Presenting us with a lone, and perhaps lonesome, Eleventh Doctor, Dark Horizons is a trip further back into Earth’s history than the show often achieves on television. Rooted in folklore, the tale provides an in-universe explanation of the arrival of the famous ‘Lewis Chessmen’.
Set on that remote isle in the Outer Hebrides, the story surrounds a culture clash between Viking raiders and a small island community; the former transporting precious cargo to cement a relationship with the Icelandic king, the latter surviving in the harsh landscape at the mercy of mother nature.
The Doctor, in need of diversion, has gone to the 12th Century in search of a decent game of chess, the regular sort rather than the ‘live’ kind. Instead, he comes across the mysterious burning threat which engulfs a Viking longboat and is assumed to be the work of the Gods.
On more than one occasion, he is accused of being a God himself, in this case the trickster Loki, and it is a title that fits the Time Lord well.
Written by J.T. Colgan, romantic comedy novelist Jenny Colgan masquerading under a slightly altered name for reasons best known to her agent, it is fair to say the Doctor is in a safe pair of hands. As well as being a successful author in the genre that is often disparagingly termed ‘chick lit’, Colgan is a lifelong fan who clearly knows her Who and provides an adventure full of both incident and emotion.
The current tropes of the series are present too, from the ever handy sonic to a perception filter which is used to good effect. The TARDIS is well engaged in the action also, displaying a troubling dislike for water and propelling the Time Lord into the thick of the action.
Colgan catches the awkwardness and childlike enthusiasm of Matt Smith’s Doctor perfectly and provides some great gags throughout, with language translation difficulties and popular culture references as broad as The Wicker Man and the Busted song ‘Year 3000’. She even goes as far as to name one Viking character Erik, which is bound to appeal to fans of a certain age, as will the deftly introduced cameo appearance of a certain other Doctor in the fantasy sequence that begins Chapter 19.
There are some great images painted, not only of the bleak surroundings, but of the Doctor bedecked in an old fashioned, mustard coloured diving suit ready for an underwater excursion.
While this Doctor travels alone, presumably dating the tale sometime after Amy and Rory were dropped off in Series 6, a few pseudo-companions present themselves throughout. Farm boy turned Viking warrior Henrik and the object of his affections, the feisty Nordic Princess Freydis, would both make for ideal fellow travellers. Touching too is the charming bond the Doctor develops with the small motherless lad Luag, who is still young enough to retain an open mind.
It is spoiling nothing to reveal that the cause of the burning is not of this Earth. Typically the Time Lord appears to be well acquainted with the aliens but, to be fair, hasn’t he met everything these days? For their part, they are a well conceived bunch and provide a credible threat.
Ignoring the implications of a horrendous budget for filming underwater, the story is easy to envisage on the television screen. In many ways, Dark Horizons harks back to earlier eras of the show, with the tale moving at a slow enough pace to allow the characters to breathe and take on lives of their own.
This is a well placed historical romp with a bittersweet resolution, pleasingly clever and classically Who-like.
Published on Thursday 5th July 2012 by BBC Books.
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