Doctor Who Short Trips: A Day in the Life

Big Finish Short Trips #13

by Ian Farrington (Editor), Dan Abnett, Richard Salter

Doctor Who Short Trips is a series of themed short story anthologies of new Doctor Who fiction, featuring the Doctor in all of his first eight incarnations. They feature stories written by some of the leading names in Doctor Who, past and present, including Paul Cornell, Gareth Roberts, Christopher H. Bidmead, and Paul Magrs. A Day in the Life features 16 stories whose total "running time" adds up to a single 24-hour period: a fictional "day in the life of the universe," made up of fragments from throughout time and space. Given the temperamental nature of the TARDIS and the round-the-clock events that go on every single day, it's no wonder that the Doctor often arrives at his destinations at differing times. As we leave one story and join the next, we switch location and era—but not the hands on the clock.

Genres: Doctor Who, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Doctors

192 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2724433.html

Another in the generally good series of anthologies by Big Finish, this one leaning a lot more on Big Finish's own continuity and thus a bit less on TV Who (though Nev Fountain's "The Five O’Clock Shadow" bridges the TV and comics versions of the First Doctor, with the Cushing Doctor Who thrown in as well). I did not really understand what the theme was here, except perhaps that all the stories take place at different times of day, and the last one appeared to loop back to the first. The two that really stood out for me were Richard Salter's "Waiting for Jeremy", where the First Doctor demonstrates to Steven that rewriting time is not straightforward or even desirable, and the romp "Morphology" by Phil Pascoe, in the Third Doctor and Jo, along with a UNIT soldier called Osgood, become entangled in a situation where all vowels except 'o' are removed from the universe. (Pascoe's only other Who writing credit is the similarly linguistic early Big Finish audio ...ish.)

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories set during one day. These stories include some Big Finish companions like Hex and Charley but you don't need to have been familiar with these characters to enjoy the stories. There's some very memorable ones. The 1st Doctor meets an old lady in a café who is waiting for her lost love. The 6th Doctor goes to a rock concert. Steven becomes a peace maker. Zoe flies the TARDIS. All the stories are fun in their own way. A very good read.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK Doctor Who anthology. Apparently the stories are all supposed to be connected, with some taking place on the same day... but this is only clear in a few stories, with the framing story making a thin attempt to draw them all together. (Honestly, it doesn't add much.) Most of the stories in this anthology are decent, but not great. That said, several stood out as more interesting, such as "Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast" (Seven); "The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac" (Eight); "Waiting for Jeremy" (One); "A Life in the Day" (Five); "Morphology" (Three); "How You Get There" (Seven); and "Visiting Hours" (Two). (B)

[Percy · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS REVIEW IS ONLY FOR THE STORY "THE FIVE O' CLOCK SHADOW" i will add the rest when i get to thek in my chronological read of everything doctor who :)



This one is interesting, it's basically a big poem!

It's about the doctor and Susan fighting off the "five o clock shadow" which is basically the doctors angst incarnate

It's pretty cool and I've not seen anything else like it (yet)


"There he is, look! There's the Doc!
Flapping around in his coat of frock!
Silk scarf behind him, nose in front,
Clever chap, you know, not your average grunt."

-The Five O'Clock Shadow

[Mark Higginbottom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the collection of short stories from the many world's of Doctor Who.This was a strange one.Most of the tales reminded me very much of the bizzare stories we used to get in the 1970's Doctor Who Annuals!They are simple enough and make for a pleasant read but often they are so strange.I am sure they will appeal to most fans of the series though.I just found them a wee bit.....weird......

[Kevinjwoods · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too often the editor fails to spot that if you don't specify as soon as possible which Doctor it is then the voice in your head doesn't match the story, plus the fact that too many of the stories feature Big Finish Companions means that it has lost a lot of its readability over the years.

[Billy Martel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review by Story…

Undercurrents: Just offensively bad. 1/5.

Visiting Hours: Fun and spooky for most of it. But the ending was abrupt and the idea of a political debate being used to start a new universe was patronizing and dumb. 3/5

Morphology: A strange little story. Fun gimmick even if it did become tiresome after a bit. Has a horrifying revelation about the nature of the TARDIS’ translation software that is fucked up in a way I enjoy, but is so fucked up that it will never be taken as canon by most. 4/5

[Dodau]

The twelth collection of short stories about the Doctor and friends.
There were some good stories in this collection though they were a little 4th and 8th Doctor heavy. No particualler stand outs either good or bad. Light and easy to read.