The First Doctor #24

'Quinnis' (2010) from The Companion Chronicles.

More than anything this has made me excited for the future adventures with Susan and the Eighth Doctor with her son Alex, and the brief frame story of her mentioning that is cute. The main story itself however didn't really work for me. The setting was quite visually striking (at least in the way I pictured it - in a way very influenced by Elden Ring which I'm playing at the moment), but for some reason I found the rest of the plot quite disinteresting, with Meedla and the Shrazer - I also didn't pick up that the woman villager simply owned a piglet, and didn't herself look like a piglet, so I assumed all of the village people looked like pigs as well. More of a me problem there, although I kind of preferred that.

Susan narrates this story and it helps to have heard some of the eighth Doctor audios as she refers Alex - who you probably won't know otherwise. That said its only a reference at the beginning and end so it doesn't really affect the plot.

Quinnis - this is mentioned in the Edge of Destruction as somewhere the Doctor and Susan visited before meeting Barbara and Ian, so its quite nice to have an adventure that fits into continuety.

The TARDIS forfills its original intention here of blending in with the background, but not as indiscreetly as the Doctor would like, and again its a nice touch as you remember the lines in an Unearthly child where the Doctor mentioned it hasn't changed.

The Doctor and Susan arrive in Bridgetown, literaly a town built on bridges, and the people need the rain to come, its up to the Doctor be the rainmaker.

I quite liked this, the idea of the town is good, a simple setting for an early adventure. I would have liked this to have been longer, the town and its people explored more, the plot itself isn't particularly intricate. Susan makes a friend but isn't quite who she thought they were.

I do like the early stories - there's an innocence to them. I enjoyed this.

It opens with Susan having left the doctors years ago reminiscing about how young n reckless she was in a past adventures, when Susan accidentally put many peoples lives in danger. Instantly hooked in this story.

At the market place on Quinnis a character calls the Doctor a rain maker and Susan finds this rare fish in a bottle i love these slice of life scenes, even having jokes of the doctors pockets having extremely random things is a nice touch. As this girl watches on, this girl is called Meedla and she later befriends Susan.

After a few moments its revealed the town turned the old rain maker away, they saw them as bad luck. This scene continues leading to the people of Quinnis trying to burn the rain makers house down. The Doctor forcing the people to put the fire out with water which is very precious but the Doctor promises that he will make it rain for them. So the doctor is locked away as Susan is told to go back n forth to get the doctor equipment, on her way back to the Tardis Susan tries to save Meedla from a net but suddenly there washed away the Tardis included.

As the next part starts Susan has a nice scene of survivors guilt and her saviours let them stay with her. Turns out Susan saving Meedla was a bad thing as she was feeding on her misery I’m not gonna lie this story is very slow and this felt like it came out of nowhere. However Meedla is quite a good villain, probably the best part of the story even saying the future for Susan is dark and painful. I guess it’s reason for her feeding on Susan.

While all this is happening the Doctor spots the Tardis and tries to get to it as the vegetation starts to attack the town, the story start picking up again very Pompeii esc, but just as quickly as it’s picked up it’s dropped down. Meedla is killed and the Doctor says Susan must get some people to teach her to not be so reckless. The episode ending with the Tardis landing in London 1963 for the first time giving us a taste of what’s to come in the future.

I’m kind of shocked I didn’t click with this one cause, well it’s Marc platt he wrote some amazing stories at the start of this marathon. Oh well.

A fairly bland story that plays like an historical, without actually being historical.

The Doctor and Susan land on the planet Quinnis, where the people are suffering from droughts. Thanks to his stubbornness, the Doctor accidentally promises that he will be the new rainmaker for these people. With Susan as his assistant, the two of them unwillingly try to save the day. But trouble looms from above, as a crow-like creature seems to cause bad luck wherever it goes.

Quinnis has a bit of a mythical reputation, because it actually has its origin in the TV show. In “The Edge of Destruction”, Susan mentions that she and the Doctor visited the planet on one of their early adventures. So this story actually plugs an existing hole.

Which makes it a bit sad that I found the story to be dull in multiple places. I was hoping it would be more special.

The problem mostly lies in predictability. The story never really manages to feel tense. You never really wonder what will happen. This is mostly because of our “big bad”.

I’ve already mentioned the crow-like creature that is pestering the people and bringing bad luck, but I haven’t mentioned how obvious the story is about this villain. While in town, Susan meets a girl named Meedla, who mentions that she doesn’t belong and feels out of place. She also mentions upcoming cataclysmic events. At the same time, she manages to pop up every time the crow is seen. She is even found in a trap set for the crow-creature. I think we get the hint. Meedla is the crow.

Yet the story expects us to be stupid. We aren’t supposed to know who the creature is until the last 10 minutes. And Susan just can’t believe her true friend she’s known for 2 days could be a bad person, so it’ll take her a bit. We’re basically just waiting for Susan to get on our level and reveal the truth.

And it’s a long wait, because the story has very little to distract us. The world of Quinnis is not exactly imaginative. There’s just some superficial worldbuilding. The townsfolk act generic medieval, to the point of there being a woman who’s identifying trait is carrying a piglet. For an alien world, it all feels barebones and human to a fault.

The world itself sparks a little more imagination, consisting mostly of viaducts and stone structures, while being high in the sky. But this never really feels all that relevant. It’s just set dressing and not all that engaging.

I think it would’ve helped if there was a bigger link between the world and the society. We have this world high in the sky, yet there are basically people living there. How did that happen? Who built the structures? And why? What struggles do people these face at higher altitudes? What keeps them up there?

I think playing with these questions would lead to a better world overall. Right now, it just feels like we’ve settled for the basics. It could be way more!

Hell, our enemy is a bird. Why not make the people birdlike as well? Play into some avian behaviors! Crows are notoriously smart, but other birds have interesting traits too! A 2 minute Google shows me that Woodpeckers have multi-days wars that other birds like to watch! That sounds almost gladiatorial! I’d be on board with that for a story!

Or, if you want to keep your medieval setting, why not pull a “Mother Russia” and let the Doctor and Susan truly integrate in the society for a while? This story ends with them heading to 1963 to settle, so why not make this a similar attempt to live in one location for a while? The story mentions the idea that Susan needs people her own age, which matches earlier/later moments in stories. So why not go all in on that? It is almost a footnote as it is now.

To be clear, I am not saying I could write a better story, I’m just saying that this story could’ve had a lot more substance. The main mystery is incredibly obvious and there is nothing else that can keep your attention. If the world was fleshed out more, the story would have more to offer. A reason to stick with it.

Because right now, Quinnis feels bland. This mystical world that was fondly remembered in the tv show feels like one in a million, and that’s a waste. It has little worldbuilding, only a bit of tacked on character work and nothing that really gets its hooks in you. Quinnis is a drop in a bucket of stories, nothing more.