A Midsummer's Nightmare

"No stars to be seen, and not the faintest trace ."

Writer: Unknown

Format: Short Story

Released: September 1980

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 1981

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis

The Doctor, Romana and K9 set sights on the Norwegian everlasting sunlight, but the TARDIS has slightly other ideas...

Verdict

A Midsummer's Nightmare was a good little short story to continue my reading through the 1981 Doctor Who Annual! These kind of adventures are always unique and this one was certainly no different. I’m a big fan of the format in having the illustrations accompanying the text that makes up the story, but I must say that the layout for this particular adventure was a little clunky. There was more than one instance of the illustration and the text blending and becoming jumbled which didn’t go down too well with the use of colours. It was only a few lines here or there though so it wasn’t the biggest issue in the world, but it is just something I think can be easily rectified with a little more attention to detail. That’s the case for most of these Doctor Who Annuals though! I thought the illustrations themselves were decent and painted a good enough picture of what was happening, even if I do feel that in general with these stories the imagery depicted could be a little more focused on what’s happening instead of the Doctor and K9. It’s clear the likeness of Lalla Ward is not something that was licensed in terms of the use of Romana II as the companion for these stories, but thankfully the generic blonde that appeared in the drawings here wasn’t a million miles away from being recognisably as the Time Lady companion. It was certainly an improvement on some of the stories I’ve already blogged from this particular Annual. I thought the atmosphere of this adventure was good and definitely felt creepy which was great. The story felt contained and quite intimate which was a good achievement considering it was set outdoors and not exactly the intended setting of Norway and the eternal sunshine in the night. I’ve actually visited Oslo earlier this year and I was impressed with the city but unfortunately it was only a fleeting day trip on a layover so I never got to experience what it’s like in the Nordic night. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be constantly bright! I think that would really mess with my head so I enjoyed the aim of the Doctor in seeing that. Romana didn’t have much knowledge of it which was intriguing. I think Romana was presented as being a little less intelligent or lacking in knowledge than we saw on screen, but it wasn’t massively noticeable. I thought the humour with K9 was great too when it came to the lion references. K9 growling was tremendous! But of course the Doctor wanted him to know that lions roared. Good fun. The aliens that were unnamed, which in of itself is a shame as I find it more difficult to relate to them or take them seriously as a threat, but their intentions of taking the Doctor’s body as a younger one was flawed with his age as a Time Lord. I do find humour in the inconsistencies of the Doctor’s age with him being stated here as over five hundred. That seems apt but there are plenty of contradictions! The way the aliens were defeated was a bit quick and easy with K9 shooting down the roof on them, but the breaking of the spell and Sven having his family freed tied things up pretty nearly. He was a decent character despite the incredibly stereotypical Nordic name, and the image of him being featureless with those gaping eyes was very scary! Overall, a more than decent adventure. 

Rating: 7/10