Calufrax

Story: Good ol' Captain Smaarg
Author: Pab
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 4,164
Author's Summary: The Master is to be executed. His last wish: to see the Doctor. His plan: to change places. And so the Doctor finds himself being taken for execution while the Master has the key to the TARDIS. As for Captain Smaarg, he's too concerned with paperwork. And Peri? She suspects nothing.
Characters/Pairings: The Doctor (5th), Peri, the Master
Warnings: None

Recced because: As I was observing the other day, I find something very pleasing about Doctor Who stories told from the point of view of the hapless or oblivious characters who have fleeting contacts with the Doctor and his companions in the course of their activities, and this is in part one of those. It also reflects the way in which the best things about many official Who stories are their weird and wonderful supporting characters, even if the main supporting character in this case is one of the author's creation. As I've reflected before, there is a school of thought that frowns upon fanfic which focuses on OCs, but I personally have no problem with it, and when these characters are as engaging and well-drawn as they are here, they can actually be one of the real pleasures to be had in reading fic.

The author's summary above pretty much covers the plot of this fic, but the plot here is secondary to the aim of telling a very mid-80s Who story, for the most part from the perspective of the officious, bureaucracy-loving, mammalophobic alien official Captain Smaarg, who really can't be bothered with these Time Lords and humans messing up his paperwork with their adventures. When I say mid-80s, I mean the way in which this fic captures so well various features of that era, such as the Fifth Doctor's quiet exasperation with the universe, the Master's sheer dastardliness and Peri's attempts at diplomacy. You can vividly picture the wonky, overlit corridors the story almost certainly takes place within, and the characters' costumes recycled from old Baker-era stories, and I mean that as a heartfelt compliment to the author.

Smaarg himself is a delight to behold, a sort of reptilian Gordon Brittas, but without the unconquerable optimism or, frankly, the essentially good intentions. Nevertheless, for all of his lack of imagination and petty-minded pedantry, he is portrayed as somebody who genuinely does love his job and think that it is vital to the perpetuation of the greater good, while remaining blithely unaware up to now of the unpopularity his pettifogging has given rise to among his colleagues and, indeed, everybody else he encounters. It's quite an achievement on the part of the author to make this character essentially sympathetic, helping the Doctor save the day at least as much as he hinders him. The fact that the story is also at several points genuinely laugh out loud funny certainly helps.

So go and check it out. I hope you'll like it as much as I did.


( A Snippet )

Story: In Alien Soil
Author: Lyricwritesprose
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1957
Author's Summary: Peri and the Doctor discuss botany, and the Doctor remembers what interests her.
Characters/Pairings: Peri Brown, The Doctor (6th)
Warnings: None

Recced because: Only the other day, I was discussing the venerable Who tradition of offloading surplus companions by marrying them off to random guest characters, and mentioned that I thought Vicki taking off with Troilus was actually one of the occasions when it worked as a storytelling choice. One of the more bizarre examples has to be Peri's apparent romance with Yrcanos at the end of Trial of a Time Lord. I think in recent years I've come around to the idea of it, however ill-advised it might seem. For one thing, it's a better outcome for Peri than the other alternative facing her in that particular story. For another thing, I've found that I actually quite like BRIAN BLESSED's turn in "Mind Warp" and his interactions with Peri - you can almost believe in their relationship if you, like, squint a bit. I also rather like the bizarre version of events given in the epilogue of the Target novelisation, where he somehow ends up as a pro wrestler in 1980s California with Peri as his manager. I think the main thing that's brought me around to quite liking Peri's ending, however, is that there is so much really nice fic out there about what she did next. And this, from a writer who needs no introduction around these parts, is a very fine example.

There is much more to this fic than that, however. We get a nice scene from the period when Peri was still travelling with Six, which features a discussion of botany (nice to see Peri getting a chance to use her expertise) and of Gallifreyan botany in particular. I'm a sucker for Gallifreyan worldbuilding at the best of times, but this is some tip-top stuff addressing a bit of lore we've all heard of but perhaps not thought too deeply about and in a genuinely science-fictional manner too. The part of the story set in Peri's post-Doctor period is just as good, with lots of nice hints about just what sort of society Krontep is (Yrcanos, you may not be entirely surprised to discover, is not some weirdly violent outlier as far as his culture and people go), and how Peri's time there hasn't always been easy but how she has managed to make a fulfilling life there. The main thing I like about this fic, however, is the great characterisation (something I always come back to when discussing fics I like); Peri and the Doctor both shine here, with Six's unique manner and verbosity coming through particularly clearly. I think it's Peri you'll remember afterwards, though, for her wit, her wisdom and her overcoming of adversity, as well as the heartfelt but not uncritical affection she has for both of the men in her life beyond Earth.

Well, go on - go and read it!

( An Extract )