8th Doctor: Season Nine (2009)

Orbis

#orbis makes for a strong, if unusual, season opener. Both Smith & McGann turn in top drawer performances and #orbis itself is an interesting environment with sympathetic natives.

 Another good turn from the headhunter.

 Just when you think #orbis is completely separate from #vengeanceofmorbius, the denoument cleverly links back. 7.5/10

Hothouse
continues the New 8th Doctor series trope of bringing back one-off but memorable #DoctorWho monsters, unfortunately pointlessly. Strong set up with Lucie undercover but #hothouse fails 2 make any impact & even guest star Nigel Planer has nothing to work with.

There's the usual excellent recreation of classic sound FX for the Krynoid, but a weak entry overall. 5/10

The Beast of Orlok
is much more satisfying, liberally pilfering from classic Universal monster movies, the Wolfman & Frankenstein in particular, to great effect, with plenty for the regulars to get their teeth into & a great turn from Miriam Margolyes.

 Hans & Greta, though? Pfft.

#beastoforlok is the strongest of this series so far. 8/10

Wirrn Dawn
is the Aliens to the Ark in Space's Alien, but avoids being just a ripoff by playing up the strengths of the original story, which as any fule know, is Ark & not Alien!

 Colin Salmon seems to enjoy playing a meathead for a change & there's standard spacesuit running out of oxygen jeopardy which isn't overdone.

 A good story, which avoids #hothouse's faults. So 7/10 for #wirrndawn

The Scapegoat
brilliantly evokes Nazi occupied France, the grand guignol of doctor Baroque's theatre & the regulars have a blast. 8/10

The Cannibalists
If you like an hour's worth of robots shouting at each other, you'll love #thecannibalists. I didn't. 3/10

The Eight Truths / World Wide Web
#the8truths & #worldwideweb make 4 a polished & satisfying season finale, wrapping up the headhunter & the stellar manipulator with a welcome return for the Metebelis Spiders & a gleeful savaging of scientology & other sinister cults. 8/10

Death in Blackpool

Noooooooooooooooooooooo! Lucie can't leave!!  

This is, of course, the darkest, most downbeat Christmas special you could have, more like a Casualty at Christmas feel to it, but it is a satisfying pay off of the Zygon Aunty Pat story line. Brave stuff, really, but even with all this in mind, it's still a bit insubstantial, and a "Zynog"? Really?

It's good, but not great, and the Noddy Holder Father Christmas is irritating at first, but grows on you. 7.5/10