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TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Written by

Ben Tedds

Narrated by

Jacob Dudman

Runtime

38 minutes

Story Type

Competition Winner

Synopsis

Dracksil Forg sells ideas. For the right price, he's got a solution to every possible problem. His reputation is impeccable, and whilst his ideas aren't flawless, he has a 100% money-back guarantee.

Dracksil has started selling to a new type of customer. They are dictators, warlords; species having trouble conquering galaxies or controlling populations. However, for these clients, Dracksil's ideas keep falling apart.

There's something that unites these failing ideas. A name, screamed and whispered angrily among the rants of Dracksil's new clientele: the Doctor, the Doctor, the Doctor...

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3 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

Дуже класне оповідання про Доктора де майже немає Доктора, де автор з доброти Доктора не докручує фінальне покарання.

В своїй суті твір дуже схожий на іншого представника наукової фантастики — оповідання  What You Need, що був опублікований під псевдонімом Льюїса Педжетта, під ними писав Генрі Каттнер сам або в дуеті зі своєю дружиною Кетрін Люсіль Мур, тож точно автора оповідання ми не знаємо, але зараз і не про це. В оповіданні подружжя Каттнера і Мур розповідається про магазин, власник якого продає покупцю саме те, що йому треба. Навіть якщо клієнт сам цього ще не знає. 

Так само і головний герой The Best-Laid Plans продає клієнтам ідеальні плани. Щоб не захотів зробити/виконати/захопити його покупець — Драксіл Фроґґ створить той план, який потрібен. Яким би абсурдним він не виглядав — він точно спрацює. Проте на горизонті виникає таємничий хаотичний елемент — Доктор! 

Проте чому б Доктор став заважати простому продавцю ідей та планів?.. А все просто, Фроґґ не перебирає клієнтами, тож де факто стає співатором та співучасником купи злочинів, переворотів та геноцидів. Хоча він на це не зважає і це його не турбує, адже…

“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong!” Dracksil tried looking anywhere that wasn’t the Doctor, but his eyes were unrelenting magnets. “These are just ideas! I sell ideas! And people do with them as they wish. It’s their choice.”

Тобто, так — це оповідання про те, що всі хто доклалися до злочину мають понести покарання, навіть якщо вони не хотіли цього робити. Єдине, що мені трохи не подобає так це те, що Доктор дає Фроґґу другий шанс. Але не те щоб я здивований, бо це все ж історія про Доктора, про творіння добра і другі шанси для тих, хто на них заслуговує. І Фроґґ на думку Доктора один з таких.

“You didn’t know what you were doing. I don’t have a problem with you selling ideas, Dracksil. I do have a problem with you becoming a consulting agency for tyrannical murderers. You aren’t a bad person. You just like your job too much. You looked for a way to make it more interesting, giving you more influence over causality. Now that has backfired...”

Я розумію, що з нашого українського бекґраунду слова “You aren’t a bad person. You just like your job too much” звучать як насмішка та абсурд, та все ж дамо трохи фори закордоним авторам. 

Ну і Фроґґ дійсно виправдав свій другий шанс.

A very clever tale about the Doctor where there is barely any Doctor, where the author does not impose the final punishment with the kindness of the Doctor.

At its heart, the work is very similar to another representative of science fiction - the story What You Need, which was published under the pseudonym Lewis Padgett, a name used by Henry Kuttner either alone or in collaboration with his wife Catherine Lucille Moore, so we definitely do not know the author of the story, but that's not the point now. In the story, the Kuttner and Moore couple tells about a shop where the owner sells exactly what the customer needs. Exactly what he needs. Even if the client does not yet know it.

Similarly, the main character of The Best-Laid Plans sells clients perfect plans. Whatever his customer wants to do/accomplish/capture - Dracksil Frogg will create the plan needed. No matter how absurd it seems - it will definitely work. However, on the horizon emerges a mysterious chaotic element - the Doctor!

But why would the Doctor interfere with a simple seller of ideas and plans?.. It’s simple, Frogg does not discriminate among clients, thus de facto becoming an accomplice in a bunch of crimes, coups, and genocides. Although he doesn’t mind and it doesn’t bother him, because…

“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong!” Dracksil tried looking anywhere that wasn’t the Doctor, but his eyes were unrelenting magnets. “These are just ideas! I sell ideas! And people do with them as they wish. It’s their choice.”

So, yes - this is a story about everyone who contributed to a crime must face punishment, even if they didn't want to do it. The only thing I like a bit less is that the Doctor gives Frogg a second chance. But I’m not surprised, because it is still a story about the Doctor, about creating good and second chances for those who deserve them. And according to the Doctor, Frogg is one of such individuals.

“You didn’t know what you were doing. I don’t have a problem with you selling ideas, Dracksil. I do have a problem with you becoming a consulting agency for tyrannical murderers. You aren’t a bad person. You just like your job too much. You looked for a way to make it more interesting, giving you more influence over causality. Now that has backfired...”

I understand that from our Ukrainian background the words “You aren’t a bad person. You just like your job too much” sound like mockery and absurdity, but nevertheless, let’s give some leeway to foreign authors.

Well, and Frogg really justified his second chance.

(Translation generated by AI, so mistakes are possible).


Yar_Nazarenko

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This review contains spoilers!

A person can come up with the perfect ideas, and doesn't mind if monsters come to him with those ideas. Predictably, the Doctor isn't impressed.


Guardax

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This review contains spoilers!

The concept of an “accidental idea thief”—someone who steals people’s plans and unwittingly returns them—is a really compelling one, and the story gets good mileage out of it. I enjoyed how the Doctor foils this plan and encourages the character to use their powers for good. Initially, the character is indifferent to the impact of their actions, not caring whether the consequences are positive or negative, which I found interesting.

I also liked the twist at the end. It seems the Doctor had planted the idea for the character’s eventual course of action in their mind at some point in the past, though I’m not entirely sure I fully understood the realisation the character has at the conclusion. Regardless, the journey was enjoyable, and it was clever to see the Doctor subtly disrupt and infiltrate this person’s life’s work.


15thDoctor

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