Becky's Impossible Day

"This creature feeds off colour."

Writer: Beth Axford

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2024

Printed in: The Adventures Before 05

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

Discover what happened before...

What did Osgood do the morning of The Day of the Doctor?

What happened to Tegan before Arc of Infinity, and why does it involve strange sentient lights in the Australian outback?

What was the Tenth Doctor doing in a hall of mirrors, right before Planet of the Dead?

Answers to all these questions lie in an incredible collection of new Doctor Who short stories that give a glimpse into the moments just before we saw the Doctor step on screen.

From Skaro to Apalapucia, from a shop front drained of colour to Rassilon's tomb, join a host of incredible adventures across the universe with Doctors, companions, friends and foes.

Verdict

Becky's Impossible Day was a great story to continue my way through The Adventures Before collection of prequels! We dive into the modern era of the show now, although this particular adventure takes place right before Rose so is it possibly a Classic era story featuring the Ninth Doctor? I am probably overthinking things a little there and that would provide a whole new take on the twelve Big Finish Ninth Doctor Adventures boxsets, but it's fun to think about. I think doing a prequel to the very first modern episode is a good idea and this serves as a good and simple outing. There's no real great peril other than for Becky and her nail salon, but the Doctor is on hand to stop things before they get wildly out of control. I think the concept behind the Ashen is actually excellent and I adore the idea of an alien that feeds on colour. It consumes it and coming to Earth would be quite the feast! A typical high street is full of all sorts of colour and amusements. Might a Christmas story have been even better to do this kind of adventure as a prequel to? It didn't really matter. This just works. I thought the way Becky's nail salon was established was strong and I liked the background to her character. She was beginning to make a success of her little business which I could appreciate, so for her to be shocked and stunned by the Not-Pickles was obviously having an adverse effect! Just when things were going right, the colour was literally being stolen from her nail salon. And that's a profession where colour is crucial! I liked the little nods to what we would see throughout the first modern series and the little news bulletin of the shop window dummy hoax was fantastic. I was a big fan of that as it just sold the setting very well and it helped to have the Doctor mentioning the signal he had picked up. If only he was brandishing the device we saw on screen alongside the sonic screwdriver! The imagery presented in the story was fantastic and I really loved the idea of the blue sonic shining through in a monochrome nail salon. It definitely had some strong WandaVision vibes which is a huge compliment. I thought the Doctor being on hand to provide the resolution was good and it made sense to think of something dark and gloomy to take out the effect of the colour drain. The Ashen wouldn't want anything of that nature! Having a brief glimpse of what the Doctor considered dark and the worst day of his life here through Becky's connection was great as we got a small look at the War Doctor and the proclamation of No More as seen in The Day of the Doctor and the end of the Time War. Gallifrey fell, and for the Doctor at this point in time that was rather fresh. At least he had taken back the name of the Doctor! On a personal note, this is probably the story in the collection I was most looking forward to because it was the author debut of Beth Axford who is a co-host on the tremendous Who Watch Podcast. I have followed that since the very start and it has been a blast, and she has also done some strong work in recent editions of Doctor Who Magazine as well as editing a few books. And for her writing debut I thought this was absolutely solid. It was a little shorter than some other stories in the collection which is a shame as I definitely think there was more room to go beyond the nail salon when it came to feeding upon colour, but it's just a really good idea! It's perfect really for the dark and downbeat demeanour of the Ninth Doctor and his leather jacket. He fit right in the monochrome setting! My only qualm really is the idea of the Doctor taking the Ashen home once it had regurgitated the colour as would he really go 333 light years away as a taxi service when he was tracking the Nestene? Regardless, this was a thoroughly enjoyable prequel! 

Rating: 8/10