Her Own Bootstraps

"No one could ever be allowed to activate this device."

Writer: Amy Veeres

Format: Audio

Released: September 2020

Series: Short Trips 10.09

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

Extracting a dangerous Time War weapon from an irresponsible scientist, the Doctor arrive on Krakatoa in 1883 to destroy it. Problematically, the scientist is also in Krakatoa to steal the weapon. This is where she found it before the Doctor stole it from her. Trapped in a paradox, the Doctor must overcome a future he cannot change.

A future that has already happened.

Verdict

Her Own Bootstraps was a fantastic Short Trips audio adventure! With the impending Ninth Doctor Adventures on their way from Big Finish in a couple of months, I was glad to catch up on what we have from them so far and this really was one of the best outings for this incarnation of the Doctor in audio form. I thought Jacob Dudman was absolutely incredible as the narrator for this one with his impression of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor just magnificent. It was hugely impressive and made listing to the adventure such a breeze! It helps so much when the actor and impression are on point and this was certainly the case with this adventure. The placing of the story was interesting given that the Ninth Doctor is travelling alone which of course we didn't see at all on television during Series 1 after he met Rose, but setting a number of stories prior to Rose is a dangerous way to go for me because we literally see the Doctor check out his appearance clearly indicating things aren't far removed from the regeneration we would eventually see in The Day of the Doctor. Now, despite that there is a clear gap for this audio to take place given what we saw of the Ninth Doctor being at Krakatoa in his first televised episode. The aftermath of the Time War was clearly felt which I thought was a good theme to include and the Doctor having a semblance of happiness that things could soon be over for good was superb. The desperation and exhaustion in his voice was terrific. Althea Bryce made for a really fun character and her attempt to steal a weapon that was a remnant of the Time War was very good indeed. Her role as a scientist and having knowledge of a TARDIS was something I didn't expect so that brought a fun dynamic to the adventure. Her description of it as the holy grail of Time Lord technology was something I admired and that just suited the TARDIS right down to the ground. I can imagine the Doctor had a big internal smile when he heard his old girl described like that. The almost boastful way he admitted to stealing it was a wonderful line. An extra element of intrigue was that Althea knew of the Doctor as the last of the Time Lords and given the close proximity this adventure had with the Time War I thought that was very interesting. Just what kind of reputation did the Doctor have following the battle between Time Lords and Daleks? The setting of Krakatoa  was really good and the Time War weapon being an atmosphere destroyer was more than enough to show how deadly this device could be! The paradox that came with the Doctor stealing the weapon from Bryce in her future only to meet her at the site where she stole it from at a younger age and where he intended on burying it was excellent! I'm a big fan of paradoxical stories as they can be so fun and I just love messing about with time in general so this was certainly up my ally. The pair's acceptance of their locked fate was good but they were also determined to not end up trapped going round and round in circles. Althea's desire to change and not become the woman that the Doctor met in her personal future was fantastic and I loved how he wanted to know for sure that her speech was genuine. Her reaction to entering the TARDIS and experiencing transcendental dimension was very good and I thought she was just a lovely character. The Doctor visiting later in his timeline with Rose was a nice touch and a fine way to end what was a brilliant little audio! 

Rating: 9/10