Different This Time

(1) Harry and the Tuesday Girl (Doctor Who)

By Amy Wolf
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th March 2008 (1)
Tags: Novelette
(57K)

Summary: He should know about nameless and eccentric by now.

This was recced on Calufrax; I'm glad -- this was a gem. Strangely enough, the rec on Calufrax didn't mention the most important and intriguing thing: this is a Doctor-as-a-woman story. I was a lot more interested in reading it when I found that out. Though I guess the reccer on Calufrax was more interested in the fact that it was the story, for her, that made her like Harry Sullivan.

Now, the idea of the Doctor as a woman has has been done before, yes, usually as a parody. I know there's a femslash one wandering around somewhere. But this one surpasses those. Rather than playing it for laughs or for kink, this is bittersweet.

Harry knows that there is something strange about the "Tuesday girl", he knows that there's a pall of something, that she has secrets... like a fairy tale, where the heroine must not ask, or the enchanted hero must leave forever; except that in this case, Harry is the "heroine". Not that he's a wimp or anything; this is true Harry, a gentleman, chivalrous, but not unaffected by his travels with the Doctor. Sarah Jane gets a look in too.

(2) Sunny and the Magic Box (Doctor Who)

By Amy Wolf
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th March 2008 (2)
Tags: Novelette
(94K)

Summary: Sunny's read about wizards. They were never like this.

Oh my. This was wonderful. The Doctor as seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old girl. Picture-perfect; a blend of domestic and spooky, of wonder and wondering. The tone is just right. And the Doctor's companion, Lorenzo, was also delightful.

Even though this is the second in this series, it appears to be set earlier, just after the regeneration into this incarnation of the Doctor.