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Big Finish Short Trips #16
Doctor Who Short Trips: Farewells
For a time traveler, is there really a difference between hello and goodbye? Say hello to 14 stories of goodbyes, as the Fourth Doctor contemplates his mortality after a funeral, a young man goes to murderous lengths to stop Jo Grant from leaving him, the First Doctor considers his flight from Gallifrey, the Fifth Doctor desperately tries to get rid of an unwanted companion, and more.
219 pages, Hardcover
First published September 28, 2007
4 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Jacqueline Rayner
133 books168 followersJacqueline Rayner is a best selling British author, best known for her work with the licensed fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Her first professional writing credit came when she adapted Paul Cornell's Virgin New Adventure novel Oh No It Isn't! for the audio format, the first release by Big Finish. (The novel featured the character of Bernice Summerfield and was part of a spin-off series from Doctor Who.) She went on to do five of the six Bernice Summerfield audio adaptations and further work for Big Finish before going to work for BBC Books on their Doctor Who lines.
Her first novels came in 2001, with the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel EarthWorld for BBC Books and the Bernice Summerfield novel The Squire's Crystal for Big Finish. Rayner has written several other Doctor Who spin-offs and was also for a period the executive producer for the BBC on the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audio dramas. She has also contributed to the audio range as a writer. In all, her Doctor Who and related work (Bernice Summerfield stories), consists of five novels, a number of short stories and four original audio plays.
Rayner has edited several anthologies of Doctor Who short stories, mainly for Big Finish, and done work for Doctor Who Magazine. Beyond Doctor Who, her work includes the children's television tie-in book Horses Like Blaze.
With the start of the new television series of Doctor Who in 2005 and a shift in the BBC's Doctor Who related book output, Rayner has become, along with Justin Richards and Stephen Cole, one of the regular authors of the BBC's New Series Adventures. She has also abridged several of the books to be made into audiobooks.
She was also a member of Doctor Who Magazine's original Time Team.
Her first professional writing credit came when she adapted Paul Cornell's Virgin New Adventure novel Oh No It Isn't! for the audio format, the first release by Big Finish. (The novel featured the character of Bernice Summerfield and was part of a spin-off series from Doctor Who.) She went on to do five of the six Bernice Summerfield audio adaptations and further work for Big Finish before going to work for BBC Books on their Doctor Who lines.
Her first novels came in 2001, with the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel EarthWorld for BBC Books and the Bernice Summerfield novel The Squire's Crystal for Big Finish. Rayner has written several other Doctor Who spin-offs and was also for a period the executive producer for the BBC on the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audio dramas. She has also contributed to the audio range as a writer. In all, her Doctor Who and related work (Bernice Summerfield stories), consists of five novels, a number of short stories and four original audio plays.
Rayner has edited several anthologies of Doctor Who short stories, mainly for Big Finish, and done work for Doctor Who Magazine. Beyond Doctor Who, her work includes the children's television tie-in book Horses Like Blaze.
With the start of the new television series of Doctor Who in 2005 and a shift in the BBC's Doctor Who related book output, Rayner has become, along with Justin Richards and Stephen Cole, one of the regular authors of the BBC's New Series Adventures. She has also abridged several of the books to be made into audiobooks.
She was also a member of Doctor Who Magazine's original Time Team.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 25, 2025
The subject of "Farewells" I think is something that suits Doctor Who incredibly well. Among other things, Doctor Who is very much a show about farewells. It's baked into the show's DNA. At the end of each story the TARDIS Team leave the planet and the people they've just saved from a horrible monster or evil regime behind, they say their farewells and they go off to the next planet. Eventually, companions depart from the TARDIS too whether it's because they finally arrived home or found love or maybe they are killed and perhaps it just stopped being fun. Even the Doctor must eventually say their farewells. To their companions, their enemies, to the children watching at home and sometimes there's no one there to say goodbye to.
To have an anthology of sixteen stories that stare at this idea in the face is truly brilliant in my eyes. Usually, the farewells are an afterthought in Doctor Who stories, the conclusion to the story and that's all really but here they are anything but an afterthought.
From what I've read of these Big Finish Short Trip anthologies thus far, not all of the stories in the books are great. That being said though, the good stories are bloody excellent and it's no different here. Of the sixteen stories, seven stand out to me as something truly noteworthy.
They are as follows: The Bad Guy, Separation Day, Into the Silent Land, Life After Queth, Black and White, Curtain Call & The Three Paths.
I'd like to give a special mention to Curtain Call, the story of Angela Ellis. This was one of the greatest stories I've ever read and I'm incredibly grateful that I was able to read it. It was such an emotionally charged story and it encapsulates the reason why I love these anthologies so much and shows how a Doctor Who story can be any kind of story the writer wants to tell.
And just for the sake of mentioning the rest, I found: The Mother Road, Father Figure, Wake, Utopia and The Wickerwork Man to be pretty good and The Very Last Picture Show and The Velvet Dark to be less than good, though still worth the read I'd say.
Thank you for reading :)
To have an anthology of sixteen stories that stare at this idea in the face is truly brilliant in my eyes. Usually, the farewells are an afterthought in Doctor Who stories, the conclusion to the story and that's all really but here they are anything but an afterthought.
From what I've read of these Big Finish Short Trip anthologies thus far, not all of the stories in the books are great. That being said though, the good stories are bloody excellent and it's no different here. Of the sixteen stories, seven stand out to me as something truly noteworthy.
They are as follows: The Bad Guy, Separation Day, Into the Silent Land, Life After Queth, Black and White, Curtain Call & The Three Paths.
I'd like to give a special mention to Curtain Call, the story of Angela Ellis. This was one of the greatest stories I've ever read and I'm incredibly grateful that I was able to read it. It was such an emotionally charged story and it encapsulates the reason why I love these anthologies so much and shows how a Doctor Who story can be any kind of story the writer wants to tell.
And just for the sake of mentioning the rest, I found: The Mother Road, Father Figure, Wake, Utopia and The Wickerwork Man to be pretty good and The Very Last Picture Show and The Velvet Dark to be less than good, though still worth the read I'd say.
Thank you for reading :)
October 1, 2018
I've read a few of the Big Finish Short Trips anthologies, and after the disappointing Dalek Empire, the stories in this anthology took a refreshing take on each era.
The First Doctor stories were the highlight for me. The Mother Road had some great insights into the original crew, particularly a rare glance at the Doctor and Susan's views on their homeworld. The Three Paths has to be one of the greatest short stories ever to grace Who fiction. Very few authors manage to offer a fresh insight on the Doctor as a character and tell a good story. Here Ian Potter does both. The story has nods to other eras and mediums of the series without getting bogged down on continuity. For a fan, it's most certainly the highlight of the anthology.
On equal footing with The Three Paths for me was Separation Day. The creation of such a disastrous timeline caused by the events of the novel takes a marvelous imagination, and pulled on my heart strings that the future of reality could ultimately revolve around the love two people share for one another.
This anthology has spurred me on to dip into one of the others. My only doubts are that they will not live up to the stories told in this one. Highly recommended!
The First Doctor stories were the highlight for me. The Mother Road had some great insights into the original crew, particularly a rare glance at the Doctor and Susan's views on their homeworld. The Three Paths has to be one of the greatest short stories ever to grace Who fiction. Very few authors manage to offer a fresh insight on the Doctor as a character and tell a good story. Here Ian Potter does both. The story has nods to other eras and mediums of the series without getting bogged down on continuity. For a fan, it's most certainly the highlight of the anthology.
On equal footing with The Three Paths for me was Separation Day. The creation of such a disastrous timeline caused by the events of the novel takes a marvelous imagination, and pulled on my heart strings that the future of reality could ultimately revolve around the love two people share for one another.
This anthology has spurred me on to dip into one of the others. My only doubts are that they will not live up to the stories told in this one. Highly recommended!
April 5, 2023
Another one in the series of short stories from the world of Doctor Who,albeit the first eight Doctors only.This was rather disappointing.I found the stories mainly a little gloomy.also once again there is the problem of a story being penned and then the author slotting the character of the Doctor in somewhere to suit the whole umbrella title .When this series of books first began many years ago they seemed to be really fun fascinating stories.I'm not sure where it all went downhill but it definitely has.Such a shame,a wasted opportunity.
October 4, 2019
I have to put the book down to the very end, I like the stories in the beginning but as I get further into the book it's just not working out. I enjoyed. The Mother Road, Father Figure, Separation Day, Into the Silent Land, Life After Queth and Curtain Call but it became difficult to get through the others, and really, Into the Silent Land is the most stand out throughout the rest, give that story 9/10
December 6, 2011
I found the stories in this anthology to be a pretty mixed bag. I particularly enjoyed two of the 1st Doctor stories: one in which the Doctor, Iain, Barbara, and Susan take a road trip on route 66 to retrieve the TARDIS after the Doctor has lost it in a card game; and one set on Gallifrey that is utterly fanwanky in the best possible way. I also enjoyed a 3rd Doctorn story that took an unusual look at the emotional side of the character, and a typically wacky Paul Magrs 8th Doctor story. (Although I kind of wish that Magrs hadn't chosen to name his alien menace "The Goomba".)
Most of the other stories didn't leave much of an impression, except that the 5th Doctor stories served to remind me why I didn't much care for Tegan or Peri back when I first encountered them on television. Reading this book almost made me want to embark on a gigantic project of looking at the way companions are portrayed in spin-off fiction over the years - the contrast between the way Tegan is written in these stories and the way she is written in some of the recent Big Finish audios seems striking to me, and it would be interesting to see if there are trends. It's certainly clear that different writers handle different companions (and Doctors) with greater or lesser degrees of sympathy and aptitude, but it also feels to me like the overall reputation of various characters in the fannish consciousness rises and falls over time. Alas, I'm not obsessive enough and don't have a large enough collection of the relevant spinoff fiction to do the subject justice. (That I, as someone who owns scores of Doctor Who books and hundreds of audio plays, can suggest that I'm deficient in obsessiveness is probably making the non-Who fans reading this blanch.)
Most of the other stories didn't leave much of an impression, except that the 5th Doctor stories served to remind me why I didn't much care for Tegan or Peri back when I first encountered them on television. Reading this book almost made me want to embark on a gigantic project of looking at the way companions are portrayed in spin-off fiction over the years - the contrast between the way Tegan is written in these stories and the way she is written in some of the recent Big Finish audios seems striking to me, and it would be interesting to see if there are trends. It's certainly clear that different writers handle different companions (and Doctors) with greater or lesser degrees of sympathy and aptitude, but it also feels to me like the overall reputation of various characters in the fannish consciousness rises and falls over time. Alas, I'm not obsessive enough and don't have a large enough collection of the relevant spinoff fiction to do the subject justice. (That I, as someone who owns scores of Doctor Who books and hundreds of audio plays, can suggest that I'm deficient in obsessiveness is probably making the non-Who fans reading this blanch.)
February 4, 2017
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Another of the Big Finish anthologies, unusually taking the first eight Doctors in chronological sequence with stories about saying goodbye. A strong start and end, with the First Doctor taking Ian and Barbara along Route 66 and the Eighth Doctor re-enacting The Wicker Man with contemporary garden furniture, by Gareth Wigmore and Paul Magrs respectively. The others that grabbed me were an elegiac Fourth Doctor story, "Into the Silent Land" by Steven A. Roman, and a grim Sixth Doctor story by Joe Lidster, "Curtain Call". In general 2006 seems to have been a good year for the Short trips anthologies, as it was for New Who in general.
Another of the Big Finish anthologies, unusually taking the first eight Doctors in chronological sequence with stories about saying goodbye. A strong start and end, with the First Doctor taking Ian and Barbara along Route 66 and the Eighth Doctor re-enacting The Wicker Man with contemporary garden furniture, by Gareth Wigmore and Paul Magrs respectively. The others that grabbed me were an elegiac Fourth Doctor story, "Into the Silent Land" by Steven A. Roman, and a grim Sixth Doctor story by Joe Lidster, "Curtain Call". In general 2006 seems to have been a good year for the Short trips anthologies, as it was for New Who in general.
January 3, 2026
Review by story…
The Mother Road: it’s an ok idea for a story. But I don’t buy into it the way it’s presented. And the author is so mean to the characters. Not a fan 1/5.
The Three Paths: absolutely perfect. Captures the First Doctor so well and gives so much more resonance to the end of his story. I wish William Hartnell could have recorded this. 5/5 stars.
Father Figure: couldn’t finish it. Victoria is not this horrible, helpless, cry baby that so many writers seem to think she is. She’s a fun character! Misogynist bullshit. 2/5 stars.
The Bad Guy: Couldn’t even finish this one. Just weird fan fiction bs that I did not appreciate. 1/5
Separation Day: A wild and weird story. Gets a little too fan-fictiony for me at the end. But pretty cool for the most part. Even if it doesn’t make a ton of sense. 3.5/5
The Mother Road: it’s an ok idea for a story. But I don’t buy into it the way it’s presented. And the author is so mean to the characters. Not a fan 1/5.
The Three Paths: absolutely perfect. Captures the First Doctor so well and gives so much more resonance to the end of his story. I wish William Hartnell could have recorded this. 5/5 stars.
Father Figure: couldn’t finish it. Victoria is not this horrible, helpless, cry baby that so many writers seem to think she is. She’s a fun character! Misogynist bullshit. 2/5 stars.
The Bad Guy: Couldn’t even finish this one. Just weird fan fiction bs that I did not appreciate. 1/5
Separation Day: A wild and weird story. Gets a little too fan-fictiony for me at the end. But pretty cool for the most part. Even if it doesn’t make a ton of sense. 3.5/5
January 2, 2014
A lot of the stories contained here are fairly sad, but with a title like Farewells it was expected. Another aspect that does come in more than once is that The Doctor is only in the story as a second character or in passing which I liked though sometimes I would have wished for more of him. The only thing that did get on my nerves is too many 5th Doctor stories (5 or 6), I would have preferred a little more balance between the Doctors.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews