Cuckoo-Spit

"The wet thing with no eyes was going to get me and I was going to Heaven."

Writer: Mark Gatiss

Format: Short Story

Released: July 2006

Printed in: Doctor Who Storybook 2007

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

When children start going missing, the Doctor and Rose are on the track of an extraterrestrial wild animal. Young boy Jason keeps a diary of events that start to spiral...

Verdict

Cuckoo-Spit was a decent story to kick off my reading of the non-comic strip adventures from the 2007 Doctor Who Storybook! It's actually staggering to me that it was eleven years ago where I blogged this book's comic strip adventure of Opera of Doom! and here I am over a decade on starting the short text stories. It's a long time coming and considering I've moved house around seven times in that period due to the constant being on the go that is life as a university student and then entering the workplace and starting a family, this hardback A4 book has been with me all the way! It is very prejudiced of me but when I saw the title of the story I was immediately put in a downer about how good it was going to be. It just doesn't sound like the title of an adventure that's going to be a classic. It was far from being one, but it was actually pretty darn good! I enjoyed the read and whilst having a child front and centre as essentially the main character isn't usually my preferred means of storytelling, the format of a diary really helped with that. It broke things up very nicely as well with some of these longer text stories sometimes being a slog with just so many words dominating a page! That never felt like the case here which was really welcomed. Jason was a decent character and the insinuation that he was gay was good because of the 1975 setting. Homosexuality had been decriminalised but it wasn't all that long ago from this point and the stigma was still strong. He clearly liked Graham but the fact he had to underline and capitalise in his blog entry that he wasn't a puff was honestly a bit unsettling. I fully appreciate the personal nature of the format and what that brings to the story, but it still left a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth. That was also the case with Jason's description of Rose and the first thing he noticed was her big chest. I know he's a teenager still at school and has an interest in girls (and boys apparently), but it just didn't seem right to point that out in a short story for a collection that would be mostly aimed at a younger audience. That was partly why my rating for this story was lower than its quality showed because things like that really take me by surprise and not for the right reason. It just doesn't add anything to the story and gives a sense of discomfort knowing the target audience. I thought Jason kept up with his diary pretty well although it did seem a tad less personalised as the adventure went on, with the last entry in particular not feeling like a small boy but just regular prose. That's not to say things weren't good and the threat by the man with the light-up eyes was strong. I think the story did well in hiding key details because from the perspective of Jason he just wouldn't be privy to them. They weren't really needed either and I quite liked the way things felt like we were watching or reading from the outside. Jason having complete logic in going to the TARDIS and thinking the Doctor and Rose were police because of the exterior was great and he was concerned for his missing friend. Admittedly though, he wasn't taking it too seriously as he still went against his parents' orders not to wonder off. I liked how the Doctor and Rose had the knowledge of what was happening with the wild animal threat and it being of an extraterrestrial origin was intriguing. Jason was excited and interested in what was happening, perhaps not so prone to the danger when he ought to have been. Him being used as bait was quite something! The Doctor and Rose setting fire to the house to wipe out the threat was pretty climactic and not the means I was expecting him to go down. Jason working out what they were doing with their victims and likening it to cuckoo spit was good and brought things full circle from his earlier spotting. Overall, a decent read for sure! 

Rating: 7/10