THE PLOT
The recently-regenerated 8th Doctor, investigating the TARDIS' study, finds himself bored with the amazingly complex, perfectly-coordinated model train set that was so prized by his previous incarnation. Through younger eyes, the movements of the trains seem so predetermined, the papier-mache settings along which the tracks run seem so lifeless. If he always knows exactly what is going to happen, then what is the point of even bothering to observe it?
That's when he's struck by a flash of inspiration. He uproots his predecessor's prize and distributes soil over the papier-mache to grow real grass over the green paint. He upgrades the trains and the model railroad workers, so that the model people can lay their own track and control the running of their own railroads. He is delighted to see the unpredictable patterns that emerge... but has he set loose something other than what he expected?
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Jonathan Blum knows his 8th Doctor, and his 7th Doctor. This story effectively is a 20-minute commentary on both incarnations, contrasting the newly-born 8th Doctor against his predecessor. The 7th Doctor enjoyed the challenge of creating a perfect pattern, setting in motion a plan that would proceed exactly the way he wanted it to, even if that plan was simply the movements of some model trains. By contrast, the 8th Doctor finds such absolute control stifling. He thirsts for something spontaneous, for surprises. The 7th Doctor has sometimes been accused of "playing God." But in this story, it is the 8th Doctor who takes the 7th Doctor's puppets and invests them with sufficient free will to create their own destiny. The results are more chaotic, but are perhaps more rewarding too. Blum also points to the 8th Doctor feeling more free in this younger incarnation, notably in a line in which the Doctor reflects how old he was at the end of his previous life, and that "he never wanted to be that old again."
THOUGHTS
Model Train Set is a very short piece, deceptively simple on the one hand and quite complex on the other. It is pure allegory, of course. Any listener or reader will quickly catch on that the 7th and 8th Doctors' approaches to the train set mirror their approaches to humanity, even without a few of the more heavy-handed narrative asides. But it's quite a rewarding allegory, charming and sometimes humorous. Blum, who has made no secret of his admiration of both the 7th and 8th Doctors, has crafted nothing less than a celebration of the 8th Doctor's exuberance for life, the enthusiasm that was the most defining single element of Paul McGann's performance in The TV Movie. It is easy to picture this Doctor reacting with childlike glee toward his renovated train set, and his emotional reaction to a setback in its development is something that rings true for this incarnation.
I enjoyed the story a lot, but there are points at which Blum's writing (generally quite strong) overeggs things a bit. An aside about how the 7th Doctor "made the trains run on time" is unnecessary and calls far too much attention to itself within a paragraph that would have been much stronger without it. Also, the overall allegory is clear enough without bits in which the writing spells it out for us by directly linking the model train set to humanity.
Occasional heavy-handedness aside, it's a good piece. Quiet, small, and perfectly characterized, it's an excellent use of the short story format to both contrast two Doctors and to celebrate the trait of the then-current Doctor. The audio version of the story (available as part of Tales from the TARDIS, volume 2, and previously in the audio version of Short Trips & Side Steps) is extremely well-read by Sophie Aldred, who has a lovely reading voice for a story that is mostly narration, and further benefits from well-chosen music that is very well-applied.
It's a small piece. But judged as a small piece, it's a genuinely impressive one.
Rating: 9/10.
Preceded by: The TV Movie
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