I’m firmly in the “love it” camp. From the unusual yet very fittingly Doctor Who setting (the period, the zeppelin) to the nature of the threat. McGann really gets to grips with returning to the role of the Eighth Doctor well - like he was born to play the role. Charley is great, of course, and a fresh new companion surrounded by a bit of mystery and intrigue by the end.
I always love Doctor Who when the aliens turn out to be more than just villainous monsters. In fact, there are concepts here which hew remarkably close to the Xeraphin from Time Flight but where the season 19 finale fails, Storm Warning soars. And, of course, for real villainy, we need look no further than the humans!
I like to imagine what audio stories would look like if televised. For classic Doctors, I need the feel to be authentic to their period and that very much informs the audio-visual aesthetic that forms in my head. For the 8th Doctor, however, I have much fewer reference points. I’m reminded of scenes from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and I see large Hollywood style sets for the Triskellion ship.
Yup, I loved this when I first listened to it two decades ago and I STILL love it to this day. The 8th Doctor was back and his potential was about to be realised. How right I was!