Journey Out of Terror

"We've become fiction ourselves?"

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2019

Printed in: The Target Storybook 02

Featuring: First Doctor, Ian, Barbara 

Synopsis

Escaping from the Daleks, the First Doctor, Ian and Barbara accidentally leave Vicki behind. Believing the house they just left was a place of the mind, the Doctor uses the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to transport them to a fictional world. There, they find themselves the subject of a comic strip and read how they will find Vicki. But then the story starts to change...

Verdict

Journey Out of Terror was a brilliant continuation of The Target Storybook! I really enjoyed this one and I was just glad to finally get back into the book that I have only read the first adventure within the collection. I'm not sure why I have had such a gap, but this was a wonderful return! It takes place in the middle of The Chase and I loved that it was specifically right after the episode where Vicki was left behind. Of course, she would then use stowaway the Dalek's own time machine to be reunited, but the Doctor and his companions weren't to know that. The realisation from the trio when they know they have left Vicki behind with the Daleks in what they believe to be a dreamlike land of fiction was magnificent. I thought the style of the short story was really intriguing with the alternation from both Barbara and Ian narrating in the first person. That's a unique dynamic and something I really enjoyed as it was good to get both of their perspectives on all that was going. They both felt incredibly guilty for leaving Vicki behind and not doing more to check if she was inside the TARDIS before taking off and fleeing the Dalek chase. Comparing Vicki to Susan and how she was the Doctor's way of getting over leaving his granddaughter behind in The Dalek Invasion of Earth was really good, although I did think it was a bit of unfair of Barbara in particular that she got angry when the Doctor was building a good relationship with Julia. The trio reading themselves in a comic strip was a lot of fun and I'd have loved an image of what that story might like that! Within the pages they saw them reunited with Vicki which was good, but I really loved it when the story started to change. That was a really good dynamic of fear. Speaking of dynamics, it was really great to have a rare adventure with just the First Doctor, Ian and Barbara. That really was a lot of fun and I thought the characterisation of William Hartnell's first incarnation was outstanding throughout. The Doctor using the TARDIS telepathic circuits in an attempt to get back to Vicki was terrific and I loved the Doctor's belief in belief. If you willed it long and hard enough, then it could happen. That was attempted here, and a whole world of fiction was where they ended up. They had a similar story that would make them feel good in saving Julia, but if they did they would be trapped. The loose foreshadows of The Mind Robber were brilliant and I loved the moment where the Doctor emphatically claimed to have fixed the oxygen, but actually hadn't physically done any such thing. The humour that came with Bunny the dog was fantastic and I really can't imagine the First Doctor appreciating the canine company. The Doctor wanting to take Julia with them in the TARDIS in order to save her was good and I thought it was very unfair of Barbara to suggest he was trying to quickly replace Vicki. That just didn't seem right as the very reason they were where they were was because he was trying his all to get back to her despite the faulty time mechanisation. The Doctor working out that things were actually fictitious and that Julia would be left behind was good and the TARDIS's role in that was very good. Julia would still live on and the final paragraph being from her perspective and her telling us not to turn the page so she would live on was intriguing and perhaps even a little disturbing! Overall though, a superb little short story!

Rating: 9/10