Mortlake

"A person can be removed from time."

Writer: Mark Wright

Format: Short Story

Released: May 2004

Printed in: Short Trips: Past Tense 10

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn

Synopsis

The Sixth Doctor takes Evelyn to Mortlake in 1568. Here he plans on finally meeting famous scientist John Dee, though Evelyn can't quite figure out what is so great about him. The Doctor is outraged considering she's a historian of this period, so truly who is he?

Verdict

Mortlake was a somewhat average continuation of the Past Tense edition of the Short Trips prose from Big Finish. It was only the second dip thus far and whilst it wasn't bad at all, there just wasn't enough going on that excited me. It was decent enough but didn't quite have that oomph factor. I felt like I was waiting for a lot to happen and when it did, it was far from spectacular in my eyes. I did enjoy the relationship between the Doctor and Evelyn, as I usually do with this pairing, and seeing the softer side of the Sixth Doctor is always wonderful. His characterisation was really good and when Evelyn didn't know who John Dee was despite her studying of the period, he was almost in disbelief! I thought that was quite humorous but I did feel a little sorry for Evelyn. Even as I am currently coming to the end of my Masters Degree in History, whenever someone finds out what I am studying they seem to expect me to know everything that has ever happened! It's a lot more selective than that and the skills of a historian lie in the research and analysis rather than the historical knowledge itself. So I had empathised with her a lot here. Her deducing of where and when they had arrived was good and it was quickly established that they were by the Thames and it was 1568. A decent enough setting and one that would certainly interest me, even if the location was lacking in originality. I really don't see the fuss about London, especially in stories such as this one. Do some exploring! Anyway, the Doctor finally meeting John Dee was a nice moment and it was quite weird to see him meeting someone he considered iconic. I must admit that my knowledge on the man was severely lacking, but I had heard of him so that was something and I found it very interesting that he came up with the maths concerning the Gregorian calendar. So Doctor Who short stories can be educational! That was a nice touch and just a pleasing moment from a personal perspective. Evelyn exploring the collection of books on display was nice but the focus being on 'The Steganographia' seemed to come from out of nowhere. It housing the words that made a sequence for communication on a mass and intergalactic scale was somewhat interesting, but far from excitement. I'm not sure why but I just wasn't quite invested in the story which was a shame. Padiel arriving as the message carrier of sorts was okay and I liked that he had a history with the Doctor as that brought some comic value. Evelyn being disturbed that she and the Doctor had to deny John Dee's knowledge that he was right about the book was a big shame and I thought the ending was a nice touch with the Doctor showing Evelyn that she would actually go on to write his biography. So much for not knowing him! She soon would know absolutely everything about him and would show that he required more historical attention. A very nice touch to end on, but the story wasn't quite there for me in terms of excitement.

Rating: 6/10