Note to self, remember to say hello when walking into an empty room.

• Dundee, Scotland, 2004. The migration of the Serapheem mysteriously passes the Earth far earlier than usual. At the same time, dozens of teenagers have seemingly vanished all in one night. Detective Jana Lee is on the case. And the Doctor is sticking his nose in. As usual.

Girl Deconstructed is a remarkably simple and concise story, all about not taking loved ones for granted, talking to people about anything and everything, and a unique modern twist on a ghost story. According to the behind-the-scenes interviews, all three writers for this box set agreed to do a typical present, past and future story, echoing the pattern of the RTD series. In that respect, Girl, Deconstructed is the simple earthbound story of this set, where the sci-fi elements take a back seat to the characters and drama.

I think one of Lisa McMullin’s biggest strengths with this story is the humour. There are so many, quips and jokes in this audio to count. It never feels like the humour distracts from the stakes of the story, that being a missing persons case, and nearly every joke lands. Shout out to the two Doctors scene in particular. Jana Lee also makes for a likable companion surrogate, slowly starting to believe the Doctor the longer the story goes on. She also gets a great scene with the Doctor when she asks the obvious, “why can’t we go back in time and stop blank” and the Doctor tells her how her future will change. Also, shout out to Christopher Eccleston monologues. That man could read the phone book and make it sound interesting.

One thing I will critique is the pacing. This story is very quick and concise, the shortest story in the box set at (basically) 48-minutes. While this does help the story fly by at a rapid pace, it also means that we don’t spend as long on some aspects that I think the story should. Namely the family drama between Marnie and her father Kurt. It just feels like there should be more scenes and more focus on the idea of a teenager who can watch their parent without knowing. We do get a good scene at the start and one in the middle. But I can’t help but feel like there should be more, though that’s entirely subjective. Additionally, the ending itself is a bit…on the nose. Don’t get me wrong, the story’s heart is in the right place with what it wants to say, but the final monologue from Douglas feels a bit “here is the message of the story in case you missed it”.

I don’t want to sound too negative in this review because Girl, Deconstructed is a very good and very snappy story. I just have a few little nit-picks with it that hold it back just a touch. A great start to a great box set.

Not only does Eccleston continue to perform but we are treated to an episode that feels plucked from the 2004 series we never had. I had chills. I teared up at one point. Lots of poignant moments in the script that the cast knock out of the park. Its a simple story expertly written and executed.

Girl, Deconstructed is a very, very standard story about a ghost girl the Doctor must rescue. It really isn't anything exceptional in terms of creativity of story - it's all a pretty standard sci-fi affair, and even the relationship between our ghost girl Marnie and her father feels very typical for a story like this.

Where Girl, Deconstructed gets much, much stronger is in execution. It's a standard story, but done really well. Everyone is doing a good job acting. Jana Lee as a sort of one-off companion was a little boring, but she's a competent enough detective she didn't come across as a useless character, either. I love the scene where the Doctor is explaining the nature of the sci-fi monsters involved. The special effects and music just evoke this sweeping sense of scale as the Doctor is explaining these cosmic beings, and it does a great job at making us feel suddenly like we are in space, getting this explanation of something completely alien to our world.

This was a nice palette cleanser after Ravagers and in general is where I would recommend people start here when experiencing Eccleston's return. It is such a cleaner start to the character after so many years away and just works for the exact reasons Ravagers didn't - where that three part set was overbloated, told out of order, and unfocused, "Girl, Deconstructed" is far more on point and much more tightly written. Overall, I think this is a great way to get back into the character with such a nice and simple story.

The Ninth Doctor #9

'Respond to All Calls: Girl, Deconstructed' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

A significant step up from the Ravengers stories for me, with the more low-key setting and mostly low-key problem going on. Nine fits in much better against the missing persons officer and father and teenage girl here than with big sci-fi conglomerate heads and whatever else. Still quite a bit too much techno-babble at times, but much more character focused which I like and it had an interesting story, was well performed all round, and some really great music in particular as well. For some reason I thought that Nova was being set up as a proper companion for these Ninth Doctor Adventures titles, so honestly a bit of a shame to not see her continuing, and maybe that's a good reason for me to revisit Ravengers. But I do appreciate the anthology nature of the stories in this box set compared to the behemouth three-hour story in the previous one.

Now THIS is a Ninth Doctor story. I liked Ravagers well enough, but this story really made remember just why I loved the Ninth Doctor so much. Christopher Eccleston is just endlessly captivating. Loved this.

A+.