The Terror of the Umpty Ums [PROSE/2020.4.7]

★★★★☆

  It's always quite refreshing to see Steven Moffat out of his comfort zone and tackle a medium he's not the most well known for (though he started off his Dr. Who career in it with Continuity Errors), with a Doctor he just missed out on during his TV tenure. It's also pretty funny that his very first line of dialogue for the Thirteenth Doctor (the Doctor he never wrote for on telly) is a comment on someone's posterior. He's not beating the perpetually horny allegations anytime soon.

  The Terror of the Umpty Ums is well worth your time, as it handles a very delicate matter of dissociative personality disorder in the best way a Dr. Who short story could, without prejudice or judgment and instead with acceptance and a smile on the face. It's also a really rather fun short story, with Moffat's typical sense of finding joy in poking fun at the show itself for its quirks -- I mean, the title of the story is literally a reference to the Dr. Who theme. Oh, and here's a hard pill to swallow for some: there are very few writers who are able to be this meta and indulgent in the show's extensive history and get away with it with an intact sense of dignity and a pretty darn good adventure as a result. The Terror of the Umpty Ums is just that, a sweet little stor about the Doctor helping out those in need by being the hero of their imaginations. I really need Moffat to write a whole Dr. Who novel one of these days...