This story fills in the gap between Desperate Measures and The Slave Traders,
and - wait a minute! Didn't I start the previous review like that?
Houston, we have a problem. Or do we? Does it matter that this story is
incompatible with Byzantium!? On one level, of course it doesn't.
It's great that we have different takes on the Doctor's past. On
another level - but let me come back to that later.
The timeframe isn't the only thing this story has in common with Keith
Topping's Past Doctor Adventure. Bizarrely, Ian has dreams about a Ford
Anglia in both. I have no idea of the significance of this, though
possibly the later story - Topping's - included it as a nod to
McIntee's. And they both heavily overdo the Doctor's mannerisms. Getting
Ian's name wrong at two separate points in a short story is way over the top.
Still, apart from that, this story hews closer to the normal
characterisation and speech patterns of the regulars. It also fits
better with the televised stories on either side. In fact, it's designed
to: one of its twin goals (so far as I can see) is to plug the gap left
by the missing cliffhanger resolution, which it does elegantly.
Topping's, on the other hand, is merely using it as a convenient
position to tell a largely-disconnected story. Looking ahead, we know
that during the events of The Slave Traders the TARDIS is topsy-turvy; Byzantium!
doesn't explain why the ship ends up like this again having been moved
halfway across the Roman Empire. Nor does it offer any reason for the
travellers not taking off as soon as they can following their traumatic
experiences. There's no compelling need for it to do either of these,
but the absence of explanations does have an effect.
In contrast the presence of the lion here not only adds a bit of danger,
it gives a more noble reason for them staying in the villa than simply
making use of someone's property while they're away. And it provides the
impetus for the story's second goal: Ian realising that he loves
Barbara, and telling her so while she's asleep.
Which brings up an issue worthy of another sidebar discussion.
A Confused Chronology, part 9: Foretelling the Future of the Franchise
We've seen part of this before during my marathon. There have been lots of hints about Ian's feelings for Barbara - The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance, for example - and open (if not verbal) acknowledgement between the two of them elsewhere, most obviously in The Time Travellers. So Roman Cutaway
is a bit late. However, all of those stories were written (or for
Fragile Arc, produced) after this one. So perhaps it's them that's late?
It's a dilemma somewhat like The Daleks, a self-contained serial
that introduced the metal monsters as creatures confined to one city -
and then killed them off. This didn't matter at the time because that
was their story: no more were anticipated. But later, as they returned
again, and again, it became really hard to reconcile the first tale with
those that came later.
No writer can predict the future, mutterings about Arthur C. Clarke and
communications satellites notwithstanding. McIntee is not responsible
for the changes to the Doctor's published timeline wrought by later
authors like Topping and Simon Guerrier. And similarly, no author should
be completely bound by the past. If Guerrier had thought, "I've got
this really neat story but it contradicts Roman Cutaway so I won't write it", we would have missed out on a gem. A similar argument would erase vast swaths of good Who (including The Deadly Assassin and School Reunion, for those who only care about the TV series).
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds," quoth Ralph
Waldo Emerson; and rarely has this been truer than in the Whoniverse.
There's simply no way to manhandle this into the same timeline as Byzantium! - the Whoniverse
reluctantly suggests treating this story as partly a flashback, but
that simply doesn't cut the mustard; and I dislike their alternative
solution that this is part of Ian's dream. No, they are irreconcilable.
Personally, I assign Byzantium! to a parallel universe (mostly
because of the odd characterisation), and I keep much of this in the
main flow while ignoring the idea that it's the first time Ian realises
he loves Barbara; but it's really not that important.
Oh, and for the first time we get Isaac's opinion on a written work.
Since he's fascinated by the Romans, he decided to read it too:
Isaac's Corner
I liked the way it explained how they got to stay in the villa, and the
idea that the lion was very scared rather than just being a really
ferocious animal. They were also right that the males aren't the
fiercest ones, unlike most films which have males doing the attacking.
Published:
Date: March 1999
ISBN: 0-563-55565-3
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
The Slave Traders.
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