The Doctor and his companions investigate the many mysteries of the fantastic city of Prague.
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Phill
on May 8, 2016 at 2:42 AM
SHORT TRIPS: DESTINATION PRAGUE
As Short Trips collections go, Destination Prague is more unusual than most: as a linking theme, it features stories set in one specific location — Prague — and it features a number of authors new to Doctor Who but apparently familiar in other circles. Unfortunately, it isn’t very good: the setting is predictably repetitive, and many of the authors struggle with the material.
Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna — Sean Williams — The first story to feature Prague somehow separated from Earth. There’s an interesting alien race on display, and Pertwee is well-presented with a moment of surprising poignancy at the end. This is a solid start to the anthology, though it’s emblematic of this anthology’s odd decisions when it comes to ordering its stories.
Room for Improvement — James A. Moore — Oh, what an ironic title. Bad characterization: Hartnell sounds nothing like the Doctor, and every supporting character, Ian included, is nothing more than a cipher positioned to ask “What is it, Doctor?” in increasingly breathy tones. The social commentary is amateurish, the resolution lacking in drama.
Life from Lifelessness — Keith R. A. DeCandido — The first of many explanations of the Golem story in this anthology. DeCandido easily captures the Doctor/Romana relationship, and makes for an entertaining and surprisingly forthright story.
The Long Step Backward — Mike W. Barr — Very odd story about evolution that features a believable presentation of what happens when disagreements occur at the highest levels of academia in a universe of alien monsters and retrograde mutation. Hartnell does much better in this story as well.
Strange Attractor — Paul Kupperberg — A second story with Prague cut off from the rest of Earth, this one uses a heady sci-fi concept involving an alien being who is a literal embodiment of entropy. It’s well-written enough, though it sort of undercuts the story when the Doctor defeats his foe by pointing out how ridiculous it is.
Gold and Black Ooze — Robert Hood — A third story with Prague cut off from the rest of Earth, and a second explanation for the Golem. Unmemorable, but for the wonderful perspective writing of Peri subsumed by the ooze, which makes the story worthwhile.
The Dogs of War — Brian Keene — Wait, what? By the year 2400, a race of sentient dogs developed by human science rise up, take over, and reduce humanity to a feral slave species that runs in packs? Didn’t this sound idiotic to anyone else at the submission stage? Also, what does this have to do with Prague?
Sunday Afternoon, AD 848,988 — Paul Crilley — A fun little time-twister of a story, sort-of-involving Time Lords and a refreshingly lighthearted McCoy/Ace pairing. The comedy double-act is cute, too — overall, this is quite entertaining.
Nanomorphosis — Stephen Dedman — The first of two stories about Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and it’s quite interesting. The robot police, assembled where needed by nanomachines, are fascinating, and I loved the idea of the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry running around Prague with a giant cockroach as a de facto companion. The resolution is sub-Agatha Christie, but it doesn’t detract from an otherwise entertaining story.
Spoilsport — Paul Finch — One of the best jobs of writing Pertwee that I’ve seen in quite a while. I find that Pertwee stories work much better if the author can achieve a note-perfect capturing of the Doctor, and Finch certainly does that. The subject matter is perfect, too — supernatural phenomena with a scientific explanation — and it involves just enough of Prague to be appropriate. Good stuff.
War in a Time of Peace — Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis — A fourth story with Prague cut off from the rest of Earth. It’s mostly unmemorable, but it does present one interesting character: a general doing what he thinks is the right thing in light of very limited evidence. Solid enough, for what it is.
The End of Now — Chris Roberson — Another oddly earnest season 17 story, complete with the sci-fi trope I’ve never understood of the unusual character who speaks in incorrect tenses. It works here, though, with the constantly shifting perspectives and times, and Roberson tries, somewhat successfully, to ground the threat in human desire.
Suspension and Disbelief — Mary Robinette Kowal — So short it’s over before it starts. What’s with the deus ex machina thing? “Inconsequential” would be the best word here.
Leap Second — Bev Vincent — More Time Lords, more time travel, and more conflicts in academia. This is competently-presented, to be sure, but everything is starting to blend together by this point in the anthology and I’m finding myself with less and less to say.
Lady of the Snows — James Swallow — Despite being the fifth story involving Prague cut off from the rest of Earth, this is the best story in the anthology. It’s a heartbreaking story — Yan is a desperately lonely yet sympathetic artist who meets and falls in love with an amnesiac Charley — with a brilliant perspective on the Doctor, floating in and out of events. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Swallow is one of the few authors in here who’s written Who before.
The Time Eater — Lee Battersby — A third explanation for the Golem here, and a badly-written Troughton, compensated for by an excellent Jamie. The ending is poignant, which makes up for the incomprehensible proceedings leading up to it.
Fable Fusion — Gary A. Braunbeck & Lucy A. Snyder — Perhaps the worst writing for any set of regulars in any published Doctor Who media in history. I don’t know who these characters are, but they bear as much resemblance to the seventh Doctor and Ace as I do. This completely ruins the story — the rest of it doesn’t even matter. And this took TWO authors?
Men of the Earth — Kevin Killiany — A fourth explanation for the Golem myth, and this one contains a run-of-the-mill sci-fi debate about mining for precious raw materials threatening a previously-unknown species. Again, it’s not a bad story by any means, but it’s not especially interesting.
Across Silent Seas — Tim Waggoner — It’s almost exactly the same story as “The Time Eater,” except much better-written: Waggoner nails Troughton, and even gives him an interesting, if sudden, recent history to lend credence to his inner moral conflict. Very good stuff.
The Dragons of Prague — Todd McCaffrey — Ludicrous, cavalier rewriting of Earth (and Doctor Who) history aside, this is delightful. McCaffrey clearly knows these regulars, and puts a perfect Tom Baker on the page. I also enjoyed the central conceit — a cooking contest — that gave the story a very Doctor Who-ish twist of absurdity.
Omegamorphosis — Stel Pavlou — The plot is silly at best, incomprehensible at worst, but Pavlou makes up for it with his scenes between the Doctor and Callum. The last paragraphs in particular are beautiful — shame about the Master, who really adds nothing by his presence.
Overall, Short Trips: Destination Prague has some distinct flaws: first, it’s terribly repetitive, with several stories seeming incredibly similar. Doctor Who has presented multiple explanations for historical events in the past, sure, but never multiple times in this close proximity! The setting is too limited: most stories strike me as wanting to “do Prague” by talking about the Astronomical Clock, the Golem, Kafka, etc. — but when these features turn up in almost every single story, they turn into an eye-rolling game of “spot the reference” by the end of the book. Secondly, it’s obvious that most of these authors have limited experience writing Doctor Who: only a few stories have commendable presentations of the regulars, and many feel more like Star Trek plots, complete with technobabble resolutions. I see this anthology for the experiment it was, but unfortunately I cannot deem that experiment a success.
SHORT TRIPS: DESTINATION PRAGUE
As Short Trips collections go, Destination Prague is more unusual than most: as a linking theme, it features stories set in one specific location — Prague — and it features a number of authors new to Doctor Who but apparently familiar in other circles. Unfortunately, it isn’t very good: the setting is predictably repetitive, and many of the authors struggle with the material.
Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna — Sean Williams — The first story to feature Prague somehow separated from Earth. There’s an interesting alien race on display, and Pertwee is well-presented with a moment of surprising poignancy at the end. This is a solid start to the anthology, though it’s emblematic of this anthology’s odd decisions when it comes to ordering its stories.
Room for Improvement — James A. Moore — Oh, what an ironic title. Bad characterization: Hartnell sounds nothing like the Doctor, and every supporting character, Ian included, is nothing more than a cipher positioned to ask “What is it, Doctor?” in increasingly breathy tones. The social commentary is amateurish, the resolution lacking in drama.
Life from Lifelessness — Keith R. A. DeCandido — The first of many explanations of the Golem story in this anthology. DeCandido easily captures the Doctor/Romana relationship, and makes for an entertaining and surprisingly forthright story.
The Long Step Backward — Mike W. Barr — Very odd story about evolution that features a believable presentation of what happens when disagreements occur at the highest levels of academia in a universe of alien monsters and retrograde mutation. Hartnell does much better in this story as well.
Strange Attractor — Paul Kupperberg — A second story with Prague cut off from the rest of Earth, this one uses a heady sci-fi concept involving an alien being who is a literal embodiment of entropy. It’s well-written enough, though it sort of undercuts the story when the Doctor defeats his foe by pointing out how ridiculous it is.
Gold and Black Ooze — Robert Hood — A third story with Prague cut off from the rest of Earth, and a second explanation for the Golem. Unmemorable, but for the wonderful perspective writing of Peri subsumed by the ooze, which makes the story worthwhile.
The Dogs of War — Brian Keene — Wait, what? By the year 2400, a race of sentient dogs developed by human science rise up, take over, and reduce humanity to a feral slave species that runs in packs? Didn’t this sound idiotic to anyone else at the submission stage? Also, what does this have to do with Prague?
Sunday Afternoon, AD 848,988 — Paul Crilley — A fun little time-twister of a story, sort-of-involving Time Lords and a refreshingly lighthearted McCoy/Ace pairing. The comedy double-act is cute, too — overall, this is quite entertaining.
Nanomorphosis — Stephen Dedman — The first of two stories about Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and it’s quite interesting. The robot police, assembled where needed by nanomachines, are fascinating, and I loved the idea of the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry running around Prague with a giant cockroach as a de facto companion. The resolution is sub-Agatha Christie, but it doesn’t detract from an otherwise entertaining story.
Spoilsport — Paul Finch — One of the best jobs of writing Pertwee that I’ve seen in quite a while. I find that Pertwee stories work much better if the author can achieve a note-perfect capturing of the Doctor, and Finch certainly does that. The subject matter is perfect, too — supernatural phenomena with a scientific explanation — and it involves just enough of Prague to be appropriate. Good stuff.
War in a Time of Peace — Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis — A fourth story with Prague cut off from the rest of Earth. It’s mostly unmemorable, but it does present one interesting character: a general doing what he thinks is the right thing in light of very limited evidence. Solid enough, for what it is.
The End of Now — Chris Roberson — Another oddly earnest season 17 story, complete with the sci-fi trope I’ve never understood of the unusual character who speaks in incorrect tenses. It works here, though, with the constantly shifting perspectives and times, and Roberson tries, somewhat successfully, to ground the threat in human desire.
Suspension and Disbelief — Mary Robinette Kowal — So short it’s over before it starts. What’s with the deus ex machina thing? “Inconsequential” would be the best word here.
Leap Second — Bev Vincent — More Time Lords, more time travel, and more conflicts in academia. This is competently-presented, to be sure, but everything is starting to blend together by this point in the anthology and I’m finding myself with less and less to say.
Lady of the Snows — James Swallow — Despite being the fifth story involving Prague cut off from the rest of Earth, this is the best story in the anthology. It’s a heartbreaking story — Yan is a desperately lonely yet sympathetic artist who meets and falls in love with an amnesiac Charley — with a brilliant perspective on the Doctor, floating in and out of events. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Swallow is one of the few authors in here who’s written Who before.
The Time Eater — Lee Battersby — A third explanation for the Golem here, and a badly-written Troughton, compensated for by an excellent Jamie. The ending is poignant, which makes up for the incomprehensible proceedings leading up to it.
Fable Fusion — Gary A. Braunbeck & Lucy A. Snyder — Perhaps the worst writing for any set of regulars in any published Doctor Who media in history. I don’t know who these characters are, but they bear as much resemblance to the seventh Doctor and Ace as I do. This completely ruins the story — the rest of it doesn’t even matter. And this took TWO authors?
Men of the Earth — Kevin Killiany — A fourth explanation for the Golem myth, and this one contains a run-of-the-mill sci-fi debate about mining for precious raw materials threatening a previously-unknown species. Again, it’s not a bad story by any means, but it’s not especially interesting.
Across Silent Seas — Tim Waggoner — It’s almost exactly the same story as “The Time Eater,” except much better-written: Waggoner nails Troughton, and even gives him an interesting, if sudden, recent history to lend credence to his inner moral conflict. Very good stuff.
The Dragons of Prague — Todd McCaffrey — Ludicrous, cavalier rewriting of Earth (and Doctor Who) history aside, this is delightful. McCaffrey clearly knows these regulars, and puts a perfect Tom Baker on the page. I also enjoyed the central conceit — a cooking contest — that gave the story a very Doctor Who-ish twist of absurdity.
Omegamorphosis — Stel Pavlou — The plot is silly at best, incomprehensible at worst, but Pavlou makes up for it with his scenes between the Doctor and Callum. The last paragraphs in particular are beautiful — shame about the Master, who really adds nothing by his presence.
Overall, Short Trips: Destination Prague has some distinct flaws: first, it’s terribly repetitive, with several stories seeming incredibly similar. Doctor Who has presented multiple explanations for historical events in the past, sure, but never multiple times in this close proximity! The setting is too limited: most stories strike me as wanting to “do Prague” by talking about the Astronomical Clock, the Golem, Kafka, etc. — but when these features turn up in almost every single story, they turn into an eye-rolling game of “spot the reference” by the end of the book. Secondly, it’s obvious that most of these authors have limited experience writing Doctor Who: only a few stories have commendable presentations of the regulars, and many feel more like Star Trek plots, complete with technobabble resolutions. I see this anthology for the experiment it was, but unfortunately I cannot deem that experiment a success.
Recommended for completists only.