The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Time Traveller

"I'm here because I'm dying."

Writer: Joanne Harris
Format: Short Story
Released: September 2014
Series: Time Trips 07

Featuring: Third Doctor

Synopsis

On the point of death after absorbing a vast amount of radiation during his final encounter with the Spider Queen on Metebelis III, the Third Doctor stumbles out of the TARDIS, searching for Sarah Jane Smith. Instead, he finds himself in an isolated Time Paradox ruled by an unknown psychic force, stuck on Saturday 8 April, and populated by people without names. Anyone disobeying the rules or showing any sign of dissent is swept up into the Gyre. Can the Doctor persuade whatever – or whoever – controls the Gyre to free the Village, before he dies of radiation poisoning?

Verdict

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Time Traveller was an excellent continuation of the Time Trips series and sees an extremely rare solo outing for the Third Doctor! Even though I'm not a big fan of another adventure in the series for a Doctor that has already appeared, I loved the placement of this one and it brought something new to the Third Doctor which was fantastic. Never in my wildest dreams would I have even thought to place a story during part six of Planet of the Spiders, but this is exactly what happened here! The Doctor was on his death bed and it appears that he took a slight detour between leaving Metebelis III and on the verge of regeneration before returning to Sarah Jane and UNIT. One thing I really enjoyed about this story was learning how reliant the Doctor was on Sarah Jane and just how much he needed a companion by his side. It hadn't always been that way, but now it was clear the Doctor didn't want to be alone. Especially when he was dying. However, things seemed to be going quite well for the Time Lord once the TARDIS had brought him to the Village. The setting was very intriguing throughout and I really liked the blandness of everybody's name. They were all actually titles and the Doctor was soon blended into this weird society by the Queen. That's not a bad friend to make or associate yourself with once you've randomly arrived in a strange place. I liked how she took him under his wing and with everyone being named as titles, I thought the Doctor was going to fit right into place. That was far from the case! There were no doctors here and she was adamant that he became the Vicar. The Doctor was having none of that and his curiosity more than got the better of him as he wanted to know everything that was going on. I liked how he seemed to get a pretty good idea early on and when we got to learn about the princess, things kind of came predictable but I still very much enjoyed it. The setting turning out to be part of the Vortex in the mind of the princess, who we found out was named Polly (nothing to do with the companion of the First and Second Doctor), who could wish things into existence. It all made sense with the large toys and constant carnival atmosphere that occurred in the Village. She'd simply wished for her favourite day to never stop. So it didn't. But people were trapped in the cycle and the Doctor had to put a stop to it. The eye of the storm and the time-gizmo nonsense with the Gyre was actually enjoyable and it was good for the Doctor to use the sonic screwdriver to find the resolution. The power of stories was a nice element of this adventure and I loved that Polly got to share wonders with the TARDIS before she passed away. She had her time and like the Doctor, she was incurable, and met her fate. Now it was time for the Doctor to do the same. Overall, fantastic adventure!

Rating: 9/10