Jupiter

"The threat of imminent death had stretched each second to infinity."

Writer: Andy Russell
Format: Short Story
Released: October 2005
Printed in: Short Trips: The Solar System 05

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn

Synopsis

On the command deck of a gas dredger, Norma Kelligan hears the voice of her dead husband in her head. Telepathic nasties are at work and its proving troublesome in the TARDIS too. The Doctor and Evelyn arrive following an emergency dematerialisation, right in the middle of the gas giant that is Jupiter...

Verdict

Jupiter was a somewhat average continuation of The Solar System edition of Short Trips prose. I was very much looking forward to this one with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn entertaining me in prose for the first time, but this one was a little muddled for me. There was a lot of jumping and changing with not enough time spent with certain characters and rooms in the story which didn't help with making things clear. I think there was an attempt to inject a fast pace and while there was some evidence of that, I think it ultimately hindered the adventure which was a bit of a shame. One big positive for this story was the characterisation of Evelyn. Her age was a welcomed change to the usual companions and she definitely read the same in prose compared with how she is on audio. That was impressive. I also thought Colin Baker's likeness as the Sixth Doctor was presented well on the page with his softer side well written. There just wasn't enough interaction between the Doctor and companion that I would have liked and it didn't even seem to be substituted by another character. Norma though was very good and her struggles with hearing her dead husband and believing that the ship on their similar path was the ghost ship of her late husband was an emotional struggle that was sometimes quite saddening to read. Evelyn trying to help her through those feelings was terrific and she was on hand to lend a friendly ear. The idea of the captains of the dredgers being telepathic and interacting with the defence systems, also telepathic, was intriguing but I'm having trouble believing that would have occurred in just four centuries. However, I'm not exactly a scientific expert but it seemed a little too futuristic for me. The mentions of the Earth Empire were good and I liked how they were at war with the Daleks. The Doctor seemed quite content knowing that and not dealing with it, or maybe he already has? Or will? Koop was a decent character and I thought his death was a shame to happen quite early as I really liked him. The knock on effect for the rest of the story was good though. His death was certainly felt. I feel like this adventure suffered from the limited page count although with small text and thirty pages, I feel that's adequate to tell a great story as other inclusions in this collection have demonstrated. The struggle with the Entity was revealed too late for my liking and didn't leave much time for a good conclusion. The ending was very weak for me which was a shame as there were a lot of elements I liked and I could see what was trying to happen, but there just wasn't enough room to manoeuvre. The ending came so late and abruptly and wasn't all that clear. Norma getting to be with her husband and living on after death in the Entity was a nice touch, and it was quite an exciting story, but it needed some more clarity and just care. The use of Jupiter itself was good and as well as could have been given its a gas giant so the substitute of Europa was very good. Overall, hints of something very good but it fell a little short.

Rating: 6/10