The Time Snatch

"One moment the desert was an empty waste, shimmering heat, and the next it was a screaming dustbowl."

Writer: Glenn Rix

Format: Short Story

Released: September 1976

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 1977

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah

Synopsis 

UNIT, along with the Doctor and Sarah Jane, travel to an American desert in search of Crystal Z. The Doctor discovers the crystal could cause a lot of trouble for Earth and must find it before all hell breaks loose...

Verdict 

The Time Snatch was an interesting story but overall it wasn't as great as it could have been. The idea was very good but sadly the execution was not. I do think that the basis for this story could easily be developed into a full feature-length story, whether that be on TV, audio or even a comic strip. Even though text stories in Doctor Who Annuals are considerably longer than the comic strips, for this idea the length was still restrictive. I was surprised that this story didn't at least get a rating of one mark higher than i awarded because I have enjoyed this Annual very much so far. The comic strips and text stories that I have previously blogged, spread sporadically over the last 550+ entries, haven't been disappointing so I was surprised with the drop in standard. The artwork could certainly be improved which seems to be a running theme in both Classic and revival era Doctor Who Annuals. What was supposed to be Sarah actually looked more like future companion Romana I! I'm not quite sure how that was managed. To me, the Annuals are important so more work should go into them than what actually does. I'm anticipating the 2016 Annual very much after reading in Doctor Who Magazine that it is the guys behind that wonderful monthly release that have worked on the release. I would argue that we haven't had a good one since the David Tennant era to be honest which makes me all the more envious of the Classic Annuals. I must thank the superb Scribd app for having this great piece in their huge library of collections. Finding a Classic Annual nowadays is extremely rare and although I've had some incredible finds, across all my bargain hunting travels I've only ever picked up the 1980 Annual. It's a prized possession of mine but is sadly somewhere in my attic, along with a mass of other Doctor Who stuff, as I prepare for moving out to university on Sunday! The blogs will stop everyday, there's no doubt about that, but I'm hopeful that I can squeeze in things here and there. This story never really got going despite hints that it would which was a shame. Sarah's characterisation was marvellous and I adored her reaction to the Doctor trying to wonder off without her - she was having none of that! The characterisation of the Fourth Doctor himself could have been better though in my opinion with Tom Baker not quite captured as I would have liked. I liked the idea of taking this TARDIS pairing back to UNIT as I don't think it was visited enough after Terror of the Zygons, which I recently watched. They should definitely have visited more often in my opinion, as much as the Third Doctor did following the lifting of his exile in The Three Doctors. The concept of the Crystal Z was good but I was surprised by how late in the story that actually played a part. The fact the crystal was just left for the Doctor and Sarah to use and reverse the journey was really pour. Dr Bhoul though was quite a good character which was nice to see. Overall though, too much back background which you just can't afford to do in a story as restrictive in length as this. Some positives for sure, but it could have been a lot better which was a shame. 

Rating: 6/10