Doing Time

"Shepard wondered if he really was repeating events."

Writer: Lance Parkin

Format: Short Story

Released: December 2003

Printed in: Short Trips: Steel Skies 11

Featuring: Fourth Doctor

Synopsis

There are many places that most of us can never see: places that are sheltered, locked away, cordoned off from the outside world. But to the Doctor, and those who travel with him in his TARDIS, there is no such thing as a locked door. Anywhere in space and time is open to them to visit – even if sometimes it might be better to leave such places well alone.

Steel Skies is a collection of stories based in enclosed and artificial environments: places constructed to keep the dangers of the universe outside, perhaps, or to keep their inhabitants locked in. It is divided into four sections, each exploring a different kind of confinement:

Section One, Flight, comprises four tales of travellers who left their homes for far-away destinations – to explore, to start a new life, or to fight for the survival of their species.

Section Two, Frontiers, explores the corridors, living quarters and ventilation shafts of four futuristic environments – designed to shelter men, women and children from harsh natural forces, or from the threat of nuclear war.

Section Three, Incarceration, tells four stories of punishment and imprisonment, from San Francisco's infamous Alcatraz, to the cage of a flightless angel in the dilapidated ruins of Heaven. 

Section Four, Isolation, deals with the loneliness and despair of being cut off from the world outside, by physical or mental incapacity, by the ravages of war, or caught between destinations aboard the TARDIS itself. 

A recurring theme in all four sections is the effect of the Doctor's arrival in these enclosed environments – sometimes positive, sometimes less so.

Verdict

Doing Time was a great story to continue my reading of the Steel Skies edition of Short Trips! This was very much an example of being patient with an adventure as even though this was only eleven pages long, I don’t think it had anything close to my final rating until the last page or two. It was really cleverly done with the use of time here. Considering the nature of Doctor Who, it really is startling how little stories usually are about time itself. The Steven Moffat era went some way to change that but it has endless potential and this was a strong example here. The Fourth Doctor features here for barely a paragraph but that was all that was needed. He gave a warning to Shepard and the stark reality of that only came to fruition as the story went on. That was fun to explore. The trio engaged in the large scale theft of the rotor from within the heart of a TARDIS were great as two of them were oblivious to what was happening around them whilst Shepard realised perfectly. He was just a little too late. His realisation that they had already been captured and defeated was tremendous and showed that the Doctor’s warning was very real. The idea of the Time Lords punishing the trio was excellent as they were experiencing Déjà vu. I think this being a short story helped with that because I’m not usually a fan of repeated text to highlight events repeating, but it only happened a couple of times in this page count so it didn’t get repetitive. The very idea of repeating events getting repetitive as a reader is pretty amusing though! I really liked the description from Shepard in realising they had been imprisoned in a cell made of time rather than bricks. With the rotor stolen, they had no means of escape and would be doomed to repeat events over and over. When they want to be, the Time Lords can be ruthless and brutal in their punishment. It’s also incredible really that for the most part the prisoners don’t even know they’re serving punishment. There’s something rather sinister there! I think some of the terms in the story regarding women and how Shepard viewed them was a little unnecessary although it did establish that he was a bit of an unlikeable character. I almost felt glad he was stuck in time. I was interested though in the lack of description of the companion accompanying the Doctor. It feels strange for TARDIS Wiki not to list the companion but I’m leaning towards Romana II with the description of the dress, her being a looker, and the way the Doctor snapped at her saying he was dealing with this. I don’t think he would do that to anybody else other than the first incarnation of his Time Lady companion. So I’m definitely going with Romana! She really didn’t play any roll in the story though so it doesn’t matter but I do like how a talking point can become of something that literally has no meaning. The use of quantum state of panic throughout was good and I really enjoyed the last page as things got whacky and wavy with the text presentation literally sliding down and across the page. That was very nicely done! Overall, a fascinating story to continue the book! And a great use of irony in the fact Shepard felt claustrophobic inside a TARDIS because of being blocked in by time. Very clever. 

Rating: 8/10