The Slaying of the Writhing Mass

Charlotte Pollard: The Further Adventuress #3

Released: 19 January 2022

Listened: 1/22/22

This story, by Eddie Robson, also dials up the absurdity, starting with the TARDIS getting stuck in a traffic jam inside the vortex. Turns out that the civilization on this particular planet has a foundation myth of a hero slaying the aptly-named writhing mass. Except it’s a historical fact rather than a myth, and after the race developed time travel, everybody wants to come back and have a look, to the point where it’s a standard school trip for children. Whenever there’s a mysterious monster-slayer involved in a creation myth in a Doctor Who story, you can guess where it’s headed, so thumbs up to Robson for not going that route. The Doctor spends quite a lot of time with a school pupil who accidentally ends up on board the TARDIS, which brings to mind “Kill the Moon” and “In the Forest of the Night,” except not as polarizing as either of those stories. There’s plenty of both timey and wimey in this story, which may make your head spin if you’re not careful, or you can choose not to let that worry you and just go along for the ride.