Neptune

"Fear was high, but so was love."

Writer: Richard Dinnick
Format: Short Story
Released: October 2005
Printed in: Short Trips: The Solar System 08

Featuring: Third Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive on Neptune, a colony known by a different name to the current inhabitants of the Siccati. It is a very special time as the planet becomes concurrent with Sedna, the tenth planet in the Solar System, and the battle between the Siccati and Vermillons gets serious.

Verdict

Neptune was a somewhat decent continuation of The Solar System edition of Short Trips stories from Big Finish. I still find it a little weird discussing Big Finish in terms of prose stories but I still maintain that the idea behind this collection is excellent, even if the quality has not always been to my liking. Sadly, this was not one of my favourites of the book thus far and I was quite disappointed as the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane were a partnership I was very excited about reading together. It's a shame they only had one season together on television but through releases like this one we are able to get brand new adventures with them here. The characterisation of both characters was actually really good and whilst I thought their relationship could have been better captured on the page, it was still nice to have a feeling of familiarity there. One thing I wasn't a fan of was the use of Neptune. It didn't make much sense to me and even though it may have been obvious, the reveal that Cerulean was actually Neptune came far too late and didn't really have any impact at all. It wasn't exactly Skaro or Mondas, was it? I just didn't understand that. Even when it was revealed, the Doctor didn't make much out of it and had even commented on the atmosphere being similar to that of Neptune earlier on in the story. Throughout I just had myself questioning why there was an absence of the planet that was the titular name of the story! It wasn't the right direction in my opinion and somewhat effected my reading of the story which is never good. I thought Pug was actually a pretty good character but I wasn't a fan of the whole naming like 'Pug<ism' at all. I just don't understand unnecessary things like that and why the Doctor became Thedoct at times completely baffled me and needed a lot more clarity. The battle between the Siccati and the Vermillons was intriguing and I really liked how ruthless the latter was in puncturing a hole in the atmospheric shield and ensuring that a number of the former actually suffocated and died in horrific circumstances. It was presented horrifically and that sold just how bad things were during this war. However, not a great deal more was made of it which wasn't what I hoped for! We needed a bit more action rather than tension and whilst it wasn't at all bad, there was definitely room for improvement. The ending of the story with the Doctor just packing up and leaving seemed like it was going to be very shocking. Sarah Jane was momentarily outraged when she was told they would be going and she couldn't help the Siccati. However, the use of the time ram and the impending arrival of a TARDIS echoing the Doctor's own, as well as the links with Sedna, should mean that this has connections with the final story in this collection. It shouldn't be long before I find out. Sarah Jane knew that he'd be there to help one day in his life, past or future, and that was good enough for me. Overall, a pretty decent adventure in parts but there were improvements to be made.

Rating: 6/10