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“GATECRASHERS: TELEPORTATION, NITRO-9, AND A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING”

Gatecrashers, the opening story of the Target Storybook collection, starts off with a glimmer of intrigue. The Thirteenth Doctor and her Fam stumble across the body of a dead alien girl and find themselves caught up in the mystery of her murder. It sounds promising: a world built entirely around teleportation technology, with no doors or windows, just endless transmat jumps between buildings and areas. Sadly, despite this rich concept, the story never truly takes off.

There’s barely any exploration of the setting or its people. The world’s reliance on transmat tech is noted but barely used to build any tension or flavour. The result is a story that feels hollow and undercooked – a neat idea left dangling without consequence.

WHERE DID EVERYONE GO?

Strangely, the only characters we meet beyond the Doctor, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham are the villain – and even he barely registers. There’s no bustling alien society or colourful characters to flesh out this teleportation world, no sense of culture, daily life, or how this radical way of living affects people. The Fam spends most of the story teleporting between empty places, talking amongst themselves. Without any new faces to bounce off, their interactions feel weirdly sterile.

Even more surprising is how far off the characterisations are. Joy Wilkinson, who gave us the lively and well-drawn The Witchfinders on TV, somehow fumbles the personalities here. Thirteen’s dialogue feels flat, Graham’s wit is dulled, Ryan and Yaz are generic, and their dynamics lack the sparkle and warmth that usually defined them on screen.

A FORGETTABLE FOE

As for the villain – blink and you’ll miss him. He barely makes an impression before he’s defeated, muttering some unconvincing technobabble about using imagination and brainpower to fuel the city. There’s actually a good idea buried in there: the horror of a society that feeds off mental energy could have been chilling. But the story doesn’t dig into it, doesn’t give the villain any presence or threat, and wraps it all up far too quickly.

The climactic sequence, with Ryan and Yaz briefly captured and Thirteen orchestrating a dramatic escape using leftover nitro-9, is a rare flash of excitement. It’s fun to see Thirteen channeling a bit of classic Ace-style anarchism. But even this explosion can’t rescue a story that feels like it’s still clearing its throat by the time it’s suddenly rushing towards the end.

ALL BUILD-UP, NO PAYOFF

Gatecrashers spends too much time setting pieces in place without making them matter. When it finally pulls the trigger, the ending comes at a sprint and feels unearned. Threads that could have been interesting are dropped, and the teleportation gimmick that could have been woven cleverly into the action is left as little more than background noise.

It’s disappointing because there’s real potential here – Wilkinson’s TV work showed she could write for these characters and handle strong ideas. But Gatecrashers feels rushed, lifeless, and ultimately forgettable.

📝VERDICT: 4.6/10

Gatecrashers has an intriguing sci-fi idea at its heart but squanders it with flat writing, mischaracterised leads, a nonentity villain, and a rushed ending. Despite a fun final nod to classic Doctor Who with Thirteen’s use of nitro-9, the story never builds meaningful momentum and leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied. An unfortunate stumble out of the gates for the Target Storybook collection.