So after a self-imposed break from Classic Who, lest I burn through the rest too quickly, I decided by late August that I'd had enough and would officially start the Fifth Doctor era... and then through a variety of circumstances, I only ended up finishing the season halfway through October. It's not that I disliked the season by any means - my months-long hiatus in the middle of season 8 was definitely a worse viewing pattern - but Halloween viewing plans along with other housekeeping occupied my time, not to mention Animal Crossing and other general life responsibilities. That's not to say I didn't have any issues at all, they were just very similar to the ones I had with the previous season, which are probably either the result of John Nathan-Turner's "house style" or the reverberations of the first true transitional period the show has had in a very long time.

I will say I do appreciate John Nathan-Turner's attention to more explicit character and story arcs, though it does make instances like the TARDIS team bouncing back relatively quickly from - spoilers - Adric's death all the more jarring. The parts where he failed I think were when the story ended up being too complicated or too abstract - a problem that later showrunners also have in spades. It's also the rare example of a season that I think started out rough but got progressively better as it went on, rather than hitting a rough patch somewhere in the middle or towards the end as is usually the case. And honestly, I feel like that bodes well for this era, as it means they've worked out the bugs and finished this season knowing what elements work and the kinds of character writing they can pull off with this new cast.

Like the previous eighteen seasons, the serials are available to watch via streaming on Britbox. This season had seven stories, and honestly didn't feel all that difficult to rank, at least the ones that landed towards the top and bottom.

( Now listen to me, both of you. There are some rules that cannot be broken even with the Tardis. Don't ever ask me to do anything like that again. )