This four-page story is, I believe, Mark Gatiss' only published work for
the first Doctor. The TARDIS Index File isn't very helpful in checking
this since the page on Gatiss only lists his longer works plus televised spoofs, forcing me to rely on my spreadsheet (which gathers information from various sources, but is far from complete).
There are full-colour illustrations on every page; Alistair Hughes
provides all of them except for the first, which is a photo taken during
the filming of Marco Polo. Unfortunately they are mostly
lifeless, and do little to add to the story (although having said that,
they are still quite a bit better than the artwork accompanying Who Discovered America? and Rennigan's Record,
reviewed earlier). The exception is the picture of the Eminence trying
on his gown, which I thought was well done. I note that this is the only
image not to feature Susan and the Doctor; so it may be that Hughes'
efforts to capture their features (which he does successfully) cramped
his style.
The illustrations mean that the story is only around 2,500 words (based on a quick line count). By way of comparison, Dialogue Disasters
is about 3,900, and only half a story; so Gatiss hasn't much room for
manoeuvre here. His prose is appropriately spare, and he manages to
conjure up a society with baroque politics and bizarre architecture very
quickly. He gets in a reminder that the TARDIS at this point can change
it's form, and his penchant for grim humour comes through, too. I love
the fact that they have a Minister of Poverty, a Minister of Disease,
and a Minister of Death; and the climax of Urrozdinee's tale is also
blackly comic.
Not that this is a dark story. On the contrary, it's a tourist's eye
view of a moment in the future politics of Earth, and as such quite
light and inconsequential. I have marked it down for that, I think,
which is a little unfair; but it's the way my mind works. Similarly, I
had unfortunately been spoiled and knew about the reveal at the end, so
I've no idea if I would have worked it out. This is a shame, and again
costs the story points through no fault of its own.
What of the Doctor and Susan, then? They are well characterised; but before I say much more, a brief aside.
Doctor Who: The Early Adventures, part 1
As I mentioned in my review of Frayed, several people have argued - eloquently - that the Doctor shouldn't have had adventures before An Unearthly Child.
I'm in two minds. Certainly he shouldn't be "Doctorish", to coin a
phrase, since the arc of the first thirteen episodes is, basically, him
becoming the Doctor; but on the other hand, as we learn later, part of
his motivation for going into exile is that he wants to see the universe
properly, to interact with it. So that's what he should be doing - but
cautiously, like a tourist rather than an adventurer.
Most of what happens with the time travellers here fits that. I particularly like the Wizard of Oz
moment when they go up to a great door and a hatch opens, someone pokes
their head out and tells them to go away. There is another point when
they have to get away and the Doctor does something a bit "adventurish";
but as soon as their escape is complete he comments that "that's quite
enough adventure for a while", so Gatiss can be let off the hook for
that!
Unfortunately, we immediately hit the old problem of an author writing
for a canon consisting of the TV stories plus this one. The Doctor
continues, adding that it's time to put down some roots, and comments
that he has a place in mind if the Ship can make it. There are rather
too many stories where he makes this decision - Quinnis and Bide-a-Wee,
to name a couple of others - and the obvious intention is that he is
thinking of 1960s London. However, this needn't be the case. Perhaps he
wants to make roots in the Fourth Universe? Or perhaps it's just a case
of it taking a few tries to get there? Whatever, it can be made to work.
And that's good enough.
Published:
Date: September 1994
ISBN: 1-85400-357-7
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
Just to make the gap between episodes a week, I'll take a peek into Days of Future Past.
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