It could mean the end of the universe!

[everlasting_day]

• I don't understand why this story gets so much hate. I mean, I do, but I don't understand why some of it has to be so visceral. It's really not that bad.
• I love Terminus, actually. Obviously it's not as good as Stephen Gallagher's previous masterpiece Warriors' Gate, but I do love it. I'm probably one of the very few people in the entire world who does.
• The atmosphere is great. It's so, so bleak and dark which is quite refreshing for Doctor Who once in awhile. I wouldn't want every story to be like this, but I really do think they pull it off.
• All the Norse myths and legends this story draws upon for its ideas, imagery and mythology is glorious. In the DVD extras Gallagher talks about how Doctor Who was one of the few TV series back in the day where you were allowed and actively encouraged to be so thematically rich, which is partly why I love the series so much.
• I love some of the design work - the Vanir's armour (even if it's really noisy), the skull motifs on the walls, Terminus' infinite depths... it's just very evocative.
• Peter Davison is good in this. But then he's good in every story.
• I really like the Vanir and how well-defined as characters they are despite not having much screen time. Valgard (played by Alan Partridge's old head teacher!) is a bit useless and prone to melodrama but comes good at the end, Bor is obviously fab, Eirak has a sort of anime bishounen thing going on.
• The cliffhangers are obviously a work of genius, especially the end of part one which is so hysterically over-the-top it almost becomes operatic. "This is a leper ship, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEE!" And god knows who came up with the clumsy line that finishes off part two - it tries to sound menacing, but really backfires.
• Of course, it's flawed. Kari and Olvir are mostly pointless characters who are not only pretty miscast (they must be the most unlikely space pirates ever seen in TV sci-fi) but their costumes are... interesting, to put it charitably. I think Olvir actually may look girlier than Kari, which is distracting. And what the hell actually happens to them at the end? I rather like the fight Olvir has with Valgard, though - it's surprisingly vicious.
• I still strongly feel to this day that Tegan and Turlough could've filled Kari and Olvir's roles nicely. Imagine Turlough getting some back story with his sister dying of Lazar's Disease - it would've been much better.
• The sets are a bit under-dressed at times, too. I don't see why they couldn't have poached some of the sets from Four to Doomsday or something.
• And yes, the Garm isn't exactly a crowning glory of monster design by any means but Doctor Who has honestly done far, far worse before and since.
• I'm not sure I've got enough praise for Nyssa's goodbye scene. This might be one of the best companion leaving scenes the series has ever done. It's genuinely moving, what with the reprise of Nyssa's theme from The Keeper of Traken, Sarah Sutton actually doing some proper acting and the Doctor looking positively stricken. It also adds weight to my theory that she and Tegan were more than just friends.
• In conclusion then, I still love Terminus. That doesn't mean you should drop everything and watch it immediately because I'm very much in the minority, but I still think this is one of Doctor Who's most unfairly maligned stories.