Grounded

"The nuttiest of the nutters."

Writer: Una McCormack 

Format: Short Story

Released: November 2019

Printed in: The Target Storybook 11

Featuring: Clive Finch

Synopsis

"We're all stories in the end..."

In this exciting collection you'll find all-new stories spinning off from some of your favourite Doctor Who moments across the history of the series.

Discover what happened next, what went on before, and what occurred off-screen in an inventive selection of sequels, side-trips, foreshadowings and first-hand accounts – and look forward too, with a brand new adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor.

Each story expands in thrilling ways upon aspects of Doctor Who's enduring legend. With contributions from show luminaries past and present – including Colin Baker, Matthew Waterhouse, Vinay Patel, Joy Wilkinson and Terrance Dicks – The Target Storybook is a once-in-a-lifetime tour around the wonders of the Whoniverse.

Verdict

Grounded was a fun little adventure to continue along my reading of The Target Storybook! I feel like I'm in the home stretch now when it comes to this whacky little collection of stories and we firmly entered the modern era of Doctor Who with this particular contribution that was an intriguing use of the Ninth Doctor era. I'll be honest, I would have definitely preferred a new adventure with the Ninth Doctor and Rose purely on the basis that there just aren't enough stories out there for Christopher Eccleston's incarnation, but that doesn't mean to say that we got wasn't good! Because it really was and I think this could have been added in the collection alongside an outing for the Ninth Doctor. With the way this story ended with Mr Palmer using his own device to wipe the memory of Clive Finch of what had happened with saving the alien and reuniting it with its people, I was almost half expecting him to reveal himself as the Doctor! Of course, the illustration that accompanies the start of this adventure should have eradicated those thoughts from my head before they even got there. It's quite strange to think how much of a renowned character Clive Finch has become after what was only a pretty brief appearance in Rose. He's grown in stature thanks to the likes of the Rose novelisation and his appearance in The Dimension Canon series and I get the feeling that there is still more to come from him. His fascination with the Doctor is brilliant and I would love for him to one day meet the Doctor, whichever incarnation that may be. I'd just love to see his reaction. He dealt well here with encountering the alien and I think it is a little shame that he will have no memory of helping Mr Palmer. His son Ben was actually the focal character of the story which was interesting and I loved how well McCormack was able to capture childhood in her writing. It was really impressive and as someone who definitely got into their fair share of trouble as a child thanks to a football, I could relate a lot to what I was reading and it gave me a bit of a nostalgia kick to be honest. I really liked it. Getting pally with dad to not quite be severely grounded was fun and with myself having a baby boy on the way, I do wonder if I'll follow suit! It wouldn't at all surprise me if that happens, especially if any evidence as a cat dad is to go by! Ben clearly got on well with his dad Clive which was nice to read and even though he thought his focus on aliens and the Doctor in his shed was a bit over the top, he still admired him and saw him as a grown up which I liked. The alien presence at the heart of the story was something simple which was just as well given that Clive was our familiar character and it was simple case of reuniting a lost alien with the rest of its ship and species. Mr Palmer was a right nutter and I liked the clarity surrounding that, but he served as a much needed point of intelligence to accompany Clive. All three of them promising not to blurt out a word to mum about not adhering to the grounding was very good and as a whole, I thought this was just a nice, solid and simple little tale. Overall, a good read!

Rating: 8/10