You Are the Doctor

Main Range #207

Released: 16 September 2015

Listened: 1/17/21

Before we get to Mel, there’s this anthology story, which comes immediately after “Signs and Wonders,” because Ace is trying her hand at flying the TARDIS (and failing). This first story is pretty much peak John Dorney, and I don’t mind that a bit. It’s structured like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, and you can actually listen to it that way (the numbered tracks allow you to skip around, even on the app), but because Mr. Dorney is clever, you can also listen to it straight through and get the larger sense of what’s going on. That’s because each time you reach a choice, the first one ends in death, meaning the Doctor and Ace die over and over. The villains are the Porcians, the spectacularly inept invaders Dorney created for “The Fourth Wall,” and they’re just as funny here as they were there. I understand that you don’t want to over-use them, but I’d love to see them try to invade the Tivolians, the race from “The God Complex” who love being invaded. Aside from the gimmick, there isn’t a ton going on here, and the Doctor solves the problem relatively quickly, but that’s all right, because it’s a really good gimmick.