Lepidoptery for Beginners [AUDIO/2010.10.?]

★★★★☆

  John Dorney's the kind of writer whose off-the-wall, insane ideas are a perfect fit for the Short Trips range. Naturally, this dramatisation of his written Short Trip fills me with so much joy. There's a playfulness in Dorney's writing this time around, cleverly deconstructing the escape tropes of Dr. Who without coming off as snarky or self-satisfied. Instead, everything that happens is obviously laden with a level of self-awareness, that this probably stretches the credibility of Dr. Who to an unforgivable degree for some people -- and that's okay, creativity is often stifled by what's considered "acceptable" and therefore must occasionally let loose.

  Anyway, if this is the kind of stellar, imaginative work I can be led to expect from the Short Trips range, I can't imagine why the Paul Spragg Memorial entries have to be of that certain mould (relatable, sad protagonists whose lives are changed by the Doctor); I mean, Iolas is a sad man whose life is changed by the Doctor, but Lepidoptery for Beginners is hardly a sob story (sort of a bad faith reading/summarisation of those kinds of stories, I know, but I'm using it for the sake of clarity). It's an oddball tale with a clear villain who simply has a ridiculous plan for taking over the world and killing the Doctor, and it's Iolas's overreliance to the prediction machine that brings his downfall in the end. Fun from beginning to end, it's one Short Trip you're not going to want to miss. Listening to the Second Doctor slowly lose his sanity as every escape attempt of his is foiled (alongside the similar breakdowns of Jamie and Zoe) is golden.