Doctor Who review: Vicki faces her past in The Crash of the UK-201
By James Aggas
Vicki explores her own personal history and faces major consequences to time travel, in the final story of this year’s Early Adventures, Doctor Who: The Crash of the UK-201.
It’s easy to forget just how genuinely tragic Vicki’s backstory is in Doctor Who. When we first met her in the First Doctor story The Rescue, she had been stuck on a planet with only one other survivor of a crashed ship, Bennett.
Her father had been killed not long after the crash, and her mother had died sometime before that, leaving her an orphan. To make matters worse, she then found out that Bennett was the one responsible for killing her father, as well as the rest of the survivors.
Fortunately, Vicki’s life became much better when she met the Doctor, Ian and Barbara. Since the Doctor had only recently said goodbye to his granddaughter, Susan, joining the TARDIS team on their travels seemed like the perfect opportunity for Vicki to begin a new life.
But when, after many adventures with the Doctor, Vicki wakes up on the day of the crash, she suddenly finds herself in the position to change things. The big question is…should she?
A dark and tragic story
I had been looking forward to The Crash of the UK-201 since the moment it had been announced. I love a good time travel story, especially a very personal time travel story. And The Crash of the UK-201 is a perfect example of that.
It’s also excellently paced. The crash itself, or rather preventing it, is only the first episode. The rest of the story focuses on consequences, in a big way. Because Vicki does change things, but does she change them for the better?
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But more than that, writer Jonathan Morris knows how to shake things up with each episode. While he does continue the overall story with each instalment, he also introduces a brand new element with each part, too. It’s very effective, and allows The Crash of the UK-201 to flow at a great pace.
I should warn you now, however: if you didn’t feel sorry for Vicki already, after listening to this story, you soon will be. She goes through a lot in this audio, especially in the second and third episodes. And I do worry about Jonathan Morris. I think only he could look at a companion’s backstory as tragic as Vicki’s and ask himself, “How can I ruin this girl’s life even further?”
The Crash of the UK-201 is an incredibly satisfying finale to this year’s season of The Early Adventures. It’s clever, dark, tragic, and a combination of great science-fiction and excellent drama. Out of this year’s very strong season of The Early Adventures, which have included stories as great as The Dalek Occupation of Winter, An Ideal World and Entanglement, this is definitely my favorite.
Will you be listening to The Crash of the UK-201? Are there other companions you’d like to explore the history of? Let us know in the comments below.