8th Doctor: Season One (2001)

Storm Warning
is a confident start for McGann, interesting aliens & a good start for plucky rah Charlie Pollard. Nothing special, tho. 6/10

Sword of Orion
desperately wants to be the back end of #earthshock. It's the back end of something. Dreary characters & rubbish 80s cybermen who do naff all. Sluggish & forgettable story, but encouragingly McGann injects the only life into this. 4/10

The Stones of Venice
McGann's magnetic & brilliant in #thestonesofvenice, & its just as well cos its a truly rock-bottom dire bore fest otherwise. 1/10

Minuet in Hell
desperately wants to be a mix of X-Files & Buffy, hence a very messy tone. Fantastic to have the Brig in #minuetinhell but far too Doctor lite and far too much of the insufferable Gideon Crane.  Not the worst but low down on my list. 3/10, but that's basically 1 for Nick Courtney, 1 for India Fisher and 1 for McGann, when he finally turns up.

Re: David Arnold's arrangement of the #DoctorWho theme, I love his work on the Bond films, but this has never really grabbed me. I like how dark & atmospheric it sounds but it's just that bit too unsubstantial & the melody sounds like it's being played by rubbing-fingers-round-wet-wine-glasses and worse, it actually goes out of tune. It's not bad, but I would've liked and expected much better.  They got at least 6 years out of it (all the Charley run), & it seems to be popular. Not with me, though!