“The Doctor travels back to
the Ancient Days, an era where life flourishes and death is barely known. Then
come the Kotturuh – creatures that spread through the cosmos dispensing
mortality. They judge each and every species and decree its allotted time to
live. For the first time, living things know the fear of ending. And they will
go to any lengths to escape this grim new spectre, death. The Doctor is an old
hand at cheating death. Now, at last, he can stop it at source. He is coming
for the Kotturuh, ready to change everything so that Life wins from the start.
Not just the last of the Time Lords, but for everyone else.”
Time Lord Victorious was
multi-platform Doctor Who story released in 2020 and was told across audio,
novels, comics, vinyl, digital, immersive theatre, escape rooms and games. The
genesis of this idea begins after the events of The Waters of Mars episode,
where during his visit to Bowie Base One in 2059, the Doctor came to believe
that, as the last of the Time Lords, he should be in control over the Laws of
Time. He demonstrated this by breaking a fixed point event in time to rescue
three members from The Flood on the station. Adelaide Brooke, who was supposed
to die, is angry with the Doctor after she and two others are saved. After the
Doctor confirms her suggestions that he was effectively omnipotent and
unstoppable, she decries the implications of his actions as "wrong"
due to how "nobody should have [such] power.”
Following Adelaide's
subsequent suicide, the shocked Doctor, sees a vision of Ood Sigma (from the
episode Planet of the Ood) and returns to the TARDIS, pondering the omens of what
he now knows his forthcoming regeneration. But the change to history created a Time
Fracture, where the Doctor uses to flee to the Dark Times. There, he seizes the
opportunity to end death by infecting the Kotturuh with a modified version of
their own infection, believing he could completely rewrite history for the
better.
In the early years of the
series revival, you got a sense with the Ninth Doctor that he felt guilty for
the events of the Time War and his part in it. As the series approached its 50th
Anniversary in 2013, we got a brief glimpse into motivations of the Eighth
Doctor, who tried at first to stay out of the battle between his Time Lord race
and the Daleks. But all too soon, he realized the only way to stop the battle,
was to get involved with it, regenerating into the War Doctor. Afterwards, he
became the Ninth Doctor and carried the guilt with him. By the time the Tenth
Doctor arrived at Bowie Base One in The Waters of Mars, and what those events
triggered, is the basis for two short novels.
It’s a clever story, with Cole
capturing the voice of the Tenth Doctor very well. Much like the Daleks, the
Kotturuh are evil creatures and much like the Classic serial Genesis of the
Daleks, the Doctor is given a choice to eliminate an enemy at their rise –with the
idea of saving countless lives and worlds. But here, we don’t really know if
the Doctor is going to do it. We see him slightly doubtful, and once again,
struggling with the notion he must give the Kotturuh a choice and whether he
should. But, again, he has declared himself the "Time Lord
Victorious", claiming that his word was eternal.
It’s an effective story,
serious and sometimes hilarious, with a shocking cliffhanger that actually
makes me want to read the second book –which is up next.
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