Starfall

"I am not Superman."

Writer: Paul Magrs

Format: Audio

Released: December 2010

Printed in: Demon Quest 04

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Mrs Wibbsey, Mike Yates

Synopsis 

Two things arrive on the same night in Central Park, New York, 1976. The first is a fireball from space, bringing with it a new identity for one Alice Trefusis. The second is the TARDIS, carrying the Doctor and his friends on the trail of an unusual comic book cover.

The Doctor's strength is sapped by something in the New York air – but what could cause such a malaise? As he and Mike are first mixed up with the police and then taken on an aerial ride over the city, Mrs Wibbsey comes face to face with then legendary Talkies film star Mimsy Loyne.

And all the while, long multicoloured scarves and floppy felt hats are climbing the stairs of the Dakota building...

Verdict

Starfall was another strong episode to continue my way through the Demon Quest anthology! I am really enjoying the overall arc despite it making the inevitable reveal of the Demon’s presence predictable, and moving to New York in 1976 was very fun. I like how that’s usually contemporary for the Fourth Doctor but we had him and a much older Yates going back to that year from the 21st century. I thought it was fun to have another guest character do the narration and Buddy as an American did a tremendous job. He was a fun character and hearing how he got ahead oh himself in revealing events to come regarding Miss Starfall was good stuff. She was the next super heroin and it was he who found the meteor in Central Park that led to her origin story. Alice being described as his girl was an amusing Americanism and I thought her background as literary secretary for an old movie star in the form of Mimsy Loyne was very good. She wasn’t exactly the nicest boss! The mystery of the Secret Society also being name dropped by Buddy was excellent. They were quite freaky. Having the Doctor vulnerable and feeling ill was quite refreshing and it was good humour to have Wibbsey acting miserable that she was on another of the Doctor’s adventures. Alice touching the rock and being reborn as a superhero was brilliant in its simplicity as far as origin stories go! The Doctor and Yates finding that half a golden heart was inside the meteor was intriguing and I liked how it contained engraving of the first half of the Demon’s home planet Sepulchre. It appears all roads are leading there. The Doctor and Yates being arrested after they were found next to a corpse was a surprise but it moved the story along very nicely. I thought it was great that the events of Alice and Buddy’s day were also in the comic book that served as the artefact bringing the TARDIS here, and Alice embracing her superhero status was a delight! She was marvellous. The reiteration from the Doctor regarding the Demon needing energy constantly to feed its time travel and persona changes was good and I loved the revelation that the Secret Society were worshipping the final missing competing of the TARDIS spatial geometer. Multiple versions of the Doctor was something more could have been drawn upon, but the true Doctor’s tricking of Mimsy was fantastic. He claimed she was an old flame and didn’t seem to believe her when she was trying to claim there was more to Alice than met the eye. Could the secretary really be in league with other powers? The Doctor realising that the Demon had been luring him rather than the Doctor tracking it was fun to hear aloud despite it obviously having been the case throughout the series, but now it seemed it had shifted focus right to the Doctor and was actually draining him of energy through the chanting of the Secret Society! I wasn’t convinced by the science, but I loved the end result. Mimsy’s reaction to the Doctor tricking her was glorious as of course the film star wasn’t an old flame! The very idea. Mimsy though was the boss of the Secret Society and the Demon all along. Events having been all devised by the Demon didn’t seem like they needed explaining, but the Doctor being drawn in by an irresistible puzzle is good stuff. The cliffhanger finish with Wibbsey being kidnapped and luring the Doctor to her home planet was terrific. The Doctor didn’t seem to have much urgency though as he was able to stick around and let Alice know that with the Demon gone her powers would wain. Overall though, another strong episode! 

Rating: 8/10