Something at the Door

"Who's to say that the supernatural isn't as real as everything else we've encountered?"

Writer: Mike Tucker
Format: Short Story
Released: September 2017
Printed in: Tales of Terror 02

Featuring: Second Doctor, Polly, Ben, Jamie

Synopsis

Exploring the innards of the TARDIS corridors, Polly, Ben and Jamie stumble across another control room and find a Ouija board. Will there be anyone on the other side in this place? Spirits come to devour...

Verdict

Something at the Door was a great little story to continue my reading of the Tales of Terror collection of adventures! I thought this was definitely an improvement on the first outing and a really fun way to use the horror theme with a quite brilliant quartet of main characters. I was quite surprised by how little the Doctor featured in the story for the first two-thirds or so of the adventure, but that didn't matter one bit as the interaction between the three companions was just wonderful. I am a huge fan of Polly, Ben and Jamie together and they really didn't get enough adventures together during Season 4. Thankfully, a number of their stories have been animated in recent years and this was just fantastic to get an extra story in a different format here. Now, I'm going to mention this early as when I turned the page and caught a glimpse of the singular illustration that went with the short story, I almost scoffed at how horrendous it was! The drawing of the Second Doctor was decent with a good likeness of Patrick Troughton depicted, but when it came to the companions they were completely different! It was quite startling and reminded me of some of the Classic-era Doctor Who Annual short story illustrations. It really was laughable, with Ben in particular being so incredibly far removed from how Michael Craze looked during his time in Doctor Who. I think it was definitely beneficial that it came late on in the story because I was really enjoying up to that point. It was quite clear that events here were set soon after The Highlanders as Jamie was still coming to terms with the size of the TARDIS interior which was really fun. Exploring the TARDIS is always something I'm a big fan of and I enjoyed how Polly was taking the male companions around on a whim as she was quite lost. Ben was keeping track of some of the collected mementoes which was good and I loved how they ended up in the secondary control room we wouldn't see on screen until the era of the Fourth Doctor! I am a massive fan of eras clashing and this was right up my alley. I liked how mysterious it seemed for the companions to see similarities in the control rooms. The reference to The Tenth Planet with the Doctor's change of appearance mentioned was good, but then the entire premise of The Power of the Daleks was made obsolete in one sentence as even though he witnessed the change, Ben really didn't believe his own eyes when it came to the Doctor's identity. That was a little slip. Having a Ouija board in the TARDIS was a lot of fun and that style of story with the supernatural occurring within the TARDIS itself was fantastic. I liked the analogy of the Vortex being an ocean with Ben realising that the TARDIS wasn't alone in travelling through time and space. Jamie being used as a gateway for the enigmatic supernatural intent on devouring was good and that is definitely a unique way to get on board the TARDIS through subconscious! The Doctor's incantation in the control room was also very good and I think Patrick Troughton would have been a delight there. I'm not sure what to make of his words being just a recipe and the idea of some creatures thinking they could be defeated, but I did enjoy that it was in Ancient High Gallifreyan. Overall, a very fun and thoroughly entertaining adventure!

Rating: 8/10