"Once, a girl called Ace traveled the universe with the
Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Now,
decades on, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire
philanthropist who heads the global organization A Charitable Earth. But
Dorothy is being haunted by terrible nightmares in which she’s abducted to an
alien world. Nightmares that begin just as scores of young runaways are
vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked
to sightings of sinister creatures – part man, part rat – lurking in the city
shadows? Why has an alien satellite entered a secret orbit around the Moon? And
how has Dorothy become a target for the victors in an interstellar war? Investigating
the satellite with Ryan, Graham and Yaz, the Doctor is thrown together with Ace
once more. Together they must unravel a malevolent plot that will cost of
thousands of lives. But can the Doctor atone for her past incarnation’s behavior
– and how much must Ace sacrifice to win victory not only for herself, but for
the Earth?"
The fate of companions that leave the TARDIS after many adventures is
always open for fans to interpret. The classic series generally left the fate of
those characters up in the air, mostly never mentioning what happened to them
(beyond the ones that have died, obviously) after they stopped traveling with
the Doctor. Still, some companions left impressions and fans over the years
have written stories and novels that dealt with the aftermath of their
departures. During the franchises “wilderness” years –between the 1989 end of
the TOS and 2005 reboot- many original novels were released that revisited
some of them. And while Sarah Jane Smith became one the most well-known
characters to get a life after she left the Doctor, one of most popular later
ones of the 1980s was left behind.
The character of Ace has been cited as the first
"modern" companion for the Doctor, one a lot of working-class viewers
could actually identify with for the first time. Ace suffered traumatic events
in her childhood, including a bad relationship with her mother Audrey. Adding
on to that, she witnessed a racially motivated firebombing of her friend
Manisha's flat when she was 13. Needing to lash out, she burned down a local
abandoned Victorian house named Gabriel Chase after sensing the presence of evil
and was put on probation. Consequently, Ace covered up her own fears and
insecurities with a streetwise, tough exterior. So Ace was written to be more
realistic, more three-dimensional and to grow as a person throughout her run on
the show and Sophie Aldred’s performance help elevate the character even more. It
was also clear that Russell T Davies based a lot of Rose’s personality on Ace,
which is probably why the modern series succeeded so well.
Now thirty-years later, the fate of Ace is finally resolved
(or one version of it, as these novels are not considered “canon”) as actress
Sophie Aldred (in collaboration with Steve Cole & Mike
Tucker) gives us At Childhood’s End. Before the series was
canceled at the end of 1989 after twenty-six seasons, work had already begun on
season twenty-seven. One of the stories planned was going to be Ace’s swan
song, a serial called Ice Time, which would’ve resolved Ace’s arc and the
Doctor’s manipulation of her. For the Marc Platt script would’ve seen the
Doctor enrolled her in the Academy on Gallifrey to become a Time Lord.
In this novel, Ace’s departure from the Doctor was much darker.
The book is okay, starts off great and gives a lot of
fan-wanking nods to Doctor Who past, but I found the whole rivalry between Yaz
and Ace a missed opportunity. I find it fairly out of character of both Ace and
Yaz having issues with each other –it falls into the silly trope of because Ace
is a woman, Yaz has to be jealous and thus compete for the Doctor’s attention
(I didn’t like it School Reunion as well). One of the other reasons Ace (and
Sophie Aldred) worked so well was her chemistry with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester
McCoy). While script editor Andrew Cartmel, along with writers Marc Platt and
Ban Aaronvitch, tried to make the Doctor more alien towards the end of his TV
run, the two still had this workable chemistry -but the interaction with Ace and 13th Doctor is lacking here. There is
too much awkwardness (some fans have been critical of Jodie Whittaker’s less
than warm feelings) and unlike other companion reunions, Ace and the Doctor barely
seem to know each other –so that’s disappointing.
But for long time Doctor Who fans, especially the ones
who adored Ace, At Childhood’s End is fine, quick read.
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