Interstitial Insecurity

"I need to extract evidence from the Matrix that will demonstrate my innocence."

Writer: Colin Baker

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2019

Printed in: The Target Storybook 07

Featuring: Sixth Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor is on trial. He has just watched his companion die in the presence of the entire courtroom. Things aren't looking good for the Time Lord. In search of some much needed evidence to boost his defence, the Doctor enters the Matrix with sights on securing his future. 

Verdict

Interstitial Insecurity was a really good little story to continue my sporadic reading of The Target Storybook! It really is taking me longer than anticipated to get through this collection which has surprised me because I'm a sucker for the likes of sequels and prequels which this anthology mostly consists of, but here we had an adventure taking place during the events of The Trial of a Time Lord and I thought that was pretty marvellous. I often just seem to forget that I have this in my collection but as they're all standalone I guess it doesn't really matter how long I take! I think it's wonderful that Colin Baker got to write for the Sixth Doctor here and even though he's done it for Big Finish in the early Short Trips adventures, it seems more fitting that we got him as an author for a Target collectable. He writes his Doctor very well as you might expect and I liked the simplicity of the story considering the format and collection it was a part of. This adds a terrific little extension following the events of Mindwarp for the Doctor and acknowledging that the Matrix was altered and edited in what it would depict with the scenes for Terror of the Vervoids was also fantastic. I thought the little placement in the courtroom with the imagery of the Doctor, Inquisitor and Valeyard was great and the Doctor being led to where he could extract evidence for his defence was nicely done and a really simple and solid premise. It didn't need to be anything more and the whole story essentially being a conversation between the Doctor and Anosia was excellent. It worked very well and I enjoyed how Ansoia hadn't really encounter a nice Time Lord like the Doctor before. The compassion she was shown by the defendant meant that she would reveal more than she should to the Doctor and went as far as telling him that the whole trial was essentially rigged and the Valeyard was the culprit. At this point, it's wonderful for the Doctor not to know the truth of the prosecution's identity and I did think it was going to be told to him considering we had established that the Doctor wouldn't retain any memory once he exited back to the courtroom. The mystery of the keeper was a nice addition and I think my favourite element of the adventure was having the Doctor and Anosia discussing the concept of present futures. Her explanation to him considering past futures was really interesting and I honestly would love a book on something like temporal science in Doctor Who. I really do have an appetite for that after what I read here! And honestly I'm surprised it hasn't been done. The continuity in this one was really strong and I thoroughly enjoyed the throwbacks to Charley and the Doctor even wanting to use evidence of an adventure with Evelyn! That said story being The Marian Conspiracy was excellent and imagine how things might have changed during the course of the televised serial if we got visuals of that adventure. I just love that Baker is incorporating the wider continuity of his Doctor into his own story and it really does add a lot. It's a fine example of how foresight can work in Doctor Who and it's brilliant to jump around with the timeline and incorporate things that just hadn't happened yet in media at the time of broadcast. The way the story finished with the Valeyard having controlled events all along and almost having enlisted Anosia was terrific and a nice segway back into the events of The Trial of a Time Lord. Overall, a great little short story from the Sixth Doctor himself! 

Rating: 8/10