One Small Step...

"The story of the little boy who had been run over by a motor car."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs
Format: Short Story
Released: May 2004
Printed in: Short Trips: Past Tense 14

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe

Synopsis

The Second Doctor and his friends, Jamie and Zoe, are enjoying a much needed break on the beach at the Isle of Wight following strenuous encounters with Quarks, Dominators and Krotons. But there doesn't need to be an alien threat for the Doctor to change time.

Verdict

One Small Step... was a pretty decent little adventure to continue along the Past Tense collection of Short Trips. Big Finish really have stamped their feeling on this volume and I think that was clear with Nicholas Briggs being the writer. I liked the idea of a story that would go back to the time of the Moon landing in 1969 and this obviously pre-dates the broadcast of The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon so there would be no connections there. I always think stories that deal with events that later have such an impact in the Doctor Who universe is intriguing and I do enjoy the context that they are written in. This was just a few hours after the event had occurred on television and the young boy that we got to meet didn't seem overly impressed by the blurriness of what he saw on screen as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the Moon. I thought that was typical of what you might expect for a little boy as he wouldn't quite understand the scale of the event that he'd witnessed. He'd surely appreciate it a little more in his future once he'd grasped what had occurred. It was a monumental achievement for mankind and my Nan still refuses to believe that anything else comes close in the greatest achievements of humanity. I struggle to disagree with her. It didn't really have much to do with the story but that was surely because of how short it was. It really didn't have much room to play with at just six pages, but it told quite an emotional little story. The characterisation of the Second Doctor was really great and the moment where he looked over his shoulder and heard his companions having fun together and enjoying the beach was just wonderful. I really did like that. But that all went away when the Doctor encountered the little boy. I really didn't appreciate the lengthy conversation about cow faeces, even if the Doctor's stumped reaction was pretty comical, but when he told the little boy to go back home and ask his parents if he was allowed to be out and then the boy got run over on his way, the Doctor's hearts sunk. He was absolutely devastated and even though the child was not dead, he could see that his leg was badly broken and beyond repair which would mean that his life would never be the same. Now speaking from experience, this story resonated with me here because when I was 11 I got run over on the way home from school and I snapped my left femur clean in half with the bone coming out of my leg. The scar that was left and the 10 weeks it took to get me walking again were tough and it's hard to live sometimes. It destroys self confidence so if someone had the power the Doctor had here to changes events, I'd have been deeply grateful. Sadly, I had no such luck but this little boy got a second chance even if it would get the Doctor in trouble. Would this have contributed to his trial that would soon be coming in The War Games? Who knows. I'd have liked a little more on how the Doctor had changed events so that he was never there in the first place, but I liked the means he went to. Overall, a short but powerful little adventure.

Rating: 7/10