He's Behind You

"How can anyone hate panto?"

Writer: Dave Sudden

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2020

Printed in: The Wintertime Paradox 01

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis 

Did you Davros and the Doctor met for three Christmases, on different planets, across time and space? Have you heard the one about the time the Plasmavores came to pay a festive visit? Or when Madame Vastra fought a cyborg?

The perfect collection of the bleakest – and sometimes brightest – time of the year, these are the tales to get you halfway out of the dark...

Verdict

He's Behind You was an excellent short story to kick off my reading of The Wintertime Paradox! I never really know what to expect from short stories but these forty pages absolutely flew by which is obviously a great sign! I loved how it was established very early on that this featured the Tenth Doctor and Rose, and we weren’t far removed from The Christmas Invasion in the slightest. I liked that placement as there definitely is a decent gap there to fill before New Earth as even the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips went there so I like the uniqueness of that placement. Rose was still getting used to the Doctor’s regeneration which was brilliant to explore and I loved the suggestion that she might feel guilty for her old Doctor to have to sacrifice himself and become this new version. A version that didn’t seem so war torn or battle heavy, generally just a more relaxed figure. Rose was keen to point out though that he could still turn dark and just reacted differently to the memories of home and his people. Given the placement, I wasn’t expecting a story featuring Rose to focus so heavily on the Time Lords. On screen, Gallifrey wasn’t actually named until she was lost in a parallel universe so exploring some Time Lord mythology and history here was brilliant. I was intrigued by the fact the Doctor wanted to actually witness ‘The Saga of the Time Lords’ play because he wanted to be lied to. He knew that they’d get details wrong and that was all part of the charm. Rose’s reaction to the Time Lord collars was hilarious as she assumed that couldn’t possibly be accurate, but the Doctor was keen to move on from that conversation! Betomax was a fun character and she really did revel in her celebrity status from the theatre! I liked the discussions between the Doctor and Rose about theatre and pantomime in particular. I am far from being a fan of pantomime but the story of Rose’s childhood where she froze on stage during a performance was pretty sad. It was nice that the Doctor was genuinely sorry about that. The relationship between Rose and the TARDIS was fun to explore as the former was actually apologising to the console when the Doctor harmlessly asked her to keep a quick eye temporarily. They really have gone through a lot! The return of the Autons was an unexpected treat, especially after the clever red herring of the Daleks featuring! They turned out to be mere props but Rose was still taken aback by the fact she was surrounded by hundreds of them. The Auton return was terrific and I really loved the idea of them pretending to be characters in the pantomime for so long that it actually became part of their programming. Their hunt for Time Lords and survivors of the Time War was brilliant. It worked well and whilst the Nestene featuring would have topped it off, I loved the explanation for their presence and what they were up to. Rose obviously has history with the Autons so it is really cool to know that one of her earliest adventures with the Tenth Doctor was also with the plastic foes! Rose being confused with the Doctor as a Time Lord due to some psychic paper shenanigans was great but when things got serious she was keen to point out that she wasn’t actually a Time Lord! I liked the play on famously unfinished as part of the pantomimes and having Rose actually conclude the story and get her big moment on stage after the Doctor provided the words she needed to say to solve everything was tremendous. It was a fitting to a fine opener in this collection! The After section has me wondering if there will be an overlapping arc throughout the book, or if it was just a play on the fact that Gallifrey did survive but the Doctor just doesn’t know yet. Either way, a brilliant adventure!  

Rating: 9/10