Stamp of Approval

"I'm thinking of starting a collection."

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner

Format: Short Story

Released: June 2006

Series: Doctor Who Files 02

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

After the Doctor decides to take up stamp collecting, Rose writes a letter to her mother from 1840 Bath to reflect on events and a mysterious encounter with an inky monster...

Verdict

Stamp of Approval was a decent little story as I continue my adventure through the Doctor Who Files short stories! It's nearly two decades too late, but it's better late than never and I feel like now is a good chance to tick these off the blog list before my little toddler menace gets too handsy with his pens! He loves to write and draw in nearly all of his books and these seem appealing to him with their target audience being aimed towards younger fans. He's not just a fan yet as I don't see him graduating from Bluey or Dino Ranch just yet, but maybe one day we'll get there and I can pass off the books for him to enjoy. The story itself was unique and I really liked that there was a unique format in having the entire story take the form of a letter. Rose writing to her mum was really nice and I would imagine it's something Jackie would really have appreciated, but sadly we didn't get to know any kind of response. That's fine though as the letter itself was more than enough and it was just pleasant for Rose to be writing. I thought it was a fun idea for the Doctor to want to start stamp collecting and whilst that feels like something I might expect more of the Fifth or Eleventh Doctors, it was not wholly out of character for the Tenth Doctor. Of course, having a time machine helps when it comes to being able to collect stamps and it definitely seems right that the place to begin is at the start with the very first stamp. The famous penny black! I echoed Rose's comments about even I had heard of that one without having any kind of knowledge about stamps, but I do know about their value and some of it can be pretty staggering! We didn't really delve into any kind of monetary values, but the mentions of printing errors being incredibly valuable was really good and was actually something I knew about thanks to an episode of The Blacklist in its final season. That one was focused on the Sicilian Error of Colour, but here I imagine the price of an alternate version of the very first stamp would be worth an incredible amount! And here Rose was sending one to Jackie through time. I thought the characterisation of Rose could have been a little better as whilst I do understand the target audience of the stories within these books, it did sound like Rose was much more immature than her age. I know she's young, but it did feel at times like a child was writing. With the Doctor Who File focusing on Rose, it's only natural that she is the star of the show in the story in her book. With Queen Victoria adorning the stamp, I liked how Rose compared her appearance to actually meeting her in Tooth and Claw, but that was forty years into the future so of course she would look different! I thought the concept behind the Hobothies was average and probably came a little late in the story to be honest, but it was fun for the link with the ink and the mess that would make! Rose actually dealt with the Hobothy rather quickly and in emphatic fashion with a kick that was a little too conveniently timed with the press of the stamp, but it saw the psychic link broken with a bang rather suddenly. I liked the message at the end with Rose pondering on the stamp collecting and maybe even getting started herself whilst also acknowledging that it was her who saved the day. Overall, a solid little read! 

Rating: 7/10