Rights

"The Farrashians are experimenting on their own foetuses."

Writer: Paul Grice

Format: Short Story

Released: March 1998

Printed in: Short Trips 12

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

From Neolithic Earth to the furthest reaches of the universe in the far future, Short Trips brings together established Doctor Who authors and first-time writers in a collection of stories exploring the ever-changing worlds of the Doctor and his friends.

Witness the last days of the siege of Masada with the First Doctor and meet the Fourth Doctor's extraordinary 'old flame'. An evil enemy makes life difficult for the Seventh and Third Doctors, and while the Fifth Doctor is under attack on a sinister ship shrouded in fog, the Second may soon be guilty of a grave error of judgement... The Sixth Doctor's hopes of a holiday are dashed when he discovers a pleasure planet is hiding a shocking secret, and the Eighth Doctor is caught up in a deadly drama played out during the construction of Stonehenge.

And, of course, that's just the beginning...

Verdict

Rights was a really strong short story to continue my way through the Short Trips anthology! As a collection, this is a really solid book especially considering that this is the first in what has become a rather extensive range across both prose and audio. The content of this particular story was a little disturbing at times and I think I felt that way even more so than I would have done three or four years ago since becoming a father. It really does bring a whole new perspective to life so anything that involves babies or young children can become difficult to read if the content or story sees them treated negatively. So the idea of a race experimenting on their own foetuses would qualify as making it an uncomfortable read. Sometimes though I think being uncomfortable is the sign of a good story and it's certainly one that had my attention right from the off. The author wasted no time in establishing the setting and the direction of the story which is absolutely the right move in this kind of format. At twenty-four pages, this was a decent length to flesh out enough of a story but with no dawdling around at the start the pace of this one was brilliant. I love the combination of the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane and the pair worked tremendously well here. I initially thought the story had started with Sarah Jane in a bad way but it turned out the woman the Doctor was talking to the clinician about wasn't actually her. It almost felt like the reader had joined the story halfway through an adventure but as things unfolded that didn't really turn out to be the case. Sarah was understandably horrified by the situation that had consumed the Farrashians as the females of the species were willingly giving up their babies for the good of the future of their own race. I couldn't believe they were volunteering! There was something hypocritical and ironic about the fact that babies had to be sacrificed to see the species continue, but when a sun starts leaking out deadly radiation it's rather difficult to defend against. I'm almost always a fan of natural threats in that regard as often times the Doctor would be helpless. He was certainly feeling the pressure here when challenged by Sarah Jane to fix it and he claimed he did have the means, but could he just do it? The comparisons to the starving population of South Africa seemed a little on the nose but it did show how seriously he was taking it. I did enjoy how Sarah said he was being everything he hated the Time Lords for in just observing, what about the supporting cast? He of course had a plan though. The concept of the Farrashians wanting to rehouse their minds into a better shell that could withstand the radiation of the sun was intriguing and honestly I thought we were going to be getting another Cyberman origin story at one point. This would have been right up their alley! I think if there was more time to explore in say a full novel, that would have been a logical and really strong direction. But it was still equally as disturbing to have people willingly give up their babies and then themselves and almost merge as one in a suit. It was unsustainable though and the Doctor's role in seeing the machine fail was subtle but very good. It saw the Leader killed in the overcharge and the tradition in the Farrashian race of their story being told in a casket sent to space was quite poetic if not a little strange. It didn't feel in keeping with what we learned about the species earlier in the story. Sarah trying to get the women to stand up for their rights in keeping their own children was admirable and I liked how her journalistic and just natural fighter instincts were kicking in and that's why she challenged the Doctor. He knew it wouldn't and couldn't work though. Overall, a great read! 

Rating: 8/10