SHORT TRIPS, VOLUME 3
Following on from its third segment, Short Trips (Volume 3) from Big Finish continues with a short interlude, again narrated/voiced by Nicholas Briggs. The 4th Doctor (with Romana) deals encounter the android guard this time, and the Doctor is quick to entangle it in his scarf and block its visual and auditory sensors with a variety of jelly babies and other chewy confectionery. He then opens the door and …
Another increasingly dubious throwaway segment but, this time, with the highlight of Nicholas Briggs doing an excellent interpretation of the Tom Baker’s voice. His Romana is less successful, but his 4th Doctor is fantastic. There’s little more to say about it than that.
Wet Walls by Mathilde Madden is more of a science fiction story than some of the others in this set. It relies on a couple of conceits, including the Doctor apparently knowing this odd alien species on sight, which isn’t too unbelievable. And one of something only women can see, for little reason, it would seem, than to have Peri involved in the story.
The TARDIS lands in an inauspicious street during a deluge of rain and the Doctor and Peri knock on a door for no explained reason. They’re just there.
Inside they meet a housemaid, who isn’t (and it’s fairly obvious that she isn’t from the first description, but the story hangs out the reveal until the end), who is taking care of the lady of the house. Lady Catherine is going mad, or is she?
Lady Catherine claims that the walls are wet, and the carpet is wet, especially at night. Everyone dismisses her rantings (despite that it’s raining heavily outside – something no one takes into account) until, that night, Peri sees and feels the same thing. To the Doctor, everything is normal but, to Peri and Lady Catherine, everything is wet. And there’s something lurking under Lady Catherine’s bed.
The Doctor discovers an alien spaceship hidden outside with an odd-looking alien pilot. He’s using the house for a specific purpose, one that no one is supposed to be able to see.
Wet Walls is read by Peter Davison who doesn’t really sound much like the 5th Doctor. It’s not just in his voice, but also in the dialogue. Not that Peri behaves much like Peri either but, I guess, you can’t do much with 16 minutes of story-telling.
The story itself is quite interesting, with an intriguing alien species, from an imaginative writer. It just doesn’t feel much like Doctor Who from the 5th Doctor’s era.
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