From Here to Eternity

"I was an exile who'd been invited back home."

Writer: Stephen Cole

Format: Short Story

Released: July 2024

Series: I, TARDIS: Memoirs of an Impossible Blue Box 04

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry, Leela, Romana I, Romana II, K9, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

The Doctor has a unique bond with their TARDIS. They've always loved the 'old girl' for the way she's gone looking for trouble anywhere in the universe. The Doctor says they stole the TARDIS from Gallifrey. The TARDIS disagrees... she stole them. She hasn't always taken them where they want to go, but she's made sure to take them where they needed to be.

For the TARDIS is dar more than just a time machine crossed with a spaceship. Her life reflects the Doctor's life – a shared wanderlust and longing to explore. Now you can revisit the Doctor's adventures as seen through the eyes – or the flashing rooftop light, at least – of the TARDIS. From the time the Doctor stole her from Gallifrey to her latest adventures with the Fifteenth Doctor, the TARDIS reflects wittily on her epic, incredible history – past, present and future! 

Verdict

From Here to Eternity was not the greatest lot short stories to continue my way through the I, TARDIS: Memoirs of an Impossible Blue Box collection. I was a little worried going into this one that it wouldn't be great given how big the era of the Fourth Doctor is spanning seven seasons, and unfortunately I was proven right as everything just felt incredibly rushed. The main body of text didn't really offer much at all and even the sections recalling the events surrounding the Key to Time just were not intriguing. I would have loved much more discussion on the use of the Randomiser and the White Guardian's interference. This was all described adequately and a fine account of what happened for the most part during the Fourth Doctor's televised time aboard the TARDIS, but with this being a collection of stories from the perspective of the TARDIS itself I would have liked so much more discussion on what that did to the time and space machine. This was such a far cry from Strict Machine where the emotions of the TARDIS being exiled along with the Doctor were explored as her pilot lost sense of how to fly her. With the whole universe well and truly up for grabs here it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity. I thought the highlighting of The Deadly Assassin was positive in the TARDIS being allowed to freely return home, but for her as mentioned it wasn't really that big of a deal was it? She'd been under the flight of the Time Lords on numerous occasions. I thought including the School Reunion revelation of the Doctor actually having left Sarah Jane in Aberdeen rather than Croydon was quite amusing and a nice touch, as was the talk of Tegan returning later in The Power of the Doctor to help take on the Master's latest plan. The TARDIS being aghast at being put in a little known museum on her return to Gallifrey was pretty good, but the rest of the Journey Log was honestly quite painful. It was so rushed and just a mad dash around numerous Fourth Doctor serials without (mostly) saying a lot. I mean, what was the point of an entry for London, Earth depicting the events of The Talons of Weng-Chiang by just saying 'I spend some time by the Thames in the late Victorian era'. You couldn't be any more bland or boring! That tells absolutely nothing of one of the all time classic adventures. The miner inconvenience line for Kaldor depicting The Robots of Death is quite clever though, but again this really didn't tell me much at all about what the TARDIS went through with this Doctor at the helm. I thought it was good to touch upon the venture into E-Space starting with Full Circle, but for me it didn't go far enough. This was just all description but I want more details from the actual perspective of the TARDIS. That is the point of the book after all! I did find some humour in Romana being dubbed as 'Fred' in the Stray Memories section and with the use of the time ring in Season 11 it's a stark reminder of just how little 'Navy Man' Harry actually does travel in the TARDIS. The humour that came from 'Tin Dog' K9 was probably the highlight of the story as the pair never famously got on brilliantly or without a bit of banter, and it was nice for the TARDIS to acknowledge the events of Journey's End and the role K9 played in saving the planet there. Mouth on Legs is also the most fitting companion nickname we've seen for any so far. That perfectly encapsulates Tegan! It's a shame she isn't included in the Fifth Doctor section though. That's where she and Nyssa belong. Overall, a fine account of the Fourth Doctor era but it was just so rushed to include as much as possible that it actually didn't say a lot at all. Far too descriptive for my liking.

Rating: 5/10