A Girl Called Doubt

"They will learn or they will die."

Writer: Dave Sudden

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2020

Printed in: The Wintertime Paradox 08

Featuring: Fifth Doctor

Synopsis 

Did you Davros and the Doctor met for three Christmases, on different planets, across time and space? Have you heard the one about the time the Plasmavores came to pay a festive visit? Or when Madame Vastra fought a cyborg?

The perfect collection of the bleakest – and sometimes brightest – time of the year, these are the tales to get you halfway out of the dark...

Verdict 

A Girl Called Doubt was another great short story to continue my way through The Wintertime Paradox collection! This was another fine adventure and followed in similar fashion to the previous story in having the focus be away from the Doctor for the much part. Whilst our resident Time Lord hero did emerge at the end triumphantly and for more than what I would consider a cameo, it was nice to have the focus on Doubt and her fellow natives. At least that’s how it appeared on the outset. I really enjoyed the setting of Agrippina as it was unique and just presented as being ravaged by the Cybermen. The Cybermen were presented brilliantly here despite the bulk of them having moved on from the planet for the war effort that was taking place on an interplanetary. It was great to highlight the impact the Cybermen had on the planet and its people, with so many of them converted. Even architecture had been modelled on the Cyberman and the idea of the planet from above looking like a mix of human and Cybermen was pretty eery. I loved that there were so many Cybermen left behind that weren’t in full condition, with them being literally torn in half in some instances but still moving forward. There were no Cyber Leaders anymore to give the Cybermen orders, and with them being damaged they weren’t worth the energy or resources to repair. That’s the ruthless efficiency of the Cybermen at its best. The lack of emotion and pain was evident in so many broken Cybermen still persisting to move on, and Doubt describing the horrors of the war still being felt because it had been fought, destroyed everything she knew, and they were still around. That visibility must have been difficult. It wouldn’t feel like any kind of victory. I thought some of the other characters were decent to surround Doubt with Memnis and Raoul doing well, but the star of the show from the pack was undoubtedly Terrick. He was a typical sergeant in not having any sympathy for Doubt and having all his attentions and sights set on his people and those in his command. It was all about what he wanted to achieve, and given the Cybermen were still around that wasn’t entirely irrational in my opinion. I loved that the locals on Agrippina and had dubbed the Cybermen as ‘Steelers’ because that matched both their appearance and actions. They certainly did steal the people and everything about them, and it was a little sad to learn that their scientists had tried to find a cure to the conversion process. There was no coming back once you were a Cyberman. I was expecting this story to be another one without the Doctor, but alas the TARDIS was described as arriving rather brilliantly. I loved the emergence of the Fifth Doctor and whilst the description to ensure the reader knew which incarnation we were dealing with was a bit too much, it was lovely to have him! I thought the importance of the celery was good as Doubt hadn’t seen greens in a very long time, but then she had not seen the truth either. Doubt actually being a Cyberman was incredibly surprising and the Doctor actually felt sorry for her because the others around her had made her think she had a life. She was someone else, but then the grating Cyber voice came through and she realised. I thought the ending was pretty ambiguous in just assuming the Doctor would put things right, but the focus was all on Doubt and it was nice that she got a bit of a happy ending in the end despite her predicament. Overall, a good read!

Rating: 8/10