Taking Mickey

"You said you could tell me about the Doctor?"

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Short Story

Released: June 2006

Series: Doctor Who Files 05

Featuring: Mickey

Synopsis

After signing up to various websites about UFOs and aliens, on a Wednesday morning Mickey Smith receives an email from a woman calling herself Jill, but she is far too interested in the Doctor's whereabouts...

Verdict

Taking Mickey was a decent little short story to continue my long overdue reading through the Doctor Who Files! It still baffles me that these are eighteen years old as it really doesn't feel that long at all since collecting the majority of them predominantly when Series 3 was airing in my childhood, but for whatever reason this was a release I didn't actually know. Thankfully the local library was able to obtain a copy for me and this was a fun little read. I was intrigued as to whether this would be a solo outing for Mickey or a story set somewhere between The Girl in the Fireplace and Rise of the Cybermen. It did turn out to be a solo outing and considering the actual Doctor Who File relates to Mickey himself, that feels like the right move. He doesn't need a TARDIS trip. But he was heavily involved with the Doctor here despite no sign of he or Rose. I thought the representation of Mickey was very much in line with what we saw on screen in Aliens of London/World War Three which was terrific! He's presented as pretty intelligent and neat with a computer there, with the gags mostly coming from the Ninth Doctor mocking his appearance. It was unclear where in the timeline this story was for Mickey but the beauty of it was that it didn't really matter. Feasibly it could have been any of the incarnations that wiped out Bloodgrudge. Great name by the way. I thought Mickey's introduction to Jill was fun and I really enjoy the idea of him collecting emails and letters from UFO and alien websites. He's on the lookout for Rose and the Doctor always which is really nice to see as he clearly cares for the former in a great way. The latter just comes with the flow. As soon as Mickey confirmed he knew the Doctor, Jill didn't do the best job of hiding her disguise and true interests. It was really rather painfully bad to be honest and her grudge against the man for the supposed killing of her husband was a little misleading. Even Mickey could appreciate from the story that it was actually Bloodgrudge that was trying to kill the Doctor after hunting him down only to fall into his own trap. That was ironic and the annoyance that must exist when the Doctor simply stepped over his potential deathbed was brilliant. I can just imagine the anger of Jill's husband. Her reveal as Jillonga was decent and I thought the annoyance in her children was quite comical. They had travelled sixty years to reach Earth and were set for the same duration on the opposite journey home, so they just wanted to catch Mickey so they could get home. There was only so much school time left and they valued their education apparently. The way Mickey was actually able to best them was a little silly but I must admit that it did make me laugh a little. The children were clearly bored and were after some games, so Mickey was on hand to make one up in the form of airlock runner. That was a good name and I loved that he pushed himself to go first in order to show the other children how it was done. Of course, with the ship due for takeoff and on a course that was irreversible and couldn't be stopped, there was no way he would be knocking to be let back in! That was amusing if not stupid, but the reaction of Jillonga towards her children said it all. She was stunned and disappointed. Overall, a fun little read! 

Rating: 7/10