Nothing O'Clock

"My whole world has been taken over by a mysterious voice. All the people are extinct. Rory's gone. And you're enjoying this."

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Format: Novella

Released: November 2014

Series: 12 Doctors, 12 Stories: 11

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis 

Thousands of years ago, the Kin were imprisoned for their crimes by the Time Lords. But the Kin were patient and deathless, and, when Gallifrey fell, they escaped. Now the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond are all that stands between the Kin and the fate of the universe. 

Verdict 

Nothing O'Clock was an absolutely brilliant novella as part of what has been a wonderful 12 Doctors, 12 Stories collection! In saying that though, we've finally got an adventure from the gem of a set that received full marks! So, you don't need to scroll down to see my rating as you can probably guess what it is! It was just superb and there's no secret that it's taken until the novella featuring my favourite incarnation of the Doctor, which was written by one of my favourite writers, to get a full marks story. Neil Gaiman really is magnificent! He penned one of my all time favourite stories in The Doctor's Wife and a series later he pretty much reinvented the Cybermen in Nightmare in Silver! I also loved his little minisode Rain Gods which saw a rarity of the Eleventh Doctor and River Song travelling alone. I'm delighted that he agreed to write one of what was originally a collection of Puffin eshorts for the fiftieth anniversary celebrations released monthly with each month number being represented by that incarnation of the Doctor. I would love for him in the future to take on a different incarnation of the Doctor than Matt Smith's but I'll have absolutely no complaints if he wants to stick with him. I just hope we get more from him because he's marvellous. I thought the story placement for this adventure was very intriguing with it being very early during the run of the Eleventh Doctor and Amy. We had a nice reference to The Eleventh Hour but that story, in terms of where this story is placed, was the only time the Doctor had met Rory. The pair would soon become quite acquainted with each other after The Vampires of Venice. This story though was excellent from start to finish! I was reading on the train back to Bath after watching my beloved Wales lose to Holland in Cardiff but despite football woes and a late read (starting at approximately 10.15pm), I couldn't put the book down. The pace was wonderful and I just loved the ridiculousness of the Kin going around in lousy masks buying pretty much every house around for ten times more than it was worth! That included hotels. The idea of the Kin is actually incredible and the way they abuse time travel, actually being one single entity all from different points in time is a frightening and dangerous concept! It's no wonder the Time Lords defeated them into a prison. But with Gallifrey fallen and just one Time Lord left who couldn't quite remember his childhood stories, the Kin returned to the Universe and were hell bent on buying Earth. The Doctor would have none of that though because it would mean the end of humanity. This story had a similar feel to the recently aired The Woman Who Lived in that it was so strange and weird that I just couldn't give anything other than full marks. I clearly love this style of writing! The brief thought of the War Doctor, prior to the airing of The Day of the Doctor, was an outstanding subtle inclusion. I really did like that. Amy was very good throughout and she did seem characterised as if it was early Series 5 which fitted in lovely with the story placement. The Browning family were very good but once the Doctor found out about what the Kin did Polly, they were doomed. The resolution was wonderful with the Doctor taking the Kin Amy to before the Big Bang, stranded on the wrong side of the microsecond that kickstarted the Universe. The Kin were gone and trapped forever. The Doctor had enjoyed this battle very much, and he could now relax knowing that he'd carried out the wish of his long dead (or are they?) Time Lords. 

Rating: 10/10