Review by Cavan Gilbey

Doctor Who has had a great history of short fiction, this particular range is a testament to that and quite a few of my favourite stories in the franchise have come from Big Finish’s output on the Short Trip front. It’s nice to have these shorter stories which deal with smaller scale sci-fi concepts, often putting Character and theme above all else to give us more intimate narratives. In recent years they’ve even been willing to experiment with the format with stories like How To Win Planets and Influence People and Regeneration Impossible essentially being more like mini audio dramas rather simply a prose story. On a side note I would really recommend giving both of those stories a go since they are pretty cheap and help ease you into the style of story seen in this particular boxset. We’ve got six stories here so I’m not going to bore you with any more details, just know now that this boxset is going to be hard to recommend despite my overall positive response to this set.

First up is Salvage by Max Curtis. Bliss is taken on a dangerous trip down memory lane as the TARDIS materialises on the mysterious Salvage Train, which has a carriage full of bric-a-brac from Bliss’ past life before she got involved in the Time War. 

This story was a bit lost on me if I am going to be honest, and for one simple reason; I have no idea who Bliss is. Now I know she’s a companion of the Eighth Doctor during his Time War boxsets but I haven’t a single second of those sets, mostly out of not being massively interested. So going in I knew this wasn’t going to probably work as well with me as it is with those more acquainted with Bliss. Although the broad strokes of the story, such as its take on the idea of childhood nostalgia and wanting to belong to a cultural heritage, do work on those who are unaware of Bliss’ character. There’s also some good use of the Time War and its more surreal aspects, I like the idea of refugees being trapped as ghosts on this train that is constantly trying to save ‘lost things’. 

Adele Anderson I really enjoyed as the narrator here. She manages to find a good pace with Curtis’ prose, which has a focus on theme so expect more introspective descriptive prose than narrative.  Anderson finds a good voice for all the characters, getting the feel of this more weary version of Eight down really well. 

I liked this one, but I really think I was missing a lot of subtext and deeper connection due to my ignorance with Bliss and her audios.

7/10

Next is AWOL by Angus Dunican. After the events of The Silurians, the Doctor has decided to take a trip to Peru to get away from the world of UNIT. Naturally he’s done this all unannounced and the Brigadier sets out to persuade him to come back, they can’t afford to lose their best man.

This one I really loved, and not just because it highlights how you can do some really effective full cast stories with this short run time. I love it because I think it adds something to the Doctor/Brigadier relationship that stories don’t often give us; it gives a look at how exactly their relationship works. You get the sense that this working relationship isn’t seen as particularly important from the Doctor’s perspective, he just has to get on with it because he’s exiled to Earth. He feels lost and so has to pull stunts like vanishing just to find a sense of self or peace. Naturally the Brigadier doesn’t quite get this, Earth is the only home he knows so he never questions that there could possible be more. Of course the effects of The Silurians weigh heavily on this one and there are some great bits of writing from Dunican about trust and he captures this pairing perfectly. 

Culshaw is the king of specifically Doctor Who impressions, so yes his performance is naturally brilliant.

Easily the stand out of the set for me, I just wish people could get this to listen to on its own.

10/10

The Three Flames, appropriately, is the third story of the set and is penned by Sophie Iles. A family crashes on a strange new world, left with only each other to survive. Soon they meet a stranger who calls himself the Doctor, and if they want to live they’re going to have to trust this strange strange man. 

I think this might have been the first story from Iles I’ve not really liked all that much. I loved her previous Short Trips; Master Thief and A Song for Running. But this story feels like it is lacking her typically good control of narrative, there doesn’t seem to be much going on. Not a bad thing for the right story but Three Flames lacks good pacing, there’s a lot of description and atmospheric world building but as a result none of the characters feels particularly well drawn and just fall into the stereotypes required for each of the family members. This is the only story of the set I had to listen to twice just because I thought like I’d forgotten everything that had happened, just turned out there wasn’t much to remember. 

Dan Starkey is on narration duty here and having never heard his Twelfth Doctor before I was really shocked at home good the impression is. Its definitely more in the camp of the Peter Perves First Doctor, but it still makes you see Capaldi really vividly. Starkey also has a good pace on the prose, pretty solid stuff and helped me keep an interest in what was actually happening.

5/10

Identity Crisis by Eugenie Pusenjak sees the Ninth Doctor and Rose navigating a society founded on prejudice, a visceral hatred for each side is causing tension. Once they worked together to create an engineering project to aid them, but now all that could come falling down.

Pusenjak has created a great little niche for themselves between this story and Free Speech¸ they have a real talent for telling these stories that exist within the backdrop of a decaying society. There’s a feeling that everything has to the worst place it can be, but there is always a slight glimmer, a hint towards something improving. The Doctor and Rose meet a member of the higher ranking people, who initially feels like he represents a chance to make things better. There’s a good twist with this character that plays really well with the idea of cultural identity and heritage and guilt in a way I don’t think other stories have done quite so well as Pusenjak. 

Jacob Dudman gives us some really solid and expressive narration, he’s got his impression of Nine down really well by this point and he captures the attitude of Rose perfectly as well. He often does a good job at bringing the emotions of dialogue to life, and the bleaker moments in the back end of this story are made all the better for it.

9/10

Next is Table for Two, Dinner for One by Jennah Dean. Mandy might have ruined her relationship with her best friend, a serious case of unrequited love. But a chance to reconnect opens up with an evening of good food. However Mandy seems to be mistake, the only thing on the menu is her.

This one is a bit of a Doctor-lite story, given that the Tenth Doctor only really appears at the beginning and the end with a little bit of texting in between. So instead we are thrust into the point of view of Mandy, a character which Dean thankfully fleshes out brilliantly despite the shorter run time. Mandy’s a character who is immediately quite easy to sympathise with, and that helps make you care when the danger begins to single her out and exploit her. The villains here are a race that feast on despair, often exploiting those who are at their lowest. I quite like the idea of emotional vampires and Dean does them in a way where they feel like a great background threat, which captures the parasitical aspects of the villains the best. It’s quite difficult to really sum this one up because the character work on Mandy needs a lot more than just a short paragraph but Dean makes her feel real, playing into the RTD era style domestic characterisation. 

Ayesha Antoine is a great narrator here, getting to essentially play a character rather than just being a reader. She’s got a great dramatic energy to the way she read the prose that makes the story go by in a breeze. 

9/10

Finally we have The Galois Group by Felicia Barker. Falling into a temporal pothole, The Doctor and Valerie find themselves in the attic of a mathematician who is destined to die the following day in a duel. After she falls through a rift in time, Valerie finds herself with the chance to save this doomed man. But does she have the right?

The old chestnut of intervention is a classic theme to explore with Doctor Who, time-travel opens itself up to quite a few interesting ethics driven narratives and Barker does a great job at exploring one from the perspective of this new inductee to the TARDIS. Building on her characterisation from Geronimo, Valerie’s steadfastness plays into the narrative really well as she just tries to do a simple act of good. This episode is more so a character piece for Valerie, giving us further character development for a character who is shaping to be one of Big Finish’s best original companions. There’s a great emotional moment near the end where she admits she just wants to at least be able to comfort Galois in his final moments, its quite touching. But much like this set’s opener, you really need to be clued in to what is happening with the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles to get the full picture and appreciate what is being done with Valerie. I loved this story, but that is with the caveat of having heard Valerie’s first boxset. 

Safiyya Ingar does a great job at narrating this one. They really get Valerie’s narrative voice down well, making this feel really personal to that character. Her Doctor has the right amount of energy and half-finished sentences, capturing Smith’s portrayal really well. 

10/10

Overall we’ve got a good set here, the only one I didn’t really enjoy was that middle story with the Twelfth Doctor but overwise we have five really great stories. Although beware that your milage with the first and final stories specifically will vary depending on how familiar you are with Bliss and Valerie as characters, although getting the chance to have more stories with audio original companions is always one worth taking. 

8/10

Review: Short Trips – The World Tree

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