Short Trips, Indefinable Magic 31.09: The Reign Makers, by Gareth Wigmore

I love audio, I really do; but sometimes it makes a pleasant change to experience a story in another medium. Comics and short stories are near the bottom of the heap for me, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them - particularly when I'm in the mood for something different. And a short story doesn't take much time to experience, me being a fast reader an' all.

So, The Reign Makers, then. This is chronologically the third of Gareth Wigmore's stories featuring the first Doctor, at least by most people's reckoning. The first, The Mother Road, is a rather lovely little character piece with very little plot; the second, Mire and Clay, a particularly grim slice of history. This one lies somewhere between the two, being set at Agincourt (I wouldn't call that a spoiler since it becomes apparent quite early on) and quite action-orientated, while focusing on the feelings of the characters in the midst of the danger more than on the perils themselves.

The story starts in media res, which isn't something we saw on the TV program in this period, but suits the shape of the piece. It also has a lot of cuts - a very visual technique (or at least written in a televisual style) which threw me initially but again proved effective in the end. More traditional was the inclusion of the "educational remit" - in this case, since it's a pure historical, history. I don't know much about Agincourt, other than that (a) it was the setting for one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches; and (b) since it's one of only two significant victories the English achieved during the Hundred Years' War, it's one we hear about rather than any of the bazillion or so French wins. I know a bit more now.

Also in keeping with the times was the way we had Susan playing a boy. I don't know how bras were made in the 50s and 60s, but I can say that this wouldn't have worked much better for Carole Ann Ford than it did for Anneke Wills, even though Ford has shorter hair; but within the logic of the universe, of course, women get away with this sort of thing. In other words, the panto nature of this is appropriate, and made me smile.

The other key thread here is the continued look at interfering in history. It's the Doctor rather than Barbara pushing for it this time, which makes a later placement more attractive (certainly later than Farewell, Great Macedon, anyway). The Doctor goes to extremes, here, interfering massively - though in an attempt to preserve rather than divert the timeline. So his motives are the same as they were in The Aztecs, but his means are almost at the levels they reach in The Myth Makers. It also echoes some aspects of Quinnis, leading me to consider why the Doctor wasn't worried about interfering there (and in future-set stories). I haven't come up with a decent in-universe explanation yet.

Probably my main problem with the story is that it tries to do too much in the available space. It feels cramped, and while I applaud the ambition I think it would have worked better either as a longer story or with one aspect cut out. The Doctor's unpleasant attitude at the close, for example, could have done with being explored more, if it was going to be included.

Overall, then, a decent story I enjoyed, though more as a pleasant diversion than anything truly stirring.

Published:
Date: March 2009
ISBN: 1-84435-384-2

Rating:
5/10.

Next Time:
The Duke's Folly.