‘MISSING’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Mel’s Return Home – Take One?
‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ (Part One)
‘Missing’ is a two-part story featured in the ‘More Short Trips’ anthology. It features Melanie Bush. I’m not sure why this story had to be divided into two parts, since ‘Part One’ is three pages long and ‘Part Two’ is two pages long. I also don’t know why there had to be two sets of writers for each part.
The entire story could have been penned by just one writer. ‘Part One’ is called ‘Business as Usual’ and is by Gary Russell. Gary Russell has had his fair share of writing stories featuring Mel, including ‘Business Unusual’, which depicts Mel’s original departure from Pease Pottage with the Sixth Doctor.
In both parts of ‘Missing’, they depict how Mel returned to Pease Pottage following her adventures with the Seventh Doctor as well as Sabalom Glitz. In ‘Business as Usual’, Mel meets with Detective Inspector Bob Lines (who’s appeared in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’) at a café in Brighton in 1991. 🙂
I’m not sure how much of ‘Missing’ is contradicted by what’s been established lately in ‘The Power of the Doctor’ and ‘The Giggle’. This is especially when talk is mentioned about Mel’s parents being alive, whereas in ‘The Giggle’, it’s established that Mel has now become an orphan, which I find sad.
Again, this is open to interpretation, but judging lately by how the TV series doesn’t usually follow up on what’s established in books, audios and short stories, ‘Missing’ could take place in an alternative timeline. There are some references to ‘Business Unusual’, which I’ve not read yet, in this short story.
‘MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE’ (Part Two)
‘Part Two’ is called ‘Message in a Bottle’ and is by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker. In this instalment, a bottle drifts through space and it has a message written on paper in it. There’s also a strand of red hair caught in the stopper. I hope it wasn’t painful for Mel when she pulled out a strand of her hair.
This is presumably a reference to ‘Dragonfire’ when Mel said she’d send a message in a bottle to the Doctor. Or rather, she’d send him a postcard. I suppose postcards could’ve been tricky to put into a bottle – depending on the size of the bottle, I imagine – but surely Mel could’ve found a way to do it.
‘Message in a Bottle’ is rather disappointing as a follow-up to ‘Business as Usual’. It’s suggested that ‘Message in a Bottle’ occurred slightly after or perhaps coincided with the events of ‘Business as Usual’. Frankly, the two instalments of ‘Missing’ should have been longer to justify splitting them up.
This is especially when you consider that the Doctor doesn’t make an appearance in this story at all. Yes, a blue box (presumably the TARDIS) is reflected in the bottle’s surface when it continues in its travels, but I prefer how the Season 24 Blu-ray trailer called ’24 Carat’ handled things regarding Mel.
At least Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor made an appearance in that. Essentially, ‘Missing’ as a two-part story was a bit of a let-down for me. It would have been easier to have made this a single story and Gary Russell could have penned the entire thing as opposed to having two sets of writers for each part.
‘Missing’ rating – 5/10
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