One Bad Apple

"This place could not be Paradise."

Writer: Simon Forward

Format: Short Story

Released: March 1999

Printed in: More Short Trips 05

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

Here on Earth or out in the depths of the cosmos, the Doctor and his companions are never far from adventure.

Discover things on Earth you were never meant to know. Get around the universe. Get short tripping.

Verdict

One Bad Apple was a great story to continue my reading through the More Short Trips collection! This length at twenty-two pages was the perfect count for me in this kind of adventure as it was long enough not to feel rushed and to really flesh out some details whilst also being a pretty quick read at around forty minutes or so. It really was a short trip and that was appealing. I thought the writing for both the Fourth Doctor and Leela was excellent, although I would have liked the latter to use her savage sense and tribal upbringing a little more in the forest. That's a perfect setting for Leela but I don't think she was wholly utilised to her potential there. I thought the biblical connotations were quite fun and whilst I'm not fan of religion in the slightest, I could appreciate the parallels drawn. It was possibly a little on the nose to have characters named as Cain and Abel, but I get what they were trying to do. Colonel Joshua made for a good villain with his desire for Paradise. That's an exciting concept and one that is sometimes difficult to fully comprehend. Can anything possibly be considered as a paradise? Would there not be some sort of defect? I struggle to believe that it exists, but Joshua being on the hunt for it here was good stuff. It worked well and was a fun basis for the story to go in. What I wasn't expecting was so much focus on the Cybermen without them actually appearing. Sure, we had a helmet here and a gun there, but they had been wiped out here a long time ago which showed the threat that we were dealing with was a formidable one. Joshua believing that Paradise lay physically somewhere between humanity and Cyberman was fascinating and I liked how he linked back to The Tenth Planet and how Mondas wasn't meant to come back. Humanity and Cybermen should have been kept separate with Paradise split somewhere in the middle of them. That was so exciting and my only qualm was that this wasn't focused upon more because it's an incredible concept! I really enjoyed the Mithran Fusiliers as a mercenary organisation and them being a church for the lost souls of the Cyberwars was exciting. This is a strong place to set a story and it works without the need for the Cybermen to feature. I like that we see some of their lasting impact here. I thought Leela's involvement with the P'tarr was good and I loved her scrumpling with the fruit brought her an increased knowledge. It was unclear whether what information had been passed to her was the fruit, but the Doctor's reaction when she talked of refraction was a delight. He didn't seem all that thrilled with having Leela be an all knowledgable companion! That was funny stuff and this is a tremendous pairing to do that with. The comedic value is so strong. I thought the story ended in a somewhat sombre way as we learned the truth about Josh and how the fruit had broken the link between flesh and cybernetics. Where did the human start and the Cybermen end? Leela talking of how he'd come for an honourable death was fitting as a way to conclude, and despite the issues he'd presented he would no longer live. His time was up now. His paradise was actually Hell which is a bold statement to present for someone in death! But I liked the symbolism and that everything we search for isn't always how we might have pictured it. Overall, a really good read with a concept I'd love to explore in further detail in an expanded story. 

Rating: 8/10