Under Control

"We travel to the place of offering."

Writer: Steve Cole

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2023

Printed in: Ten Days of Christmas 01

Featuring: Fourteenth Doctor

Synopsis

Return to the incredible days of Ten this Christmas...

For the Tenth Doctor, the festive season always brought adventure.

In fact, he's saved Christmas across space and time more times than we ever knew...

Join the Doctor (and Donna and Martha and Rose, and other friends old and new) for incredible tales of daring and danger. From Daleks plotting to save humanity to Sycorax working to exploit it... from star-narwhals massing on the Moon to a toy factory in space.

Because even in the jolliest of seasons there's a world or two to save.

Verdict

Under Control was unfortunately not the greatest of starts to the Ten Days of Christmas short story collection! I’ve been very excited about this release as it’s one of the first times I’ve delved into reading an ebook and saving the money by buying through Kindle which is a rather new experience for me, but one I’m finding I enjoy! I’ve been putting off making the digital switch for quite some time now but it only feels right now to move with the world. I still love a physical book don’t get me wrong, but the prices can be quite expensive these days! An Amazon voucher also helped and this seemed like the perfect read ahead of Christmas. Unfortunately, this opener didn’t feel very Christmassy and I think it has just been a little over complicated with it being a reprint of a story also published in the 2024 Doctor Who Annual. I’m not entirely sure if it’s reprinted in the exact same format, but something just felt off about it. I find it weird that we’re bookending the book with two connected stories and I think I’m now going to make the decision to jump right ahead tomorrow and complete the final story in the collection. I don’t know why they couldn’t just be combined to make one adventure! Or at least follow each other in the publication. It’s also a little confusing that this story is actually featuring the Fourteenth Doctor rather than the Tenth as the subtitle of the book suggests! I mean, any reader without knowledge of the Annual would be none the wiser regarding this as there’s no indication of which incarnation features, so I guess it could be a blend and fun situation where it works as a story for either incarnation. It would actually be better if they embraced that potential idea though. I thought the Doctor getting friendly with the pig Alfredo was amusing but I can’t say I find an animal as the best use of a potential companion. That just doesn’t feel right and I’m not really sure what a pig can offer! I felt the story didn’t really do much and only the final page of two felt like it was building towards something which would be the next story. I just didn’t care about the assembly of Stromboks, Vega Raptons and Sarnsquids. Any revelation that came of the Doctor realising something about them and how that related to the current situation just wasn’t all that interesting. If they were species we were familiar with then it could have worked, but I just felt like some emotional investment was missing. It would have helped a lot in my opinion. I’m hoping that this one didn’t feel as good because it’s setting up a better sequel in the second story that concludes the book, and that’s why I don’t understand just combining them under one title didn’t happen. Regardless, it’s nice to finally get started on the collection and any more adventures with the Fourteenth Doctor is most welcomed by way! But as a whole, this was just a story I couldn’t get fully invested in and didn’t wholly enjoy. Overall, I’m left with a missing feeling. 

Rating: 5/10