‘THE GIRL WHO STOLE THE STARS’

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Virtual Reality Experience with the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Raine

This story is by Andrew Cartmel, who was the script editor on the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series during the Sylvester McCoy era from 1987 to 1989. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Raine. This was an intriguing story to read, since it has the TARDIS trio that Andrew Cartmel wrote for in ‘The Lost Season 27’.

That season of ‘Doctor Who’ stories was produced by Big Finish on audio. It included ‘Thin Ice’, ‘Crime of the Century’, ‘Animal’ and ‘Earth Aid’. I enjoyed that season of ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories and how it introduced the new companion Beth Chalmers as Raine Creevy. A pretty good collection!

I was hoping for another story to feature the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Raine. Sadly, ‘The Girl Who Stole The Stars’ didn’t meet my expectations. It had an intriguing premise involving artificial intelligence and virtual reality, but it was rather let down by a villain who barely made an appearance.

The story has the Doctor, Ace and Raine trying to expose a wealthy billionaire named Raymond Luthier, who is in the field of artificial intelligence. They meet up with a young woman and a friend of Luthier’s called Gina Gulpin who helps them to gain access to the virtual reality system she’s created.

The Doctor sends Ace and Raine into the virtual reality system to steal some ‘stars’ from Luthier’s artificial intelligence system. Raine is ‘the girl who stole the stars’. The virtual reality system felt flat with Ace and Raine not speaking. I highly respect Andrew Cartmel’s writing, but this one didn’t do it for me.

‘The Girl Who Stole The Stars’ is accompanied by the chapter called ‘Artificial Intelligence’.

‘The Girl Who Stole The Stars’ rating – 6/10