Baby Sleepy Face

"We're on a graveyard of dolls."

Writer: Craig Donaghy 

Format: Short Story

Released: September 2017

Printed in: Tales of Terror 12

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor

Synopsis

When an abandoned plastic doll production factory mysteriously becomes operational again, twin children Ross and Amber set off to investigate. There, they find that the dolls are more than mere plastic, and a stranger in the shadows needs to save their lives.

Verdict

Baby Sleepy Face was a decent little adventure to conclude my reading of the Tales of Terror short story collection! This has been a solid book comprised of a wide range of stories and for the most part, it has been high quality. We have seen a number of returns for old enemies which is always fun and this one finished off with another in the form of the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness. From the moment that the word 'doll' was mentioned, I suspected Auton involvement and I wasn't disappointed. One thing that did disappoint me slightly was that the Doctor was travelling alone, but there is definitely a lot more room for manoeuvre when it comes to the solo travels of the Twelfth Doctor given how often Clara went home and also with Bill stopping off at university between her travels. Still, I think the companion filling characters of Ross and Amber were slightly annoying and with them being clearly quite young, it leant the adventure to have something of a more immature feel which was a shame. It certainly wasn't on the level of Organism 96 in that regard, but I still didn't think it was necessary. The competitive nature between the twins was not a surprise, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't annoying me as the adventure went on. They kept finishing each other's thoughts and sentences which was slightly frustrating. I did then like how the Doctor prompted them to work together and when that was the case, they actually ended up doing quite a lot of good. For the most part, I thought the illustration that accompanied this particular short story was good as it set the scene really well. However, the likeness of Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor was not to the best standard. Now, I'm no artist by any stretch of the imagination, but it just stood out as being a little off. Perhaps that's why some of the companions aren't always featured? The likeness of Jamie and Zoe in Something at the Door was pretty dire so that could have something to do with it. Anyway, the return of the Autons in a plastic factory was the perfect setting and coupling that with the fact it was previously abandoned was excellent. Some of the lines in this were really well done with the comment about screwdrivers when it came to the Doctor's use of sonic sunglasses and also the Doctor replying angrily that he was Doctor Angry Face were certainly story highlights. That was really nicely done and the characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor was pretty solid throughout. I must admit though that I sighed when the eyebrows were used in a descriptive way as that just always happens and frankly I think it's a little lazy and beyond unoriginal. The idea of a giant Auton amalgamation made up of a number of smaller dolls was intriguing and the image of the Doctor climbing up it was quite something! It was good that Amber and Ross finally worked together to retrieve the sunglasses that the Doctor required to stop the signal to the Nestene, as well as identifying the signal receiver on the Foreman who himself was a very good character and definitely one I'd like to have seen more of. It was interesting for the Nestene Consciousness to have some sort of form, albeit indirectly, as a single humanoid entity. I think that could definitely work well in a future story. Overall though, this was a solid little outing and the touch at the end with Amber throwing away her old doll for extra safety measure was a nice way to finish. 

Rating: 7/10