Sedna

"Even in war the Siccati create a work of art."

Writer: Andy Frankham
Format: Short Story
Released: October 2005
Printed in: Short Trips: The Solar System 10

Featuring: Third Doctor

Synopsis

The Third Doctor takes his friend Jeremy Fitzgerald to the planet Sedna, millions of years in the Solar System's past. He encounters the Siccati once again, and learns that it was they who were attacking their own species when his second self was on Neptune. What will connect the dots?

Verdict

Sedna was a very good little adventure to conclude my reading of The Solar System Short Trips! This has been quite the collection and whilst the standard has been somewhat mixed, I have very much enjoyed reading and have loved getting to explore a story on each and every planet within in the Solar System with every incarnation of the first eight Doctors. A real treat. It was the Third Doctor with his second story of the collection to finish things off, but I do wish they went with a more familiar companion! After having done a little research on Jeremy, I'm not sure he quite counts as a companion but despite not knowing anything at all about him coming into the story, I found him quite enjoyable. The Doctor clearly thought of him as a little useless which was intriguing as I couldn't quite see the third incarnation having the patience to put up with somebody of Jeremy's character, but he actually proved pivotal to the resolution of the plot. The return of the Siccati was slightly unexpected but the links this one had with Neptune certainly were not. I thought they came together very well and this was a definite improvement on the story it runs concurrently with. The Doctor recalling some of its events and how it was his second incarnation that was on Neptune at the same time was great. I do wish that there was a little more made of the Sedna setting but I guess information at the time of writing wasn't available in its droves. It was nice that the planet was the setting though which surprisingly was not always the case in this book. I enjoyed the characterisation of the Third Doctor very much and as I delve through this month's DWM that tributes Jon Pertwee, it was lovely to see such good writing of his Doctor here. I was very impressed with it which was just delightful. The Doctor attempting to find a way to get to the Arrangers was humorous and after he put together a stellar piece of art, it was almost immediately thrown into the House of Rejections whereas Jeremy's mess of a piece of art won them their way through. The Doctor had to encourage them to stop their bombardment of Neptune, but the comic value that stemmed from the fact Jeremy was the only person they'd converse with was fantastic. The Arranger who was dying explaining why it was Jeremy's artwork that was chosen because of its imperfection was lovely and I really liked how that tied with The Great Tapestry. They didn't need to destroy Neptune if those Siccati wanted to stay because it did not need to be a perfect Tapestry. Once that was understood was terrific. I liked how the Doctor didn't actually do a great deal in this one to help, as everything he attempted seemed to have Jeremy outdo him! I liked that dynamic and I would certainly be keen to read more of Jeremy. He was a humorous character. Overall, this was a very good adventure to finish on and I definitely favour the idea of two of the planets sharing links as strong as were present here. I still don't know a great deal about Sedna, but it being almost concurrent with Neptune every millennia certainly intrigues me. A nice way to finish.

Rating: 8/10