‘THE SHADOW PASSES’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

On Calapia with the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz

‘The Shadow Passes’ by Paul Cornell was first published on the ‘Doctor Who’ website during the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020. I believe this was the first time Paul Cornell wrote for the Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS team. This is also the first of what is arguably a ‘shadow’ trilogy of stories.

Apparently the story is told from Yaz’s perspective and is an allegory for passing time during the Covid-19 pandemic. I could tell this was the case as I was reading this story and it’s done rather well by Paul. I’ve done a similar approach for one of my Fifth Doctor stories called ‘The Curse of Dr. Filthy’.

In the story, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz find themselves put in isolation on the planet Calapia when the Death Moon forces the Calapians into shelter. The Death Moon passes over Calapia every sixty-four years. The Doctor and her three friends play games in order to pass time in this isolation. 🙂

I like the scene Yaz has with the Doctor when they walk together as it’s clearly indicated that the Doctor means a lot to Yaz when travelling together in time and space. It’s also amusing when one of the games they played had them guessing who the other was as characters. Yaz became the Doctor.

The Doctor makes mention of recalling putting a ‘girl in a mirror’, alluding to the events of ‘The Family of Blood’ where the little girl Lucy Cartwright (who became Daughter/Sister of Mine) ended up in a mirror. This leads into the next stories ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ and ‘The Shadow in the Mirror’. 🙂

‘The Shadow Passes’ rating – 8/10