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{{Infobox Story SMW | |||
{{Infobox Story | |series=[[Short Trips (series)#In print|Short Trips short stories]] | ||
|doctor = Seventh Doctor | |||
|series=[[Short Trips (series)#In print| | |companions = [[Ace]] | ||
|doctor=Seventh Doctor | |featuring = David Merrison | ||
|companions=[[Ace]] | |setting = [[Christmas Eve]], [[Christmas]] | ||
| | |writer = Colin Harvey | ||
| | |anthology = Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas | ||
|anthology= | |release date = 5 December 2007 | ||
|prev=Faithful Friends: Part 1 (short story) | |prev = Faithful Friends: Part 1 (short story) | ||
|next=For the Man Who Has Everything (short story) | |next = For the Man Who Has Everything (short story) | ||
|enemy = Creature | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''''But Once a Year''''' was the second short story in the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] anthology ''[[Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas]]''. It was written by [[Colin Harvey]]. It featured the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]]. | '''''But Once a Year''''' was the second short story in the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] anthology ''[[Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas]]''. It was written by [[Colin Harvey]]. It featured the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]]. | ||
== Summary == | == Summary == | ||
For the last few years, at [[Christmas]] time, the Merrison family has been visited by something that each year takes away one of their children. Only [[David Merrison|David]], a [[wheelchair]] user, is left, and his parents have become distant. | |||
This year, before the creature arrives, David is visited by the Doctor and Ace. He tells them the story of his brothers and sister. When the creature arrives, it takes Ace instead of David. | |||
The Doctor deduces that a skull that had been collected by David's [[John Kenneth Merrison|grandfather]] is actually an alien artefact. The creature wants the skull, so when it returns, the Doctor offers the skull in exchange for Ace and the Merrison siblings. They return safely, having spent the intervening time in the alien's spaceship, where they worked as its slaves. With the missing children returned, the Merrisons become a family again. | |||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||
* [[Seventh Doctor]] | * [[Seventh Doctor]] | ||
* [[Ace]] | * [[Ace]] | ||
* [[David Merrison]] | |||
* [[Lucy (But Once a Year)|Lucy]] | |||
* [[David Merrison's father]] | |||
* [[David Merrison's mother]] | |||
* [[Steven Merrison]] | |||
* [[Noel Merrison]] | |||
* [[Elizabeth Merrison]] | |||
* [[Lobson|Mr Lobson]] | |||
== | == Worldbuilding == | ||
'' | * David's grandfather adventured with [[Augustus Glavin]] on the [[HMS Rochester|HMS ''Rochester'']]. He collected [[fossil]]s. | ||
* David's father reads ''[[The Times]]''. | |||
* The Doctor mentions [[Good King Wenceslas]]. | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
* This story is narrated by [[David Merrison]]. | |||
== Continuity == | == Continuity == | ||
''to be added'' | ''to be added'' | ||
{{prose | {{ST prose}} | ||
{{TitleSort}} | {{TitleSort}} | ||
[[Category:Seventh Doctor short stories]] | [[Category:Seventh Doctor short stories]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas short stories]] | ||
[[Category:Stories set in London]] | |||
[[Category:Stories set in | |||