TV Club is currently discussing the merits of Planet of Giants and it got me thinking about stories where ‘miniaturisation’ is a trope. It has a long tradition in literature, especially children’s literature, from the Borrowers to Alice in Wonderland to films like Fantastic Voyage and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Here’s the page for the trope from TARDIS Guide (although I’ve already spotted it’s missing The Armageddon Factor so I’ll be adding that one in).
But I wondered if there were any other striking examples from across the Whoniverse that need to have the trope added?
What are people’s thoughts on the original plan for the show’s first every story to be one about shrinking - The Miniscules or The Giants as it was known? There are some interesting articles about this story in various magazines and production diary books.
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The Invisible Enemy which is a good episode actually, and Into the Dalek both come to mind straight away.
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Well the master definitely likes to shrink people, they just aren’t always alive after …
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Do we think stories where he visibly shrinks people - like Terror of the Autons, The Deadly Assassin and Logopolis should have the trope added?
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That was kinda what the trope was for in the first place but it got reappropriated…
Maybe they should be split into 2 different tropes!
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They are all forms of miniaturisation though so i don’t think we need to complicate things.
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Planet of Fire: Several inches tall Master.
Spyfall 1/2: The Master shows off having miniaturized someone in 1, miniaturizes someone else in 2.
The Halloween Apocalypse: Dan’s house is miniaturized.
Power of the Doctor: The Master refers back to miniaturizing Tegan’s aunt. Dan refers back to his house being miniaturized.
Timeless Children: The Master miniaturized Ashad.
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Because Lets Kill Hitler is on there, I think The Wedding of River Song should also count due to it featuring the Tesselecta!
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So the trope has been updated with people’s suggestions in this thread - has anyone got any other ‘shrinking’ stories they can think of, particularly comic strips? I imagine audio stories will be thin on the ground as it’s a rather visual concept for the audio medium.
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Aargh - The Ark! How did we forget The Ark?
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Oh a Trope that I experienced most Sto- oh never mind, looking at the second Page, we a lot of Stories which I haven’t experienced at all 
Of course, what is there to say what hasn’t been said about this Trope? It’s such a common Trope in Media, so much so that I believe I hear “Oh it’s the Fanstatic Voyage-Episode” occasionally for most long-running TV Shows (okay, maybe that’s more a Statement in regard to how known that film is).
Anyway, let’s talk about the Trope in Who, shall we? Of course, you have the brilliant Planet of Giants, which is just a lot of fun! Sure, it’s not the most eventful Story, but I quite like it, it’s very charming! There is also of course the Invisible Enemy, which I am on the Camp of liking it.
Looking at the List, there are plenty of TV Stories where I don’t remember where this comes in to play (obviously a Sign of me as a Fake Fan!), I will say I quite liked it how it’s used in Logopolis with Tegan’s poor Aunt! I also like the Imagery of small Ainley in Planet of Fire, which for me is a very okay Story.
In general, the Master seems to have a Thing for it, hmm..
As far as the Trope goes, I mean it’s a classic, a very visual Trope, but one that can be enjoyable. Then again it’s probably so common that sometimes, I must admit it makes roll my Eyes if there is not a new Spin with it. Like there is with Invisible Enemy or Into the Daleks, both used that Trope quite well in my Eyes.
While interesting to read about it. I am very glad we ended up with An Unearthly Child, to me this introduces the Show much better and starting the Show with a Historical, I think was the smartest Move. Very glad how Things turned out, after all we got a somewhat similar Story with Planet of the Giants a bit later!
