This is an incredibly simplistically-written story. Nothing to really say here, it's straightforward.

This Story was clearly aimed for a younger audience and while that’s fine, i have to say it really doesn’t wanna work. And dare I say this one just doesn’t work at all for me. It is written competently for the most part, but nothing unique is there about. The Characters fall for me flat and the Story feels very rushed to me. Overall, not a great Short Story.

Quote

"...This is my ship. Welcome to the TARDIS,” said the Doctor, typing on a keypad below a monitor screen.

“It’s like a mad scientist’s lab.”

“Thanks! You can stay.”

📝5/10

Counting down to Whomas 2024, one adventure at a time!

Day 9: it's panto time!

MY SCATTERED AND TOTALLY IRRELEVANT NOTES:

This Doctor Who Adventure Calendar story, written by Mark Williams, follows the Twelfth Doctor as he crashes an ongoing pantomime and rescues one of its actors, Ceri, from a group of invading animal-human hybrids. The hybrids are described in a way that evokes Koquillion from The Rescue. However, as a brief story, it struggles to flesh out its characters, setting, or the transformation of the other individuals into various animals. The alien antagonists—beings made of light attempting to invade—also feel underdeveloped. Williams' prose is straightforward, but he doesn't quite capture the distinct voice of the Capaldi Doctor. The story concludes in a rushed and somewhat unsatisfying manner, leaving it feeling incomplete.

That was... fine.... I guess?

Overall there's some fun ideas here: creatures of light that form symbiotic bonds with humanoids, a panto cast getting turned into animals, a historical christmas with mummers (fun fact, I've done mumming a couple of times!).

But then it's all just so rushed and thrown together. The one off companion feels like a mouthpiece for panto jokes more than an actual character, and you never stay in one place long enough to breathe. Sure you can get through it in less than 10 mins, but I've read plenty of other shorts that lasted that long that were paced well.

This feels like someone took a bunch of doctor who-y ideas, and threw them into an exaggerated piece where the plot doesnt' really matter and is just a vehicle for fun. It's just a shame that unlike pantos, it sort of forgets that last part.