Thursday 15 September 2016

Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas - "Tell Me You Love Me" by Scott Matthewson

Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas
"Tell Me You Love Me"
Written by Scott Matthewson
Published: December 2007
Read: 8th August 2016

BUY: Amazon UK

What's It All About

Arriving in Britain at the height of the Blitz, our travellers are quickly rounded up by an air raid warden and bundled into a communal shelter as the sirens sound and the bombs begin to drop. As a counterpoint to the grim reality of life on the homefront during the Second World War, are the glimpses to the fact that it is Christmas Eve and the stalwart resolution of people to cling to the happy traditions and memories of the season, whether it's making paper decorations to festoon the shelter or banging out Christmas carols to drown out the sounds of the bombs.

The bonhomie may be enough to raise the Doctor's spirit (he even quietly joins in with the carols, when he thinks nobody is listening) and peak Susan's curiosity, for one member of the party it is all too much to take. From the perspective of the Doctor and Susan, as well as us as the audience, we view this as a quaint little Christmas story about triumphing over adversity and keeping the home fires burning. What we forget is that for Barbara (and presumably Ian) the memories of the war and all of the terrible things that occurred are part of their childhood and helped to make them the people they are. It's no wonder that thrown back into this terrible world with bombs going off all around that Barbara freaks out and flees the shelter.

A typical communal shelter in 1940's Britain.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere of war-torn London isn't the only ghost that Barbara has to contend with as she roams the streets in despair. She is found and comforted by her "father", who manages to recognise her even though she would be twenty years older. While many may fall for the illusion, Barbara calls on her previous experiences while travelling with the Doctor to stay rational, knowing that her father had died prior to this point and come to the realisation that he must be some kind of alien.

Naturally, she is correct and we learn that her "father" and two other aliens had become trapped on Earth and separated. The love that the three aliens feel for each other is what they need to sustain them and, while separated, they were forced to feed on the love of humans by posing as loved ones. While one of the aliens had posed as Barbara's father, the other two were nearby and posing as the father of Sarah Miller, a local girl, who wished for her father to come home for Christmas.

With the three aliens reunited, they depart but leave everyone with a real Christmas gift: a vision of their real loved ones. In Barbara's case it was seeing her mother and father, happy together before he died; Ian gets a glimpse of his wedding day and to a woman he knows (wonder who that could be!) and the Doctor and Susan get to glimpse something to which we unfortunately aren't privy to.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In summary, then, this was a quality tale written by Scott Matthewson. Long time readers of this blog will realise that Barbara Wright is out-and-out my favourite character in this era of Doctor Who and anyone who can shed new light on what makes her the character she is, earns big points from me. Bonus points must also go out to evoking the starkness and reality of life in 1940s Britain as it faced down the might of the Luftwaffe. Whether it be men not making it home for Christmas, parents forced to evacuate their children to the country or just not knowing whether their house will still be standing in the morning.

The only negative I have with this story is that the aliens weren't particularly well developed. The idea of aliens thriving on the power of love is nothing new, and it would have been nice to have some kind of twist to this well-worn trope.  Besides that, good stuff.


6/10






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