For me I really struggle to sit down and read anything other than comics generally to be fair (I’m pretty sure I’ve got ADHD), but I’ve found I can focus a lot more if I have headphones in, just having something playing to distract from general ambiance and my surroundings helps focus on what I’m reading (Lo-Fi or Jazz cafe ambience on YT are my current go-tos).
It doesnt’ work for me if I’m just playing them generally, has to be right into my ears with headphones otherwise I get too distracted.
Other things that help a little are having a cup of tea with me, and also for me reading the ebook, highlighting the page up until the line I’m on and then dragging that highlighting down as I read helps me focus on the specific part of the page I’m at
Honestly not all that much to report here, it’s the origin story of the Cult of Skaro, pre-time war. We get to see Sec’s victory over the mechanoids that shows why he’s chosen to become Sec, we hear The Emperor’s reasoning for creating the cult, him giving them each names, generally just some fun stuff there.
Also learning that Sec’s casing is a reinforced but expensive version of dalekanium answers some questions as to why he looks like that (though admittedly also brings up a lot more generally about why no other daleks do).
I’ve also realised this is the last story with The Cult of Skaro I hadn’t seen, and their only appearance outside the TV show which surprises me, I know The Emperor has been touched on in other media but not The Cult?
I guess there being a straight line from The Doctor finding out about them through all their appearances until they all die is probably why, but still, absolutely nothing more done with them surprises me
I didn’t twig that this was the same person as A Good Man Goes to War until the mention of the Gamma Forest near the end.
A fun little bit of backstory for that character, but it’s too short to really make much of an impact, tied for the shortest in this collection. That said, seeing the impact The Doctor has on people through their eyes is always nice, so fun to have some of it here.
This suffers a similar problem to Mission to Galacton, it just makes the monster it’s representing feel far too weak. Admittedly here the cyberman has just been fixed but it’s still beaten by two kids and a model train set.
There is the threat of the children being upgraded, but the cyberman itself is still treated too robotically for me, being pieced back together and then repairing itself when it is.
That said, for a kids story, it’s fun, I like that both kids get a bit to do as well and that they chose the girl to be the one that’s more technically knowledgeable.
Clara having a fear of heights feels a bit out of nowhere, don’t think it’s mentioned in her TV stories (though I could be misremembering).
Other than that weird point though, this characterisation for Clara is great, it’s really a shame we dont’ see more of Teacher Clara, especially towards the start of her teaching tenure, most of what we do see is from when she’s already well settled into it.
Seeing how she views the kids is great, she really enjoys teaching and sees something in these kids that she wouldn’t’ve without The Doctor. It’s just really sweet, and the kind of thing that really works in this collection of kids stories.
Another super short story but another fun one, an interesting bit of worldbuilding with the future of London/reference to the Dalek invasion, and I always love the use of the TARDIS as a symbol of safety and stability wherever she goes. Opening her doors here to a lost child on the run who’s been able to take refuge there for a while before recovering The Doctor who in turn saves the boy.
Immediately the use of 6 and 7’s umbrellas tells you exactly what this story is going to be, just some fun references and great characterisation.
I love 12 using the username JohnSmith12, I love the blathereen being there because of course why not, I love that Iris is betting on the TARDIS to get spare parts, I love ‘Planet Wet’, I love that they use Rels for time measurement because this type of megabuisness is inherently evil
All in all, just a fun story to end on, and just fun is just right for this.
We see later that it takes a while to transform, at least long enough for the tissue rectifier to fix the girl’s eyesight, and for the girl to aim and fire. in that time Churl could maybe have killed it?
Plus Churl mentions that Rutans have no stomach for close quarters combat. It only shifts and tries to kill him in a more direct way after realising that he’s figured out the girl isn’t the Rutan
4.5/5
