Decalog
"The Golden Door"

by David Auger

Los Angeles. The war's over, the GIs are home, Truman's in the White House and the mobsters are making a killing—as usual.

Into the office of a private investigator walks a mysterious little man with a story that's out of this world. He says he's lost his memory. He wants the PI to help him. When he turns out his pockets, he produces a pile of bizarre objects, each of which restores a memory and solves a part of the puzzle.

And the memories seem to belong to seven different people.

Analysis:

Dodo fans, don't bother. "The Golden Door" seems to delight in its own cleverness, except there is none. "Oh look! We've got the First and Sixth Doctors in the same story and the aliens get confused on which is which!" Ooh, that's a new one. "We've got aliens impersonating Dodo and Steven!" Oh boy. That must be why they act like Dodo and Steven in private. "The two Doctors never really actually meet!" Gee. How original. Yes, this is an exciting one. Our final evidence, however, is a quote from early on in the story...

He noted with self-congratulatory satisfaction that neither of his two companions appeared in the least bit put out by the crowd around them: Steven's skin was not crawling and, best of all, Dodo was not suffering a screaming fit! Clearly their journeys aboard the TARDIS had at last taught them to respect the infinite variety of life forms encountered whilst space travelling.

Says it all, really.