Synopsis: A fellow Time Lord (Time Lady) named Iris Wildthyme visits the Third Doctor and Jo in the 1970s, but then all hell breaks loose. Killer sheep, rampaging stone gargoyles and unicorns, a mysterious race sending people down as characters from literature all the while worshipping a handbag which then disintegrate, a group of (Earth) children with advanced powers, the Master, UNIT's disappearence and a big green being named Verdigris... And that's just for starters. Review: It took an extremely long time for me to warm to the Third Doctor. To me (before this warming), he'd always seemed too angry, too arrogant. If I had to use one word to sum him up, it'd be "superior", that he feels superior, that we should just shut up while he went about saving the universe. But now I have warmed up to the Third Doctor, I can smile warmly with him. He's more like the uncle who gets annoyed and snaps at you for stealing cookies... But only because you'll spoil your dinner and he was planning to give you them anyway, with a wink. So when I read Iris Wildthyme, I was giggling. Not quite First Doctor method, but it was enough to make me laugh. Iris is just about as opposite in personality to the Third Doctor as is possible and sure enough, the author milks this for all its worth and the Doctor/Iris sequences are amongst the most memorable ever. You definitely get the sense that the Doctor will break out into a smile, the lines around his eyes crinkling. He is definitely enjoying this, as do the readers. The use of the Master here in this story is interesting, though why I can't tell you because it's a spoiler. Nevertheless, there are so many twists in this story, it would make the mind whirl, but it doesn't. Verdigris is neatly set out along a straight line and all the various little side plots and loose ends are stitched back together as the final twist of the story and unraveling of what Verdigris has been doing happens. Verdigris is just so cheesy and corny and over the top. But that's what makes it Doctor Who and this would easily have done well as a Third Doctor TV story. Sadly, it's not to be, but it does make a bloody good read.
Title: Verdigris |
2/19/05
