29 December, 2022

To Serve the Doctor and His Companions

I got some "Twin Dilemma" Sixth Doctor vibes early on as Ben and the Doctor bicker. I mean, just look at him in the opening illustration. The Doctor looks pissed off.

A sarcastic remark from his companion leads the Doctor to admonish:

"One day you'll goad me too far, young man," he said severely. "There'll come a time when, maybe, I'll have had enough of your youthful cynicism and I'll abandon you in the some world filled with loathsome monsters."

Polly even gets in on the action when she tells the Doctor to shut up so we've got the dysfunctional family thing going on here.

This is a decent enough story with some aliens that appear as Greek gods with a benevolent streak a mile wide but who have other, more sinister, designs. Some of the hosts are on the portly side and this is because they eat their guests!

GAH!

A well-trodden premise, perhaps, but there are some neat bits such as how Polly perceives the aliens' speech as music. And it's funny how the Doctor's recorder playing almost makes their guests' ears bleed as they perceive it to be nails on a blackboard.

A fine little story but the author should have eased off on the whole Tardis crew antagonism.

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