2006-06-05
The Final Sanction
Author: Steve Lyons
PDA-24, w/ Second Doctor, Jaime, Zoe
The Final Sanction is a wonderfully basic Who story written for the second Doctor. You have your alien-of-the-month, your female-companion-in-distress, and to make it an Important Story, an ethical decision about History that could affect Time Itself! Boilerplate? It's a Second Doctor PDA -- written for an era that wasn't home to plot twists and dark schemes but rather straightforward stories of peril and fearsome aliens in bad costumes.
The auther can establish the ground rules right up front. In 2204, Ockara was destroyed by the first human deployment of the G-bomb. It's a fact. The Doctor can't interfere with this monumental event. But Zoe doesn't belong there. Can he get her off the planet first?
PDAs don't need to be read in order, in general, but this one may mean a bit more if you read Lyons's other adventures with the Selachians first. On the other hand I have read some of those and didn't remember the race at all, so it's not a big loss if you come in with no background. I wonder how knowing the course of these events will affect my later reading of the stories I missed, however. Probably not much, insofar as the "Sharks" are somewhat generic villians.
The Final Sanction moves quickly and maintains interest, working with the knowledge that everyone knows what has to happen and not against it. The worst parts are Zoe's early escapes -- you know where she has to be for the final act, so they're just wasting time. You can almost see the episodes unfolding, corridor chases and girlish screaming in prescribed proportions, marking time until it's time for part six. And if you like the '60s stories, that's not a bad thing at all.
PDA-24, w/ Second Doctor, Jaime, Zoe
The Final Sanction is a wonderfully basic Who story written for the second Doctor. You have your alien-of-the-month, your female-companion-in-distress, and to make it an Important Story, an ethical decision about History that could affect Time Itself! Boilerplate? It's a Second Doctor PDA -- written for an era that wasn't home to plot twists and dark schemes but rather straightforward stories of peril and fearsome aliens in bad costumes.
The auther can establish the ground rules right up front. In 2204, Ockara was destroyed by the first human deployment of the G-bomb. It's a fact. The Doctor can't interfere with this monumental event. But Zoe doesn't belong there. Can he get her off the planet first?
PDAs don't need to be read in order, in general, but this one may mean a bit more if you read Lyons's other adventures with the Selachians first. On the other hand I have read some of those and didn't remember the race at all, so it's not a big loss if you come in with no background. I wonder how knowing the course of these events will affect my later reading of the stories I missed, however. Probably not much, insofar as the "Sharks" are somewhat generic villians.
The Final Sanction moves quickly and maintains interest, working with the knowledge that everyone knows what has to happen and not against it. The worst parts are Zoe's early escapes -- you know where she has to be for the final act, so they're just wasting time. You can almost see the episodes unfolding, corridor chases and girlish screaming in prescribed proportions, marking time until it's time for part six. And if you like the '60s stories, that's not a bad thing at all.
