Short Trips - "The Last Days" by Evan Pritchard, edited by Stephen Cole

Short Trips
"The Last Days"
Written by Evan Pritchard
Edited by Stephen Cole
Published: 2nd March 1998

What's It All About

When I began this journey I knew that I was going to include as much "expanded universe" material as possible. The reason for this was two-fold: firstly, I wanted some new material rather than just plowing through the standard TV marathon which I'd done before and would doubtless do again; secondly, I wanted to experience material that the TV series would or could never do either because it would be far too expensive to realize or the material was too sensitive to go out on a Saturday evening when the whole family is sitting down to watch. With "The Last Days" by Evan Pritchard we certainly have a story that fits the latter criteria.

The story certainly hits the ground running with the Doctor making a rousing speech to a legion of Roman soldiers, denouncing the Jewish Zealots and their crimes against Rome and promising that their fortress at Masada will fall, ending the long siege. An intriguing opening, certainly, and this is added to in the next scene when we learn that Ian and Barbara are currently residing in Masada. Through Barbara, we learn that shortly after their arrival in Judaea some weeks earlier, the TARDIS crew got caught up in a skirmish between Roman soldiers and the Zealots. In the melee, the party was soon split up with the Doctor and Susan ending up on the Roman side and Ian and the injured Barbara carried off back by the Zealots.

Over the intervening weeks during Barbara's recovery, the travellers have been trying to ingratiate themselves into their various camps and their respective leaders, Eleazar ben Ya'ir for the Zealots and Lucius Flavius Silva for the Romans. As is now becoming traditional, Ian sets to prove his trustfulness to Eleazar by making tactical suggestions in their battle against the Romans, much as he did with the Thals. Meanwhile, the Doctor has taken on the air of a well-to-do Roman citizen and exerts influence over Silva and the Roman legions.

Ironically, it is Ian's influence with the Zealots that has them leading a more successful campaign than history records, so much so that the Romans are demotivated enough to give up their long siege of Masada. Ever mindful of making sure history runs its natural course especially after the incident with the Aztecs, the Doctor and Barbara work to ensure that history is set right. The Doctor exerting his built up influence to stop the retreating Roman legions in their tracks and Barbara in planting the seeds which lead to the fall of the Zealots.

I'm not averse to spoilers in my marathon entries, and indeed the idea of discussing spoilers in reference to a historical event which occurred 2,000 years ago is a bit ridiculous. However, I encourage anyone reading this to seek out the story and give it a good read. Those familiar with the Siege of Masada will obviously know the outcome, but even as a student of history I wasn't aware and was so utterly shocked.

The remains of Masada Fortress in the 21st Century.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

As I'm sure readers are aware by now, I'm an absolute sucker for a historical story, even in an era I'm not particularly familiar with. Familiarity isn't necessary and considering the ending, a bonus in reading the story. The author, Evan Pritchard, takes an event in ancient history and personalizes it for the readers by placing one of our heroes at the centre in the most horrific way. Away from the harrowing scenes, though, we have a further exploration of the themes of meddling with Earth's history that we go so recently with The Aztecs and the Doctor and Barbara so keen to keep events on course, in opposition to Ian.

This story is a gem, that ticked so, so many boxes and really made me think for ours afterward. Kudos to Mr Pritchard.

10/10

Continuity Corner

• Ian references Barbara's experience with the Aztecs (The Aztecs) when they arguing about attempting to alter the course of history. Given that Ian is still blase about attempting to alter history, could suggest that it takes place before The Flames of Cadiz.

The Dr Who Annual 1966: "The Monsters from Earth", illustrated by Walter Howarth

The Dr Who Annual 1966
"The Monsters from Earth"
Written by [unknown]
Illustrated by Walter Howarth
Published: September 1965

What's It All About

"The Monsters from Earth" represents the sort of story I expect to find in these annuals that are produced mainly for a child audience. The basic set-up is there in that two children, Tony and Amy, as well as their dog Butch stumble into the Tardis while playing a game of hide-and-seek on Earth in 1966. That seems fair enough, although I really can't see the Doctor leaving the door open to allow the children to enter while he wandered about trying to get his bearings. Still, it's a means to an end.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Out of the three stories from this annual I've read so far, this story probably has the most exciting visuals and the addition of some companions also seem to liven things up as the previous stories, especially "The Lost Ones", had the Doctor talking to himself about how he invented the atmospheric density jackets while he was slowly asphyxiating from lack of air.  Indeed, the visual of having the TARDIS caught in a giant spider's web and being menaced by said giant spider is probably more terrifying that Pertwee's encounter with "The Great One" in Planet of the Spiders.

Like the previous story, this one features an alien race from the show's first season. No, it's not the Daleks. Nor the Voord. It's the Sensorites! The illustrations are terrible, but the Sensorites weakness for loud noise and darkness is mentioned and exploited in this story, yet their telepathic abilities go unmentioned. This story is presented as being the Doctor's first contact with the Sensorites, however, I'm sure that he had never encountered the Sensorites before The Sensorites. Maybe it's my faltering memory. This story also adds a dash extra to the Sensorites by suggesting that they worship the giant spiders in the caves and to hurt them is blasphemous.

My favourite part of the story has to be the Doctor trying to convince the Sensorites to throw him back in the cave where the TARDIS is located by suggesting numerous ways of exterminating the spiders, only for the Sensorites to turn around and say that they could not expose the spiders to such blasphemy and a being that could cause so much harm to them.

Overall, an improvement over the first two stories, and we get to see the very first companions. As for his promise to get Tony, Amy and Butch back to 1966 at the exact moment they left...

7/10

Continuity Corner

• This story represents The Doctor's first contact with the Sensorites.

Time and Relative by Kim Newman, illustrated by Bryan Talbot

Telos Novella #1
Time and Relative
Written by Kim Newman
Illustrated by Bryan Talbot
Published: 23rd November 2001
Read: 19th-20th September 2016

What's It All About

It's March 1963 and the United Kingdom is in the grip of a months-long winter that has brought the country to its very knees. As ordinary people struggle daily to live out their lives, the British government blame the Soviet Union for the terrible conditions gripping the country.

Through a series of diary entries written by Susan Foreman herself, we see how the community of the Coal Hill area of London deals with "The Cold". Told from the first person perspective, Susan observes how her teachers and friends from Coal Hill School, as well as a few characters from the local community, react when the mundane but inconvenient, turns horrifically deadly. Within a single scene, we can go from a good-natured snowball fight to a deadly attack by a snowman which sees a child impaled through the leg by a massive icicle.

The struggle becomes worse for the people of Coal Hill as "the Cold" continues to grow stronger and take on a life of its own. The cute but deadly snowmen, soon take the form of terrifying Cold Knights that stalk the land and kill people in a horrific manner.

Susan believes that her grandfather can save them all from "the Cold", but he has been indoctrinated not to meddle in the affairs of other species. Besides which, when "the Cold" has a prior claim to the planet Earth, he needs convincing whether humanity deserves the right to exist.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Although we've had a few visits to 1963 over the course of our journey, only two stories have been really steeped in the history and feel of that time, this and Hunters of Earth. However, while Hunters focused on the kitsch and nostalgia of the era with very few negative aspects, this story presents a more truthful warts-and-all perspective which the Doctor and Susan have been living in for the "last five months".

The whole backstory behind the story focuses on the Cold War between the East and West with both sides blaming each over for the terrible winter which has wreaked havoc over the Northern Hemisphere. The fact that the USSR was proved to be responsible from unearthing "the Cold" through their Novobirisk Project in Siberia, a plan to engineer climate change, just goes to show how bad things were in the early 1960's. After all, we are only a few months removed from the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The hardcover for Time and Relative.

One other key aspect of the 1960s that is examined is the casual racism that was rife across the United Kingdom at the time. Through Susan's babysitting of Malcolm and her interactions with his mother, both from Trinidad, we see the everyday insults and disdain people of colour were greeted with. Naturally, this aspect is pushed to extremes at the height of the story when Malcolm is attacked by the vicar's wife who believes that people like him and brought this terrible situation on them.

If the background of 1960s political events and racism wasn't enough, we also have issues of parental abuse and post-traumatic stress syndrome to deal with. These two weighty subjects are examined though Susan's two school friends, John and Gillian (no relation from Dr Who's grandchildren from the TV Comic strips). Gillian's story seems the most harrowing of all, with many mentions to what she has to endure at home from her father, although it is never outright stated, it is fairly obvious she is suffering some form of abuse from her alcoholic father. In a similar way, John also comes in from abuse from his father, Colonel Brent, who is determined that the fourteen-year-old should follow him into the military and put his own thoughts and desires aside.

Give everything that I've written so far, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was quite a bleak story, yet it isn't. Through the perspective of Susan's diary entries we not only witness the terrible deaths and tragedy that is caused by "the Cold", and indeed it can be quite graphic at times, but the good in humanity is also recorded. Deadly Cold Knight attacks are juxtaposed with stories of Susan and Gillian "aging up" and trying to get into the local pubs and clubs or the horrors of having double Geography on a Friday.

Susan and her grandfather.

Despite his absence for much of the story, the Doctor's presence is felt throughout this story in the faith and love that Susan has him in, and the belief that he'll be able to fix everything. Again, it is that hope and faith that lifts the story up, and indeed goes a long way to resolving the story. It is not only Susan's faith in him that causes the Time Lord to help save humanity, going against years of indoctrination, the hope that humanity can become better as seen in young Malcolm. Together, the young boy from Trinidad and the Time Lord from Gallifrey are able to weaken "the Cold"'s grip on the Earth, long enough for the Doctor to reduce it to the size of a snowflake and take it to Pluto so that it can live and grow unencumbered.

Summing Up

Considering the story was written by Kim Newman, a writer not unfamiliar with the horror genre, it was no surprise that this story veered towards gory on a couple of occasions, but perhaps no more so that the series was during the Hinchcliffe-Holmes era. In summary, I must agree with Justin Richards in the afterword of this novella, when he goes on to state that Time and Relative is the quintessential Doctor Who story. The fantastical and the mundane are brought together in perfect harmony and top it all off with a few monsters and a couple of laughs.

9/10

Continuity Corner

• Susan claims they arrived in 1963 London "five months earlier", despite it only being late March. She simply goes on to criticise how "hidebound" humanity is by chronological systems.
• At this point in time, Susan is said to be fourteen-years-old (she is said to be fifteen in An Unearthly Child).
• Both Susan and the Doctor have developed a specific form of amnesia which blocks out many of the details of their homeworld and their people. The Doctor seems worse affected, but whenever Susan dwells on it, she develops a terrible headache.
• Despite the amnesia, Susan does recollect some details when she puts it into the context of her everyday life at Coal Hill School. Constantly reiterated is the fear of the "Truant Officer", a sinisterly bearded individual, that they fear is tracking them across time and space.
• Susan has been keenly absorbing many aspects of human culture, including cinema and sampling the night-life. She likes Peter O'Toole, John Lennon and Patrick McGoohan. She loves Lawrence of Arabia, The Beatles, and Danger Man, but doesn't like Albert Finney.
• Sneaking into the cinema to see X-certificate film, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Susan and her friend Gillian saw Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright in the audience.
• Susan has a Saturday job, looking after a six-year-old boy named Malcolm, while his mother works at the local newsagents.
• In order to get "the Cold" to Pluto in the Far Future in the TARDIS, the Doctor had to make five landings before landing on Pluto, and an additional twelve landings to make it back to Totter's Lane at the exact point he left.

The Dr Who Annual 1966: The Lost Ones

The Dr Who Annual 1966
"The Lost Ones"
Written by [unknown]
Published: September 1965
Read: 22nd September 2016

What's It All About

When I read where the Tardis had landed today, I must admit that I groaned. Yes, it's Dr Who's first visit to the planet Vortis and he is seen set upon by the Menoptera. However, we don't get a rehash of The Web Planet, nor do we get a rip-roaring page-turner of an adventure. Instead, this story really looks into scientific curiosity as the Doctor is intrigued at these enormous insects, and the Menoptera in turn, are fascinated by the Doctor. Of course, when the Doctor is imprisoned and threatened with being dissected (as he was in "The Sons of the Crab") I started to think we were going to get a rehash of the previous story albeit with the Menoptera instead of the Yend of Wengrol.

Enter the eight-foot giant soldiers who rescue the Doctor and carry him off to their crashed spaceship. Here, we are once again given over to scientific and historical curiosity as the soldiers are identified as being from the city-state of Atlantis! The Doctor correctly surmises that he has travelled thousands of years back in time, and he theorises on the history of these Atlanteans, that they were able to travel the stars and colonised other universes before they turned on themselves leading to the destruction of Atlantis. The soldiers repeated references to the Greek gods, also lead the Doctor to suspect that survivors moved out to Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, spreading their myths and shaping humanity.

Summing Up

To sum up, then, this was a story that was short on action, yet provided some intriguing insights into the make-up of the inhabitants of Vortis, as well as providing us (yet another!!!) theory for what fate befell Atlantis and the Atlanteans. There was only one stand-out scene for me in this story, where Dr Who was forced to remove all of his clothes in order to prove that he wasn't an insect! That certainly wouldn't have happened had this story had appeared on television, and with good reason, but I could certainly see Hartnell injecting all his defiance and will into it and not losing his dignity. To top it all off, we have another downbeat ending with Dr Who leaving the Atlanteans battling it out with thousands of Zarbi and larvae guns. Dry but interesting.

6/10

Continuity Corner

• Dr Who invented the Atmospheric Density Jackets (The Web Planet) for use in the eventuality that an accident deprived him of oxygen.
• This is Dr Who's first visit to the planet Vortis, as he has never met Menoptera or Zarbi before.
• Dr Who once again confirms that he is from the planet Earth ("The Sons of the Crab").
• The Zarbi served as companions and workers for the Menoptera for millions of years. The Menoptera were forced into exile when a Zarbi queen evolved that was different to any other: she was ambitious and set about equipping the Zarbi with weapons. The Menoptera were forced to evacuate to one of the orbiting moons aboard a sole spacecraft.
• Dr Who hypothesises that the giant Atlanteans colonists on Earth must have settled in Ancient Greece, Egypt, and Crete where they forgot their noble origins, devolving into savagery, yet still worshipping their gods.

A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer

12 Doctors, 12 Stories
"A Big Hand for the Doctor"
Written by Eoin Colfer
Published: 23rd January 2013
Read: 20th September 2016

12 Doctors, 12 Stories - "A Big Hand for the Doctor"

What's It All About
Our second entry in "Book Week" is 2013's "A Big Hand for the Doctor" by Eoin Colfer.

The adventure begins in London at the turn of the 20th century with the Doctor meeting an old acquaintance from Gallifrey, a Xing surgeon named Aldridge. We quickly learn that the Doctor lost his left hand after engaging in a sword fight with the captain of a Soul Pirate vessel. As is usual when you take something in for repair, the Time Lord has to settle with a dodgy replacement while his new arm is repaired and has to remain in London for the next few days.

On his way back to Hyde Park, where the TARDIS is parked, he gets a message from Susan informing him that they've detected the Soul Pirate ship at large in this time zone and were looking to harvest a particular group of children. Naturally, she has chosen to disobey her grandfather and gone off to try and rescue the children, leaving the Doctor no choice to pursue.

On arrival, the Doctor finds the Soul Pirate vessel hovering over a townhouse near Hyde Park and is collecting the children, including Susan, from the house using an anti-gravity beam. As the beam is the only way to get within the Soul Pirate vessel, the Doctor manages to get within the beam, after engaging one of the Soul Pirates' less blessed pirates in a rooftop fight. Once aboard the vessel, the Time Lord plays dead until he is able to size up the vessel, at which point he finds the children and reprograms the anti-gravity beam to safely carry them back to the surface, as well as setting an additional blast that destroys the Soul Pirate vessel.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

At the time of release, to say that I was looking forward to having a brand new First Doctor story to read is a bit of an understatement, but I was disappointed that both of the two First Doctor anniversary stories (Hunters of Earth) are set before An Unearthly Child, therefore depriving a whole new audience of the opportunities of getting to know Ian and Barbara and how they bring out the best in our crotchety Time Lord.

The story starts rather well, with the setting in the late Victorian era quickly evoking a nostalgic feel for proceedings. The addition of the Xing surgeon Aldridge was a welcome addition as he provides that very rare link to the Doctor's past on Gallifrey and shares a couple of anecdotes that gives us a fresh perspective on him. Aldridge also provides an amusing reaction to the Time Lords themselves: apparently shutting up business on their planet as they got to up themselves.

Moving on to the protagonists, the Soul Pirates and the premise that these space pirates created powerful illusions in order to draw human children aboard their ship so that they can either eat them or use them to power their engines is suitably gruesome. Being rather a short eBook, the solution to the problem isn't exactly ground-breaking, but I like how the whole climax of the story is witnessed by J.M. Barrie and he soon sets to writing a story featuring a pirate fighting a man with a hook and children floating through the air on fairy dust. 

Summing Up

While the story was quite good, if nothing new, it just doesn't sit right with me. The basic characterization of the First Doctor is there with the grumpiness and the fact that he has no time for frivolity and rarely laughs. I just had a heard time seeing him does what his Tenth incarnation does and losing his hand in a swordfight, then going back for more! Susan is characterised well for the very few lines that she gets and even that's restricted to "oh, grandfather" moments. Hmm.

5/10

Continuity Corner

• On Gallifrey, a particular Time Lord known as the Interior Designer had once suggested that his people changed their names to the Temperors. Unfortunately, his contemporaries disapproved and he became known as the "Bad Temperor" for the rest of his quantum days.
• One of the Doctor's previous visits to Aldridge came after the "Inscrutable Doppelganger fiasco" which saw him part with two litres of very rare TL-positive blood so that the surgeon could work up plasma. Another encounter involved dealing with homicidal earthworms that secreted laughing gas.
• The Doctor claims that his outfit was chosen by computer so that he could blend in with the local inhabitants on Earth. Considering that the Doctor has been shown wearing the outfit since leaving Gallifrey (per "The Name of the Doctor"), presumably, this occurred before he left.
• Things that don't make the Doctor smile are chit-chat; answering questions, either in an emergency or in times of complete calm; the paintings of Gallifreyan Subjunctivists; Marmite; and Blake's 7. He does seem to like the Harry Potter series, though, as he mentions Hogwarts (c.f. "The Shakespeare Code").
• The Doctor occasionally has visions of some of his future selves. At one point he wishes he was the fit and sprightly Doctor with a dickie bow (probably referring to the Eleventh Doctor).

The Dr Who Annual 1966: "The Sons of the Crab"

The Dr Who Annual 1966
"The Sons of the Crab"
Written by [unknown]
Published: September 1965

What's It All About

"The Sons of the Crab" sees the Dr Who, who describes himself as a human scientist from the planet Earth, taking his TARDIS beyond the Milky Way Galaxy for the first time and landing on the planet Wengrol in the Crab Nebula. 

After being captured and being poked a prodded like a lab specimen, Dr Who is sent before the planet's leader and learns that the inhabitants of the planet are continually mutating thanks to the deadly radiation of a new star that entered their system. While the leader foresees no cure to their mutations, the leader looks to Dr Who to take hundreds of test tubes containing their "children" and seed them on another world.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Having read several of the 1970s Tom Baker era annuals in the past, I was very uncertain about visiting these annuals but was actually quite surprised at the rather in-depth story that we were getting here. It's rather unusual for an annual that would be aimed at children to tackle the themes of eugenics and to have such a terrible ending that saw the test tubes become unviable once the TARDIS dematerialized.

Unfortunately, while this was a rather in-depth story, the prose didn't exactly set me alight, it was very, very dry. That's not to say there was some good characterization for Dr Who, especially when his dander was up when he was being poked and prodded. 

Could it work as a Doctor Who story?

Despite the fact that Dr Who refers to himself as a human from the planet Earth, I could easily see this story slotting into the regular Doctor Who continuity. Unlike many of the upcoming stories, especially from the TV Comic era, Dr Who doesn't act rashly or commit any violent actions and indeed seeks out to preserve life at the very end of the story.

If we were to look at this story as a Doctor Who story, then it would have to be placed very early within "Season 0" as the TARDIS hasn't been further than the Crab Nebula prior to this story. As for Susan's absence, some timelines suggest that the Doctor had dropped Susan off somewhere while he found a suitable place for them to settle. However, I don't consider this very likely, suggesting that Susan was inside the TARDIS all the time. It wouldn't be out of character for the Doctor to perhaps lock the internal door and keep Susan safe while he explored. Either that or she was asleep. 

6/10

Next Story

"The Lost Ones"

Frayed by Tara Samms (Stephen Cole)

Telos Novella #11
Frayed
Written by Tara Samms (Stephen Cole)
Published: 20th November 2003

Frayed

I didn't quite know what to expect when I went into Frayed, my first experience of the Telos novellas and only the second novel I've read (and finished) as part of these marathon attempts. A story set before An Unearthly Child has a lot resting on its shoulders as it can't show the Doctor as being too heroic and certainly not being interested in meddling and interfering just for the sake of doing so, he has to do it because he has no other choice, either to safeguard his own life or Susan's. So, it's with interest that I started on an adventure which featured the Doctor and Susan's first encounter with humanity. What I wasn't expecting was a "base-under-siege" type story which would have felt at home in the Troughton era or would even do well in the New Series. I'd certainly take this over the crap-tacular "The Rebel Flesh" any day. 

Having not long ago completed a "watch" of Season 5, I was a little wary of having to deal with yet another base-under-siege story. Fortunately, Frayed falls into the realms of the excellent The Ice Warriors and The Web of Fear rather than the dull The Abominable Snowmen. What helps is that the base personnel are really well characterized, yes we have a few tropes of the base commander who can't cope, the overzealous security chief who is out to get the bosses job, the quite overlooked type (in this case a librarian) who goes on to play a key role in the story, but you feel that they are real people fighting for survival and dying at the hands of the "foxes". It is rather interesting then to see the very early First Doctor having to interact with this group of primitives and be coerced to assisting them in return for their assistance in locating Susan.

In contrast to the claustrophobic hospital base, Susan's adventures turn out to be all the more bizarre as her mind becomes drawn into the dreamscape of a child who is in cryogenic sleep inside the base. While we are assaulted by a series of bizarre visions of various animal creatures such as cats, half-human creatures and what not, a rather harrowing tale is revealed of the bases zoologist who was charged with looking after the animals that were at the base to entertain children. As an animal lover I was mortified as the tale was related of how when the base came under attack, the animals were sent out into the wilderness as they were a drain on resources and how these defenceless animals were torn apart by the foxes. The zoologist being seriously injured in a vain attempt to defend his beloved cats. Even writing this, I get a lump in my throat.  It turns out that this child patient was in love with the zoologist and her latent telepathic abilities created this whole dreamscape.

The cover for Frayed.

In summing up then, Frayed is a bit of an oddity. The period details with the Doctor and Susan is correct (indeed they are actually given their names in this story and the TARDIS has a functioning chameleon circuit), yet this type of story just doesn't feel at home in the Hartnell era. This story does so well in both the dreamscape and base scenes and certainly kept me reading, but I found that the solutions to both problems were not brilliant. In fact, in writing this review, I can not recall the solution to the fox crisis besides them taking over the base and getting the humans to work for them. An uneven tale, that feels as if it's from another era, but a good read.

5/10

Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas - "Tell Me You Love Me" by Scott Matthewson

Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas
"Tell Me You Love Me"
Written by Scott Matthewson
Published: December 2007
Read: 8th August 2016

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BUY: Amazon UK

What's It All About

Arriving in Britain at the height of the Blitz, our travellers are quickly rounded up by an air raid warden and bundled into a communal shelter as the sirens sound and the bombs begin to drop. As a counterpoint to the grim reality of life on the homefront during the Second World War, are the glimpses to the fact that it is Christmas Eve and the stalwart resolution of people to cling to the happy traditions and memories of the season, whether it's making paper decorations to festoon the shelter or banging out Christmas carols to drown out the sounds of the bombs.

The bonhomie may be enough to raise the Doctor's spirit (he even quietly joins in with the carols, when he thinks nobody is listening) and peak Susan's curiosity, for one member of the party it is all too much to take. From the perspective of the Doctor and Susan, as well as us as the audience, we view this as a quaint little Christmas story about triumphing over adversity and keeping the home fires burning. What we forget is that for Barbara (and presumably Ian) the memories of the war and all of the terrible things that occurred are part of their childhood and helped to make them the people they are. It's no wonder that thrown back into this terrible world with bombs going off all around that Barbara freaks out and flees the shelter.

A typical communal shelter in 1940's Britain.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere of war-torn London isn't the only ghost that Barbara has to contend with as she roams the streets in despair. She is found and comforted by her "father", who manages to recognise her even though she would be twenty years older. While many may fall for the illusion, Barbara calls on her previous experiences while travelling with the Doctor to stay rational, knowing that her father had died prior to this point and come to the realisation that he must be some kind of alien.

Naturally, she is correct and we learn that her "father" and two other aliens had become trapped on Earth and separated. The love that the three aliens feel for each other is what they need to sustain them and, while separated, they were forced to feed on the love of humans by posing as loved ones. While one of the aliens had posed as Barbara's father, the other two were nearby and posing as the father of Sarah Miller, a local girl, who wished for her father to come home for Christmas.

With the three aliens reunited, they depart but leave everyone with a real Christmas gift: a vision of their real loved ones. In Barbara's case it was seeing her mother and father, happy together before he died; Ian gets a glimpse of his wedding day and to a woman he knows (wonder who that could be!) and the Doctor and Susan get to glimpse something to which we unfortunately aren't privy to.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In summary, then, this was a quality tale written by Scott Matthewson. Long time readers of this blog will realise that Barbara Wright is out-and-out my favourite character in this era of Doctor Who and anyone who can shed new light on what makes her the character she is, earns big points from me. Bonus points must also go out to evoking the starkness and reality of life in 1940s Britain as it faced down the might of the Luftwaffe. Whether it be men not making it home for Christmas, parents forced to evacuate their children to the country or just not knowing whether their house will still be standing in the morning.

The only negative I have with this story is that the aliens weren't particularly well developed. The idea of aliens thriving on the power of love is nothing new, and it would have been nice to have some kind of twist to this well-worn trope.  Besides that, good stuff.

6/10

Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas - "Tell Me You Love Me" by Scott Matthewson

Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas
"Tell Me You Love Me"
Written by Scott Matthewson
Published: December 2007
Read: 8th August 2016

---

BUY: Amazon UK

Arriving in Britain at the height of the Blitz, our travellers are quickly rounded up by an air raid warden and bundled into a communal shelter as the sirens sound and the bombs begin to drop. As a counterpoint to the grim reality of life on the homefront during the Second World War, are the glimpses to the fact that it is Christmas Eve and the stalwart resolution of people to cling to the happy traditions and memories of the season, whether it's making paper decorations to festoon the shelter or banging out Christmas carols to drown out the sounds of the bombs.
The bonhomie may be enough to raise the Doctor's spirit (he even quietly joins in with the carols, when he thinks nobody is listening) and peak Susan's curiosity, for one member of the party it is all too much to take. From the perspective of the Doctor and Susan, as well as us as the audience, we view this as a quaint little Christmas story about triumphing over adversity and keeping the home fires burning. What we forget is that for Barbara (and presumably Ian) the memories of the war and all of the terrible things that occurred are part of their childhood and helped to make them the people they are. It's no wonder that thrown back into this terrible world with bombs going off all around that Barbara freaks out and flees the shelter.

A typical communal shelter in 1940's Britain.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere of war-torn London isn't the only ghost that Barbara has to contend with as she roams the streets in despair. She is found and comforted by her "father", who manages to recognise her even though she would be twenty years older. While many may fall for the illusion, Barbara calls on her previous experiences while travelling with the Doctor to stay rational, knowing that her father had died prior to this point and come to the realisation that he must be some kind of alien.

Naturally, she is correct and we learn that her "father" and two other aliens had become trapped on Earth and separated. The love that the three aliens feel for each other is what they need to sustain them and, while separated, they were forced to feed on the love of humans by posing as loved ones. While one of the aliens had posed as Barbara's father, the other two were nearby and posing as the father of Sarah Miller, a local girl, who wished for her father to come home for Christmas.

With the three aliens reunited, they depart but leave everyone with a real Christmas gift: a vision of their real loved ones. In Barbara's case it was seeing her mother and father, happy together before he died; Ian gets a glimpse of his wedding day and to a woman he knows (wonder who that could be!) and the Doctor and Susan get to glimpse something to which we unfortunately aren't privy to.

In summary, then, this was a quality tale written by Scott Matthewson. Long time readers of this blog will realise that Barbara Wright is out-and-out my favourite character in this era of Doctor Who and anyone who can shed new light on what makes her the character she is, earns big points from me. Bonus points must also go out to evoking the starkness and reality of life in 1940s Britain as it faced down the might of the Luftwaffe. Whether it be men not making it home for Christmas, parents forced to evacuate their children to the country or just not knowing whether their house will still be standing in the morning.

The only negative I have with this story is that the aliens weren't particularly well developed. The idea of aliens thriving on the power of love is nothing new, and it would have been nice to have some kind of twist to this well-worn trope.  Besides that, good stuff.

6/10

"Who Discovered America?" by John Lucarotti

Doctor Who Magazine #184
"Who Discovered America?"
Written by John Lucarotti
Illustrated by Paul Vyse
Published: 20th February 1992

What's It All About

John Lucarotti returns to Doctor Who with "Who Discovered America?", originally published in February 1992 inside Doctor Who Magazine. Although I'm unsure if this is a completely new tale written by the writer at the time or, like "Rennigan's Record", written during the Sixties but not released until the Nineties.

Regardless, this is the second Lucarotti story we've seen in this marathon. When the writer has been responsible for Marco Polo, The Aztecs and The Massacre it's not much of a surprise to learn that this is going to be a historical story. Although I was surprised upon reading up about him, that Lucarotti actually wrote the first draft of The Ark in Space!

On with the story and the TARDIS has broken down once again, much to the annoyance of the Doctor and his companions. Instead of a "malfunctioning" fluid link or a blown circuit, we have a plutonium leak. Fortunately, the TARDIS has just happened to land in Greenland during the 11th century, just as the Viking Leif Ericson (aka Eric the Red) is about to depart into the unknown and discover Newfoundland, which just happens to be the one place that the Doctor can find a new source of plutonium from.

Bounding out of the TARDIS, the Doctor manages to browbeat Ericson into taking his long boat out past the "end of the world", but taking aboard the four travellers for the week long journey. Once they arrive in Newfoundland, the Doctor is easily able to obtain some plutonium but is caught in a bit of a bind when Ericson insists the travellers remain behind to stake the Viking claim. Using his knowledge of tides, however, he is able to convince Ericson and the Vikings that he can part the seas and prevent them from leaving. Naturally, the terrified warriors agree to take the travellers back to Greenland and the TARDIS.

The Doctor and his companions face another adventure...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A four-page story by John Lucarotti is a real treat for me. He wrote some of my favourite Doctor Who stories, so having him back for one more is fantastic. As can be expected in such a short story, the story and plot might be a little thin, but the characters feel as well-rounded and real as those he created for Marco Polo. Eric the Red is portrayed as a bit of a coward (indeed a Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz as Susan sees it), who is easily cowed and swayed by the Doctor into undertaking the endeavour in the first place!

Indeed, the Doctor is at his very best in this story. Initially blustering and insulting to Ian when the TARDIS breaks down, but suddenly turning on the charm when confronting Ericson, where the Time Lord is happy to procrastinate until the Viking's arms grow tired from holding a sword above his head. At that moment he has Ericson on the back foot at least until they reach Newfoundland when the Viking grows in confidence. Even then, the Doctor is able to outwit the warrior and manage to achieve the outcome he desires.

Even the companions get a few moments, with Ian's toying with the Doctor a little as well as his knowledge of Newfoundland coming into play. In a call back to Marco Polo, it is Barbara who first becomes suspicious of Ericson's intentions once they reach Newfoundland. Susan isn't as well served, although she does make the comparison to Ericson and the Cowardly Lion as well as initiating a good old sing song during the long boat's trip to the Americas.

In summary then, a cracker of a story that manages to pay homage to the historicals in the era that this story is set. Perhaps not so surprising when Lucarotti was the man the wrote most of them. A rare treat.

6/10

Short Trips: Time Signature - "The Ruins of Time" by Phillip Purcer-Hallard

Short Trips: Time Signature
"The Ruins of Time"
Written by Phillip Purser-Hallard
Published: 1st September 2006

Short Trips: Time Signature has a special place in my heart. Along with Short Trips: Dalek Empire and a trio of Doctor Who: The Audio Scripts books, this was my first exposure to the work of Big Finish Productions. A bizarre form to discover the releases of a company that works predominantly in audio, but we'll roll with it.

Truth be told it was probably Christmas 2006 and I was in that first flush of fandom where everything is wonderful and you don't notice those small imperfections. David Tennant was the Doctor and the only Doctor. So, naturally, that Christmas my father decided to buy me anything Doctor Who related he could get his hands on. Unfortunately, it was Classic Who.

Long-time readers may recall that my first experiences with Classic Who weren't the best. An old college friend tried to get me to watch the show in 2002/3 when it was being shown on UK Gold on weekend mornings. I can't remember which exactly which story, but it was a rather dull Pertwee. Probably The Mutants as I still despise that story! The next experience was buying The Dalek Invasion of Earth when I was in the grip of Dalekmania following the broadcast of "Bad Wolf" / "The Parting of the Ways" in the Summer of 2005. Needless to say, that was a bit of a culture shock.

A new world... a new adventure...

Due to the enticing cover and my love of all things timey-wimey, I naturally commenced my reading with Short Trips: Time Signature. It may seem like a bad choice, but the story opens with a story featuring the Third Doctor (from that rather dull repeat) and Sarah Jane Smith who had only recently re-appeared in "School Reunion", so I felt I knew enough for it to carry me through. Which it did and, even better, the next story featured the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara who I'd seen in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Nearly ten years later, it is time to return to "The Ruins of Time"...

Essentially "The Ruins of Time" is a post-apocalyptic vampire story. The people of Torcaldia were caught in a terrible cataclysm which began at a concert hall in the capital city. From that day, time has been draining away from the entire planet and its population are slowly running out of time and turning into statues. However, some desperate Torcaldians have developed the ability to drain time from other beings (and objects, but it's not as satisfying!) and prolong their own lives. Naturally, those averse to the law have formed into raiding parties and use these special Torcaldians to feed off everyone else.

When two Gallifreyans arrive on the planet it doesn't take long for the raiders to discover them, make off with them and learn about the abundance of time energy stored within them. Indeed, they've found the ultimate prize. It does, however, play a part in their eventual downfall as, even after draining the Doctor dry, the Time Lord still has centuries of time energy left to him and is not turned into a timeless statue as the rest.

The perfect feast.

Away from the slightly different twist on the vampire tale, Phillip Purser-Hallard has succeeded in recreating the style, feel and structure of a typical Hartnell story complete with episode titles after a section and little cliffhangers. Indeed, the television story that it evoked for me the most was The Daleks. In "The Twilight City", the TARDIS lands on the Torcaldian planet and the travellers wander around a seemingly dead world taking in the sites before stumbling into the Torcaldian, Verdirioi.

Through Verdirioi we learn much about Torcaldian culture as well as physiology as we see Ian and Barbara come to terms with the fact that the Torcaldians are hermaphrodites. I must admit, that most of the laughs in this story are to be had with the two schoolteachers trying to guess which sex the various Torcaldians are, and finding themselves completely flummoxed.

Continuing the comparison to The Daleks, Ian and Barbara then have to join forces with the Torcaldians in rescuing the Doctor and Susan from the bandits, which involves a lengthy expedition to another city and a bit of a trek through the wilderness, although not through a lake of mutations and a mountain of boredom.

The denouement to the story offers something slightly different, with Susan convincing the bandits time-drainer, Tranell, to turn against the Bandit leader, Balthar, and drain time from him instead of her. Thus freeing the remaining citizens of Cantosi from the threat of the bandits. However, the main problem facing the people of Torcaldia remains unsolved: the Doctor is rather cagey about what has occurred, and indeed, systematically refuses to follow Susan's suggestion of leaving a piece of the TARDIS behind so that Veridiroi might survive indefinitely. Fortunately, Susan secretly defies her grandfather and leaves behind a game board and pieces that she brought with her from Gallifrey.

In summary then, "The Ruins of Time" is an interesting beast. It's faithful to its roots in that it recreates the feel of a typical Hartnell sci-fi story, yet puts in a couple of twists and an overarching mystery that won't be solved until future stories. Phillip Purser-Hallard has done a wonderful job of creating a new alien world, an interesting alien civilisation and more importantly, some great and memorable characters.

7/10

Gallifrey to Trenzalore #19: Brief Encounter: Playtime by Vanessa Bishop

Doctor Who Holiday Special 1992
"Brief Encounter: Playtime"
Written by Vanessa Bishop
Illustrated by Brian Hudd
Published: August 1992
Read: 23rd February 2016

"Playtime"

Alas, we reach the end of our two-week journey into the pre-An Unearthly Child era. It has been quite the adventure and I'm glad I got my hands on the complete Short Trips collection before I progressed too far into the marathon. We've had some brilliant adventures, with my favourites being "Indian Summer", "The Price of Conviction" and Hunters of Earth.

That's not to say that we won't someday return to this era. After all, Big Finish are releasing dozens of stories a year and it's only a matter of time before The Companion Chronicles or perhaps even The Early Adventures return to this era.

Before we return to the adventures of the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara we pay one more visit to 76 Totter's Lane on the very evening that this whole adventure began. Only this time, our story involves a young girl named Sarah Jane Smith.

Sarah Jane is on a day trip to London with her Aunt Lavinia when she gives her carer the slip and stumbles into I.M. Foreman's Scrapyard: a perfect playground. Even at the age of twelve, Sarah Jane has decided she wants to be a journalist and decides to practise her interviewing technique on the creepy shop window dummy propped up in a corner.

Quickly realising that there will be hell to pay when her aunt captures up with her, she makes a dash for it, but not without noticing the rather large police box. As she makes it back to her Aunt Lavinia, Sarah notices a car pull up and another girl entering the Scrapyard and mutters to herself: "Oh, that's not fair. Why is she allowed the adventure?"

One wonders what will become of this Sarah Jane Smith and whether she'll get to have an adventure of her own.

Next Story

The Daleks

Gallifrey to Trenzalore #16: Brief Encounter: Echoes of Future Past by John Summerfield

Doctor Who Magazine #181
"Brief Encounter: Echoes of Future Past"
Written by John Summerfield
Illustrated by Paul Vyse
Published: 28th November 1991
Read: 25th February 2016

"Echoes of Future Past" once again sees us taking up residence in I.M. Foreman's Scrapyard at 76 Totter's Lane on a cold and frosty night, and the Doctor is outside the TARDIS waiting for Susan to return home from school. As we wait with the Time Lord, the prose gives us a rare insight into the Doctor's thought processes. His feelings about Susan and how she's adapting to life in the 20th century as well as his worry for his own mortality and how he only has a century left (presumably until his regeneration).

Most interestingly, it is indicated that the Doctor is suffering from some form of amnesia, perhaps brought on by a defence mechanism inside the TARDIS, and has forgotten about his previous life on Gallifrey: all he can recall is his travels with Susan. It seems to me that this is being used to explain the Doctor's sporadic control of the TARDIS throughout the early years of the program, a different take is given to that in Hunters of Earth.

However, the Doctor has his memory jogged a little by the arrival of another man in the scrapyard which he instinctively knows is one of his future regenerations. He has brought with him a large casket which the First Doctor knows is linked to Omega and it triggers the memory that he was a pioneer among his own people at one time. The Future Doctor entrusts the casket to the First Doctor and then proceeds to leave Foreman's Yard.

"Echoes of Future Past" is a very short story, as indeed are many of the Brief Encounters series, yet it is still an interesting story. For the first time in this marathon we get to see the Doctor interact with another version of himself and, unlike many multi-Doctor stories, we see it from the perspective of an earlier Doctor. It must be disconcerting for the First Doctor to study the Seventh and note the sadness in his eyes. A haunting little tale, well told.

7/10

Next Episode

Hunters of Earth

Continuity Corner

• The casket that the Seventh Doctor leaves with the First is obviously the Hand of Omega, and so this story serves as a prequel/sequel to Remembrance of the Daleks. Interestingly, The Beginning suggests that the Hand followed the Doctor and Susan into the TARDIS as they departed Gallifrey, contradicting this story.

Gallifrey to Trenzalore #15: The Splintered Gate by Justin Richards

Short Trips: Companions
"The Splintered Gate"
Written by Justin Richards
Published: 24th April 2003
Read: 2nd March 2016

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BUY: Amazon UK

We've had a couple of Doctor-lite stories in this marathon so far, but now we come to our first Doctor-less story in the form of "The Splintered Gate" and good old Ian Chesterton is there to step into the breach and take the lead role. Ironically, while Ian is a level-headed man of science, this story deals with the far more mystical aspects of clairvoyance, palm reading and fate.

It's the Summer of 1963, and Ian has decided to let his hair down and takes a holiday to one of the beautiful seaside towns along the coast of Dorset. Getting caught in a rainstorm while walking along the promenade, Ian rushes back to his accommodation and upon opening the green gate to the property, he gets a splinter in his hand which causes quite a graze.

Weirdly, the rain stopped the minute he touched the gate and so, after extracting the splinter, he decides to turn around and his make his way to the promenade and decides to pay a visit to a palm reader he noticed earlier Rosy Parks. Rosy takes one look at his bleeding palm and takes off in fear and revulsion, leaving the science teacher somewhat baffled.

Some time later, Ian is attending a party held by Barbara Wright and the hostess, keen for Ian to interact with the other guests, introduces a palm reader named Rosemary to him. After a brief conversation, Ian reluctantly agrees to meet up with Rosemary at a later date and have his palm read.

Barbara Wright

At that meeting, things take a turn for the bizarre as brings out her crystal ball and state that Ian will be going on a long journey which will see him face much peril, which, in hindsight, is absolutely true. To add further intrigue, Rosemary gives Ian and parcel and suggests that some years down the line he will be sitting in a cafe very similar to the one they are in and he will have to deliver the package, but not reveal himself. Ian is naturally sceptical and somewhat incensed, feeling he has been ripped off, yet Rosemary quickly snatches her payment from the school teacher and has it away on her toes.

In summary, this is a nice little character piece by Justin Richards. This story is told from the first person perspective and so we are given an insight into Ian's thought processes as the story unfolds. In my mind, he gets the science teacher spot on. After all, it is difficult to imagine Ian truly letting his hair down while on holiday to the coast, probably still walking around in a suit even when it's 25 degrees centigrade! Richards seems to be the same thinking, as he shows Ian wishing he'd saved some money and just sat in his garden at home, with the plus being that he didn't have to eat ice cream.

As the story progresses into darker, mystical territory. Richards is again true to Ian's character as the rational man of science, sceptical and even annoyed at the whole issue of clairvoyance and the charlatans who claim to be psychics just to part people with their hard-earned cash.

My only critique would be that we have no pay off in this particular story to Ian, Rosemary, the crystal ball, and the mysterious package. However, as the story is part of a larger anthology, it's possible that we might find those very answers as the marathon progresses.

7/10

Next Episode

"Echoes of Future Past"

Gallifrey to Trenzalore #14: Losing the Audience by Mat Coward

Short Trips: Defining Patterns
"Losing the Audience"
Written by Mat Coward
Published: 5th June 2008
Read: 2nd March 2016

The Doctor's tinkering with the TARDIS again and that can only mean one thing: trouble! Having been safely living in Shoreditch, 1963 for some time, a very frustrated and crotchety Time Lord decides to mess around with some purple wires and before they know it there's a flash of light and the TARDIS dematerializes. Thankfully, they've only travelled back eight years and several miles to the BBC Paris Theatre on Lower Regent Street, London. Unfortunately, something in the area is preventing them from leaving.

Further mysteries arise in the form of radio comedians and (divorced) partners Max and Maxine Wheeler. They've been doing they're a comedy show on the BBC since 1948 and have built up a small, but loyal following, who attend all of their recordings at the Paris. However, in recent months, they've both noted that these followers have started to thin out, and not just because of the rise of the likes of The Goon Show and Tony Hancock's Half Hour. No, they are getting reports that their followers are dying of sudden heart complications and Max is worried that "something" from the Second World War is returning to haunt him.

The entrance to the BBC Paris Theatre. (Image: Orbem.co.uk)

The sudden death of their producer shortly after he was embraced by a strong entity, leads Max to seek out the help of the Doctor and Susan, who he has encountered prowling around the BBC. Although he believes the Doctor to be an old hammy actor or magician who insists on staying in character and costume, Max finds himself confiding in the older man. He tells him about the early days of the war in 1940 when he and a band of mischievous miscreants were recruited by the British Army as part of 'Operation Shaker' to serve as a guerilla army against German invasion. However, Max had always believed there was more to it as stated when they were advised at the time that they shouldn't be surprised if large numbers of German occupiers started dying suddenly.

The Doctor is certainly intrigued, especially when he learns that the TARDIS is prevented from leaving by a strange resonance emanating from Broadcasting House, known locally as the "BBC hum" and put down to the state of the art air conditioning system. Setting out to find the cause of the hum, the Doctor has Max and Maxine re-enact one of their shows at Broadcasting House and, modifying a canned laughter track, is able to draw out the Shakers.

The "hammy actor" and Susan.

 The Shakers, alien beings from a different realm, were somehow contacted by the British government during the early days of the war and were promised the whole of India in exchange for their assistance in killing the Nazi's. However, once Soviet Russia had entered the war and the threat of invasion halted, the government imprisoned the Shakers in the very fabric of Broadcasting House. It is the patterns of the laughter and the performance of Max and Maxine's show that led to the Shaker's awakening, and they assumed that the audience were German occupiers. Upon learning the truth, the Shakers declared war on the British and the Doctor was forced to wipe them out.

Leaving Max and Maxine to get on with their lives, the Doctor and Susan depart in the TARDIS, unsure if they'll be able to make it back to 1963.

An interesting tale by Mat Coward which see the Doctor and Susan take a little trip back to 1955 and investigate the "BBC hum". Although I don't have extensive knowledge of the early TV and radio of that era, it just oozes with various references to the Goons, Hancock and the various radio programmes that were broadcast at that time. As a bonus, Coward also delves into the Second World War and investigates just how desperate the British government were to defend these Isles from the Nazis, which ticks all the right boxes for me.

Among the many highlights of the story include Max mistaking the TARDIS for a new-fangled TV prop and had the Doctor down as an old hammy actor who would never be out of character. To top it all though, would be to actually see the Doctor guffawing at a Goons recording and then get to appear in a play   My only quibble would be that the Doctor was just a tad too crotchety and snappy, especially to Susan and Maxine, although that is nicely deflated when he hugs Susan when she finally convinces him to watch a show and Max's impression of him at Broadcasting House.

8/10

Next Episode

"The Splintered Gate"

Gallifrey to Trenzalore #11: Urrozdinee by Mark Gatiss

Doctor Who Yearbook 1995
"Urrozdinee"
Written by Mark Gatiss
Published: September 1994
Read: 17th February 2016

"Urrozdinee"

In "Urrozdinee" and we have Mark Gatiss' first of many stories within the marathon, and he actually succeeds in crafting an interesting and entertaining tale in just four pages of the Doctor Who Yearbook. The TARDIS lands in a bizarre city, it's buildings displaying many different architectural styles and it is dominated by a huge white castle and a monorail system. Naturally, the Doctor and Susan are keen to investigate and brazenly knock on the door of the castle and are held at gunpoint by the Minister of Poverty.

Dragged to a small prison cell, the Doctor and Susan learn that they are in the city of Urrozdinee, somewhere in Europe, in 2134. The Minister comes up with a few threats but ultimately descends into boasting about the fact that he is going to assassinate the ruler of Urrozdinee, the Eminence and assumes his role. Following this, the Doctor and Susan manage to escape and use the monorail to get back to the TARDIS and abruptly leave. As the TARDIS dematerializes, behind it appears the logo of a mouse's head and fireworks erupt into words spelling "when you wish upon a star".

Immediately after the traveller's departure, the Minister of Poverty is preparing for his role of Eminence as the Dutch assassins that were hired are about to strike. Of course, he can't resist entering the Eminence's chambers and try on the ceremonial robes which he would be wearing for good the very next day. Unfortunately, he is soon shot at point blank range by the assassins as the Dutch had been given no picture to identify the Eminence. Just a description of what he'd be wearing that day.

Having just watched Marco Polo, it's impossible not to make comparisons between Tegana and the Minister of Poverty, and they actually have a lot in common. They both border on being a pantomime villain, they both have a penchant for killing underlings, they are both out to kill the king and, ultimately, both make a hash of things. Obviously, Tegana feels like a more rounded villain, but that is because his story played out over seven 25-minute episodes as opposed to a four-page story.

Looking at the Doctor and Susan and there isn't much to be gleaned here than what we've already seen (or heard). They are both curious to explore the strange city and are equally as keen to bugger off back to the TARDIS when things get nasty which is very much in keeping with their early personas. There is a strong hint that 1960s London is going to be their next stop as the Doctor speaks about setting down roots.

A very slight story with a predictable twist, yet I still found it an enjoyable piece. The history of Urrozdinee is quite fascinating, having started off as Euro Disney, the city became home to thousands of refugees and by the early 22nd century it had grown to engulf the city of Paris itself. The throwing around of titles such as the Minister of Poverty and the Minister of Death suits only to add to the mystery, yet very little is explained. Ultimately, it's a four-page story so one can hardly criticize it for being a four or six part television story. Gatiss did a great job, crafting a story that intrigued me and, more importantly, made me laugh.

Next Story

Quinnis

Continuity Corner

• The TARDIS' chameleon circuit is still functioning as the ship takes the form of a shed upon arrival in Urrozdinee.

Gallifrey to Trenzalore #10: The Arboreals by Marc Platt

The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who
"The Arboreals"
Written by Marc Platt
Published: 4th June 2015
Read: 28th February 2016

The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who - "The Arboreals"

"The Arboreals" is the most recent release in our "Season 0" run-through, being released in June 2015. I recall The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who being released, but at the time I assumed it was one of those rather dry academic titles that would bore me to tears. It wasn't until I was compiling an updated list of short stories for this marathon that I stumbled on it. Therefore, this will be one of the few stories in this portion of the marathon that you'll be getting my initial impressions.

Noting that Marc Platt had written this particular tale, I was relieved, knowing that he could handle a pre-An Unearthly Child Doctor and Susan as he had done so in The Beginning and Quinnis.

We're pretty quickly launched into the story as the TARDIS materializes on a luscious green world and the Doctor and his granddaughter start exploring. Soon after, they stumble onto a graveyard near a smashed up spaceship. From the decay on the graves and the spaceship it is obvious that this all happened some time ago, but the Time Lords identify two mysteries: the first, how come there is a fresh grave that looks like it was recently dug, and secondly, there are only a few graves, yet the spaceship looked like it could carry hundreds. So where did everyone go?

Susan is anxious about the entire situation and is very keen to head back to the TARDIS and leave this world. The Doctor, however, has the bit between his teeth and he is determined to solve this little mystery. Fortunately for them both, answers start to arise quite quickly when a woman in a atmospheric suit surrounded by drone-like cameras arrives and starts mouthing off at the Gallifreyans. From Bethan Finch, we learn that this planet is being visited by expeditions in search of mineral wealth and colonization initiatives. It is also learned that the fresh grave belongs to her associate, Captain Tino Driscoll.

After spending the night at Finch's spaceship, Susan awakes to find both the surveyor and her grandfather missing. Naturally worried that something on this planet had done something to them, Susan dons an environmental suit and sets off in the direction of the graves. Here she finds Finch, incensed, and digging out Driscoll's shallow grave with her bare hands. Amazingly, she finds no sign of his body and, even more staggeringly, Driscoll then steps out from the forest to greet his former colleague! Driscoll, now starting to resemble some kind of tree creature, goes on to explain that the grave represents the death of his old life and personality and that he wants to become one with the forest and the planet.

They go on to find the Doctor sitting on a branch ten-feet in the air, his feet dangling over the canopy as he observes the forest. He has determined that this planet has evolved so that everything on it is in perfect balance. The colonists in the crashed spaceship had evolved to join this harmony and so too had Driscoll, just days earlier. Susan wasn't so sure it was evolution at work on this planet, but de-evolution, yet the Doctor simply stated that everyone was better off. Mystery solved, the Time Lords leave the tree creatures behind and return to the TARDIS.

"The Arboreals" is an interesting story and, fitting the pre-requisite of the book it is contained in, looks at evolution in ways that only a science fiction story could do. Indeed, humans being evolved into other life-forms is quite a staple of the genre, but as a committed Star Trek fan, the episodes "Identity Crisis" and "Extinction" spring instantly to mind.

While the story might not be exploring any new territory, Platt does an excellent job at creating a new alien world for us to explore, however briefly. Having previously listened to The Beginning and Quinnis as part of this marathon, it's obvious he has a fascination with forests, jungles and plant life of various forms and that gives a different spin to many of the other stories we've seen in the pre-An Unearthly Child range which have varied between historicals or stories based in 1963. A refreshing change, yet nothing completely original.

6/10

Next Story
"A Big Hand for the Doctor"