Aquarius: The Invertebrates of Doom

"It's raining jellyfish!"

Writer: Andrew Collins

Format: Short Story

Released: March 2002

Printed in: Short Trips: Zodiac 10

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Mel

Synopsis

Take a TARDIS trip through the constellations, as the Doctor travels to twelve thrilling tales inspired by the mystical zodiac. 

Telepathic fish, miniature lions and twin planets are the least of his problems, as the Doctor – all eight of him – faces the Capricorn Killer, endures a mind swap with the Machiavellian Master, and dances with Death herself. 

And that's not the half of it – as the two K9s can attest.

Verdict

The Invertebrates of Doom was a good story to continue my way through the Zodiac edition of Short Trips! This has been something of a hodge podge of a collection with the Zodiac star sign theme and with this being the penultimate adventure in the book, I do feel a little sad to say I'm actually looking forward to it coming to an end. I'm confident that because this is the first release in the series, authors and editors were still finding their feet and this isn't the most exhilarating of themes, so onwards and upwards! I went into reading this on the commute home from an office day not knowing which Doctor and companion pairing this featured so it was good fun to see that it was the Seventh Doctor and Mel. They felt well suited to this kind of story and I liked how it took them somewhere different in the year of 1978. With that being less than a decade from when their one series was broadcast, it feels unique for Mel in particular to visit this decade. The Doctor has been here, there and everywhere in every incarnation so whilst this is rare for the Seventh Doctor, I liked that Mel got to experience more of the past. I thought the concept was a little whacky in the form of raining jellyfish but it didn't sound too far removed from a freak weather phenomenon. I have heard of there being cases where it has rained fish and that sounds frightening to say the least, so the image of jellyfish dropping out of the sky was almost baffling. I enjoyed the ludicrous nature of it, especially when Hydra emerged as a kind of jellyfish of the skies! That was humorous in terms of becoming a threat but he meant business. I liked the idea of him as a Cnidarian leaving an artefact on Earth that was a similar thing to those that humanity sent into space in 1977 containing a lot of information about who mankind were and what Earth was like. The Doctor talking of that as if it were history when the locals knew it had happened only last year was entertaining. I thought the Cnidarians were a little brutish though when it came to them collecting their artefact and then deciding that the Earth was now ripe for conquering! That's quite a jump from a simple retrieval mission. The artefact was something powerful though as it even drew the TARDIS off course. That was obviously going to intrigue the Doctor and here he was throwing himself and Mel right into danger. I thought the Doctor standing up to Hydra was good but he really did feel puny when it came to the way he was hoisted up and challenged! He dared speak out. The Cnidarians wanting to rename Earth as New Aqua was good and felt very much in line with The War Between the Land and the Sea which was quite fun. The resolution though was bonkers in how easy and borderline silly it was. The Cnidarians were essentially freshwater jellyfish and wouldn't do well on a planet covered in sea water. That felt a little crazy and I actually laughed out loud on the train when that happened. Hydra's reaction of such reluctant acceptance that the conquering would have to stop was almost stupid. I'm honestly surprised I didn't give the story a lower rating but I did really enjoy the initial buildup and the problems that were caused. Dr Leech was a strong character to go throughout the story and Ly being on the wrong side was a shame but that still made her an intriguing element of the story. Overall, quite ridiculous in parts but I did appreciate the water carrier ship tying into the Aquarius theme. A good little read.

Rating: 7/10