Stories Short Story Short Trips (BBC Books) Story: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 The Parliament of Rats 1 image Overview Characters How to Read Reviews 1 Statistics Quotes 1 Overview Released Monday, March 2, 1998 Written by Daniel O'Mahony Pages 27 Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) War in Heaven Location (Potential Spoilers!) Lethe Read Read Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Fifth Doctor Nyssa How to read The Parliament of Rats: Books Short Trips Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Default Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 1 review 6 April 2025 · 130 words Review by Newt5996 2 “The Parliament of Rats” by Daniel O’Mahony is the short story that really blows the rest of the Short Trips collection right out of the water. It’s the only Fifth Doctor story in the collection and it’s clear that O’Mahony understands really how to deconstruct who this version of the Doctor actually is. He is travelling with Nyssa post Time-Flight and the weight of the universe weighs quite heavily on him. This is through a story that is metafictionally aware that it is a short story so leads to a particularly surreal adventure. The characterization is wonderfully done, really making the Fifth Doctor feel like an old man who is slowly becoming tired with the universe as he faces an Eldritch horror. It hits exactly the right boxes for me. 9/10. Newt5996 View profile Like Liked 2 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating23 members 3.20 / 5 Member Statistics Read 43 Favourited 2 Reviewed 1 Saved 2 Skipped 1 Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite She wondered for the first time where the Doctor was. He would be either in the thick of the action or far beneath it, lost in a problem of his own. That would turn out to be the important one, she guessed. — Nyssa, The Parliament of Rats