So I decided to abandon my plans to binge all of the Seventh Doctor before I turned 30 in mid-June, and as a result watching this season ended up being more of a slow drip than I had expected. Part of this was because I had originally planned to read the companion novels in between the Sixth and Seventh Doctor eras... but I couldn't resist seeing how they would handle the regeneration at the top of this season, so I ended up diving in without a second thought. And it certainly handled the transition as well as it could have. Everything about this season is extremely transitional, perhaps even more than past "transitional" seasons like Seasons 11, 18, and 21. This season had a brand new Doctor and a brand new head writer, but still had artifacts left over from the premature end of the Sixth Doctor's era such as Mel Bush, and the continued presence of John Nathan-Turner as the series producer. The end result was a lot of new, fresh elements of the series mixed in with elements that felt out of place.

It also doesn't help that there's been a clear time jump between the previous season and this one, contributing to the sense of disorientation as he's developed a relationship with his companion which we've only seen small pieces of. That said, I think this season manages to hit the beats in needs to, and clean up storylines enough to set up for a really strong future for this era of the show. It's still early, but I've already caught a glimpse of why so many people vibed with this Doctor, especially coming off more divisive runs earlier in the decade.

Like the previous twenty-two seasons, the serials are available to watch via streaming on Britbox. I very much suspect my ranking are going to be at odds with what a lot of fandom thinks about this season, but that's life I suppose.

( The name is Pex. I put the world of Paradise Towers to rights. )