Decalog edited by: Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker

Doctor Who short fiction has had a varied history throughout the show’s run.  The first Doctor Who Annual was published in 1965 and featured several short stories featuring the First Doctor.  The annuals would continue publication through 1986 before being revived for the new series in 2005.  1966 saw the publication of Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space, a 46 page story sometimes cited as the first original Doctor Who novel, however, it’s more accurately classified as a novella or short story.  While Virgin Publishing began the successful New Adventures line in 1991 and by 1994 would launch the Missing Adventures line of books, in between releases of both ranges would be five short story collections.  Published between March 1994 and September 1997, the Decalog series spanned five entries, three focused and branded as Doctor Who releases, one as a spin-off exploring the family of companion Roz Forrestor, and a final entry providing ten original science fiction releases.  The first Decalog was published in March 1994, featured ten stories featuring all of the then existing Doctors from writers familiar and new to Doctor Who, and was edited by Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker.

 

Playback by: Stephen James Walker is Decalog’s frame story, taking the form of a conversation between the Seventh Doctor and a psychic.  The Doctor has lost his memory and goes through the many objects in his pockets to jog his memory.  As a framing device it starts out promising, but quickly becomes repetitive as another object is taken out of the pockets and quickly moves onto the next story.  There is eventually an actual threat posed by the end of the story, linking nicely in with a previous story in the collection, yet oddly not the penultimate story.  Walker as an author is more well known for his reference material for Virgin Publishing, and the style of prose really reflects this.  It is direct with little thought put into the characterization, instead going for stock descriptions of the different items.  Playback is serviceable, nothing more.  5/10.

 

The story that opens the collection proper is Fallen Angel by: Andy Lane which is the first short story to actually tell a succinct story.  Lane’s tale involves the Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe getting involved in an old fashioned heist story with the titular thief Lucas Seyton.  It is incredibly refreshing to read a story from Virgin with the Second Doctor that characterizes this tricky Doctor to full effect.  Andy Lane perhaps leans in slightly towards the clownish portrayal in areas, but much of the Doctor’s dialogue here is snappy and works towards him.  Jamie and Zoe are relegated to the background for this story, allowing the Doctor and Seyton to have this great rapport with one another.  The setting of London, 1933 is also used to full effect with foggy nights and policemen on patrol.  Fallen Angel may not become anyone’s favorite Doctor Who story, but it manages to entertain and set the tone for the rest of the collection more than Playback ever could hope to.  7/10.

 

Lane is then blown out of the water with Marc Platt’s entry in the collection, The Duke of Dominoes, a story which does not feature the Doctor.  Instead, Platt tells a tale of the Master marooned in Chicago during Prohibition where the reader can delight in the character being frustrated as his schemes go completely awry.  Platt portrays the Master as crafty, but being outwitted by the sheer stupidity of others.  Calling himself The Duke of Dominoes is fitting as the story is essentially a series of dominoes which falls around him.  The Master is put in the setting of protagonist for essentially the first time: the reader wants to see him succeed because he’s not having any fun without having the Doctor to fight.  Platt gives the character a pathos against his own situation.  His TARDIS has been stolen and really he only succeeds in his plans at the very last second due to deus ex machina.  Platt as always is a wonderful author and provides just a great story with a non-traditional protagonist.  9/10.

 

The next story is from a rare female author.  The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back is the first short story from Vanessa Bishop, who is more well known for her contributions to Doctor Who Magazine.  Unlike Stephen James Walker’s reference book style, Bishop’s is much more focused on telling a story driven by characters.  The title is a reference to the story’s theme: the Third Doctor snapping early in his exile on Liz and the Brigadier.  Bishop uses this story to explore the tension created in that first season of the Third Doctor’s era, especially during Doctor Who and the Silurians, and ends almost with the Doctor and Brigadier finding a new respect for one another.  This also explores the lengths the Doctor has been known to go and is willing to go in any given situation.  He is far from the complete pacifist that he is often portrayed as and Bishop’s story ends with that fact being reiterated.  There’s also this fascinating idea of an alien that tries to communicate but kills with its voice a la The Ambassadors of Death adding a layer of love to the story and the era it is a part of.  From this it’s a real shame that Bishop hasn’t written a full length Doctor Who novel for Virgin or BBC Books.  10/10.

 

Interestingly it’s the fourth story that actually features the iconic TARDIS team of the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane from editor Mark Stammers.  Scarab of Death while not suffering from his co-editors bland style, is a sequel to a classic story: Pyramids of Mars.  Sadly, this really is one of those sequels that doesn’t really do much more than rehash a lot of the material from the original.  Stammers does have a lot of fun by setting this story on the moon Beta Osiris, in a pyramid where Horus sleeps so there isn’t the threat of Sutekh to contend with.  This is much more focused on cult activity attempting to awaken the sleeping Osirian, but it eventually ends with a runaround in the pyramid.  It’s also a story that just feels out of place in the era that it is set: there is a lot of overt humor here as if this was a Graham Williams era story, not a Hinchcliffe one.  This isn’t saying that humor isn’t appreciated, it is and can add a great dynamic between the Doctor and Sarah Jane, but it just feels out of place in a sequel to a grim story like Pyramids of Mars.  Sutekh was a villain that could easily destroy Earth and that power is available to the others of his species.  6/10.

 

The Book of Shadows is the first short story that feels like it doesn’t fit at a short story.  This is an alternate history tale from Jim Mortimore, and like his other work is grim and leaves its characters with a choice.  It’s one that would fit better as a full length novel as Mortimore doesn’t have the time to flesh out his characters and alternate history.  This is a story about the First Doctor and Barbara in Macedon, at some point after The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but before The Rescue.  Barbara is sent through time and creates an alternate history where she has a husband and son in this ancient world.  Mortimore puts Barbara through the wringer, making her live eight years with her own son and is married to Ptolemy Lagus, who is utterly devoted to her.  Ian is essentially not in the picture here which is a shame as it feels like Mortimore had the idea to explore their relationship, but as it’s a short story, this was impossible.  As it stands it’s a great story, but really needs the expansion a novel would allow to really shine.  8/10.

 

Fascination is a fitting title for the weakest story of Decalog.  David J. Howe writes a tale for the Fifth Doctor and Peri that not only fails to keep the interest, but also is marred by a mishandling of adult themes in several ways.  There’s a lot of sexualization in Fascination, and while much of it is on the surface consensual, I’m not to sure adding in a mind control plot really can keep that pure.  The Fifth Doctor really does feel like Peter Davison of this era, but Peri is sadly less well burdened.  Howe writes her as the “for the dads” companion that John Nathan-Turner would often describe her.  Howe adds magical elements and invokes Clarke’s law in quite a few places, making the climax of the story a battle of words which is a bit fun, but this leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the reader in a lot of ways.  3/10.

 

A multi-Doctor story really wasn’t expected for Decalog, but that’s exactly what David Auger’s The Golden Door provides.  This story kind of does the Locum Doctors thing of switching companions, but Steven and Dodo are convinced that the First Doctor is not their Doctor, but the Sixth Doctor is.  Old Sixie isn’t really characterized the best, being brash and loud, which is an interesting contrast to the First Doctor who at this point in his life is much more, for lack of a better term, goofy.  The First Doctor becomes completely confused as Steven and Dodo claim not to know him and has an interesting chemistry with the Sixth Doctor.  This is also the story that ties in the most to Playback, and honestly it feels really weird that it isn’t the final story before Playback wraps up.  Still, it is a very fun story and odd that Auger did not much else.  8/10.

 

The second Third Doctor story in Decalog, like the first, is the highlight of the collection.  Again featuring the Brigadier and Liz, with appearances from Benton and Yates, Prisoners of the Sun by: Tim Robins is a story that deals with the fallout of Liz’s decision to leave UNIT in an interesting way.  This story does a parallel history thing where decades in the future Liz Shaw is responsible for finding a power source from the sun by implementing Time Lord technology.  UNIT has become corrupted with Mike Yates as the tyrant in a position of power which is just brilliant to read.  Benton is also evil here, as is Liz, but it really is the Doctor who gets self-reflection in the novel.  The Third Doctor is one who lacks self-awareness and this story is used to show his actual sadness at losing Liz Shaw.  There’s also a message for Liz from the Time Lords which adds an interesting layer to her character once the message is revealed.  The final scenes of this story will stay with the reader long after it is finished, and that is the best thing a short story can do.  10/10.

 

Paul Cornell gets the chance to write for his precious Fifth Doctor in the final story of the collection in Lackaday Express.  Cornell uses some of this story to explore the death of Adric in Earthshock and to tell a story that twists in time.  It seems that the film Groundhog Day is at least partially an inspiration for Cornell in this story as a woman is forced to relive moments of her life in her own personal hell.  The Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan have to discover what is happening with Catherine and how to stop it.  With a simple premise, Cornell sets up a short story that makes use of its short page count and characterizes its regulars brilliantly.  Cornell is clearly writing for a TARDIS team that he loves and it comes through, making their dynamic much nicer to read through than much of their TV run.  Lackaday Express has the charm and wit typical of Paul Cornell’s novels adjusted for the Decalog format and rounds off the set very nicely.  9/10.

 

Overall, Decalog is both an interesting experiment and success providing ten very different stories from ten very different authors and only one of them not being worth the read.  7.5/10.