"When the Doctor's body wore thin, I helped him to renew himself."
Writer: Stephen Cole
Format: Short Story
Released: July 2024
Series: I, TARDIS: Memoirs of an Impossible Blue Box 02
Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria, Zoe
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
Time After Time was a somewhat average continuation of the I, TARDIS: Memoirs of an Impossible Blue Box collection. I remember being worried in my blogging of The Answer's at the End as the book's opening story that I was worried for the direction of the stories moving forward and I think they were justified after reading this adventure. I say adventure, I'm not entirely sure if these would actually constitute bloggable entries but now I've started I feel like it is too late to go back. I just don't feel like I am really getting anything new with things being from the perspective of the TARDIS and it's basically just a recap of in this case the adventures of the Second Doctor. I don't really find the nicknames of the companions all that amusing and I think referring to Jamie as 'Kilt Boy' and Victoria as the 'Screamer' are awfully harsh and don't really do justice for the contributions they made whilst travelling in the TARDIS. I do like that the TARDIS recognised that Jamie stayed travelling with the Doctor for a long time and if it wasn't for the Time Lords during the events of The War Games then he might have stayed forever. Touching upon the Second Doctor's finale was strong and it was fun to hear the TARDIS recall trying to evade capture from the Time Lords even if it was useless. They were always going to find the Doctor once he had called them in. I must say, given that this was focusing on the Second Doctor in the TARDIS it didn't much feel like he was the focus of the recollection. Perhaps I have misinterpreted the meaning of the book, but all of the photos were from this era! I think the design of the book is gorgeous and that continued here as I do think the images add something to the recollection, but perhaps more of them could actually be inside the TARDIS? I think this segment missed a trick in not delving deeper into the TARDIS's experience of the events of The Mind Robber in the Land of Fiction. That was a big missed opportunity. I did though enjoy the discussion on the HADS in some fun The Krotons memories. That was a good use of a TARDIS component. My favourite aspect of the story was the insinuation that the continued arrivals on Earth and predominantly being in the 20th century was out of habit from trying to get Ian and Barbara home. That was lovely and I really like that as an explanation of why it would keep happening with future incarnations. There's something really poignant about that and trying to give some sort of in-universe rationale for the frequency of visits is all good in my book! I wasn't a fan of the journey log section in this story because it really did seem to be a mad dash across the Second Doctor's era. There was barely a line on classics such as The Power of the Daleks and The Abominable Snowmen. I also thought the mocking of the claw cliffhanger leading into The Macra Terror was just a bit silly and for an incredible space and time machine like the TARDIS, she didn't half feel juvenile! I know we saw her be a bit whacky in The Doctor's Wife but there's a difference between that and just sounding immature. Just look at the Eleventh Doctor. This perspective of the TARDIS felt slightly off, but the rating comes from the bulk of the Ian and Barbara explanation and the accompanying imagery looking wonderful.
Rating: 6/10