This Puffin Books 2018 collection of stories about The Doctor’s companions feature four of the clever women who manage to avert disaster in The Doctor’s Life.
“Sarah Jane and the Temple of Eyes,” set in the time of the Roman Empire, presents a puzzle of why people suddenly are afflicted with blindness. A mysterious female cult factors into the plot. GRADE: B
My favorite story in this collection is “Rose and the Snow Window” by Jenny T. Colgan. Jenny Colgan, one of Diane’s favorite romance writers, has also written a lot of Doctor Who stories over the years, too. When The Doctor investigates a Time Anomaly, it sends Rose on an adventure that blends Russian aristocrats, sweet romance, and Time problems into a thrilling tale. GRADE: A
“Clara and the Maze of Cui Palta” takes the arrogant Doctor–who claims he can solve any maze–into a mind-bending maze where Clara and The Doctor may be lost forever! Very suspenseful! GRADE: B+
“Bill and the Three Jackets” by Dorothy Koomson revolves around the situation that Bill’s got herself another date and she wants to really dress up for this special occasion. Bill goes to try on three jackets, but finds herself getting far more than she bargained for. I found this the weakest of the four stories. GRADE: C+
If you’re a Doctor Who fan and enjoy the various companions, Doctor Who: The Day She Save The Doctor will delight you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Sarah Jane and the temple of eyes / Jacqueline Rayner — 7
Rose and the snow window / Jenny T. Colgan — 19
Clara and the maze of Cui Palta / Susan Calman — 105
Bill and the three jackets / Dorothy Koomson — 145
I know there are a fair amount of new-novella anthologies published in various sorts of romance fiction…wonder if media tie-ins are getting more of them these years.
Todd, that would seem to be the trend. There are several DOCTOR WHO collections like this on my shelves.
Never was able to get into Dr. Who. Not sure why-perhaps the tempo is too hectic for me.
Patti, I got into DOCTOR WHO in the 1970s when our local PBS station broadcast the series. Tom Baker was The Doctor back then. The pace wasn’t as frenetic as it is today.
There was also, in the ’60s and’70s Tom Baker episodes a sort of winking at the limits of budget and double-bttomedness of appealing o kids and older viewers. a bit more subtle than that of the ’66-68 BATMAN tv series or THE WILD WILD WEST, than is notable in the recent better-budgeted production. Latter day WHO has the same sort of clubby earnestness as latter-day STAR TREK or STAR WARS properties–or Marvel and DC adaptations, even when they introduce a certain degree of self-parody.
Todd, despite the crude Special Effects, those Tom Baker DOCTOR WHO episodes delivered plenty of entertainment value.
Exactly. Not just crude SFX, but cheap production values, but often witty scripts and performances. The next Doctor sequence seemed to go in for a fair amount of coded sexual s&m…somewhat less effective, to say the least.
Todd, yet all the Doctors have their fan base.