The Man From DOCTO(R)

"Appearances can be deceptive."

Writer: Andrew Collins

Format: Short Story

Released: April 2003

Printed in: Short Trips: Companions 03

Featuring: Harry

Synopsis

Adventures in time and space are no fun if there's no one to share them. the Doctor has taken along many people on his travels – humans, aliens and robots. Did he really care for any of them? What in their previous life fitted them for the role of companion – and how did they cope after they left the TARDIS?

These seventeen stories look at the Doctor's trusty companions, before, during and after their travels with the eccentric Time Lord. Discover the truth about Romana's regeneration, find out what happened when Zoe encountered the Doctor again, and learn which of his companions the Doctor cared for the most...

Verdict

The Man From DOCTO(R) was a great little story to get back on track with my reading of the Short Trips: Companions collection! It’s a no brainer to focus on companions as they’re a vital element of what makes Doctor Who so wonderful, and Harry is a fine choice. It’s really intriguing to catch up with him following the events of his last appearance in The Android Invasion, and I love that he was not hiding anything about his time in the TARDIS. Here we have the book starting with Harry at a pub with his chums Buffy and Chumpy and telling them all about the events of The Sontaran Experiment and the weak spot of the back of the neck! That was unexpected but I thought it was great. His pals were finding everything quite amusing as you would with tales like this, and Harry wasn’t even hiding the fact that his mode of transport involved a time ring in a fun allusion to Genesis of the Daleks. He wasn’t holding back any details, but I’m sure he didn’t think they would believe him. I know if I was sitting around with a few drinks alongside my mates that if one of them started blurting about potato aliens and time rings I’d have a chuckle! I appreciated the realistic feel of the story. The way the atmosphere was captured was brilliant and I think the evening bar setting helped with that a great deal. His encounter with Lettice was by chance but he soon got caught up in quite the fiasco! His reaction to being kissed by her in an effort to hide herself was amusing and whilst I did think some of the descriptions of women in the story was unnecessary and actually demeaning, I can appreciate this being slightly from Harry’s point of view. I’ll just about let it slide. He was taken with the leggy assistant (see?) but Lettice was the one he cared about. I liked how he wanted to know her more before starting anything physical and that made her departure later on a little easier. I thought the discovery of the conflict between the Zantorans and Garvaks was decent and the importance placed on the Egg of Abundance was really strong. It might seem a little silly to place such importance on what was an ordinary looking egg, but the puns from Harry had me massively smiling. His scrambled comment when it came to the signal reference was extraordinary and the hatching of plans also peaked my humour. It was tremendous stuff. Comedic gold whilst completely simple. It was really effective and a nice relief in what was a rather dark feeling story. Harry being captured after Lettice convinced him to take the package was fun, and he was punched quite a few times as Crumpton wanted knowledge on the Egg’s whereabouts. Radcliff as the Mole in saving Harry thanks to the tracker placed on the former companion by Lettice was good and they built a strong bond which was fantastic! They covered the world on the trail of the egg and I thought it was amusing for all roads to lead to Belgium. They went a roundabout way to get there considering things started in Zurich! I could have done with a bit more action along their world tour, but I appreciate the shorter format wouldn’t allow that. Harry having pocketed the true egg containing the genetic makeup was good and swift as they were caught actually leaving rather than arriving, and his swapping of it with a traditional chicken egg was very amusing! It didn’t react well with the system to have the Garvaks take Earth which was a delight. The genetic imprint they’d now taken was of chickens! That was quite unique but very amusing. It was also very final as Harry was successful. The story concluding with him telling the events of this adventure to his pals and how he was left in the Belgian Alps by Lettice and Radcliff without his passport was tremendous. That rounded things out very nicely. Overall, a really strong read!

Rating: 8/10