The Red Bicycle

"Life is full of risks."

Writer: Gary Russell
Format: Short Story
Released: October 2016
Printed in: Twelve Doctors of Christmas 09

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor is on a mission to explain that Time cannot be meddled with here, there and everywhere. She believes otherwise, but it's time for the Doctor to put Gallifreyan principles to the test. It involves Christmas 1998 and providing Rose with the red bicycle she always wanted but never got.

Verdict

The Red Bicycle was another good continuation of the Twelve Doctors of Christmas collection of stories. This was the first one that took us into the modern era of Doctor Who and I was quite pleasantly surprised that this was, apart from one little cameo appearance in the form of a flashback at the start, a solo outing for the Ninth Doctor. They're obviously an extreme rarity given how the television series went for this incarnation so I quite liked the little change. His admiration for Jackie for the way she managed to bring up Rose in the Powell Estate, an area of London he didn't think was very appetising at all, was really wonderful and a touching moment given how this incarnation of the Doctor wouldn't be so easy to give credit. Of course, he probably never mentioned it to her but it was nice to know that he at least thought it. I liked the idea of Rose going back in time to change a little part of Jackie's past and ensuring that she actually had the record that she wished she'd always had. When Rose had changed the past, she questioned Jackie about that said record and nothing more was said other than the fact that she'd had it in her collection for years. His little window of opportunity on Christmas Eve to slip into Jackie's apartment and place the bike under the tree, assuming she would have one, and let Jackie take the credit. Nothing mattered as long as Rose had the bike and the Doctor got to test his theory. The little detour that occurred once the bike was stolen was some much needed action but I have to admit I wasn't overly sure by how easily a young child was able to evade the Doctor with his sonic screwdriver on hand providing him the directions. He'd engineered a DNA trace quite brilliantly to get close but then a character from his history turned up and took the bike as a lure. Jinko made for a good enemy and his history with the Doctor was quite interesting, despite me not being a huge fan of unknown past for the Doctor. He must have really irked this giant metallic creature made of junk and quite selfishly it now wanted the bike to join its collection. The Doctor dealing with the cronies of Elians was great and quite easy to be honest. I really enjoyed how determined the Doctor was to get this bike back and it did seem like Jinko was a somewhat formidable enemy, but there was no trouble in dealing with things. The Doctor really did get the upper hand with ease with some simple use of the sonic screwdriver and I liked that he was able to ensure Rose got her present. Her reaction on Christmas Day was lovely, but I was hoping for a little bit of a follow up on Rose's thoughts on the matter given that part of the Doctor's purpose was to show her about meddling with Time. Were things always meant to be that way? I guess we'll never know and are left with a little bit of an ambiguous ending. Overall though, a quite lovely little story and there's just something special about the Doctor wanting to give the child version of one of his companions the Christmas present she had always wanted.

Rating: 8/10