Once Upon a Time

"Oh yes, they're the things that stand on their back legs and go on about global warming and football."

Writer: Justin Richards 

Format: Short Story

Released: September 2008

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 2009

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Donna joke in the TARDIS about the former's ability to quickly read books. But when the story Variations changes every time the pair read it, the author has some questions to answer.

Verdict 

Once Upon a Time was a quite brilliant short story! Watch this space, but with the eclipse coming I fear that something sinister has arrived sooner as this is the third Annual story in a row I have quite highly praised and the ratings keep getting higher! Dare I say the next one will get full marks? That hasn't happened since The Time Sickness which I read some time ago now. We'll have to see what Most Beautiful Music has to offer but I do hope this unprecedented little run continues. Amy's Escapade and Rory's Adventure were great as they intertwined together but this was different altogether. We just had a masterpiece in short story writing from the brilliant Justin Richards. Six pages is a very good length for mini prose and I must say I was impressed from the off. The characterisation of the Tenth Doctor was captured effortlessly and even if I felt Donna's was slightly off, I liked the banter they had in the TARDIS. I would argue this is the first time that a television TARDIS team hasn't had the thought of romance since the Seventh Doctor era so Donna as companion really was a breath of fresh air. The Doctor reading the short story collection in seven seconds was humorous but it's not the first time he's demonstrated that frighteningly enviable ability. Think how many Doctor Who books I could blog if I could read them all in seven seconds! I struggle to find time for novels so that really would be of great help. The humour surrounding unicorns was good and it's almost expected now that any mythical creature mentioned the Doctor will claim to have met and on this occasion spoken to! That's where my opening quite comes from. I can just imagine the Doctor having a conversation with a unicorn. The events of Time Crash must still be fresh in the Doctor's mind as I liked the reference to cricket, the favoured sport of the Fifth Doctor. The idea of a book changing every time it's read is incredibly good. The name of Variations was so simple yet excellently effective. David Banderson as the author was being subjected to a computer menace like never before! I thought it was wonderful how the creature existed in the words of the page. But the Doctor was going to put an end to that. He quickly finished the story and then literally deleted the creature from existence. It seemed a tad sudden but it was splendidly logical which I like in a resolution. That's something that can be missing from these Annual stories so it was nice to see here. Donna and David getting along nicely once he'd come around was nice but I loved the Harrow insight at the end with the Doctor saying that once upon a time, there was always a happy ending. Forecasting Journeys End perhaps? Overall, superb with just a couple of minor flaws that really aren't noticeable. 

Rating: 9/10