Reviews in Time & Space: Doctor Who 2022 Centenary Special - The Power of the Doctor

"It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for." After four years and 31 episodes, the time of Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall has come to an end. Combined with the celebration of the BBC's centenary, such an exit deserves an extra-special episode of Doctor Who. The Doctor's greatest enemies converge on her in The Power of the Doctor – a feature length special clocking in at an incredible 90 minutes. As teased following the credits of Legend of the Sea Devils, the episode brings back classic companies Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) – along with several other familiar faces that were kept top secret ahead of the episode airing.

(This review contains major spoilers, make sure you've seen the episode first!)

Reviews in Space & Time: Doctor Who 12x10 - The Timeless Children

The time has finally arrived, and things will never be the same again. With the Cybermen back in full force, a long-awaited return to Gallifrey and the Master once again in tow, the stage is set for the Doctor Who series 12 finale – The Timeless Children. Showrunner Chris Chibnall brings his series-long arc to forefront of the episode, having planted the seeds for the eponymous Timeless Child as far back The Ghost Monument. Once again directed by series staple Jamie Magnus Stone, the episode follows directly on from the events of both The Haunting of Villa Diodati and Ascension of the Cybermen. “Everything you think you know is a lie.”

Reviews in Space & Time: Doctor Who 12x09 - Ascension of the Cybermen

The end is almost upon us, and in the finale of Doctor Who series 12 the 13th Doctor must once again battle against an enemy that's taken so much from her in the past - the Cybermen. Following on from the surprise appearance of the lone Cyberman in The Haunting of Villa Diodati, the race towards the end continues in Ascension of the Cybermen - written by show runner Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. Interestingly Ascension is also the fourth two-part finale in modern Doctor Who to feature the Cybermen, following on from Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Death in Heaven/Dark Water and of course World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls. But despite now having more finale appearances than even the Daleks, many have said that the Cybermen lost their lustre a long time ago. Could this be the episode that finally brings it back?

Reviews in Time & Space: Doctor Who 12x02 - Spyfall, Part Two

The Master is back! The Doctor is trapped in an unknown place and her companions are falling their deaths! If there was anything Spyfall Part One succeeded in, it was giving Doctor Who the kind of jaw-dropping cliffhanger that the show hasn’t seen for a good while. Thankfully it’s mid-week debut on New Year’s Day meant that fans didn’t have to wait long for the second part, which saw the series return to its current Sunday evening time slot. Written by series show runner Chris Chibnall and directed by Lee Haven Jones, Spyfall Part Two already has a lot riding on it.

Reviews in Time & Space: Doctor Who 12x01 - Spyfall, Part One

With no Doctor Who on television screens since Resolution, 2019 has felt like an especially long year. But with the dawn of 2020 that long wait is finally over, as the 13th Doctor (and fam) return for the show’s 12th series since it’s 2005 relaunch. Already we know from the trailer that this series promises both Cybermen and Judoon, and if you’ve been paying any attention to the filming pictures in the last year a few other surprises along the way. The series kicked off on New Year’s Day with the secret agent-styled Spyfall, Part One, the first two-part story since 10th Doctor swan song The End of Time to retain the same title across both parts.

Reviews in Time & Space: Doctor Who 10x12 - The Doctor Falls

After 12 (mostly) fantastic weeks, but the time has finally come for Doctor Who series 10 to come to an end. Along with that comes goodbye to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, Michelle Gomez as Missy, Steven Moffat as showrunner and quite likely Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas as Bill Potts and Nardole too. Well, this is true for some of those anyway as we already know Capaldi and Moffat will both be returning for the Christmas special before handing the reins over to new showrunner Chris Chibnall and the currently unknown new Doctor. But regardless regeneration is in the air, and following the sheer horror of World and Time Enough there's two Masters, a newly born army of Cybermen and Bill's transformation into a Cybermen to deal with as The Doctor Falls...

Reviews in Time & Space: Doctor Who 10x11 - World Enough and Time

It's been a fun ten weeks, but now the end is finally approaching. It's time to begin bidding farewell to Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor, Michelle Gomez as Missy, Steven Moffat as showrunner and potentially Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts too. As Doctor Who series 10 draws to a close we begin the two-part finale with World Enough and Time - written by Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay, who previously directed the two-part finales for both series eight and nine. As well as bringing back the original Mondasian Cybermen to screens, World Enough and Time also features the much-publicised return of John Simm as the Master, making this the first multi-Master story put to screen.

Reviews in Time & Space: Doctor Who 10x06 - Extremis

Note: Extremis is an episode almost impossible to review without discussing spoilers, so this review will be particularly spoiler-laden. You have been warned!

Last week’s episode Oxygen raised the stakes pretty significantly when not only was the Doctor left blinded during his adventure aboard a deep-space mining system, but the TARDIS medical systems were also subsequently unable to cure him. Now not only is the Doctor left vulnerable, but he’s also determined to keep his condition a secret from Bill. Blindness won’t slow down though, and it’s business as usual in Steven Moffatt’s Extremis – the first episode in a loosely connected “Monks Trilogy”.

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who 5.5" Scale Missy (Purple Dress Variant)

It's taken a bit of time to find its footing again, but collectors can rejoice in the knowledge that the 5.5" line of Doctor Who figures has made its grand return. Now being billed exclusively as "collectors series"figures, these are something a bit more special than your average Who figure and the way this particular one was revealed proves it. Announced as part of a web broadcast with lead product designer Al Dewar and then sold exclusively via Character Options' website, the next character to join the 12th Doctor is none other than Missy! The latest incarnation of the Master (played by the fantastic Michelle Gomez) was released in two variants - a purple dress version with hatted-neutral expression and a black dress version with hatless grinning face. Both versions are limited to only 4,000 pieces each, although the word is that the black dress version is the rarer one as the purple variant is also to be released in the US.

However since I can't afford both and the purple dress is arguably more iconic, that's the variant I decided to go for!

Reviews in Time & Space: The Witch's Familiar

Last week saw the premiere of Doctor Who's ninth season (or series, whichever you prefer to use) and boy did it start with a bang. After revealing the surprise return of a dying Davros, The Magician's Apprentice ended with the Doctor witnessing both Clara and Missy being exterminated by Daleks before the TARDIS is destroyed. In the very last scene, the Doctor returns to where he met Davros as a child and pointed a Dalek gun at him, claiming he is going to "save his friends in the only way he can". It was a pretty incredible first episode and has set the bar pretty high for it's second part, cleverly titled The Witch's Familiar. Odd sounding titles for Davros/Daleks may be, but pretty clever (at least in name anyway) when you realise what they are referring to.

Reviews in Time & Space: The Magician's Apprentice

Doctor Who is back for it's ninth modern-era season, and I don't think you could boast a much bigger premiere than The Magician's Apprentice. As if seeing the Doctor and Clara again after a year wasn't enough, this episode also marks the return of the Master (still under the guise of Missy, played by the ever wonderful Michelle Gomez), the Daleks and even a few other surprises. In the age of the internet where it's so hard to be surprised by anything, some of the best episodes of Doctor Who always turn out to be the ones where they've managed to keep something big under wraps. So if you haven't seen the episode yet, be sure to stop reading about it and go check it out as soon as possible. If you have seen it however, read on in the first of what should hopefully be another great year of weekly episode reviews.

Reviews in Time & Space: Death in Heaven

The big finale has finally arrived! Danny Pink is dead! Missy is the Master! There are Cybermen pouring out of St Paul's Cathedral! As the Doctor and Clara face Earth's darkness hour, they'll both be presented with some incredibly hard decisions. The Cybermen have revealed that with Missy's help they now have the power to pollinate the dead, UNIT return and the Doctor is made President of planet Earth in the crisis. As the Doctor has every army under his command to defend Earth against this Cyberthreat, Clara meets Danny again in a way she never expected. But what is Missy's end goal? It's time for Death in Heaven.

Reviews in Time & Space: Dark Water

The end is in sight for Doctor Who season eight. After ten weeks of learning the new side of the 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald becoming a character rather than a plot device, the season finale has finally arrived  - Dark Water. Danny Pink is dead, and Clara wants the man she loves back. After showing the Doctor just how determined she is, the two head off to find out just where people go after they die. As Danny's past resurfaces as he struggles with his death, the Doctor and Clara find themselves in 3W - a strange organisation that houses the dead in strange tanks. As the two explore a chilling prospect of what happens to us after we die, they not only uncover a Cybermen plot but also come face to face with the mysterious Missy. As she reveals her true identity, the Doctor is in for quite a shock...

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who Classics The Master & Axon 2-pack

The early 70s could have been a disasterous time for Doctor Who. The Doctor was exiled to Earth and therefore unable to travel in the TARDIS, meaning that week after week the monsters had to come to him. Earth was repeatedly invaded by aliens and it was up to the Doctor and UNIT to stop them. The format could have become stale and repetitive quickly, but (in my own opinion) it had the best core cast Who ever had to stop that from happening. And a lot of that praise would go to Roger Delgado's original (and still by far the best) Master. And finally he has his own figure, following hot on the trail of the Anthony Ainley Master figure (which I still do not own, as I am hoping for a rerelease in his standard Traken costume).

The Master is an entirely new sculpt, in the all black costume Delgado wore for the majority of his appearances as the character and comes with his signature weapon, the Tissue Compression Eliminator. The headsculpt captures Delgado's likeness brilliantly, emphasising that calm, collected evilness all interpretations of the Master have lacked since. It's a simple figure, not requiring as much detail and/or colours as some of the figures in the line, but it's utterly fantastic. The Doctor's greatest single foe finally gets a figure worthy of his name. Hands down my favourite humanoid Doctor Who figure Character Options have produced.

The Axon is also good, but certainly not on the same scale. As far as big lumbering monsters go it's a fantastic figure (it also helps that the Axons are one of my favourite generic Doctor Who monsters, but there are a few little issues. Firstly, the figure is a repaint of the unreleased Krynoid figure from the 4th Doctor story The Seeds of Doom (which I think was originally going to be the Build-A-Figure in Classics Wave 2). While admittedly the Krynoid costume was a modified Axon costume, the changes were noticeable and to those with a keen eye and/or an eye for accuracy the figure is a krynoid painted orange. Compare the figure to photos from the series itself and you'll notice what I mean. Now I'm not particularly bothered about this - the figure still looks like an Axon and I don't particularly care for Krynoids, but as Character Options have seemingly been striving for accuracy down to the littlest detail on some of their figures, this may come as a disappointment. Secondly I think the colours might be a little too light...but that might just be me nitpicking.

In conclusion the set is worth the purchase for the Master alone. The Axon is merely a lovely bonus. Now my favourite Doctor has his main foe to be posed with. I am a very happy fan right now.