ValueSubtracted

David wrote many, many Trek novels and comics, including the New Frontier series.

• I was enjoying this one quite a bit early on, but it turns into a bit of a slog as it goes.

• I'm a big advocate of the restoration of Gallifrey, but...yeesh. Less is more.

• A lot of the energy is sucked out of the story by the layering of pointless mysteries. Does it matter if Omega's identity is revealed much, much sooner? Not really. Ditto for "who's the traitor on the High Council?" But I suppose they have a runtime to fill.

• It's amusing to watch Colin Baker run around trying to hasten the Doctor's regeneration. Conflict of interest!

• Omega has a TARDIS now? Okay...

• Omega (that's OH-meguh) has a rather more subdued personality this time around, which is kind of a shame. A little eccentricity might have spiced things up a bit.

• The Ergon, described as one of Omega's less successful attempts at psychosynthesis, looks kind of familiar...

• I swear I saw bits and pieces of old Doctor Who reruns when I was growing up, and I have vague memories of the Third Doctor and Bessie - vague enough that I would never be able to actually identify an episode that I've seen before.

• Jo is sort of blandly competent in this, without standing out in any way. The Brigadier is at his most buffoonish.

• It's a shame William Hartnell's health prevented him from playing a larger role in the story, but you do what you can with what you have.

• The "telepathic conference" effect (if you can call it an effect) was charmingly effective.

• I also rather liked the blobby creatures, and whatever they used to dress the sets in the antimatter universe. That translucent red stuff has a visceral quality that enhances the overall...shoddiness.

• Nice quarry, too.

• Now, on to Omega. There's "over the top," and then there's this guy. He's an old-school supervillain at his core, with shades of Doctor Doom (and I'm not just talking about the mask). Despite being very one-note, his backstory is interesting, and has a very old-school sci-fi feel.

• Also...Omega is trapped in a world that he's essentially wished into existence. Where have I heard that before...?

Just a reminder that the season finale will be available on Saturday, May 31, at:

• 11:00 AM PT

• 7:00 PM BST

That's about 11 hours later than its usual streaming time.

Written by: Russell T Davies

Directed by: Alex Sanjiv Pillai