Blind Fury

"You wanted to know what Gallifreyan fairytales were like, Pond, well, here you go! This is the one I told you about when we visited Vincent van Gogh!"

Writer: Justin Richards 

Format: Short Story

Released: September 2010

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 2011

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis 

The Doctor sights to Amy an old Gallifreyan fairytale of how the people of Slothe set out to evade death.

Verdict 

Blind Fury was an excellent little short story to feature in this Annual, one of which must rank highly in regards to being the best as it's also where The Grey Hole is printed! That's a story I thought was really excellent for an Annual comic strip (I'm sure you're aware of my thoughts and criticisms towards Annual story styles and lengths) and I'm glad that this short story continued the high quality of adventure for this particular Annual. Let's hope Secret of Arkatron lives up to the standard already set when I get around to reading that one! But back to the story at hand and I loved the idea of us being told a Gallifreyan fairytale. The Annual is actually the perfect place for that and I loved the theme and design of the pages. It was very reminiscent of Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday which was good and I also enjoyed how this was the Doctor telling Amy of the fairytale in great detail after its mention in Vincent and the Doctor. The setting in Gallifreyan history was extremely early as Rassilon was still in his youth. Had the Time Lords, as we know them now, even been founded yet? It didn't seem so as the people of Sloathe were being hunted down by Death's Messenger. I love the idea of death being personified and he actually makes an appearance here! He sends his messenger to the village of the bone idol and on two out of three occasions he gets his way causing death and despair wherever he walked. But now these people who were extremely lazy planned on fighting back. They'd heard of the prophecy that the sons of Gallifrey were meant to find a way to escape death (of course, later they would in the form of regeneration) and temporarily it seemed that Presus had achieved that milestone. He'd fought the messenger for three days and three nights continuously with no rest, sleep nor food and drink. How believable that is may be up for debate but seeing as it's a fairytale I'm willing to let it slide. I like how the depiction of Presus killing the messenger is celebrated in folklore. Death was evaded. The laziest Gallifreyans had defeated the messenger of Death. Not too shabby I must say! I must say I really liked how past descriptions of Gallifrey were adhered to here with reference to the silver leaves and the continent of Wild Endeavour. I think it's important that descriptions from the past are continued (even if things don't quite match up with The Invasion of Time!). Overall, a lovely little fairytale and for once the length was pretty much perfect. Fairytales don't need to be massively long which was nice to see here. A lovely story!

Rating: 8/10