Writer: Dave Rudden
Format: Short Story
Released: October 2020
Printed in: The Wintertime Paradox #13
Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Eighth Doctor, Curator
Synopsis
"There are fractures in time, Anke. Someone is causing time to skip, like a needle on a record. These things you have collected – they're... canaries."
– The Doctor
Verdict
Canaries was an excellent little short story! I must admit that prior to reading I was not aware that it was included as an extra addition onto The Wintertime Paradox collection, at least on the online version anyway. I really liked how it tied in with the Time Lord Victorious story arc in a loose way and even if the reader had no knowledge of what has been going on lately in the Dark Times, they still could easily have enjoyed this adventure. I am a huge fan of museums and always make sure to check out at least one whenever I go somewhere as a tourist, so the idea behind the Verbier Museum of the Impossible was magnificent. I absolutely loved that and I should also mention that after its mention in the story here, the Shanghai Museum of Propaganda Posters sounds incredible and definitely a place I would like to go during my lifetime. Anke made for a wonderful little character as the museum's only employee and the idea of the opening times being whatever she wanted was fun, and the fact that she wanted to be punctual and open right on time ready for a 10am crowd instantly made her a likeable character. I'm going to delve right into it and this was essentially a catalogue collection of the museum in story form which was a superb way to tell an adventure, particularly a short one like this. It tied in well with the events of The Knight, the Fool and the Dead with there clearly being things going wrong in time and that was perhaps what allowed Anke to collect a decent number of artefacts from times that don't exist. Pasts that never happened. Relics of alternate timelines. Collecting remnants of those timelines is a sublime concept and one I think would work ever so well in an extended format. The mention of the Toclafane and how it was just there in the mind referring back to the events of Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords was magnificent and there really was a great deal of continuity which really did add to the story. The aforementioned Tenth Doctor novel was referenced with Mordeela having a crystal represented and I also enjoyed the way events of The Waters of Mars were used with Adelaide Brooke's journal supposedly completing and un-completing however it pleased. It was also a lot of fun to suggest that the British royal family were werewolves in a very good reference and play on Tooth and Claw. I thought the use of the Doctor in the story worked well and Anke having a relationship with a number of incarnations was really good. Her descriptions of the Twelfth Doctor and also revealing she wasn't too surprised by the Thirteenth Doctor's gender was excellent stuff. One thing I wasn't excepting on top of cameos from the Eleventh and Eighth Doctors was the Curator! Speaking! That was an unexpected pleasure and given Anke's role and the concept of the story and its role with the Museum of the Impossible, that was just a perfect inclusion. Especially because he must be an alternate Fourth Doctor that retired? Really good stuff. Any further inclusions of the Curator in stories is fine by me! I thought the ending with the masks and the apparent arrival of the Kotturuh was really strong and I liked the ambiguity that went with it. Overall, this fitted in well with the overlapping series and as a standalone. For short stories, this was top notch.
Rating: 9/10
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