Not Forgotten was the forty-second Subscriber Short Trips audio story. It featured the Sixth Doctor and was available to subscribers of Big Finish's main Doctor Who range whose subscription included Subterfuge.
Plot[]
After six days chasing chronon energy radiation through time, the Doctor and Peri arrive at Dotty's, a diner in 1950s New York City where the Doctor briefly glimpses a man out of the corner of his eye whom the waitress, Mary, cannot see. When he and Peri sit in a booth, they both properly notice him and the man tells them that he has no memory of who he is, which the Doctor is doubtful of. The Doctor recounts how he and Peri found a gladiator wearing a digital watch and have, in following the chronon energy, encountered cavemen playing roulette, Trojans hitting a piñata and pirates playing crazy golf, for which he believes this man to be responsible.
The man insists that his memories from before he entered the diner are impossible and contradictory and is suspicious when the Doctor suddenly loses any interest him and allows him to leave. When he reaches the door, the Doctor asks him to provide a tip for Mary and he leaves a collection of coins from the time periods that the Doctor and Peri have visited, confirming that he is the one they have been following. The man is confused and finds a photograph of a girl he remembers as Dorothy, reminding him that his name is Jacob and that he is a Literature student from 5209 who has been travelling through time using a BackPack.
The Doctor admonishes Jacob for his carelessness, which culminated in a visit to the Old West in 1897 where he saved Dorothy from a barn he had been watching burn and damaged his BackPack. His next jump landed him in 1950s New York with amnesia, where he went unnoticed by Mary because of his perception filter. When his amnesia comes back, the Doctor makes him focus on the photograph of Dorothy to help him regain control and tells him that the Web of Time is fighting back against him and will wipe him from existence. The only option is for Jacob to return to 1897 in the TARDIS and restore the timeline by allowing Dorothy to die, but he chooses not to.
Jacob feels that he now knows who he is thanks to the Doctor and Peri, which was the reason he decided to go backpacking, and he fades away, as do his coins. The Doctor and Peri go to leave, but stop when Mary finds the photograph of Dorothy on the floor and remarks that it is her grandmother, whom she has the same photograph of in her locket. The fire at the barn was the reason that Dorothy moved east and, ever since, she has lit a candle every year for the man who rescued her. Peri gives Mary a hug and she leaves with the Doctor, wondering if Jacob really is gone forever; the Doctor says that he is, but he is not forgotten.
Characters[]
- Sixth Doctor
- Peri Brown
- Jacob
- Mary
- Dorothy
- Dorothy's father
Worldbuilding[]
- Peri is from Maryland.
- The Doctor once tried being a waiter, but he did not have the patience.
- Peri asked to go to Rome to see the Colosseum.
- Jacob wears jeans.
- Jacob carries drachmas, pennies and doubloons.
- A BackPack is a bulky version of a vortex manipulator, which the Doctor calls a "primitive version of real time travel".
- Jacob suffers from time fog.
- The Doctor refers to the Web of Time fighting back against changes in the timeline.
Notes[]
to be added
Continuity[]
- Peri mentions how she was holidaying when she met the Fifth Doctor. (TV: Planet of Fire)