The Nameless City

"This is the place where myths go to die."

Writer: Michael Scott 

Format: Novella

Released: November 2014

Series: 12 Doctors, 12 Stories: 02

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie

Synopsis 

When Jamie brings the Doctor a mysterious book, little does he realise the danger contained within its pages. The book transports the TARDIS to a terrifying glass city on a distant world, where the Archons are intent on getting revenge on the Time Lord for an ancient grudge. 

Verdict 

The Nameless City was a brilliant novella (I think that's the correct term!) to continue along the reading of 12 Doctors, 12 Stories (and if you're lucky enough like me you also got the 12 postcards edition!). The collection started off fantastically well in A Big Hand for the Doctor and this story was certainly on the same standard. I really liked the author's style and I loved the start where the identity of Jamie wasn't stated, though from the description it was pretty easy to work out. Still, there was that sense of doubt without the initial confirmation and that's something I liked. But perhaps not as much as the identity of the villain and main enemy of the entire story never being named, even though we can work out exactly who it was that set up the chain of events resulting in the Doctor and Jamie's visit to the Nameless City. I loved how in it being a nameless city, that's exactly what it came to be called. In being nameless it became its own name. A little brain teaser there! The idea of the Master hiding behind his professor alias was terrific and the way Jamie was lured into 'helping' him from the staged robbery was superb. I liked the twist of the professor paying the person who robbed him! Jamie had been sold, and to be fair it's not that difficult to fool the young Scotsman. His 'reward' for helping the professor was great as once the Doctor was given it and began to translate it, things started to get very bad. A TARDIS flight lasting way over eight hours soon followed as the Doctor spoke the word Necronomicon, naming the book and setting the broken TARDIS in motion. With much of early Time Lord history shrouded in mystery, could the Archons possibly have been the ones to create TARDIS technology? Their certainly appeared to be some validity in their statement as the very liquids the Doctor needed to give the TARDIS the equivalent of a blood fusion were stored in lakes outside the Archons' glass city. I loved the prologue where we learned about these mysterious beings and how they ruled the time before time. It's quite incomprehensible yet understandable at the same time. I liked how this was the only part of the novella to feature a mention of the Master but that was just in casual way when referencing them being there before the Doctor, Rassilon and the Time Lords. But a powerful war with the Time Lords had left them pretty much wipes out and deserted at the edge of the universe. The idea of a TARDIS flight taking as long as it did helped enhance the scale of just how far from from the Doctor and Jamie would be. The reference to the Doctor being called Gallifreyan seems out of place with this being the second incarnation though I'm not sure why. I guess because it's set prior to the Time Lords' debut in The War Games. In regards to story placement, I'm assuming this story is set between The Faceless Ones and The Evil of the Daleks seeing as the Doctor and Jamie were travelling alone. This only occurred briefly on screen between the two aforementioned stories. The mention of Polly's reference to the Doctor looking like an unmade bed was tremendously good. I liked how the Doctor's regeneration in The Tenth Planet was also mentioned. A lot being made of the Doctor not being human from Jamie was an intriguing take within the story and the mystery surrounding his age was also brought up on more than one occasion which is rather unique, especially for this incarnation. Upon arrival at the Nameless City, I really liked how the description of the buildings was simply wrong. It hurt to look at it due to the Archons not fully living in this dimension. The way the Doctor was able to repair the TARDIS was quite comical but I didn't quite buy how easily he escaped the Archons into the TARDIS. The use of the sonic screwdriver was welcomed and I loved how Jamie playing the bagpipes helped defeat the ancient rulers of time! The Doctor had thwarted that member of his own race with the goatee who hated him so much. Now, who could that be?

Rating: 9/10