This was immensely good! The Daleks plotting to invade and conquer an entire galaxy... What's not to like? It was really well done and exciting. I wish we'd have actually seen the Daleks begin the invasion but nonetheless, it was still a lot of fun to watch. The war council was cool and Mavic Chen was an interesting character. I LOVED that the Daleks just walked in on their final meeting, called it off and then rounded them up for execution... That is pure Dalek evil right there. Brilliantly done.
There was a genuine sense of threat throughout the whole story, the Daleks were convincing and certainly the deaths are surprsing. I didn't really like Katarina but her death was still emotional. Steven and Sara were great together and I would have loved to have seen her become a full-time companion, so her departure was sad - especially in that creepy fashion... Reduced to mere dust. It was moving to watch, in an eerie way.
This is a really well thought out story, and although lengthy, it didn't feel that way to me. It felt paced and kept me engaged throughout. The only time I wasn't enjoying myself was during 'The Feast of Steven'... That really was a terrible mess of an episode. It contributed nothing to the story and it ruined the feel and atmosphere the previous few episodes had created. But then I guess it was the Christmas special, so they had to be lighthearted. Ah well, I didn't let it spoil my enjoyment of the rest of the story, I just pretended it didn't happen...
Great to see the Meddling Monk return! That was a pleasant surprise indeed! Also, when the TARDIS crew landed in ancient Egypt, I was worried that it was going to become a bit slow and boring, but actually it was very fun to watch as the Daleks, the Monk and Chen arrived to join in with the shenanigans rather than it turn into another 'historical' where they merely get captured and the whole 'story' is just them trying to escape... I feared it was going to get a bit mundane, but it certainly wasn't!
This was the first time I actually exclaimed "YES!" when there was a full episode. Whilst watching previous serials and there has been a complete episode, I've been pretty pleased, but since I was enjoying this story so much I was extremely happy that there was some full footage when there was. Although it's a tragedy that we can't see the whole thing, I'm happy that we at least have what we do. I hope more still exists and is found in the future though.
Brilliant story. Highly recommended. Probably my favourite so far, even despite that weird Christmas episode...
5 out of 5.
