One of the neat things about this short story and Venusian Lullaby
is that the end of the latter has been written to fit with the
beginning of the former, in much the same way as most of the TV serials
of the time. This probably came out of Jim Mortimore encouraging Paul
Leonard to write for Who in the first place, and then supporting him in his work; whatever, it is appreciated.
Less traditional is the opening. Events take place in two temporal
locations nine years apart, though mostly focusing on the later time of
322 BCE, and for the TARDIS crew the story starts after they've landed,
in the midst of the action, which is not something that's been seen yet.
However, that action means that - as with most Hartnell serials - some
of the main characters are separated from the ship; and again, when
people start bowing down to Barbara, it looks as if we are in for a
traditional mistaken identity story like The Thief of Sherwood, The Massacre, The Church and the Crown, or (more realistically) The Aztecs. But it isn't. This mix of Hartnell era styling and 1990s SF works to give it a pleasantly off-kilter feel.
Hmmm. Jim Mortimore, off-kilter, who'd have thought it? And look at that
date, one year after Alexander's death. Last time I commented on one of
Mortimore's stories it was predicated upon the events of Farewell, Great Macedon
happening differently. (Well, sort of.) This time, those events haven't
happened at all! Doesn't the man care about a consistent Whoniverse?!
Well, no. And quite rightly, because this is set in the era of
experimentation, and continuity porn is far in the future. Perhaps he
only does it to annoy because he knows it teases, but fair enough; and
if you're as anal as me and want to fit as much together as possible
then it's easy to adjust a couple of lines. Or you could go and write
some fanfic in which the Doctor and Barbara have an adventure that wipes
their minds of all memories of meeting Alexander. Your choice.
Oh, but on the other appendage, this is written in the era of continuity porn: we're only a few short years away from War of the Daleks,
after all. So the resolution of the story depends on a Gallifreyan
artifact mentioned in a TV story that was never made. Or rather, has
been made a number of times now, but never as originally intended. And
you're not allowed to mention the word 'Gallifrey' because this is the
1960s, so the Doctor stops reading before he gets to the name - which is
neat. And the use of the artifact implies the godlike Time Lords of the
1960s rather than the later versions. It's all jumbled up, but in a
good way.
I haven't said much about the actual story other than the beginning and
the artifact. As usual Mortimore's prose is very good, and conjures up a
clear image of the setting and characters in few words. There's plenty
of dying going on, but it lacks the pain and gore which put me off Venusian Lullaby. The way the two times fit together is satisfying, too, and the conclusion ties everything up neatly.
And yet, everything's tied up too neatly - so much so that the
story almost disappears up its own timey-wimey puzzle-box cleverness.
Which is a danger with this kind of story, as Steven Moffat's critics
will attest. This could have been another sequel to The Aztecs
with regard to the concept of interfering with history, but there simply
isn't space to develop the moral/philosophical side of the issue, or
allow the Doctor and Barbara to discuss it in any detail. Where Venusian Lullaby felt too padded, this feels like it had the potential to be so much more if it had been given some extra space to breathe.
Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed it as it stands anyway and still rate it
above average. I just think it could have been even better.
An Expanding Universe, Part 8: Decalog
Before any of the Short Trips anthologies - BBC or Big Finish - there was a home for short Who
fiction at Virgin. Three collections were published between 1994 and
1996, when the BBC withdrew the license; but two more books came out the
following year, the first based around one of the New Adventures
companions and the second open to non-Whoniverse fiction (although it
did include one story featuring another NA companion). The last was
edited by Mssrs. Mortimore and Leonard, demonstrating that their
collaboration continued beyond this one pair of stories.
The first Decalog collection is a cycle of linked tales, with an
amnesiac Doctor recovering memories of all his lives by examining
different objects. Anyone thinking "isn't that the same plot as IDW's The Forgotten?"
can give themselves a pat on the back. The details of how it pans out
are quite different, but it's basically the same idea. Rather like the
two Human Natures, in fact.
Published:
Date: 1994
ISBN: 0-426-20411-5
Rating:
6.5/10.
Next Time:
Possibly more of Susan's Tale, but more likely The Revenants.
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