Adventures in Lockdown

Although this slim volume looks like a young adult book it’s far from the truth. To fully understand several references and some of the short stories one has to really know the Doctor Who lore. A good fun for everyone but mainly for fans. ( )

This slim anthology collects Doctor Who material created or published during 2020's coronavirus lockdown; some of it was for the Doctor Who web site, some of it was released as part of the series of tweetalongs organized by Emily Cook, some of it is original to this book. I always like a good Doctor Who anthology, and this is a great one. Steven Moffat explains what the terror of the Umpty Ums is as the Doctor faces down the DeathBorg known as Karpagnon; Russell T Davies gives us a glimpse into the way the Time War could have ended if Paul McGann had regenerated straight into Christopher Eccleston; Neil Gaiman reveals an incident in the life of the Corsair; Pete McTighe discovers that the Doctor also enjoys watching her past adventures; Paul Cornell revisits both Daughter-of-Mine from "Human Nature" and Bernice Summerfield; Mark Gatiss reunites the Doctor with her granddaughter. All this and some great illustrations, too; my favorites included Valentina Mozzo's of the Doctor fist-bumping a Judoon and Chris Riddell's of the Corsair.

It reads briskly but it reads well. Moffat shows that he can always craft an engaging Doctor Who story by mixing the fear of a child with the solace of the Doctor and yet always find something new and fun to do with it. Plus, of course, good jokes! Davies's closing pages of a faux Time War novelization are an utter delight, firing off more great Time War ideas in ten pages than Big Finish has in ten dozen box sets.

I really like Paul Cornell's "Shadow" trilogy: three linked stories of the Doctor coming to doubt that her punishment for Daughter-of-Mine in "The Family of Blood" was just, though the best one is probably the one that has the least to do with that premise; "The Shadow Passes" focuses on the thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan spending time in a bunker on an alien planet. Cornell has a good grasp of the voices of these characters, especially the Doctor and Yaz, and make them likeable. I like the Doctor and her companions well enough on screen, but I feel that series 11-12 haven't done a great job using them. In fact, I think all of the authors here render a pretty great Doctor: Chris Chibnall, Moffat, Joy Wilkinson, and Gatiss also really shine. The promise of the thirteenth Doctor was, I think, a light of compassion burning in the darkness. The tv show struggles to make this work, often giving us a Doctor that seems ineffective and a "fam" that just stands there, but Adventures in Lockdown plays to her strengths, with Whittaker's compassion echoing off the page in a time where we need it most.

The only thing that didn't work for me is that seeing the script for "Rory's Story" is pretty pointless; that segment only worked for the novelty of getting to see Arthur Darvill play Rory once more. And though I did like "Shadow of a Doubt," it definitely loses something in not being read aloud by Lisa Bowerman.

Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown collects sixteen short stories, some of which were previously published and others which are new to this volume, in support of BBC’s Children in Need charity. The stories are “A Message from the Doctor” and “Things She Thought While Falling” by current showrunner Chris Chibnall; “The Terror of the Umpty Ums” and “Listen” by former showrunner Steven Moffat; “Doctor Who and the Time War,” “Revenge of the Nestene,” and The Secret of Novice Hame” by former showrunner Russell T. Davies; “Rory’s Story” and “One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes” by Neil Gaiman; “The Simple Things” by Joy Wilkinson; “The Tourist” by Vinay Patel; “Press Play” by Pete McTighe; “The Shadow Passes,” “Shadow of a Doubt,” and “The Shadow in the Mirror” by Paul Cornell; and “Fellow Traveller” by Mark Gatiss.

Chibnall offers an interesting prologue to “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” giving insight into the Thirteenth Doctor’s first moments after her TARDIS exploded. Moffat’s stories examine what the Doctor means to her fans, particularly in these troubling times. Davies’ short story, “Doctor Who and the Time War,” offers a nice what-if story about the Eighth Doctor and the end of the Time War that was eventually superseded by events in “The Night of the Doctor.” Gaiman gives Amy and Rory an epilogue following “The Angels Take Manhattan” while also expanding on the character of the Corsair, referenced in his episode, “The Doctor’s Wife.” Patel’s story, “The Tourist,” appears to act as background for the Doctor who later camouflaged herself as Ruth Clayton in Gloucester. Both MicTighe’s “Press Play” and Gatiss’s “Fellow Traveller” offer ways to reunite the Doctor with her granddaughter, Susan. Davies’ “The Secret of Novice Hame” and Cornell’s stories return to characters from the Tenth Doctor’s adventures – including Lucy Cartwright from “The Family of Blood” and Novice Hame of the Sisters of Plenitude from “New Earth” and “Gridlock.”

The stories are wonderful studies of the Doctor and her influence that work to give hope amid the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the stories were written explicitly for COVID Lockdown-themed publications, either originally digital or specifically for Adventures in Lockdown. Fans will enjoy this volume and it benefits a charitable cause while helping to keep the Thirteenth Doctor’s message of hope alive until her next televised adventure. ( )