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Big Finish Short Trips #3
Doctor Who Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors
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. Through 14 new adventures, join the Doctor on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe, from an alien world tyrannized by a god-like machine to the British retreat from Afghanistan in 1842. Discover the secrets of the TARDIS's original owner, and of three faceless creatures stranded in 21st-century Hollywood.
202 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 4, 2021
THIS REVIEW IS JUST FOR THE STORY "THE EXILES" I will get to the rest when i get to them in my chronological reading of everything doctor who :)
A very nice, short read about the time when The Doctor and Susan first "borrowed" the Tardis and left their home planet.
The characters are pretty well written and recognizable, and its very cool to see Susan react to her first time seeing the Tardis on the inside and exploring it (even having a strange encounter in the dressing room!).
Overall i would definitely recommend it, it only took me about 20 minutes to read so you can even do it if you're short on time.
"In some ways, such words as "past",
"present" and "future" have no meaning in here."
-The First Doctor
A very nice, short read about the time when The Doctor and Susan first "borrowed" the Tardis and left their home planet.
The characters are pretty well written and recognizable, and its very cool to see Susan react to her first time seeing the Tardis on the inside and exploring it (even having a strange encounter in the dressing room!).
Overall i would definitely recommend it, it only took me about 20 minutes to read so you can even do it if you're short on time.
"In some ways, such words as "past",
"present" and "future" have no meaning in here."
-The First Doctor
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2022
I am currently reading these Short Trips novels in order of release and so am now at #3.Although I am a long long -time Doctor Who fan and love the series I have to be honest and admit that the quality of these short stories definitely went down in quality since BBC Books stopped doing them and Big Finish took over.Previously they were light hearted escapism with lots of lovely nods and references to the Classic series but unfortunately these later Big Finish stories are really quite gloomy and a bit of a plod to get through.I am sure they will appeal to many fans but for me personally I am just not finding them a joy to read like I did with the BBC ones.Yes there are occasional mildly enjoyable ones but the majority need a lot of patience.....
June 5, 2018
A few good ones in this anthology of terror tales, some genuinely chilling, some a bit inexplicable.
July 16, 2020
Best stories: The Fear by Alexander Leithes; Mauritz by Jonathan Morris; The Death of Me by Robert Shearman
January 2, 2023
Very mixed collection of stories it felt lost in the end, the stories I did enjoyed the most are The Exiles, Mire and Clay, Ash, The Fear and The Comet's Tail.
November 13, 2018
I am not a huge fan of short story anthologies, especially when they are written by several people rather than an individual. An individual can ensure that their theme is adhered to properly, whereas I am guessing that these stories have been commissioned.
The theme, a Universe of Terrors, is very loose, as though the brief was little more than the title. In one story a wartime dictator is the terror, whereas in others the terrors are what the title makes you expect, horror type stories.
Each of the first eight Doctors is represented (although the seventh only by a dreadful two page poem that has no link to the title at all). The first doctor manage three stories out of fifteen, and his stories are quite consistently good. But the story that makes the book is a fourth Doctor and Adric story called Mauritz, by Jonathan Morris. Gruesome with an awesome twist, one can't help wishing that all of the stories had been as superb as this one. Sadly, they weren't.
Update: reread this book in 2018 and enjoyed it a bit more (I originally gave it two stars but have increased it to three on this reading). I liked the fact that the stories were in chronological order by Doctor, and there were a couple of stories that really stood out. Mauritz is still the best, but Long Term is pretty good as well. And yes, the poem is still crap!
The theme, a Universe of Terrors, is very loose, as though the brief was little more than the title. In one story a wartime dictator is the terror, whereas in others the terrors are what the title makes you expect, horror type stories.
Each of the first eight Doctors is represented (although the seventh only by a dreadful two page poem that has no link to the title at all). The first doctor manage three stories out of fifteen, and his stories are quite consistently good. But the story that makes the book is a fourth Doctor and Adric story called Mauritz, by Jonathan Morris. Gruesome with an awesome twist, one can't help wishing that all of the stories had been as superb as this one. Sadly, they weren't.
Update: reread this book in 2018 and enjoyed it a bit more (I originally gave it two stars but have increased it to three on this reading). I liked the fact that the stories were in chronological order by Doctor, and there were a couple of stories that really stood out. Mauritz is still the best, but Long Term is pretty good as well. And yes, the poem is still crap!
April 6, 2025
Review by story…
Ash: Fantastic! Just the kind of horror I love in my Doctor Who! 5/5
The Exiles: Fine, not for me, but fine. 3/5
Face-Painter: the ending twist is good, but the rest is just unpleasant and horny. 2/5
Losing Track of Time: Truly scary monsters! Love a classic Doctor visiting modern day England. Not much to the story beyond the thrilling suspense of being chased by a scary goopy guy. But sometimes that’s all you need. 4/5
Ash: Fantastic! Just the kind of horror I love in my Doctor Who! 5/5
The Exiles: Fine, not for me, but fine. 3/5
Face-Painter: the ending twist is good, but the rest is just unpleasant and horny. 2/5
Losing Track of Time: Truly scary monsters! Love a classic Doctor visiting modern day England. Not much to the story beyond the thrilling suspense of being chased by a scary goopy guy. But sometimes that’s all you need. 4/5
November 2, 2013
Found myself skipping through a couple of the stories. One or two good stories in this. Will have to reread again sometime.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews