Press Play

"I want to leave you with some memories of our time together."

Writer: Pete McTighe

Format: Short Story

Released: 1 April 2020

Series: #DoctorWhoLockdown

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Susan

Synopsis

A new short story by Pete McTighe.

Verdict

Press Play was a sensational short story! I absolutely adored this one from start to finish. If anyone needs any kind of idea on how to write a short story, then this was it! It honestly might be my favourite short story of all time. It was honestly that good. It probably only took about three minutes to read, but it was just outstanding. I felt a connection to the story which is hard to do in such a short format, but the moment that the Doctor saw that it was Susan who had left a message was magnificent. I could almost see the look on the Doctor's head in my imagination. It was so powerful. Imagine the reunion between them now if it were to occur! I somehow don't think it would work if the Doctor was referred to as grandmother though. The Doctor initially having a conversation and somewhat sassy argument with the TARDIS regarding being left a message was a lot of fun. Any interaction between the Doctor and the TARDIS is a positive in my books so it's no surprise that The Doctor's Wife ranks as one of my all time favourite episodes. I thought we might be going down a similar route here, but then it took off in a whole new direction and seemed to canonise BritBox and BBC iPlayer! Was perhaps what we saw in Remembrance of the Daleks with Doctor Who seemingly seconds away from occurring on television in front of the Seventh Doctor an entry into Susan's recording system? How it would get from the TARDIS to BBC Archives I'm not so sure, but that's a lot of fun to think about! Susan adding a memory bank that was recording for a day when the Doctor might be sad was a tremendous idea and if anyone could add something to the TARDIS systems, it was definitely the Doctor's granddaughter. She is a Time Lord after all! Susan creating a whole system of operations for the Doctor to be able to view her own past adventures is just incredible. It is very close to breaking the fourth wall and going beyond containing things within Doctor Who itself, but when comic strip adventures exist out there like The Fourth Wall, it's not that uncommon. The explanation that the TARDIS missed a few of the early journeys and encounters as explanations for the missing serials and episodes from the BBC Archives was tremendous, and just the idea of the Thirteenth Doctor being in control of the whole Doctor Who archive and being able to view her past encounters like Genesis of the Daleks or Timelash, weirdly referred to as The Timelash in the story, is just extraordinary. It just shouldn't be able to happen, and yet this adventure has actually provided a very rational explanation as to how it is possible. Imagine the Doctor just getting bored one day and chucking on her outing in Four to Doomsday or In the Forest of the Night! The ideas and stories are endless. Presumably, they include the audios, comic strips, books etc so the library must be absolutely endless. I'd honestly give anything to have everything in one place like that! With the Doctor doing some essential TARDIS maintenance that meant no humans on board, without the fam she would now be able to go back and look on at some past encounters. That's a lovely thought. Overall, a tremendously good short story!

Rating: 10/10