White Man's Burden

"Maybe the history books got it wrong."

Writer: John Binns
Format: Short Story
Released: May 2004
Printed in: Short Trips: Past Tense 11

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Turlough, Ian, Barbara

Synopsis

Pretoria, April 1877. The Transvaal is about to be annexed and become part of the British Empire amidst the threat of the Zulus. The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are in town to put history back on track as that isn't quite what's going down. Little does the Doctor know that friends from his past are working against him...

Verdict

White Man's Burden was a very good little story to get me back on track with the reading of the Past Tense collection of Short Trips! I really enjoyed this one from start to finish as it was just very solid throughout and a really interesting and informative tale. I know a decent amount about this period and the British Empire following a second year module during my History BA, but I thought the information provided for the situation's background was excellent. This was what the Past Tense collection should be all about as it entertained and educated. I was a big fan of that. Whilst there wasn't actually a great deal going on in terms of a plot (which is fine, there really doesn't have to be), I thought the theoretical aspects of the story were very good too. I enjoyed the Doctor going into detail about history having a set path and his anger towards that theory was fantastic as he refused to believe that the whole universe was predetermined. He was even less keen to accept it because it was something the Time Lords had come to hold as fact. He wasn't having that. However, he needed to put history back on track here which I thought was intriguing as his actions in ensuring that Britain annexed the Transvaal would actually have quite horrific consequences. The Zulu War would come and Britain's involvement would be heavy. I'm not usually his biggest fan, but I liked the inquisitive nature of Turlough in this adventure and there seemed to be no lulling over Tegan's departure that must have occurred quite recently before this story. The Doctor suspecting that the Master might initially be the one up to no good and changing established history was great, but the truth was even better! I never suspected for a second that part two would tell us all about a secret act of Ian and Barbara at a time where the First Doctor was struck by flu and left in the TARDIS looked after by Vicki. Barbara was desperate to do what she thought was something good for history and here she wanted to rid Britain's involvement in South African apartheid. I liked that she wanted to test the waters, but given what occurred in The Aztecs and how passionate and adamant the Doctor was there that history couldn't be changed, I was surprised that Ian went along with it. It did show how much he thought of Barbara though but even he didn't quite believe that they were going to be successful. Of course, they would never know that it was actually the Doctor of the future that would prevent them from changing history which I liked and was quite ironic. I think they might have just laughed if they found out though! Barbara was devastated that history remained as she knew it. The Fifth Doctor and Turlough didn't need to do a great deal to keep history as it was meant to be, but their presence was required and that was that. The Doctor said this was how it was always meant to be and I liked that Turlough wasn't quire about that and kept probing. He refused to believe that there was no such thing as free will, but all the signs suggested otherwise which was very intriguing. Overall, a really good little adventure!

Rating: 8/10