I really don’t have all that much to say about this one, where The Garden of Statues was an original fairy tale, and Frozen Beauty was taking inspiration from the fairy tale to basically tell a new story, this is effectively a retelling of the fairy tale with a Doctor Who coat of paint.
It does strike me as weird that one of the Time Lord’s fairy tales involves The Doctor as a heroic figure (the Eleventh Doctor at that), but here I can overlook that a bit more. Also the perfect choice for a Doctor to tell a fairy tale about, given a lot of his stories very much feel like them.
The Twins in the Wood - 7/10
I like this one a lot, and it’s definitely the sort of fairy tale I can see being told to Gallifeyan children, it does have a happy and hopeful ending, but it paints the outside world as dangerous, and Gallifrey itself as a place of safety, where you can life comfortably even out in the woods.
I think as a fairy tale there’s maybe a little much dialogue, but eh, I’m nitpicking.
A fun take on The Three Little Pigs that instead of teaching about building materials, teaches about battle strategy. This is definitely something I can see being a fairy tale told to time lords, and I like the way they’ve twisted a classic here.
Jak and the Wormhole - 7/10
Another just fun story, it feels less like a fairy tale more like a story that a parent would make up at bedtime for a child to fall asleep to, but it captures that essence perfectly.
It does strike me as odd as to how none of these fairy tales seem to be about gallifeyans, given that’s where they’re meant to have been told, but eh, they’re still fun!
I’m trying to come at it from two perspectives, first of these being stories you would read to a kid before their bedtime, second of these being stories gallifreyans would be read as kids.
Most of these are great from that first perspective which is the main thing I’m looking for, but a lot fail on the second
Taking a break from Border Princes to read a couple more of these
Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday - 8/10
This feels like a fairy tale, and one they’d tell on Gallifrey at that, which should be the bare minimum but Frozen Beauty didn’t.
There’s some interesting worldbuilding in there about the planet of Winter, and I love just how fairy tale the place is made to sound, the descriptions are excellent for this kind of tale, and the story itself while simple is very fun.
Not too much to say, just a nice time, I’d read this to a kid before bed which I think is the highest praise I can give these.
Little Rose Riding Hood - 7(?)/10 (No idea how to rate this tbh)
So, I’m not sure how to rate this at all. I’ve chosen to rate this in terms of the prose and as a fairy tale, for which I’m giving this a 7/10, but honestly it’s kind of baffling.
The story itself is pretty simple, it’s just a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, casting Rose as Little Red, Nine as the Woodcutter, and a Zygon as the Wolf, which makes enough sense.
For a fun little doctor who reflavour of a fairy tale, it’s great, I think I prefer it to Cinderella and the Magic Box on that front which does a similar thing.
What baffles me though is what I’m meant to make of the story. The conceit of this book is that these are fairy tales that Time Lords tell to children on Gallifrey, which is something I just absolutely can’t buy for this one at all. I also just can’t believe that this is an event that happened either though, it’s not like they’re mind wiped at the end, Rose and her grandma sit down and have a talk about what happened over tea, so like? I don’t know? What am I meant to make of this story?
I can see this being told as a fairy tale to time lord children, it’s basically just a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, and this time the Doctor Who twist on it still feels more fairy-tale.
Sure it’s an alien planet, an alien threat, and there’s technology mentioned, but the core of it is still much the same, and the Krillitane is seen as much more witchy through the lens of a child, which i think works to this story’s benefit!
The Scruffy Piper - 5/10
I rated Little Rose Riding Hood as a fairy tale not a story, so I’m unfortunately going to have to do the same here.
As a story, I loved this, Two dropping in on a space station that protects the galaxy from Cybermen, it’s crew distrustful of him, and him ending up Pied Pipering the invading Cybermats off the ship, what’s not to love?!
As a fairy tale though… Firstly, again, I find it hard to believe Time Lords would tell Fairy Tales like this about The Doctor. The Doctor as a ghost story sure, but why tell stories of The Doctor as a hero? This also has too much dialogue for a fairy tale in my option, and even ignoring that dialogue it’s written more like a kid’s short story with a twinge of fairy tale, than an actual fairy tale.
Most frustrating to me though is the art. Now, the art in the series is absolutely beautiful, and here’s no exception, but there’s a big problem with it for me. At one point in the story, there’s mention of one of the Cybermats having it’s antenna shot off, but the Cybermats depicted in the art are the Closing Time Cybermats, which don’t have antenna. It might be nitpicking but I don’t know, especially in a kid’s book, it feels like the art really matters.
Again, rating this as a story, much higher, but rating this as a fairy tale, it’s not the best.
It’s just Beauty and The Beast in a slightly sci-fi setting without the power of love to help, and with a bit of a Doctor-Ex-Machina.
I wish I had more to say but I don’t really. There’s not enough changes to the story for me to really say anything much about it, if you like Beauty and The Beast, yeah, this is it.
Andiba and the Four Slitheen - 8/10
On the one hand, would Time Lords really tell tales of Slitheen to their young? On the other, this story is a brilliant story for kids. Just the right amount of danger and silliness.
The Slitheen are a perfect antagonist for a kid’s story, horror and humour in equal measure. I’m especially glad that they don’t dwell on the potential fatphobia that comes with the Slitheen, instead describing the human form as ‘portly’ once, and not mentioning it ever again as far as I remember (also a fun descriptor when the story involves a winery).
Generally yeah, this story is just really fun, don’t have too much to say other than that I’d definitely read this to kids!
I’m tempted to read a couple of these as part of my Christmas reading this year as I strongly associate fairty tales with Christmas - probably because I love a panto!
I’m proud of you, @JayPea. Like delta, I feel tempted to give them (or at least some of them) a re-read, but in my case to see if I can find something to like in them that I didn’t find the first time 'round.
Then again, I’m partway into three different books at the moment, so maybe not.
But still, right now I want to keep progressing through 73 Yards, plus I have to read like a page of Night of the Kraken every day. And if I’m just nibbling I read another little piece of The Doctor Who File. The Fairy Tales can wait.
