SHORT TRIPS, VOLUME 3
Following on from its second segment, Short Trips (Volume 3) from Big Finish continues with a short interlude, again narrated/voiced by Nicholas Briggs. The 5th Doctor (with Nyssa) deals with the android very quickly by virtue of having an Engineer’s card in his pocket which puts the android into diagnostic/maintenance mode. He then befalls the same fate as his predecessors.
It’s getting to the point now in which we’re getting a bit fed up with these 1-2 minute snippets. They’re not building up to anything, they just show each incarnation effectively doing the same thing. This time there’s no pretence of trying to work out how to get around the android. It’s as though the writer has given up thinking of ideas, and so just has the Doctor produce a convenient card. The end of this can’t come soon enough.
The Wonderous Box by Juliet Boyd takes place at PT Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth. On seeing the Doctor and Sarah-Jane relocate the TARDIS, one of the showmen thinks the show could really use a disappearing box to wow the visitors.
Whilst the Doctor is thoroughly engaged in watching the circus, Benjamin Jackson (not the Ben Jackson that travelled with the First and Second Doctors, it should be stressed) uses a clown ruse to lift the TARDIS key. He then enters the TARDIS and, due to accidental pressing of certain buttons, switches, and levers, relocates the TARDIS some distance away.
Sarah-Jane alerts the Doctor and they go looking for the TARDIS. Jackson, meanwhile, has had the fright of his life and decides he would rather discover how the magic trick works than go inside again.
Further relocation of the TARDIS indirectly results in a tragedy, leaving the Doctor to take the mortified Sarah-Jane to a museum in which Jumbo the Elephant was a prime exhibit.
This story is entertaining whilst also being tragic. The circus atmosphere comes alive, and you can imagine the Fourth Doctor being very distracted by his curiosity. The tragedy at the end, especially when the Doctor realises when and where they are, is quite poignant.
It is rather odd listening to Louise “Leela” Jameson reading a Sarah-Jane story. Oddly, she does quite well with the voice, although not so much with the 4th Doctor’s voice.
You must be logged in to post a comment.