The Sleeping Beast

"It wasn't every week that a whole planet just upped and left for a new galaxy."

Writer: Unknown

Format: Short Story

Released: September 1977

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 1978

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah 

Synopsis 

The Fourth Doctor takes Sarah Jane Smith to visit Shree, an old friend of his from two bodies past. However, upon arrival they are taken captive and the Doctor's old friend is quite changed...

Verdict 

The Sleeping Beast was a pretty decent little short story but I think it could have been better. That's usually the case with a Doctor Who Annual story and I must admit that I am surprised with myself in how long it's been since I've blogged one. As I started to pack ready for my return to university this weekend, I found this little gem in my collection at the bottom of a drawer and I can honestly say that I forgot I had it! I've read and blogged the two comic strip adventures from it earlier this year but with the summer being busy and back at home, I put this copy away and almost forgot all about. I can safely say that this will be coming back with me when I move across the border in a couple of days and when I need something quick to blog, I'll be reading the remaining stories from this Annual. I thought this story started a little bit slowly and just seemed to give us information on Shree and the Guerners which whilst good, didn't really contribute much at all to the plot. The fact that it was the Second Doctor who had previously met Shree peaked my interest and although I have severe doubts, I'd love it if that encounter was depicted in a Doctor Who Annual of the late 1960s that features Patrick Troughton's incarnation. Those Annuals are a little more difficult to come by and whilst they're available often enough on eBay, they can be extremely expensive. I'm sure I'll collect them in the future but it will be after I have finished university when money isn't such a worry for me. I must admit that the artwork that accompanied the story wasn't that great and as in the two comic strip stories also printed in this Annual, the drawings of Sarah in particular were pretty horrendous. Her likeness was barely captured and I can only recall her having two lines of dialogue in the whole story which was quite a surprise. I know it's short but even at five pages I would expect Sarah to speak more than twice. Her presence really didn't seem necessary which isn't what you want out of a companion. The characterisation of the Fourth Doctor was pretty good though and there definitely seemed to be much more of an effort gone into presenting Tom Baker's likeness. I liked how he recalled his previous meeting with Shree and I loved how the Doctor's two regenerations since then were mentioned. You don't often get that in a Classic era story so I enjoyed that. The Sto-cat was an interesting enemy, well if he was an enemy at all, as I liked how it was activated a lot earlier than was intended. It was good that we got a drawing of it to help with the visuals of the story and that's one thing I do enjoy about these short text stories. Visuals accompanying a story is definitely a good thing. The Doctor saving the day simply by words was very good but things seemed a bit too easy. The story was pretty decent but I feel like there was more danger needed and a bit more excitement to get a higher rating. Sarah also having more of an involvement would have been good. Overall though, not bad but certainly room for improvement.

Rating: 6/10