Needle Point

"The room was full of old ladies."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Short Story

Released: August 2007

Series: Doctor Who Files 09

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha

Synopsis

When the Tenth Doctor leaves his companion Martha Jones to her own devices as he investigates an etheric beam, but it's Martha who will have the pleasure of dealing with it...

Verdict

Needle Point was a very decent little adventure to continue my way through the Doctor Who Files! I feel like I've reached something of a new era now when it comes to this series as we venture into characters from Series 3, and from memory this particular book didn't take long in being released after its broadcast! It's staggering to think that this was eighteen years ago which makes me feel incredibly old as this was the first series where I watched Doctor Who. And it's taken me this long to read this small little story in one book in a wider collection of Doctor Who Files. I actually had to buy this one secondhand as it seems this was never one me or my younger brother ever owned whilst we were growing up and none of the local libraries had a copy! That was a great shame but I can't complain with the price and it was easy enough to get a hold of so no qualms here. I thought the story itself was pretty decent in how it captured Martha in particular as the focus despite having the Doctor around. I'm glad the Tenth Doctor featured and initially I was a little bit worried about the direction the story was heading as it seemed he was just going to make Martha stay behind as he investigated the etheric beam. Thankfully, we stuck with Martha's point of view and perspective which was as it should have been for an adventure in this kind of release. The file is named after her after all! I thought that was quite fun as it is unusual for the story to stick with the companion in the way it happened here. Essentially, the Doctor was rendered useless and that's quite a fun twist! Martha is allowed to shine as she should. Her noticing the multitudes of old ladies was pretty fun and the right kind of ridiculousness for this kind of adventure. It's obviously one written for the youngest of fans and I bet old ladies can actually be quite daunting for youngsters! I know my Nan was a little scary when I was young and I can see that in my own three-year-old when he meets up with grandparents and great-grandparents. So for a multiple of the same old lady to be spinning around in shops across time was certainly something for Martha to pick up on. The imagery of them all knitting was so stereotypical but quite amusing. What else would an old lady be doing? Except Martha's keen eye saw that the needles weren't actually knitting anything at all which was a fun little twist. I thought the use of the needles in generating the etheric energy was fun and linked back to the story's beginning, although it was amusing for the unnamed species to admit right from the off that they were weakened. It didn't leave much to the imagination moving forward with where the story would ultimately head and I found the explanation of why they adopted an old woman's disguise rather hilarious. They all looked the same to everyone else! I'm not sure how much I entirely agree with that, but from a youngster's perspective I could certainly see the argument. The way that came back at the end when the Doctor reemerged perplexed at an apparent blip after the old ladies were in a right old kerfuffle to see them off. That was quite amusing in how with a little interaction from Martha they basically beat themselves, but the finishing line from the Doctor about all babies looking the same was excellent. Overall, a funky and fun little read! 

Rating: 7/10