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hidekisohma's review
3.0
So after reading the first short trips earlier this year, i decided to give the second one a shot. Were they any good? was it a mistake? well just like last time in order to review this i have to go over every one in order. here we go.
1. Totem. the 8th doctor helps a widow lady on a farm for some reason. it's strange especially because it's from the widow's perspective and literally that's really all 8 does. farm stuff. there's a little bit of something at the end, but overall it's just the doctor doing farm stuff. 2.5/5
2. Scientific advisor. 2nd doctor is a scientific advisor on a movie set back in the day. then aliens show up and he has to save the day kinda. i mean... for a second doctor story it's fine? it's serviceable. he's not TERRIBLY annoying so that already is a plus for a 2nd doctor story. just like in totem, no companion on this one. and just like totem 2.5/5
3. missing part one: Mel talks in a bar about how she travelled with the doctor but wouldn't do it again. there. it's a whopping 4 pages of that. you're welcome. it's just that. wasn't necessary. 2/5
4. Moon Graffiti: Oh my god this was awful. 6 goes with peri to help aliens in the far future on earth from space bugs. This was one of the only stories i actually had to tardis wiki the plot of after reading it as i didn't absorb a single thing about this story. the story was convoluted, the doctor was a jerk (like his tv version) and the writing was so pretentious for no reason it made me rather irritated and bored. 1.5/5
5. one bad apple. 4th doctor and leela have a sciency version of adam and eve where the fruit on the planet give you knowledge and they meet partially cyberconverted people. It's not bad. it's a fine story. not great. very forgettable. i actually had to brush up on what happened while writing this review. 3/5
6. 64 carlyle street: 1st doctor and steven/dodo have an adventure in a victorian house in england. it's told by the servants in a very "downton abbey" sort of vibe. everyone was in character and the story was pretty neat. I'm not really one for weird alternate points of view in doctor who stories, but for this, it worked. 3.5/5
7. Eternity Contract: 5th doctor and nyssa enter a house where recently dead people live. this is EASILY the best of the bunch. i really enjoyed this one. It had a cool mystery, the ending was nice, and overall just oozed charm. kind of reminded me of "the chimes of midnight" (an 8th doctor audioplay) very good story. 4.5/5
8. The sow in rut: sarah and k9 have a mini adventure with the ghost of a pig. yes really. it was cute, had a dramatic 'stinger' ending like an older cheesy 80's horror movie and overall... was fine. it didn't overstay its welcome, and k9 is always fun to see even if i'm not the biggest sarah fan in the world. 3/5
9. Special Weapons: 7th doctor and Mel travel to world war 2 (because of course they do) and have to stop nazis from using a super weapon (because of course they do). it's fine, stock, but it was nice to see mel in a novel if only a short story as she normally doesn't get many "traveling with the doctor' novel stories due to her not being popular. It told the story it needed to and overall was fine. 3/5.
10. Honest living: 3rd doctor and jo find out about time travellers who try to stop people from dying and charge them for it. This was also fine. Jo and the doc were both useful and it felt like there were some stakes going on. the villains were....serviceable if not a little boring, but there was really no moral ambiguity as it was one of those "nope, the doctor is 100% right" things with no chance for other differing thoughts. still, a decent story. 3/5
11. Dead Time: 8th doc and sam get their tardis trapped in another dying tardis and the doc has to fight off old wacky timelords who wanted to travel through people's timelines and have them die for fun. It's kinda dull, sam doesn't really DO anything, and the doctor has a nice conversation with himself (you'll understand when you read it) 3/5.
12 Romans cutaway: 1st doctor and ian/barbara/vicki: Ian fights a lion. that's all you need to know. 3/5.
13. Return of the spiders. 4th and romana II / k9: they meet up with their old foes, the spiders from the last pertwee arc. honestly, i liked this one. it was a cute, quick, fun story with 4, romana, and k9 having some good back and forths as well as being a very light hearted story. and you get to see k9 set a roof on fire. so that's fun. 3.5/5
14. Hot ice : 5th doctor and peri are accused of stealing a gem from aliens and meet up with the real thief. it's honestly not very good. the other 5th doctor story was WAYYYY better. peri is 100% useless and the doctor doesn't even really DO anything. he literally was there to stand and be a distraction. that's really about all his character amounts to in this one as he didn't drive the plot along at all. Kinda pointless this one. 2/5.
15. uPVC: 2nd doctor and jamie/zoe: the 2nd doctor gets a visit in the time stream by a interdimensional window salesman. no i'm not joking. it's as ridiculous as it sounds. 2/5.
16. Good companions: a future incarnation of the doctor meets old teagan. this is honestly a very dull and boring one. she THINKS it's the doctor but never flat out asks him and they have a little adventure which involves some paradoxical timey wimeyness, but without an actual doctor to latch onto, and the only character we know being an old teegan, it's really not interesting at all and i didn't enjoy this one bit. 2/5.
17. missing part 2: mel's bottle is floating in space with a note in it. the end. whole page needed for that. 1.5/5
18. femme fatale: 8th doctor and sam/iris. this is the other story that i had to read to make sure i read it correctly. this is sad because i normally REALLY like paul magrs, but DAMN was this not good. they go back to try to stop andy warhol from being shot and meet iris. it's boring yes. but the worst part is it's written VERY confusingly from Iris's point of view switching between first, second, and third person. sorry Paul, this was your weakest. 2/5.
Total average 2.63.
This is pretty on par to what the first book was. ~2.6/5.
some of the stories were REALLY good, some were garbage. it happens.
Best 3: 1 Eternity Contract 2. 64 Carlyle Street 3. Return of the spiders
Worst 3: 1. Moon Graffiti 2. Good companions 3. femme fatale (not counting the 1-4 page mels)
2.6/5 rounded up to a 3.
hopefully the 3rd and final short trips has some gems too.
1. Totem. the 8th doctor helps a widow lady on a farm for some reason. it's strange especially because it's from the widow's perspective and literally that's really all 8 does. farm stuff. there's a little bit of something at the end, but overall it's just the doctor doing farm stuff. 2.5/5
2. Scientific advisor. 2nd doctor is a scientific advisor on a movie set back in the day. then aliens show up and he has to save the day kinda. i mean... for a second doctor story it's fine? it's serviceable. he's not TERRIBLY annoying so that already is a plus for a 2nd doctor story. just like in totem, no companion on this one. and just like totem 2.5/5
3. missing part one: Mel talks in a bar about how she travelled with the doctor but wouldn't do it again. there. it's a whopping 4 pages of that. you're welcome. it's just that. wasn't necessary. 2/5
4. Moon Graffiti: Oh my god this was awful. 6 goes with peri to help aliens in the far future on earth from space bugs. This was one of the only stories i actually had to tardis wiki the plot of after reading it as i didn't absorb a single thing about this story. the story was convoluted, the doctor was a jerk (like his tv version) and the writing was so pretentious for no reason it made me rather irritated and bored. 1.5/5
5. one bad apple. 4th doctor and leela have a sciency version of adam and eve where the fruit on the planet give you knowledge and they meet partially cyberconverted people. It's not bad. it's a fine story. not great. very forgettable. i actually had to brush up on what happened while writing this review. 3/5
6. 64 carlyle street: 1st doctor and steven/dodo have an adventure in a victorian house in england. it's told by the servants in a very "downton abbey" sort of vibe. everyone was in character and the story was pretty neat. I'm not really one for weird alternate points of view in doctor who stories, but for this, it worked. 3.5/5
7. Eternity Contract: 5th doctor and nyssa enter a house where recently dead people live. this is EASILY the best of the bunch. i really enjoyed this one. It had a cool mystery, the ending was nice, and overall just oozed charm. kind of reminded me of "the chimes of midnight" (an 8th doctor audioplay) very good story. 4.5/5
8. The sow in rut: sarah and k9 have a mini adventure with the ghost of a pig. yes really. it was cute, had a dramatic 'stinger' ending like an older cheesy 80's horror movie and overall... was fine. it didn't overstay its welcome, and k9 is always fun to see even if i'm not the biggest sarah fan in the world. 3/5
9. Special Weapons: 7th doctor and Mel travel to world war 2 (because of course they do) and have to stop nazis from using a super weapon (because of course they do). it's fine, stock, but it was nice to see mel in a novel if only a short story as she normally doesn't get many "traveling with the doctor' novel stories due to her not being popular. It told the story it needed to and overall was fine. 3/5.
10. Honest living: 3rd doctor and jo find out about time travellers who try to stop people from dying and charge them for it. This was also fine. Jo and the doc were both useful and it felt like there were some stakes going on. the villains were....serviceable if not a little boring, but there was really no moral ambiguity as it was one of those "nope, the doctor is 100% right" things with no chance for other differing thoughts. still, a decent story. 3/5
11. Dead Time: 8th doc and sam get their tardis trapped in another dying tardis and the doc has to fight off old wacky timelords who wanted to travel through people's timelines and have them die for fun. It's kinda dull, sam doesn't really DO anything, and the doctor has a nice conversation with himself (you'll understand when you read it) 3/5.
12 Romans cutaway: 1st doctor and ian/barbara/vicki: Ian fights a lion. that's all you need to know. 3/5.
13. Return of the spiders. 4th and romana II / k9: they meet up with their old foes, the spiders from the last pertwee arc. honestly, i liked this one. it was a cute, quick, fun story with 4, romana, and k9 having some good back and forths as well as being a very light hearted story. and you get to see k9 set a roof on fire. so that's fun. 3.5/5
14. Hot ice : 5th doctor and peri are accused of stealing a gem from aliens and meet up with the real thief. it's honestly not very good. the other 5th doctor story was WAYYYY better. peri is 100% useless and the doctor doesn't even really DO anything. he literally was there to stand and be a distraction. that's really about all his character amounts to in this one as he didn't drive the plot along at all. Kinda pointless this one. 2/5.
15. uPVC: 2nd doctor and jamie/zoe: the 2nd doctor gets a visit in the time stream by a interdimensional window salesman. no i'm not joking. it's as ridiculous as it sounds. 2/5.
16. Good companions: a future incarnation of the doctor meets old teagan. this is honestly a very dull and boring one. she THINKS it's the doctor but never flat out asks him and they have a little adventure which involves some paradoxical timey wimeyness, but without an actual doctor to latch onto, and the only character we know being an old teegan, it's really not interesting at all and i didn't enjoy this one bit. 2/5.
17. missing part 2: mel's bottle is floating in space with a note in it. the end. whole page needed for that. 1.5/5
18. femme fatale: 8th doctor and sam/iris. this is the other story that i had to read to make sure i read it correctly. this is sad because i normally REALLY like paul magrs, but DAMN was this not good. they go back to try to stop andy warhol from being shot and meet iris. it's boring yes. but the worst part is it's written VERY confusingly from Iris's point of view switching between first, second, and third person. sorry Paul, this was your weakest. 2/5.
Total average 2.63.
This is pretty on par to what the first book was. ~2.6/5.
some of the stories were REALLY good, some were garbage. it happens.
Best 3: 1 Eternity Contract 2. 64 Carlyle Street 3. Return of the spiders
Worst 3: 1. Moon Graffiti 2. Good companions 3. femme fatale (not counting the 1-4 page mels)
2.6/5 rounded up to a 3.
hopefully the 3rd and final short trips has some gems too.
nwhyte's review
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1721385.html
Another of the late 1990s BBC anthologies of short stories about the first eight Doctors. Standouts for me: "64 Carlisle Street", by Gary Russell, featuring the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo; "Special Weapons", by Paul Leonard, with Mel and the Seventh Doctor; and "Good Companions" by Peter Anghelides, featuring Tegan and a future Doctor with red hair. Wooden spoon to Gareth Roberts, whose "Return of the Spiders" with the Fourth Doctor, K9 and Romana is really awful; Roberts can do much better than this and usually does.
Another of the late 1990s BBC anthologies of short stories about the first eight Doctors. Standouts for me: "64 Carlisle Street", by Gary Russell, featuring the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo; "Special Weapons", by Paul Leonard, with Mel and the Seventh Doctor; and "Good Companions" by Peter Anghelides, featuring Tegan and a future Doctor with red hair. Wooden spoon to Gareth Roberts, whose "Return of the Spiders" with the Fourth Doctor, K9 and Romana is really awful; Roberts can do much better than this and usually does.
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