Travel in Hope: Below There

"Your life signs register extreme distress."

Writers: Lauren Mooney & Stewart Pringle 

Format: Audio

Released: July 2023

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 10.01

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

Vyx works on a teleport relay station in the darkest depths of space – and she's afraid. Strange voices crackle through comms channels, shapes gather outside the starless viewing ports, and visions of death and destruction plague her dreams.

Then she gets a call from the Doctor, who warns Vyx that her worst nightmares are about to become reality. 

Verdict

Below There was a great start to the Travel in Hope tenth series of Ninth Doctor Adventures! It really is incredible that we’ve reached double figures on the number of boxsets as prior to 2021, who’d have thought we’d ever be getting this much Who content from Christopher Eccleston back in his role as the Ninth Doctor? It’s so wonderful to hear and whilst I would like some continuity or something of a story arc running through the range, it’s quite fun to be getting the umbrella titles and something of a theme to the stories in each respective boxset. I like the positivity of the title for this series but it didn’t feel that way with how we started. It was a dark atmosphere which worked very well for the relay station. I thought Vyx was a strong character and she really was the main character for the bulk of the adventure. She was essentially the companion for the episode without ever threatening or hinting at taking the relationship with the Doctor further, but what we did get with her was really good and she was extremely likeable. I thought the initial conversation on the radio relat was nicely done and I loved the continuity back to The Seeds of Death with the Doctor thinking that T-May was the most common and best way for transport. It was quite amusing that this made him a little dated. The importance of transportation was actually pivotal to finding out what the issue was on the station and it didn’t take the Doctor long to cotton onto the fact that Vyx wasn’t always alone. That sparked us into a pretty emotional flashback scene with Tom and how he was set in limbo between transmat and actually experienced thousands, if not millions, of years all at once. For Vyx it may only have been a couple of seconds but it showed how dangerous the transmat was as this wasn’t a secret to the corporation. They were aware of the dangers that it could cause to human life and were trying to hide it away instead of addressing it. Of course, it was just all about profits but the Doctor helped Vyx expose that which I thought was brilliant. The way she built her trust in him throughout the episode was terrific and I was impressed with how this was essentially a two-hander. The initial conversation over the radio was good on audio and it made them meeting in person all the better. Her referring to the TARDIS as a crate was amusing and I was surprised the Doctor didn’t take more offence! I thought the conclusion was good as the Doctor helped bring down another money hungry corporate enemy,  but it was Vyx who stole the show with her message to everyone. They tried to stop her and take the message down but the Doctor and his trusty sonic screwdriver weren’t having any of it. I quite liked the inclusion of the computer throughout and it was fun for it to be a bit annoying on times with its logical speak. I’m also not sure why it needs mentioning but I was quite surprised with how long the pre-titles scene was as well as that felt like not an awful lot was happening as we were building towards the thick of the episode. Overall though, I feel harsh in saying I think this will be largely forgettable despite being a really strong listen! 

Rating: 8/10