This week saw the release of the Doctor Who Short Trip “All Hands on Deck.”
At long last, it begins to explore one of the great unanswered questions of the era. What happened to Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter?
It would have been easy to answer this question with darkness, instead of hope.
It would have been easy to answer this question with a Doctor who responds to the situation with darkness, instead of more eighth-Doctor-like hoaxes and pranks.
It would have been easy to answer this question with pointless nihilism, than on the hopeful note of Susan making a positive decision for herself.
Among all the Time War stories out there–to say nothing of the Second War in Heaven stories–it is one the standout successes. Eddie Robson is to be congratulated.
You can (and should) purchase “All Hands on Deck” at this link.
But what makes it such a success? What lessons should be applied to other Time War stories?
What makes a great Time War story?
(Spoilers for “All Hands on Deck” beyond this point.)
The Threat is Not Against Existence, but Virtue and Sanity
A threat against existence features in more Doctor Who stories than jelly babies. But it is rare virtue and sanity itself are on the line. Only a few serials and episodes come close to this; and, even then, in a limited sense.
The Time War is a war fought on the battlefield of history, changing meaning itself as the the tide of battle turns. Sanity and virtue, as concepts, are on the line. Time War stories which miss this, and present the war as a conventional battlefield, have difficulty in seeing the point.
This is something all the best Time War stories (or Faction Paradox’s War-related stories) either explore–Lawrence Burton’s Against Nature comes to mind–or have on their fringes (as “All Hands on Deck” does).
I bring up Against Nature for a reason. As much as Faction Paradox is sold as Doctor Who‘s darkest spin-off, it’s rare a Faction Paradox story ends with anything but sanity and virtue victorious. Often at great price, yes. But victorious nonetheless.
I would prefer to see this approach applied to the mainstream Time War stories. This is something I would especially like to see Big Finish apply to more of their War stories, as this is something they do exceptionally well. The threat against virtue and sanity itself carries through the Gallifrey audios, and is the primary reason they stress the listener out. Everything rational and good is on the precipice. Similarly, this stressful risk is what makes The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes stand-out, as well as The Ordeal of Sherlock Holmes.
This is something they do so well, when they do, that I wish Big Finish would apply this to more of their stories.
The Weight of History is the Antagonist (More so than the Daleks)
By Big Finish’s own admission, “history is a nightmare from which i am trying to awake” is a refuge for cowards.* But a similar sense of history’s weight pervades the best Time War stories.
- Only the Monstrous (the first War Doctor box set) makes the entire battle stand in dramatic irony to the prologue, where we met a major character and learned about her world. The dramatic weight of Rejoice and her world hang over the story.
- And “All Hands on Deck” hangs (explicitly) under the weight of The Dalek Invasion of Earth and (somewhat implicitly) under the conclusion of the Eighth Doctor Adventures’ Alex Campbell arc. Susan and the Doctor’s relationship emerges from these audios, and guides the decisions they make.
Rational, Appropriate Moral Complexity
The greatest success in “All Hands on Deck” is in presenting a truly difficult moral problem. It’s not the rather tired and silly, “bad option that’s easy, but a nearly impossible good option”–instead, it presents a conflict between mutually exclusive, but equal, goods.
Travel with the Doctor, again, and try to contain the Time War on his terms or join the Time Lords and aid them with her knowledge of Dalek technology.
Both are morally good. Both are equally helpful to those in danger. But Susan cannot have both.
Engaging moral decisions from the Time Lords come from desperate decisions made in the name of a greater good. Hence, the success of “All Hands on Deck,” or indeed, Gallifrey. President Romana rarely makes morally wrong decisions. But they are always desperate bids, and always made in the name of the greater good.
Indeed, great morally complicated decisions are de rigueur for the Time Lords. Everything they do in The War Games isn’t only understandable, it’s arguably the best, safest option available.
This is the kind of moral complexity–and, when called for, ambiguity–War-era Time Lords require.
Getting these three factors perfectly right is what makes “All Hands on Deck” more than a successful Susan story, but an overwhelmingly successful Time War story.
*See The Sacrifice of Sherlock Holmes
James Bojaciuk
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