Mission of the KaaDok

"You can't be going around shooting movie stars."

Writer: Mike Tucker
Format: Short Story
Released: December 2019
Printed in: Star Tales 06

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

"Even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me."

The Doctor is many things – curious, funny, brave, protective of her friends... and a shameless namedropper. While she and her companions battled aliens and travelled across the universe, the Doctor hinted at a host of previous, untold adventures with the great and the good: we discovered she got her sunglasses from Pythagoras (or was it Audrey Hepburn?); lent a mobile phone to Elvis; had an encounter with Amelia Earhart where she discovered that a pencil-thick spider web can stop a plane; had a 'wet weekend' with Harry Houdini, learning how to escape from chains underwater; and more.

In this collection of new stories, Star Tales takes you on a rip-roaring ride through history, from 500BC to the swinging 60s, going deeper into the Doctor's notorious name-dropping and revealing the truth behind these anecdotes.

Verdict

Mission of the KaaDok was a great little adventure and a good way to conclude Star Tales! This has been a terrific little collection of stories accounting for a number of those namedrop moments throughout Series 11, and I liked how each of the stories was very current with the TARDIS team we see now on our screens in Series 12. It's always good to be in line with what's on TV and this week for blogging has been very much focused on the Thirteenth Doctor and her fam. I liked the continuity from The Pythagoras Problem as it was just enough to acknowledge its predecessor whilst being wholly its own story. That was important. There was also a nice little mention of That's All Right, Mama from Graham who got an unusual opportunity to fangirl about meeting Audrey Hepburn. He really was overjoyed and that was fantastic to see. It actually reminded me a little of how excited he was at the start of Orphan 55 at the prospect of having a holiday. Here, he was meeting an acting hero of his from one of his all time favourite films. The little nod to Grace and Ryan remembering some of the recent fateful Christmases watching some of Hepburn's films was excellent. The whole story taking place during the filming of Breakfast at Tiffany's was fantastic and I think it's a bit of a shame from a personal standpoint that I haven't seen that film! I have to admit, I don't really know who Audrey Hepburn is other than an early famous actress, but that didn't matter at all which was also important for enjoying the adventure. Yaz and Ryan didn't have a lot to do in this story but the impact wasn't felt much at all which is obviously a positive. PhiLit was an intriguing little character and I must admit I was fully expecting him to be an assassin rather than just looking to gather some information to create a waxwork robot replica! That is pretty barmy, isn't it? The KaaDok hoping to gain Madame Tussaud's in space was just ridiculous but in a perfectly good Doctor Who way. There's just nowhere else you would get that. Audrey Hepburn gaining a reputation amongst the stars was a nice thought and I liked how Earth was gaining a reputation – and ratings! – because of the television entertainment it was beaming into space for all sorts of alien races to pick up and watch. Might they view them as advertisements of the human race? Who knows what opinions there may be! The little notion that the Ninth Doctor may actually have been in place as the director of the famed film was very interesting and I liked the idea of the Thirteenth Doctor looking back on her past with fondness. A long time ago. Speaking of the past, the Doctor posing as Sarah Jane Smith to find Audrey Hepburn was a wonderful moment. The use of the psychic paper throughout was decent and probably in higher volumes than any other Doctor Who adventure! The celebrity robots, mostly from the wrong time period, all roaming around aimlessly waiting for orders on the set of Breakfast at Tiffany's was a very fun image in my head on the train home. They were just bundling around! The mention of child slavery soon turned the Doctor around to putting things to a stop despite what she knew of the KaaDok and the way she did that was very good and a logical end to proceedings. As a whole, this was a thoroughly enjoyable tale and I even found myself drawing similarities to The Feast of Steven. Overall, a great end to what has been a brilliant little book!

Rating: 8/10