The Doctor arrives on the amazing world of Funderell, which is covered by a giant gelatinous ocean that people can walk on… but stand still and you sink.
The Doctor arrives on the amazing world of Funderell, which is covered by a giant gelatinous ocean that people can walk on… but stand still and you sink.
THE SKIN OF THE SLEEK
With the sixth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures drawing to a close, I steeled myself for the inevitable series ending “spectacular” penned by Nick Briggs. The range is largely a test of endurance and the final episodes are always among the worst. But finally we’re doing something different: “The Skin of the Sleek” is the first of a two-part story, yes, but it’s written by Marc Platt, it doesn’t (yet) have any returning monsters, and, most surprising of all, it’s actually interesting!
There’s a lot of variability in Marc Platt’s writing. When he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s capable of producing all-time classic stories; often, however, his plots can be unfocused and his characters unrelatable. While “The Skin of the Sleek” doesn’t yet seem to be one of the greats, it’s definitely one of his better stories. The setting is utterly fascinating: a planet covered entirely by an ocean with a very high surface tension. In other words, you can walk on the ocean – but if you don’t keep moving, you’ll sink into it. The people who live on the planet get around by carrying methane balloons that keep them from sinking. I also like their society – it’s a bit of a generic “primitive hunting encampment” variant but Platt injects it with enough originality to keep it interesting, such as the Skalds, seers of the future kept chained to their journals. And, of course, there’s a dark secret at the heart of it all, which we will learn next month.
But it gets better – for the first time in a long time, a Fourth Doctor Adventure actually does something interesting with one of the main cast. A group of strangers with unclear motives has crashed on the planet, using drones to film everything for an eventual documentary feature. Their scientific researcher is Sartia (Joannah Tincey), soon revealed as a fellow Time Lord. She and Romana are old friends from the Academy, and hearing them reminisce about their past is incredibly refreshing. There’s nothing too surprising – it sounds like Romana was exactly what you’d expect her to be in school – but the simple recognition that Romana is a three-dimensional character and not just an irritable collection of put-downs is a first for this sixth series.
At this point, there’s not much more to add – “The Skin of the Sleek” is very much a setup for next month’s conclusion and very little of the plot is resolved. But it inspires a ton of confidence by creating a unique, interesting world while recognizing that there’s more to character than cliché. I’m genuinely excited for “The Thief Who Stole Time” and I can’t remember the last time I thought that about this range.
8/10