The Patchwork Pierrot

"People vanish when the circus comes to town."

Writer: Scott Handcock
Format: Short Story
Released: September 2017
Printed in: Tales of Terror 09

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

The Ninth Doctor arrives at the carnival amidst a travelling circus shortly after Civil War in 18th century America. It's eerily quiet as nobody talks following performers going missing. The culprit is hidden, but the Doctor soon discovers an old and battered enemy is trying to upgrade...

Verdict

The Patchwork Pierrot was a very good continuation of the Tales of Terror collection of short stories! This adventure firmly moved me out of the Classic era and into that of the modern, but it still had a vibe that was somewhat resemblant of the older days. Initially, I was a little disappointed by the decision to have the Ninth Doctor travelling alone as this obviously means it must come, chronologically, prior to the events of Rose and given what we see in that episode during Series 1, particularly with the Doctor looking at himself in the mirror following his presumed recent regeneration, I am really not sure there is a lot of room for manoeuvre there when it comes to a gap. It's not a major issue, but other than a generic look back on the Time Lords and the Doctor comparing the Civil War to the Time War in which he had just fought, there was very little to indicate where this story might be placed in Ninth Doctor chronology. I quite enjoyed the characterisation of Christopher Eccleston's incarnation here, but I do think it would have been better if he had Rose alongside him as the companion. Still, given the identity of the Patchwork Pierrot later in the story, it makes sense that she wasn't around here otherwise she more than likely would have recognised the Cybermen during Rise of the Cybermen. Mona filled in quite nicely in the companion role and she clearly got on well with the Doctor. The circus setting was very good and with the talk of all those performing and touring with it, I was getting The Greatest Showman vibes as that was exactly what it felt like here. I enjoyed that, even if it wasn't exactly original when it comes to circus storytelling. The eighteenth century America setting was also good and worked really well to place a lost and battered Cyberman. I really wasn't expecting the Pierrot to be a Cyberman, but once that was revealed I loved the idea of the Ninth Doctor doing battle with them as we never saw that on screen. That scene in Dalek with the Cyber head was about as close as we got. Hopefully the Big Finish audios next year can give us a performed meeting! I really loved the Doctor's description of how the Cybermen originated, recalling events of The Tenth Planet wonderfully and the illustration that went with the story seemed to somewhat resemble the Mondasian Cyberman design from that serial. It was a little more child-oriented with the way it was presented, but it was still good. The idea of the Cyberman being in age without sufficient technology to replenish and upgrade itself was excellent and where that was the case, the Cyberman would try and upgrade its flesh aspect which was pretty disturbing. The Cyberman literally wanting Mona's heart as well as figuratively was a fun concept and it overriding the Cyber emotionless state so much by becoming more and more flesh and having feelings for Mona was a good and unexpected twist. The description of the flesh beneath its deformed helmet was brilliant and finding out that it had taken Jacob, one of those missing from the circus that Mona knew so well, was quite disheartening. But really well done for the Cybermen. It was certainly disturbing and that's an aspect that is perfectly suited for the Cybermen. I thought the adventure was able to deliver after a slow start that didn't seem to be offering much, but the excitement increased palpably once the enemy was revealed. The idea of the Cyberman disappearing itself from the circus after the Doctor disabled its emotional inhibitor and made it feel as a human would was decent, and quite fitting for the setting. Overall, a great little adventure!

Rating: 8/10