Doctor Who and the Adaptation of Death (Short Trips: Transmissions)

Prose  Delightful.  Graeme Burk wrote one of my favourite tales in the original BBC anthologies, Turnabout Is Fair Play from Short Trips and Side Steps and he brings the same kind of Adamsian humour to this story of a screenwriter put on trial by a race of aliens for their portrayal in his movie adaptation of an alien invasion.  They're annoyed with the dumbing down of one of their heroes and the Doctor's omission from events.  

Cross cutting between parts of the script (to represent the film) and prose for the actual events (as drawn from the Doctor's own mind), Burke is discussing our predilection for nit-picking drama which allows excitement to make way for facts.  Burk knows his stuff (having authored several non-fiction books about Who)  There's an immensely funny joke about film studies based on a deeeep cut.

But there are many funny jokes.  Across its dozen or so pages, there more wit and excitement than a lot of Doctor Who and it's a real shame Burk hasn't had the opportunity to write something longer, assuming he has the interest. 

Placement:  Burk mentions the Doctor and Charley have been travelling together for years so I'm minded to place this between Embrace The Darkness and Time of the Daleks - any later than that and it's after the Divergent Universe and the tone doesn't feel right for then.

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