The Two Doctors Review

The Two Doctors

The Doctor and yes that’s the Doctor too

Story 140, Episodes 633-635, Season 22 Episodes 7-8

Doctor: Second Doctor, Sixth Doctor

Companions: Jamie McCrimmon, Peri Brown

The Two Doctors consists of a nearly nothing plot, but is strangely watchable to the charms of the performance and great Robert Holmes dialogue.

The Review

The Androgums

For the first time, the 45-minute episodes weren’t boring despite a lack of plot. Interestingly, it starts out with the Second Doctor and Jamie on a mission from the Time Lords (which really doesn’t square with The War Games spawning a whole fan theory but I digress). The two Doctors don’t end up interacting much until the end, and treat it as no big deal, like it’s just a coincidence the Sixth Doctor happened to run into himself. Troughton even spends a lot of time turned into an Androgum, which really shows off his comedic acting chops. The villains of the story are Androgums, an anagram of gourmand, one, Chessene has been augmented with intelligence while Shockeye is obsessed with eating, especially eating humans. It’s a weird storyline, but I don’t hate it as the plot essentially turns on Chessene never being able to move past her voracious true nature.

Dastari meets Jamie and the Doctor

A big sufferer are the companions here, Jamie is back but gets to do next to nothing. Peri is dressed ridiculously, and also gets to contribute little in the third act. The guest performers steal a lot of the show, Dastari the cool space scientist is played well by Laurence Payne. James Saxon does great work as Oscar, an aspiring actor/moth hunter who amusingly turns up in part three running a restaurant and gets stabbed. The Sontarans also return for their only appearance between 1978 and 2008 but are bizarrely disposable, they’re nothing more than patsies used by the main villain. Despite a lot of these issues, there’s just a good energy in this story that’s been missing from Season 22 previously. The Sixth Doctor isn’t completely awful to Peri, and we get a bit more sense of where Baker would like to go with his Doctor.

For its bizarre watchability, I have to give this story props. I can’t quite give an 8 for the plot being a mess and underutilizing a lot of people, but I kind of enjoyed it.

7.9/10 A very low-key multi-Doctor story gets a boost thanks to Robert Holmes writing.

This costume line-up is brutal

The Dark Times Review

The Dark Times

The Doctors take on the Dark Times

Time Lord Victorious Part 2

Doctor: Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor

Companions: Rose Tyler, Brian

The meat of Time Lord Victorious sees the collision of three Doctors as the Tenth Doctor makes a desperate bid to defeat death.

The Review

The Ninth Doctor in the vampire war

Other than a short story which we’ll discuss in a minute, The Dark Times kicks off with at last the Ninth Doctor’s entry to the story. Although sadly we get no Eccelston on audio, it is nice to see this short-lived Doctor get some more play. As well, he’s along for the ride with Rose. The Doctor finds himself in the Time Lord, well ‘Space Lord’ war versus the Great Vampires referenced in State of Decay. The Gallifreyans are still unused to death and functionally immortal, and we meet the original Rassilon, who surprisingly turns out to be a woman. Rose briefly becomes a vampire, but the Doctor frees the vampire underclass. It’s a fun story to get a very rare peak back into Gallifrey. Of course this came out after The Timeless Children where Tecteun was said to be the first space explorer, but if Gallifreyans were immortal at this time, hey, she could’ve been exploring an extremely long time. Series 1 Rose is definitely better than what her character became, so it’s fun to see her.

The Tenth Doctor arrives in the Dark Times

The title of this blockbuster story obviously comes from The Waters of Mars, where the Tenth Doctor declares himself the master of time with the Time Lords all dead. He’s in a false chipper mood in the first novel The Knight, The Fool, and The Dead as he arrives in the Dark Times. The book is well-written by Steve Cole, and definitely reads as the Tenth Doctor as opposed to just a generic Doctor. The short story Dawn of the Kotturuh gives more background, but the Kotturuh are a race that give the gift of death, artificially determining the lifespans of previously immortal races. The Doctor tries to come up with a way to stop them, get them to give up, but after they kill a previously immortal girl Estinee, the Doctor reflects their gift and starts a genocide of the Kotturuh. This turns out to be the cause of the massive changes in time felt by the Daleks in the Eighth Doctor who turn up to stop him along with the Ninth Doctor and free vampires in a pretty epic cliffhanger. Two Doctors fighting their future self? Now that’s fun.

The Time Lord Victorious and Brian

The confrontation between the three Doctors does not disappoint at the beginning of All Flesh is Grass, really the climax of the whole story. There is a sizable gap where-in fits The Minds of Magnox where Jacob Dudman delights with his great Tennant impression and shockingly prefect Matt Smith in the coda. The Doctor visits Magnox, a famous place of knowledge to ask if he did the right thing, but the Kotturuh come and kill almost everyone. One woman, Peschell he saves and sends to Islos, where she founds its archive seen in Daleks! in a charming coda where the Eleventh Doctor returns to apologize to her. There are some comic strips, but the heart of the action is the Daleks secretly combining Daleks and vampire DNA to try and destroy Gallifrey before the creation of the Time Lords. The Tenth Doctor finally admits he went too far, and with the help of the last Kotturuh who destroys the hybrid Daleks with her judgement, save Gallifrey. Interwoven through the previous book and Una McCormack’s work here is the Brothers Grimm fable that you are unable to cheat Death. It’s a very well-written story, and perfectly fits the Tenth Doctor’s dramatic character arc at the end of his life.

The Eighth Doctor is a lot more dynamic than this, I swear

The Eighth Doctor is a fun inclusion in the story as he has no knowledge of the Time War to come, or how precious Gallifrey is. He causes an explosion on the Dalek Time Ship as they flee the Kotturuh’s judgement simply saying “apparently, in the Time Lord Victorious.” Mutually Assured Destruction the best of the Eighth Doctor trilogy, with high-stakes, a wonderful McGann performance and Nick Briggs working overtime giving texture to all the Dalek voices. The Doctor outwits them all, and the ship disintegrates through space. Exit Strategy, a final short story, has the Strategist escape, plotting the Time War meaning this whole arc leads right into that. Overall, The Dark Times is both well-plotted, and has excellent character development and thematic resonance. It’s really all you can ask for from Doctor Who.

The central hub of Time Lord Victorious does have the Daleks attacking Gallifrey (again), but it is really about how far one should try and go to fight death. The Kotturuh were evil, but the Doctor should’ve found in the better way. Also, I didn’t talk about him much, but the dry sartorial quips from Brian keep the whole thing lively.

9/10 Time Lord Victorious keeps its level with both epic and poignant moments.

Yes, even the Doctor Who Comic Creator got in on the action

Time Crash Review

Time Crash

The Doctors!

Story 187.5

Doctor: Fifth Doctor, Tenth Doctor

A delightful 2007 charity mini-episode that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

The Review

Tenth Doctor trying to work some magic

How can you not have a big smile on your face watching Time Crash? It has everything to do with David Tennant’s performance, featuring him at the height of his powers as one of the finest actors ever to take the part. Peter Davison is visibly older and almost can’t quite pull off being the famously youthful Fifth Doctor, but he does an admirable job. It’s just a blast to see these two at it, as their Doctors, doing Doctor things. Knowing that Tennant got Davison because he was his favorite Doctor growing up is just perfect, and then the next year he’d meet Davison’s daughter and marry her! How about that? It’s a perfect little love letter to the Fifth Doctor, and incarnation that deserves a lot more love than he gets. What fun!

Wish we’d gotten a few more of these, but we did get Matt Smith and Tom Baker together six years later. Still kind of can’t believe that one.

10/10 Come on, what did you think?

What time differential does to a mf

The Five Doctors Review

The Five Doctors

The titular four Doctors



Story 129, Episodes 602, 20th Anniversary Special

Doctor: The First Doctor, The Second Doctor, The Third Doctor, The Fourth Doctor, The Fifth Doctor

Companions: Susan Foreman, The Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Romana II, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough

Doctor Who celebrates its 20th Anniversary in style, bringing back classic Doctors and probing deeper into Gallifreyan history.

The Review

The First Doctor and Susan meet the current team

Anniversary specials are a funny thing. We all want to see our favorite characters from the show return, but also don’t want something that is dumb and stupid. It would be exceedingly difficult to bring as many characters back as The Five Doctors does and come up with some killer emotional story, so it doesn’t really try. For the big reveals we return to Gallifrey and finally meet Rassilon, who for a decade has been spoken of as the legendary founder of the Time Lords. That at least makes the story feel special rather than tossing in characters. First off, we see shots from the unfinished Shada representing the Fourth Doctor and Romana, who we are told are ‘stuck the vortex’. It’s a shame Tom Baker didn’t return, as seeing him and Lalla Ward again was genuinely heart-warming. With William Hartnell having passed, Richard Hurndall is cast as the First Doctor, and he cuts a warmer figure than Hartnell. Susan is also back as a woman now, curiously the Fifth Doctor doesn’t seem too happy to see her. She then twists her ankle, which is honestly a cruel joke played on Carole Ann Ford.

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane reunited

The Five Doctors smartly gives us some character pairings we haven’t seen in a while starting with the Second Doctor meeting the Brigadier, and the Third Doctor meeting Sarah Jane. Troughton is delightfully and completely himself, and despite his hair having gone completely white Pertwee still has his sharp edge. Sarah Jane doesn’t get as much to do as she deserves, there’s no really interactions with the Fifth Doctor and she falls down a hill. Turlough gets stuck in the TARDIS for most of it, but Tegan does get to hang around with the First Doctor which is quite a fun crossover. As for the Fifth Doctor he gets some time on Gallifrey taking to Lord President Borusa and other members of the high council, trying to figure out who brought them all here. It’s a good narrative structure to have all these pairings and bring them together at the end.

Rassilon makes an appearance at last

We of course get some villains, the Daleks are only represented by a lone entry while we get a lot of the Master and the Cybermen. The Master is tasked with rescuing the Doctor from the ‘Death Zone’ on Gallifrey, where Rassilon’s tomb is, but once again Ainley doesn’t get to do much despite putting in a good acting performance. I don’t know who expected a lot of the Cybermen in this story, but it is fun to see their silver suits out in the foggy Welsh highlands of the Death Zone. Certainly would take them over lots of EXTERMINATE! In the end, President Borusa turns out to the the villain, desiring Rassilon’s immortality, and he gets it as others before him, immortality as stone on Rassilon’s tomb. The First Doctor gets the pivotal line goading Borusa into it, a good decision by the script. As they all leave, the Fifth Doctor is appointed President of Gallifrey, so he jumps in the TARDIS and flees. After all, that’s how it started. Listen, The Five Doctors is just pure fun. We even get illusions of Liz, Yates, Jamie, Zoe to round it out. Classic characters, a good plot, and an ending ensuring the show continues.

It opens with William Hartnell’s monologue to Susan from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and ends with the Peter Davison Doctor running away from Gallifrey. All told, it’s good fun. I just wish the companions other than the Brigadier got more to do.

9.25/10 A great template for future anniversary specials. Give us characters!

The Master in discussions with the Cybermen



Fugitive of the Judoon Review

Fugitive of the Judoon

The Judoon are back!

Story 291, Episodes 856, Series 12 Episode 5

Doctor: The Thirteenth Doctor

Companions: Captain Jack Harkness, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, Graham O’Brien

In an out-of-nowhere earth-shattering episode, Fugitive of the Judoon has several layers of surprise, the last one earthshakingly big.

The Review

The Doctor and the fugitives try to figure out what to do

This is an exceedingly difficult episode to review as an episode because it is more like a series of bombshell twists as Series 12’s arc has swelled to the most complex since Series 6. First off, hey, it’s the Judoon, who I kind of can’t believe never showed up since Smith and Jones in the main show because they’re such memorable designs. Lawful evil space rhino police for hire? The design of the Judoon is inspired, and I love the banal things they do like giving an old woman a worthless galactic credit or something as compensation for destroying her blanket she was knitting. Ryan and Yaz get some good dealings with the Judoon, and Yaz gets a single line to remind us she’s a police officer. I do continue to enjoy how this era is consciously shaking us away from reflexively setting every story in London, here we are taken to Gloucester, and why not? The abbey is a central setting, and it is truly beautiful. The lighthouse at the climax (in reality on the Welsh coast probably on the English coast in-universe) is a beautiful locale as well. Apparently the fugitive’s high-value allowed the Judoon to show up on Earth and not do the whole Moon thing.

I legitimately thought it was never happening again. My apologies to John Barrowman, a true icon

Now, it’s time to pivot right back to what happens to Graham: he gets time-scooped out into space by none other than the legendary Captain Jack Harkness! Since I’ve been watching Torchwood it felt natural for him to show up, but it’s been a decade since he was in the main show and nine years since Miracle Day. Barrowman is still looking good, and thinks Graham is the Doctor so gives him a big welcome back kiss. We catch Captain Jack in media res, flying a stolen ship, under fire by nanogenes, and although he doesn’t get to meet the 13th Doctor he is excited by the Doctor being a woman now. Barrowman’s warning is to not give the Lone Cyberman what it wants as that will apparently reconstruct the Cyberman empire. Because it wouldn’t be any fun otherwise I’m sure we’re going to end up giving the Lone Cyberman what it wants. I think we will see Captain Jack again, we won’t be denied the meeting with Whittaker. However, I think his whole appearance was a gigantic red herring to contain the real stunner at the end of this episode that I still kind of can’t believe happened.

Jo Martin is…the Doctor???

We think the secret alien is this guy Lee, who the Judoon and their commander Gat kill. The Doctor escaped with his wife Ruth, who has no clue about what is going on, but she gets some sort of mental trigger text from Lee. After she singlehandedly scares off the Judoon in Gloucester, she drives to the lighthouse in her memory. While the Doctor is digging a suspicious grave (that I didn’t think was all that suspicious, multiple people share one gravestone all the time) she breaks some glass, changes her clothes, grabs a giant alien gun, just as we see the Doctor is unearthing…the TARDIS! That’s right, ‘Ruth’ is the Doctor, and she takes our Doctor into her very 60s control room. She was on the run from fellow Time Lord Gat, and both are confused because neither remember being the other one. The diehards are already clutching their pearls in terror over what this could possibly due to the precious lore, but I am completely fascinated. The only comparable was John Hurt’s intro as the War Doctor, but we all knew next episode would be all about him. ‘Ruth’ is a complete curveball, and she is played utterly brilliantly by Jo Martin. I am incredibly invested to see where this goes and how this ties into the Master and the Timeless Child.

So wow, that was a lot. A big episode. It did kind of feel like moving from one big event from another, and is far from a perfect episode, but those were big reveals handled extremely well. If you didn’t like this episode, you shouldn’t be watching this show.

9/10 Not perfect, but Series 12 gives us a midseason update on its mystery. Welcome to the two Doctors

Jo Martin’s Doctor is a lot meaner than Jodie Whittaker’s, and they both kind of can’t believe the other is themselves

 

The Three Doctors Review

The Three Doctors

Omega contemplates existence

Story 65, Episodes 331-334, Season 10 Episode 1-4

Doctor: The First Doctor, The Second Doctor, The Third Doctor

Companions: Jo Grant, The Brigadier

For Doctor Who‘s tenth anniversary, we get the first multi-Doctor story and another great look at Time Lord society. Despite some antics from Omega and the Second Doctor, The Three Doctors is a solid fun.

The Review

The antimatter creature

An antimatter creature attacks UNIT, and in the first episode you could not have predicted that this story would involve the Time Lords. Seeing them in action is fun, and a high-ranking Time Lord decides to break the Laws of Time to solve one the threat emanating from a black hole. Unfortunately due to Hartnell’s failing health, he only appears on a television screen. Troughton is back gracing our screens though, and his bickering with the suave Third Doctor is pitch-perfect and very entertaining. The Second Doctor gets his reunion with the Brigadier, who is a bit slow to realize that Pertwee hasn’t decided to revert to his old face and manner. Everybody gets sent to a BBC quarry, which in this case is the antimatter dimension inside a black hole. It is being held together by a legendary Time Lord Omega, long-presumed dead, sacrificing himself to allow the Time Lords the secret of time travel. Instead he’s created this antimatter world, and is quite upset about the whole ‘trapped in a black hole’ business.

Time Lords! Actual ones!

Of course, the story proceeds rather normally from there. Omega chews up a metric ton of scenery in a very loud performance by Stephen Thorne (recently deceased). Omega is a very loud yeller, and it is fitting that we learn that only his incredibly strong will has survived: Omega is completely non-corporeal. The Second Doctor banters on about his recorder, turns out it didn’t get converted into antimatter and when it makes contact it causes a whole supernova that saves the day. The other Doctors go home, and Jo comforts Pertwee over Omega’s death. I’d heard some bad things about this story, probably from Omega’s performance, but it’s good anniversary fun. Seeing the Doctors squabble amongst themselves, and the Brigadier and Benton dealing with the whole thing is more than enough to make this a good story. If Pertwee wasn’t an incredible straight man, it wouldn’t have worked. Thank goodness for him.

Ten years of Doctor Who are celebrated with a look at Gallifrey, and visits from all three Doctors, even an ailing Hartnell.

8.5/10 Too large performances aside, this is a good one.

These two are perfect together

 

Twice Upon A Time Review

Twice Upon A Time

Two Doctors meeting their ends

Story 276, Episode 840, 2017 Christmas Special

Doctor: The First Doctor, The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, The Captain. Projections of Bill Potts and Nardole

Twice Upon a Time is not what anybody expected. There is no big fight, no big battle, just thinking. Sadly, the great capstone to the Capaldi era already happened.

The Review

The Captain. Him being the Brig’s dad is fine.

Precious little actually happens in this episode. The crux is that The Captain (the Brigadier’s dad) played quite well by Mark Gatiss has been kicked out of his death in World War I. We find that the glass figures the Testimony are taking people’s memories before they die from throughout time and letting them live on. Not that evil! Included are the memories of Bill, who isn’t really here. That includes a visit to the Dalek net by visiting Rusty from Into the Dalek which is such an odd choice for a returning character. Then the Captain is returned to his death a few hours later, in time for the Christmas Armistice. Then, the two Doctors choose to regenerate. To me, it’s pretty clear that Moffat intended The Doctor Falls to be the regeneration, because, well, it’s a much better finale episode as this is basically a long epilogue. So that’s a big problem, regeneration episodes should be epics like The War Games and The Parting of the Ways, even with all its problems Time of the Doctor sure is a ride.

Bill, Clara, and Nardole are all memories, but recast Ben and Polly are real! They look nothing like Ben and Polly

Let’s talk about the First Doctor. The opening showing ‘709 episodes ago’ and the closing showing the fragment of the regeneration to the Second Doctor was amazing, especially having seen The Tenth Planet just yesterday. David Bradley looks a lot like him, his voice is a bit high, but what can you do. His best moments is when he’s talking to Mostly Bill about why he left Gallifrey, not saying exactly why but saying that he was interested in seeing why good always triumphs. He’s the problem here, the First Doctor acts like a sexist idiot. Now, I understand wanting to reference the past of the 60s, but as someone who’s seen all of the First Doctor…he is never as overtly sexist as he is in this episode. Telling Bill she is a member of the fairer and weaker sex is just completely un-Doctor-like, even for the First Doctor. It’s kind of disrespectful honestly. That’s not who the First Doctor is. Now him being really young, the Twelfth Doctor feeling a lot more formed than him makes sense, but he feels just so much less.

The regeneration itself

I think the thing that felt the most disappointing about this episode for me was that after all that build-up not much really happens this episode. For a lot of people, that poignancy and melancholy really sat well with them. Maybe I’ll come around on this episode one day, but compare this to the operatic soaring finale that is The Doctor Falls. The Doctorsacrificing himself for all those people, fighting the Cybermen, and finally completely dying. I think a big problem is that there is not a. a character arc to reckon with, like Tennant coming to grips with his vanity or b. a lot of plot threads to propel it along like with Smith. Capaldi’s Doctor is so completely fully formed in a way that certainly no new series Doctor has been, not just his incarnation, but he really feels like the culmination of the journey the Doctor has been on. It makes sense why he wouldn’t want to go. Seeing Nardole again was lovely, seeing Clara again was necessary but weird because Jenna Coleman clearly was not there. I guess I just can’t get as excited for a regeneration, even of my favorite Doctor when the build-up is sitting quietly and a hug. The Doctor Falls was an all time classic, this is disappointment.

Peter Capaldi is my favorite Doctor, and I feel bad that I dislike his regeneration episode so much. So much so that I think it may be one of worst, to no fault of his own. He gets no real epic plot, and it just happens. However, the Doctor has gone on a long journey from ‘I don’t want to go’ to ‘Doctor, I let you go.’ As someone who has felt like he’s gone on a personal journey the past few years, Capaldi doing the same meant a lot of me. God speed, see you at the 60th Anniversary.

6.5/10 What really happened in this episode? Everything and nothing at all. The Doctor Falls was leaps and bounds better. We barely got anything of the new Doctor!

The Thirteenth Doctor!

 

The Day of the Doctor Review

The Day of the Doctor

The 11th, 10th, and War Doctors

Story 240, Episode 799, 50th Anniversary Special

Doctors: Eleventh, War, Tenth (Eighth)

Companion: Kate Stewart, Clara Oswald

Here comes the spoilers in the start of the 900-ish-Episode quest to review every Doctor Who episode!

Prequel- The Night of the Doctor

The Eighth Doctor returns at last

For some, this was an incredible moment. It was the return of the Eighth Doctor to Doctor Who proper after last being seen in a one-off movie in 1996. As having no Eighth Doctor experience, it was simply a good representation of the Time War. The Eighth Doctor is rebuked by a Companion and is mortally wounded trying to save her. He is offered a choice, regenerate and stop the Time War from ripping the universe apart. The prequel simply gave the Eighth Doctor closure and introduced the War Doctor.

8.5/10

Prequel-The Last Day

Less good as the Night of the Doctor, The Last Day showed a promising start to a new FPS blending Time Lords and Halo. Despite that such a game is too awesome to exist, The Last Day was even more ‘prequely’ than the last one. The Fall of Arcadia indeed.

6/10

The Day of the Doctor

The Doctor

The Day of the Doctor is truly brilliant. It is one of the best episodes of Moffatt’s run, and undoubtedly deserving of the 50th Anniversary special. Contrary to expectations, the true main character was the War Doctor, played by John Hurt. The sadness and gravitas he brought to the role left me saddened that all we see of the War Doctor is this episode. The crux of the 50th Anniversary is the War Doctor being shown by The Moment/Bad Wolf/Rose what he will be if he murders trillions of Gallifreyans and Daleks. He is thrust into seeing Eleven and Ten meeting up to solve an ingenious Zygon invasion. The other Doctors are understandably scared of him, as they remember his murder. Also fantastic is the return of David Tennant, who hasn’t been seen since he regenerated four years ago. He hasn’t missed a beat. Tennant dives right back into the role, and all the things that made the Tenth Doctor my favorite were shown in force in his scenes with Elizabeth I. The wit, the charm, everything that truly made him, as Clara called it, The Hero. Ten is the quintessential Hero, and his return was seamless. The Zygon invasion was utter genius, especially with the Time Lord being a 3D moment in time. So, in 1592 or whatever, the Zygons hide in paintings that the Zygon Elizabeth I places in her collection until 2013 when the Earth is ripe for the taking. The round-about way of Eleven and Clara being called in by UNIT to deal with the Zygons escaping (by Kate Stewart in a commanding performance that wants me to see more of her), and finding Ten investigating the same invasion was perfectly executed. The War Doctor is aghast at his future selves ‘timey-wimey’ speak and kissing and what the New Series in general. As he may be near the age of long-time Doctor Who fans, it was a way of comparing the old and new.

The Moment is at hand

Through it all, he sees that the future is in safe hands, but he cannot avoid activating the Moment, the Time War must be stopped. Ten and Eleven come to help him in a heartbreaking scene, until they realize: Time Lord art is frozen in time, a moment frozen there. What if, they can do that to Gallifrey? Suddenly, the three Doctors rush to Gallifrey to do this, and contact the planet and their faces pop up on holograms. But not just there’s, ALL THIRTEEN Doctors arrive to save Gallifrey, including Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor! They freeze Gallifrey and it vanishes and the Daleks’ fire destroys themselves. The Doctors depart, with the War Doctor and Tenth Doctor knowing their knowledge of them not committing genocide is lost. Seems only the oldest Doctor remembers multi-Doctor stuff, for the most part. The War Doctor regenerates of old age, into the Ninth Doctor, but cuts out before we see Eccleston. D’aw. The final scene had Tom Baker returning for the first time since 1981 as a Curator to lead the Doctor on his journey…to Gallifrey. It’s almost poetic, the Doctor’s going home. Stunning episode, great 50th Anniversary that shows what the Doctor’s mission now has become: going home.

10/10

Highlight: All thirteen incarnations of the Doctor arrive to save Gallifrey.

Previously: The Name of the Doctor

Next: The Time of the Doctor

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