Repercussions was, I think, the first Doctor Who short
story collection I read - certainly one of the first two - purely
because it was on the shelf in my local library. At this point the only
1980s stories I had seen in their entirety were Earthshock and The Five Doctors,
and my only experience of Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann's Doctors was
the TV Movie. I had seen two full stories with William Hartnell (as
well as his cameo in The Three Doctors). So it's ironic that this is one of the most continuity-heavy collections, tying into the then-ongoing Charley Pollard arc.
This is, so far as I know, the only Who story written by this author. It's certainly a lot better than Corridors of Power, but it's also a bit of an odd beast.
Let's get my standard complaint out of the way first: the business of
the Doctor controlling the TARDIS. Korte makes a couple of excuses for
it - the ship can home in on a time anomaly on the outward journey, and
the Fast Return switch is used on the way back - which is better than
some writers, who forget that it was ever a problem. Nevertheless, I do
wish more authors would make use of the features of the period rather
than trying to work around them!
I was also unfairly irritated when Steven refers to "your precious web
of time again, eh, Doctor?" - another anachronism in a similar vein.
Having said that, the way that this is written is a big plus. Events are
portrayed entirely through the eyes of the various participants. We get
to spend gets some time inside the heads of almost everyone involved
(except the Doctor, which I think is appropriate for this period of the
show), but the principle narrator is the child at the heart of the
story, Bobby.
Bobby is kind of the companion who never was. Apparently he travelled in
the TARDIS for quite some time (though probably measured in weeks
rather than months, since nobody notices him age overnight), but we
never see any of his adventures - just the odd name or sentence here and
there. No, this story focuses entirely on the aftermath of his travels
in a very New Series way, even down to use of the "it was wonderful but
it screwed up my life" vibe.
This is both a strength and a weakness. It's potentially powerful stuff,
but also something I've seen too often now, and to be honest I'm a bit
fed up of stories focusing on the Doctor as a messer-up of lives. Still,
this is unfortunately what the whole collection is about. It reminds me
in a way of the axis from some of the Big Finish audios where the Time
Lords dump their mistakes, and is such a negative thing. I want the
Doctor to be a bringer of hope rather than disaster.
Bobby's travels and multiple off-screen adventures also mean that by now
Steven must be a TARDIS veteran, so further stories should see him
after he's lost much of his new companion status. I may have to revise
the placement of this story or others still to come to account for that.
Oh, look - a full-length review after all. Maybe I was premature in my prediction regarding short story reviews!
Published:
Date: August 2004
ISBN: 1-84435-048-7
Rating:
5/10.
Next Time:
The Eye in the Egg.
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