Rec: Lying in Wait

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

Story: Lying in Wait
Author: johne
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1457
Author's Summary: In which the Doctor, Sarah and the Brigadier catch a murderer.
Characters/Pairings: Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Warnings: Do not attempt to consume beverages while reading.

Recced because: Okay, a little background. The UNIT / Third Doctor stories filmed in the early 1970s were set in "the near future" aka the 1980s... but visually, they're the most late-'60s/early-'70s things possible. Classic Who fans have spent the last thirty-some years wrangling over when exactly these stories take place, how to explain the anomalies, etc etc etc.

Now we get to the fun part. Johne proposes: "No-one can agree exactly when the UNIT stories are set. So they could have been in any year. Of any century." Thus - the "Really Stretching UNIT Dating" series, wherein UNIT goes about their normal business perfectly as usual... in the 1790s, the 1920s, 2020, and now Ancient Greece.

[ETA: Sorry, the original idea was not johne's. Credit goes to Daniel Gooley on Usenet's rec.arts.drwho, who suggested way back in '99 (1999, that is *g*), "I'd rather like to see some stories which really stretch UNIT continuity. Having the usual UNIT crew going about their usual business in an 18th century setting without a word of explanation, for example." Thanks to Johne for pointing this out! :D]

And it is glorious. This story in particular features Three, the Brig, and Sarah Jane, all being exactly as awesome as usual or a little more so, plus some offhand references to unwritten adventures in the same 'verse. Also, did I mention AWESOME?

(Full disclosure: the octopus in the bath was originally my fault, and I am a little prejudiced in favor of stories that use it. But it's still a fantastic story quite apart from that!)

(Also, Greek!Brig. I rather want fanart. *thinkyface*)

Comments

[mizz_destiny]

I was rather anxiously awaiting today's rec (yeah, I've loved what you've rec'd so far) and then THIS? UNIT in different times? Greek!Brig?

*dies*

I think I love you :)

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

Heehee, I have a fan! ^_^

Thank you! (Don't forget to review and tell the author you liked it, too! ;P)

[john_amend_all]

It always makes me feel slightly guilty when I get given the credit for the idea of timeshifting UNIT. As I point out in the author's note on the original story, it was originally suggested in a USENET post in 1999, and I just picked up the idea and ran with it.

And thank you for the rec!

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

Ah - thanks! I thought I'd seen you say something about the original idea being someone else's, but for some reason I thought the remark was buried over in the recesses of lost_spook's comments section. ;-) So I didn't check. o_O I've edited the post to reflect that, now; thanks for the heads-up!

And you're welcome! :D