief glimpses of an Ood, Cyberman and Sontaran. The Doctor had caused trouble on this planet and Lady Me, formerly known as Ashildr, was ensuring that the planet remained safe. It's an interesting thought to think that not every member of a species that invades the planet and encounters the wrath of the Doctor is there because they're evil. We saw that with the Zygons and The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion was mentioned very nicely. The meeting between Clara and Lady Me was fantastic and I liked how the latter's struggle with immortality was clearly illustrated. An immortal life with a finite memory must really be quite a challenge. The references to The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived were fantastic and I like to think how it's been nearly a millennium by this point from when Ashildr was made immortal. The efforts to rid Rigsy of the chronolock were good and I liked how Clara thought she was being clever in taking it from him. But the Quantum Shade had made a contract with Mayor Me and in taking the countdown, the terms were changed and there was nothing Me nor the Doctor could do. Clara was courageous and accepted her impending death very well and used her last moments to comfort the Doctor. Me had laid the trap for the Doctor with an unknown 'they' and we would see that continued in the next episode but this was all about Clara. Peter Capaldi was incredible in demonstrating his anger at what was happening and I loved his warning to Me about staying away from him. The death of Clara was incredible and on broadcast it was one of the very few moments to make my cry as I just didn't expect it and although it was still emotional this time around, there was no danger of tears. The silent scream that saw her crumpled to the floor was brilliant and as companions don't often die, I thought this was done fantastically. Overall, a simply stunning episode!

Rating: 10/10

Sleep No More

"Sleep's the one thing left to us."

Writer: Mark Gatiss
Format: TV
Broadcast: 14th November 2016
Series: 9.09

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

From footage in the Le Verrier space station, the Doctor and Clara are shown to be up against terrifying Sandmen in a situation which involves sleep and a lot of death...

Verdict 

Sleep No More was an excellent story and I am absolutely delighted to be saying that! I really did not enjoy this episode when I first watched it on broadcast some thirteen months ago but I am not too sure why as I was actually very close to awarding it the perfect rating. I thought it was brilliant from start to finish and I am really not sure why I didn't think so the first time around. I always like it when a story's rating dramatically increases from one viewing to another and I don't think I have had a jump of two scores since watching The Romans for the second time which was quite some time ago now. That jumped up three scores and although this was close, it didn't quite make it but am now anticipating the rumoured sequel that we'll get in the upcoming tenth series next year. I do hope we get it as there are numerous unanswered questions and the footage of Clara could provide the Doctor with some interesting moments but enough about what the future may hold, let's talk about this little gem of an episode. It was different, brave and bold and it's refreshing to see something new being done in a televised episode. A first is a difficult thing to come by in Doctor Who nowadays given just how much content there is across the formats but going with a found-footage format of episode was an excellent idea and Mark Gatiss pulls it off terrifically. I also thought the direction was fantastic and I very rarely mention that aspect of an episode so for me to include it in my blog it really must have been good! I liked how there were no opening titles and that just added credit to the reality of the story. The 38th century setting was good and I liked how it was a rare occasion of a story taking place in the Solar System that wasn't on Earth. We were in orbit around Neptune which was interesting, as was the Doctor's comments about the Great Catastrophe and the tectonic shift that merged India and Japan. I won't be around to see if that comes true but I'm sure historians of that age looking back will be mightily intrigued by the prediction. Seeing the video of Rassmussen at the start of the story was good and I liked how key he was to everything that was going on. His invention of Morpheus was mightily intriguing and the idea of fitting in a month's worth of sleep into five minutes does sound appealing I must admit, but to the Doctor and Clara it just seemed awful. Now, I wouldn't mind getting an extra third of my life back instead of being asleep and I do try and live on as limited amount of sleep as possible as I like to get things done, but altering human life to that extent was surely never going to end well. The inclusion of the song surrounding the process was good humour and I liked how annoyed it made the Doctor. Clara naming the Sandmen was a wonderful moment as the Doctor genuinely seemed gutted he hadn't got there first and couldn't come up with a better name. The concept behind them was pretty horrifying which is a great thing when it comes to a monster and I thought their appearance suited the style of story very well. Nagata and 474 were fantastic characters and I also thought that Chopra was good too. The apparent death of Rassmussen was unexpected but not quite so much as his seemed resurrection! The ambiguity surrounding him as the episode concluded was brilliant and that really has left me wanting a sequel, and I'm sure the Doctor will be hoping for one as well as if there's one thing he and I agree on hating, it's unanswered questions. Overall, a brilliant episode that in my opinion has hugely improved since the last viewing!

Rating: 9/10

The Zygon Inversion

"Truth or consequences. Lie and you die."

Writers: Peter Harness & Steven Moffat
Format: TV
Broadcast: 7th November 2015
Series: 9.08

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

With the splinter group of Zygons now ahead of the Doctor, there is only one thing standing in their way of obliterating the human race and taking the Earth for themselves: a moral dilemma!

Is Bonnie willing to compromise the peace already in place, just for the sake of Zygons not needing to hide, even if it means making enemies not only of humanity, but of her own race?

Verdict

The Zygon Inversion was a brilliant conclusion to the story already started in The Zygon Invasion! Now, I'm not a great fan of naming the episodes in a two-parter so similarly and would have much rathered just call it one or the other and give a 'part one/two' to the title as was done with The End of Time, but it doesn't really matter and what I was a fan of was what I watched in the episode! After the superb cliffhanger of the first episode, I was looking forward to seeing the immediate effects of what went on at the end of the episode as we had Clara launch a missile at the Doctor's plane. I was intrigued that we saw Clara, in her normal form, influence the actions of her Zygon duplicate and initially prevented the Doctor's presidential plane from being obliterated. It gave the Doctor and Osgood the warning they needed to prepare themselves for a safe landing once Bonnie did deliver the crucial blow. Seeing Clara's perspective from inside the Zygon pod was really intriguing and I liked how something new was being done with the great monsters. There were still quite a few references to The Day of the Doctor which I expected and I also liked the continuation of the references to Terror of the Zygons and the destructive gas that was developed by Harry Sullivan, the Fourth Doctor's former companion. The Twelfth Doctor's description of him was quite harsh but it was also humorously accurate so there was no problem there. Osgood was wonderful in this episode and I do hope that we get to see a lot more of her in future episodes. The way she had planned on what she would do if she wanted to take over the world was brilliant, especially her plans for the Doctor. She told him straight that if she wanted to take over the world she would shoot him right between the eyes, twelve times if necessary. Peter Capaldi was once again on stellar form and I really do hope that he remains the Doctor for quite some time yet. He's just absolutely superb and can switch in an instant from being calm and humorous to dark and serious. That's a fantastic quality to have and the obvious highlight of the episode would be his speech about war. The passion that was put into it was absolutely immense and I think I mentioned in my blog of this episode on broadcast that this seems to me to be Peter Capaldi's defining moment as the Twelfth Doctor, much as Matt Smith's epic speech in The Rings of Akhaten defined him as the Eleventh Doctor. The concept behind the Osgood Box was terrific and the revelation that there was actually two of them was very good. It seemed so obvious once it was revealed and I like things like that. The truth that Kate was not actually the Zygon duplicate that we suspected was wonderful and again unexpected. I liked that the Zygons never even considered that their species was defeated by a human and that wasn't the first time it had happened to them. The attempts by Bonnie to use the Osgood Box to unmask every Zygon on Earth were great and if that happened the panic that would ensue would have been quite problematic. The truth though that the boxes were actually empty was terrific and I loved how much passion the Doctor displayed despite that. He wanted to see who would go far and make the first move but the negotiation had worked out. Just. For now. I get the feeling that this theme will be returned to at some point and I'm absolutely okay with that. Overall, an excellent episode to conclude the story!

Rating: 9/10