The Myriapod Mutiny

"This rock is from another planet!"

Writer: Emma Norry

Format: Short Story

Released: September 2022

Printed in: Origin Stories 03

Featuring: Second Doctor, Yaz, Ryan

Synopsis 

We all change, when you think about. We're all different people all through our lives...

Amy Pond looks for her Raggedy Man, Jo Grant remembers her childhood, the Master hunts the past... a young girl discovers a love for explosives.

Eleven incredible stories from the world of Doctor – the early lives of friends and foes that have never been told before.

Verdict 

The Myriapod Mutiny was another great story to continue my way through the Origin Stories collection! I thought this was quite a fun little adventure and it was really interesting to explore the school time relationship between Ryan and Yaz before they became companions of the Thirteenth Doctor in their early adult years. It was odd to think that they weren’t good friends and actually a little sad to see that they had become somewhat estranged since moving up to high school. They’d been really good friends during primary school and I thought it was lovely to reference Rosa in reaffirming they were part of the Rosa Parks class, but here they were clearly not on the same page which was a shame. However, that was fine knowing what would come later in life for the pair as was referenced on the final page which I enjoyed. I thought this story did a really good job in addressing Ryan’s dyspraxia and I would go so far as to argue that it did so even better than anything we would see on screen. It really helped to have that school environment to tackle it and it really hit home that his teachers didn’t often show him the sympathy he deserved. Unfortunately that was probably through ignorance than consciously picking out on Ryan, but times have changed now and we as a society are so much more of conditions such as these. It was also really important to address Yaz being bullied by Izzy and she was clearly impacted by it. She felt isolated and even though she was younger as a school child, this was so far removed from the Yaz we know. It was a fascinating read and it was quite brilliant to get an insight into the pair’s childhood. I thought the little inserts in italics regarding the Side-steppers and Under-trotters was fascinating and I liked the scale of just how old they were at over 400 million years. That was quite the feat! Then being able to disguise themselves as millipedes and centipedes was fun and that really worked well with the school trip setting of the Natural History Museum. That is one of the few places in London I actually enjoyed and I do remember the scale of the insects housed there! The masters being contained within the glass was good and it was amusing that Ryan’s clumsiness after picking up the sonic screwdriver actually led to the call that sent these alien races shrunken insect size into frenzies. That was a good image to paint and the history between them and their shared experiences on Earth were very nicely presented. The italics really did help with their involvement in the story as it seemed they were just watching on and waiting for the moment of release. The appearance of the Second Doctor was most unexpected I must say! Having him combine with a really young Ryan and Yaz was such an intriguing combination but it was rather fun whilst it lasted. I must admit that with the bow tie description, I thought it was the Eleventh Doctor initially but the old man description cemented this as the second incarnation which was tremendous. It was a mix of two eras so far apart and that really did help in its appeal. I liked how wrong it felt. The Doctor didn’t try and hide who he was or even what the insect creatures were as aliens, but that was clear by the end when the mutiny quickly occurred and all memory of the Under-trotters was erased, taking with it Ryan and Yaz’s first meeting with the Doctor. They would never know the significance and that’s why I’m not a massive fan of the memory loss occurring in stories, but if it’s necessary to get mixing of Doctors and companions like this then that’s how it’ll have to be and something I can get over. Ryan getting in a comment at the end when seeing the TARDIS and saying that police boxes were actually traditionally red was very amusing. I’m not convinced the Doctor would have taken well to that comment! Overall though, a really fun short story to continue what’s shaping into an enjoyable collection. 

Rating: 8/10