Basically in Forgotten Lives, Gwen decides they need to bring back Torchwood, and More Than This is her starting to get it set up
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Thanks. Was trying to work out if it was post Children of Earth or Miracle Day. I listened to Forgotten Lives aaagggess ago so have, ironically forgotten that bit.
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Started Echoes Through Eternity on a last minute store run.
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ofc, np!
What did you think of it?
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Just finished UNIT Dating and NOOOOOOOO MY TORCHWOOD TIMELINE WAS SO CLEAN BEFORE!!!
In all seriousness, I loved it
UNIT Dating - 9/10 (Spoilers)
I love Andy, I love character focused pieces, I love queer stories, I love the UNIT era, and I love time loops. Wow, this was made for me.
This story is another Stranded story that uses Sci-Fi elements but to tell a very human story. Tony and Ron had mostly just been background characters before this story, they got a few lines and they were really sweet in Must-See TV, but they did at times feel a little like set dressing. This story completely changes that though.
In the present, something is happening to Tony’s memory, and Helen, Liv, and Ron are all trying to help him with it. It’s written in a way that conjures imagery of Dementia, but intentionally avoids bringing it up by name very much to the benefit of the story, when there’s sci-fi explanations for real world conditions it can downplay the severity of that real condition, but here I think it’s done really effectively, drawing parallels without downplaying it.
Then back in the past, we see Andy and Eight caught in a time loop, I said I loved their interactions before but here it’s even moreso. Andy has experience with Time Travel, but never in such a personal manner and I love that he just keeps putting his foot in it. His comments about what if he doesn’t look anything like this ‘Jo Grant’ are great as well. The Time Loop itself isn’t anything stand out on it’s own, but the character moments it allows for, especially with Eight realising he never did give The Brigadier enough credit, are brilliant, and the cuts to the present where we can see the effects of the changes in the loop though Tony are done really well and just make this story work.
Culshaw’s Brigadier is superb and is written spectacularly here. The moment with him in the past at the end, his comment about Ron and Tony’s relationship is great.
My only critique is that Liv and Helen don’t get all that much to do, that said Helen opening up to Liv about her brother she’s never spoken about before is written just oh so well, I’ve spoken to older people before who have spoken on the topic in much the same way, the way she struggles with how open everyone is about it now, not because it’s a problem but because of the pain that she’s seen people who couldn’t be open about it go through. It’s just so heartfelt sad, and superbly written.
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True story: the whole reason I got Stranded as my first Eighth Doctor box set (and defied my usually strict rules about doing everything in order) was because I’d heard about UNIT Dating and I wanted to listen to it.
No regrets. It’s brilliant!
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UNIT Dating is one of the standout stories for me within Stranded.
Don’t worry, Helen and Liv both get opportunities to be at the forefront of some great material. Helen’s is more condensed, Liv’s is more of an arc.
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Oh no, I mean they’ve been getting a bunch in other stories, was just a shame to hear them here with nothing to do
It’s very much a minor critique, they needed less of them to focus on what really matters for that story to make it work and make it as impactful as it is ANDY DAVIDSON BABYYYYYY LETS GOOOOO ANDY ANDY ANDY ANDY
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ACAB except Andy Davidson (because he’s been shown to willingly throw down with the armed forces when the government is giving immoral orders)
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Baker Street Irregulars - 7/10 (Spoilers)
Another brilliant piece using time travel to visit not just the past, but our cast’s past.
I really enjoyed Helen’s part here especially, as a character that would’ve lived through the war, getting to see her response to coming back to it but with this new perspective is really interesting.
Less so than Ron and Tony for certian, but Aisha and Zakia also felt a little like window dressing at points, and I’m glad that this story really give their characters a chance to step into the spotlight and discover more about their past. The twist reveal at the end about the true nature of their relationship is interesting (if giving Doctor Dances flashbacks) and I really want to see what will happen with these characters going forward. The way Stranded uses time travel to tell character focused stories so far has been genuinely incredible and is something I think is sorely missing from a lot of the whoniverse.
Also Liv and Tanya’s side of things is once again great. Their fighting but resolving that things will be okay at the end is great, and queer couple with a cat just makes my heart go!!! Especially funky that it’s a time travel cat as well lmao
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Oh god, I’m almost halfway through Stranded
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Really been enjoying reading your reviews - as a certified Stranded Hater 
I am very interested to see what it is that makes people love it. So thank you for writing them!
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Thank you, always nice to hear!!!
?!?!?!?! HOW?! /hj
But yeah, in all seriousness, what is it that makes you not a fan?
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I don’t want to elucidate too much before you’ve finished because I want you to enjoy yourself with it without thinking about all my negativity, but I feel like people who love it are those who have jumped straight into it, and those who are a bit more meh are like me who listened to all the Eight stuff before.
In short, I find the whole series to be toothless when it comes to its characterisation of new characters, and a botch job of the old ones. To me, Eight being a useless bum is not that inspired of an idea, and I don’t love the role Helen is cast into either.
But as I say, please don’t take my negativity to heart! I love that you’re loving it 
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Finished More Than This. Comments over in the TW thread.
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Listened to Pandora just now. You’ll get my full thoughts tomorrow but for today: 1. I didn’t expect it would make me so sad 2. Those sure are some sounds in there 3. Brax!! 4. I love that we have more of the political schemes again
I love this series
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This is interesting to me as someone who listened to a lot of 8 beforehand and loves Stranded! But different strokes for different folks I suppose!
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Fair enough, and I think the majority of people do like Stranded. It just did nothing for me. I think combined with the fact that the setting irked me, I also don’t get on well with the sixteen story boxset format - I find the overall stories of all of those very hard to follow. As I say, I’m a hater but I do like that others love it, and I want to understand it so I love to read the love
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The Long Way Round - 7/10 (Spoilers)
This story reminds me a bit of the Redacted story Interrogation, both stories composed primarily of two-person scenes, a member of our core cast and a member of a shadowy organisation who’s interrogating them.
I think the mystery of who this organisation is, is done quite well here, slowly as the story goes on the core cast are figuring out more details of who they are, what they want, why they want it, what’s happened to the world in the thirty years it’s been since the the present day of Stranded.
Unfortunately, the part of Stranded I like the most, the character stuff, doesn’t really get as much focus here. Don’t get me wrong there definitely is character exploration, but with our core cast putting up a good fight against the interrogation, it’s more an exploration of this newly introduced interrogator. It’s fine that it is, but it does feel a bit of a shame.
The scenes in the present day with the interrogator as a child and The Curator are done really nicely, but they do feel a little pointless until the end, and even then it’s not a ‘oh that makes complete sense why they’re here’, more just a ‘oh, right, that makes sense’.
I do like though how you have to wait to see Eight in this story, and I love what you get of him when you do. A lot of stranded seems to be focusing on these paradoxes, so a bootstrap paradox being what gets them out of this mess is great, especially one that’s done as cleverly as this. The reveal as to what the paper says and what it really means is just very fun, and very Doctor Who.
The ending is also… Interesting, I’m wondering where things are going to go from here. Intrigued as to what’s going on with Divine Intervention, but the specific twist that Robin is their leader at least for now feels more confusing than intriguing.
Overall I’ve been really enjoying Stranded. I think I preferred the individual stories more in Stranded 2, but I liked Stranded 1 more overall. Adding the Time Travel aspect back in is fun, but I think it takes away a bit from the core of what I really loved about that first set.
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