Chemistry

"A girl's got to be prepared for anything these days."

Writer: Sophie Aldred

Format: Short Story

Released: September 2022

Printed in: Origin Stories 01

Featuring: Ace

Synopsis 

We all change, when you think about. We're all different people all through our lives...

Amy Pond looks for her Raggedy Man, Jo Grant remembers her childhood, the Master hunts the past... a young girl discovers a love for explosives.

Eleven incredible stories from the world of Doctor – the early lives of friends and foes that have never been told before.

Verdict 

Chemistry was a really good to start to my reading of the Origin Stories collection! This looks set to be a fascinating volume of adventures looking at the lives of familiar friends and foes before we first encountered them on screen or prior to meeting the Doctor. That’s a really fun idea and it’s lovely to be getting a glimpse into the early lives of some of our favourite characters! Starting things off with Ace is a strong way to begin and that’s taken further by the fact that Sophie Aldred herself wrote the book. Of course, she’s no stranger to writing for her character after penning At Childhood’s End a few years ago, and I really wasn’t expecting this one to be have her first meeting with the Thirteenth Doctor! That was a brilliant and unexpected twist as I’m all for more content with her incarnation. It was clear that Ace’s eccentric chemistry teacher was the Doctor from the outset when they mentioned knowing Guy Fawkes personally, but we didn’t know for sure which incarnation until close to the conclusion so that was good stuff. It worked well to not have Ace referred to by name until close to the end and the description of her distain for being called Dorothy by the headmaster was excellent. We do know just how much she dislikes that name! For obvious reasons, there aren’t going to be too many people who know the character of Ace better than our author here so it was lovely for Aldred to be able to give some background to Ace and just write for an even younger version of her than what we saw on screen. High school can be a difficult time for a lot of children and Ace would be no different. I liked that the story wasn’t shy in addressing some of those issues and also mentioning the potential issues of ‘that time of the month’ as it was put in the story. Tackling things like that feels very Ace and I was not at all surprised to find she was mostly disinterested in school. Except for chemistry. That was one lesson that fascinated her and obviously fitted in perfectly with her character here. It was lovely for Ace to enjoy the idea of two substances mixing to become something else and she instantly saw the potential there. The Thirteenth Doctor being her teacher was a nice touch and it was terrific that finally Ace saw someone she could trust. An adult she actually respected and wanted to talk to. Who else but the Doctor? Ace capturing a glimpse of the TARDIS on her usual route was good and her confusion when it was no longer there was great. That coincided with Axe’s disappointment in having a supply teacher for chemistry as the Doctor was obviously up to something! The fact that this adventure gives us the first instance of Ace creating nitro-9 is just wonderful and I think it’s pretty amusing that the Doctor would be there to help given all of the disapproving looks Ace would get for having some and using it! The Seventh Doctor wouldn’t know what his future self would be doing though. When Ace’s meeting with the headmaster turned south and she realised he wasn’t all that he seemed, I felt sure that the time winds conjured up were actually going to set in motion Ace’s destination for Dragonfire and beyond. I know that wouldn’t fully fit into the arc of Fenric, but it just felt right given the similarities of the elements. The headteacher turned out to be a Charvalian that wasn’t well fitted to a human disguise, especially with the paws containing claws! That was an amusing description. With the focus rightly on Ace, I quite enjoyed how quickly the Doctor dispatched of the Charvalian and Ace seemed dumbfounded by everything that happened all so quickly. This was her first meeting with the Doctor but she wouldn’t remember it. I must say I really do dislike when we have a story where memories are taken away and forcibly removed because it just feels like the reader, in this instance, is being robbed! It’s such a shame that Ace won’t remember this encounter with her future professor and whilst it wouldn’t fit into the arc we saw for Ace’s character playing out, surely there could be another way around it? It’s just a little frustrating but I understand it for story and continuity purposes. It just wasn’t time yet, but the Doctor’s comments about Ace and telling her to keep asking questions was tremendous. It was much different from this Doctor’s reaction to seeing Ace in The Power of the Doctor that’s for sure! As a whole though this was a really good read and a wonderful glimpse into the life and character of Ace before we met her on screen. Overall, a strong start to the collection! I look very forward to what’s to come next. 

Rating: 8/10