‘SPORE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The Spore with the Eighth Doctor and Captain Evelyn Chan
The eighth story of the ‘Doctor Who’ Puffin e-shorts series is ‘Spore’ by Alex Scarrow. Here’s a YouTube interview with Alex Scarrow.
Alex Scarrow is well-known for penning the ‘TimeRiders’ series. I’ve not come across the ‘TimeRiders’ series before and this ‘Doctor Who’ story was my introduction to Alex Scarrow as a writer. I can’t say I was quite taken by ‘Spore’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ story but it’s a decent enough read.
‘Spore’ features the Eighth Doctor who is travelling alone at this point during his early travels, presumably set after ‘The TV Movie’ and before his Big Finish audio adventures with Charley Pollard. The story is divided into four chapters. The audiobook version of this tale is read by Nicholas Pegg. 🙂
Nick Pegg previously read ‘Tip of the Tongue’ in the Puffin e-shorts series of ‘Doctor Who’ stories. I’m okay with Nick Pegg being the reader of this ‘Doctor Who’ story since he worked with Paul McGann before in the Big Finish audio adaptation of ‘Shada’. I’ve also met Nick Pegg at conventions!
This happens to be a plague story where the Eighth Doctor visits a small town called Fort Casey in the Nevada Desert during the present time. An outbreak has occurred! A virus called the Spore is killing most of the town’s people by turning them into liquid. The Doctor already knows of the Spore.
I like how the Doctor has encountered the Spore before, making references to Gallifrey as he goes about explaining its history to people like Major Platt and Captain Evelyn Chan. I also like how the Doctor meets Evelyn Chan, who becomes a one-off companion. In the end, I found this very average.
‘Spore’ rating – 6/10
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