Doctor Who - Unbound 1: Auld Mortality (Spoilers)

The first Unbound release, & not a good one. Extremely boring 'what if' story that doesn't amount to much apart from dull Gallifreyan intrigue about Presidents or something. I really lost interest early on so couldn't actually tell you what happened. A real shame because the idea of Geoffrey Bayldon as the Doctor is a fun one.

Oh, wow, this brings back memories... Auld Mortality holds a special place for me. I don't think it was the first Unbound story I encountered, but it's among my initial favourites. It's left a lasting impression by the best means possible.

I've a great fondness for Marc Platt's ouvre of storytelling from Mondas to Brazil, from Gabriel Chase to New World University... Auld Mortality, as a debut, makes for a great little opportunity to dip one's toes in the whole concept of alternate universes and "What if?" possibilities. It's not as wild or convention-snapping as A Storm of Angels, but it wears its loosened tongue with great enthusiasm. We get to see the Doctor at home before he left, Susan attack the house avatroid with a staser, Hannibal's historic passage through the Alps, and the lingering shadow cast over those that govern and curtail Time.

Before David Bradley and the 50th, Geoffrey Bayldon would have been who I'd picked for a recast of the First Doctor. Bayldon had that childlike twinkle and indignant huffery downpat in equal measure. Just starting out with this concept, there's a wonderful... plausibility to his take on the role. We've yet to take the final jump that will take us to David Collings and Full Fathom Five, but those first initial steps are here. It's much more focused on the possibilities of the world around the Doctor, rather than the Doctor themselves at this stage.

Very enjoyable. A cosy sidewards look at a House not entirely unlike Lungbarrow, overlooking a Capitol to beckon in a Time Lady not entirely unlike Susan, who's visiting an exile of imagination not entirely unlike our Doctor.