Light Fantastic

"Even if you were to conquer the Time Lords, it would not give you their knowledge. And only knowledge is true power."

Writer: Paul Crompton

Format: Short Story

Released: September 1979

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 1980

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana I, K9

Synopsis 

The Doctor, Romana and K9 land on the planet UX80, home to a mystery of a missing Gallifreyan. Here, they find a single life on the thought uninhabited planet and they find he's messing with waves, including light waves...

Verdict 

Light Fantastic wasn't as fantastic as its title might like to suggest as it was a bit of a mixed bag but I don't think there's any doubt that the good outweighed the bad. It's just the bad brought the perhaps generous rating down a mark or two then it may have been. I really did enjoy the dialogue and interaction between the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9. Crompton really did nail the traits of this incarnation of the Doctor, particularly when Romana suggested something and it turned out to be correct. The Doctor didn't want to allow his robot dog to think that someone who he travelled with was of greater intellect! I liked how the Doctor treated the TARDIS with delight, anthropomorphising it. How dare Romana suggest his "old girl" was getting old and missing destinations or arriving a couple of seconds late. What's a couple of seconds to Time Lords in the grand scheme of things anyway? The use of the light waves fluctuating was an intriguing concept I thought. From darkness to extreme brightness in nanoseconds, anything was possible with somebody manipulating the waves themselves! Radik was an interesting character and I loved his backdrop on Gallifrey, being a failed Time Lord he stole a TM and came to this planet, eradicated it of any life and through the extension of his radiation experiments, he'd gained access to controlling the waves. The claim that he could even control the Doctor's brain waves was quite a scary concept! That's something very powerful if you can control the brain waves of the Doctor himself! However, his powers of concentration would prove too much. The part that brought the quality of the episode down was on the fourth page where, with Romana engulfed in mysterious orange slime and the Doctor powerless to stop its attack on him, it just shifted to the aftermath with barely an explanation as to what had gone on. I didn't like that at all I must say. K9 though was a great highlight with his monotonous tone and almost inadvertent wit. The relationship between he and the Doctor is just splendid! The climax of the story was done well but I think coincidence was just a cover up for lack of quality resolution. Somehow it seemed to get away with it as it worked decently okay. Romana using the sonic screwdriver to wipe out Radik was neatly done and I enjoyed the humoir when the TARDIS trio could see themselves again. Overall, a decent story but a big let down in the middle which was a shame. 

Rating: 7/10