The Sands of Tymus

"Who could resist such a lovely form as our females will take?"

Writer: Unknown

Format: Short Story

Released: September 1977

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 1978

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrive on a planet where the current inhabitants are not the natives. Their female kind did not survive under the intense heat of three suns, and Sarah makes the perfect form to replicate their womankind upon...

Verdict

The Sands of Tymus was not the greatest Doctor Who story ever written to say the least. It has been quite a long time since I have blogged a short story from within the pages of a Doctor Who Annual, and whilst they tend to be quirky and intriguing and genuinely a lot of fun, I think I know why I have left it so long! This was pretty poor to be honest which was a big shame as I was really looking forward to delving back into the collections because I think they are a great thing to have within my collection, but it appears that the quality for this particular adventure was severely lacking. I thought the way things started were a little weird and quick with the Doctor and Sarah being found in the Sea of Dust. That sounded like an excellent part of the planet, but we never really got to explore it or learn anything further which was a bit of a shame. The pairing of the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane is always fantastic and the chemistry they had was uncanny, but we didn't really get a chance to explore that in the story. I was left quite flabbergasted by the lack of what was actually happening in terms of a plot. There wasn't a great setup for the planet and the Toregs seemed a somewhat interesting species, but I just didn't care really as there wasn't reason enough provided for me to do so. I guess there is the issue of space and the story being incredibly small at just four pages, which even for a Doctor Who Annual short story is very small! Promax was a decent character to tell the Toreg story on behalf of but it was just a little boring that the Doctor and Sarah were locked up. I thought there was potential in the aspect of the story concerning the Toregs having lost all of their female species as that must be quite worrying knowing that there was no way of creating future life and you may be the last of your species. Alas, they had Sarah Jane now though and the initial thoughts I had were far worse than what actually happened! It was quite fun actually to have Sarah Jane used as a way of replicating their female form, although I'm not sure what they were before they had the imprint of Sarah to base themselves on. Autons perhaps? I was initially thinking the the Toregs were hoping to continue their race in a more traditional way with Sarah Jane. That would have been better for me (without actually happening of course) as I can just imagine the Doctor's reaction. I think we should have had more of Sarah Jane as well and although the image of a number of Sarah Janes was really good nothing more really happened! I couldn't believe how suddenly this story ended with Sarah just throwing a shoe at the Doctor after a snarky comment, but then that was that! Are we to assume that Sarah was okay with her replication and that they were just left to go freely after being locked up? It was a very drab ending to a story containing a lot of nothingness which was a shame. The images were misplaced really and as whacky and wonderful as you always expect from a Doctor Who Annual story, but they didn't really illustrate much of what was happening and just seemed a receptive drawing of Tom Baker as the Doctor with a fringe far too long. Overall, not the greatest.

Rating: 4/10