Shortness of Breath was a poem published in the anthology Now We Are Six Hundred.
Summary[]
The Ninth Doctor looks back on his life, deciding "fantastic or not, [it] all meant a lot."
Worldbuilding[]
- The Doctor decides that several things are fantastic: Tainted Love, chips, red wine, Woman Wept, Harriet Jones passing port, amazing ears, lopsided grins, always feeling the Earth's spin, vinegar, bananas, Captain Jack's pyjamas, England in the Blitz, tea at the Ritz, Kronkburgers, pajatos, Genghis Khan, Blue Peter, weather balloons, the Moxx of Balhoon, Lynda Moss, Jackie Tyler's shepherd's pie and Auton plastic.
- The Doctor also decides several things are not fantastic: coleslaw, pickled onions, zombies in Cardiff dungeons, Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17, the Metaltron, Charles Dickens leaving the gas on, the Bad Wolf, the Dalek scheme, the Mighty Jagrafess, Adam Mitchell's Infospike, the Emperor Dalek's fleet, his two left feet, Clive Finch's shed, the Gelth, Autons, Nestenes, over-active nanogenes, Slitheen romancing, the fear of never going to Barcelona and surviving the Last Great Time War.
Notes[]
- This story appears to be set during the Ninth Doctor's final moments before he regenerates as there are references to his final story.
- The poem solely consists of references to stories in series 1.
Continuity[]
to be added