Special Weapons

"He had felt her death as it stole her."

Writer: Paul Leonard

Format: Short Story

Released: March 1999

Printed in: More Short Trips 09

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Mel

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

Special Weapons was an excellent adventure to continue my way through the More Short Trips collection! For a short story, this was a very strong length at over thirty pages and that really allowed some depth. I thought the setting right from the off was established brilliantly and the predicament of throwing the Doctor and Mel into the Second World War was terrific. I love the peril of this setting and whilst there probably have been too many stories now set during wartime, it’s not a surprise because the potential there really is endless. For Mel, she’s well aware of the horrors that the Germans in particular could carry out against fellow humanity and having real history is something I often find as the best threat. Having things steeped in realism is a huge appeal and just absolutely works. Mel and the Doctor got separated pretty quickly which was expected and it was good to see the companion build a relationship with Oliver. He was reeling from the death of his girlfriend Ellen and for a seventeen year old, he showed some strong levels of maturity given the predicament. I thought the descriptions of sticky blood on his hands was gory and his lack of trust towards Mel was understandable. I was really impressed with the feel of the story and the way the darkness was illustrated was fantastic. It was uncomfortable in parts and I loved the frantic pace of the storytelling. It kept me so engaged on my early morning commute to work and that’s exactly what you want. It just worked. I thought the moment that Mel heard the Doctor and then a gunshot in his direction was superb and it was clear that for her she genuinely believed that he could have died. Oliver trying to convince her otherwise was good and I liked that he didn’t hide the fact he was saying comforting things just to get her on side and focused. The Doctor confronting Luther was brilliant and their discussion on death in particular was enlightening. I loved how Luther had pretty much accepted that he wanted to die and even found himself being envious of the bodies strewn before him. He considered them as scarecrows which was quite scary. Luther not understanding how the Doctor was comfortable accepting death but not actually wanting it was good stuff too. There was a lot explored here that was really exciting. This story was released a decade earlier than The Simpsons Movie, but I can’t help but draw comparisons to that with the dome barrier covering England as a means of weaponry and wiping it out. That was an extraordinary concept and was quite the special weapon indeed. I loved the scale of it and things just seem scarier in the hands of Nazis. As they should! I thought the dynamite going off at the end was decent and a quick resolution, and Mel’s disappointment in Oliver when he’d decided to join the army for the sole purpose of killing Germans was a stark reminder of how awful this time period was. This was clearly set soon after Paradise Towers with the Pex reference by Mel, and things had gotten rather eventful already in her travels. This was powerful stuff. Overall, an excellent read!

Rating: 9/10