Damascus

"Half the country is asleep."

Writer: Joanthan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: August 2016

Series: Short Trips 6.08

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis

As the decade in English history which attracts the greatest quantity of alien invasions per annum, the 1970s are not the easiest time in which to steer the great British ship of state. The Prime Minister, nonetheless, is doing the very best job he can. Still, at least he has UNIT to rely on – their eccentric, bouffant-haired scientific adviser in particular. Or does he?

Verdict

Damascus was a good little Short Trips adventure for the Third Doctor! Well, I say the Doctor this was more an outing for the Prime Minister which was a very different take on the format but one I could definitely appreciate. I liked how the PM started off the story and his making a recording with the heaviest of hearts worked well, especially with how it shifted from the recording into the narration of the story. That was a really clever touch and made it feel more like a Companion Chronicle than a Short Trip. It always makes a different to have an actor like Tim Treloar, who actually plays the Third Doctor, as the actor in a format like this as when the Doctor is around the credibility and genuine feel is there in spades. Jason Sinclair was a fun character as the PM's secretary and his reaction to situation of a spacecraft being found off the Norfolk Coast was decent. I liked how there was no sign of the craft's owners invading or even communicating but the general public had now got in on the know and had seen and were even photographing it, with some reports making it to local radio. The PM asking of UNIT's cover up was good and I was amused by the suggestion that their delay in doing so was down to budget cuts. Always good to get that in there with a strong political figure present. The suggestion of them being reluctant to act after what occurred at the end of Doctor Who and the Silurians was interesting and showed they really were trying to make things up to the Doctor. He was refusing to help or even advise the Prime Minister so he got acquainted with Jo instead where he had a little more luck. She was almost apologetic and had a sense of admiration for meeting the country's leading politician, but when the Doctor finally did converse it was in a condescending manner that I would expect nothing less of from the third incarnation. The Milur being the occupants of the ship wasn't hard for the Doctor to deduce and they were just traders in military tech posing no threat. However, once a state of passivity came over England with a listlessness field, the Doctor was less confident as he saw Jason and Jo fall asleep right in front of the PM and himself. The mystery of the PM having a call answered by an alien but keeping the details to himself, despite the listener hearing some of them, was slightly odd but it tied back pretty well at the end with the lesson on teaching the PM when it comes to taking what didn't belong. I was intrigued that the PM seemed aware of the disassembly of a transmat and his liking the Doctor to a movie star addressing extras was a fine analogy. The Milur not actually being responsible for the field and them being present on the planet searching for the young girl who had the listlessness device was not a massively brilliant revelation in my opinion, but they wanted to buy the patent so at least they were sticking to their reputation. The Doctor's shift and demand that they leave and recall their agents or he'd incarcerate them according to UK law was a little weird, but it showed he possessed authority. The Damascus Project was a good revelation with the woman who answered the PM's call being from it. The Doctor was not happy to find the project had continued despite his recommendation otherwise, and I liked how things seemed to be set up for a future encounter as the PM stood firm on being able to overrule the Time Lord and actually believed him to be humanity's biggest threat! How you can finish there and then not come back to it is beyond me, but I liked it for what it was. Overall, a decent story! 

Rating: 7/10