The Deep

"You shouldn't interfere with the TARDIS."

Writer: Ally Kennen
Format: Audio
Released: November 2010
Series: Short Trips 1.05

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa

Synopsis

When Nyssa attempts to fix the chameleon circuit, the TARDIS turns into a whale. Can she and the Doctor recapture it back into the old TARDIS before it's stuck in this form forever?

Verdict

The Deep was a superb little audio adventure to get me back into the audio format! Wow, it really has felt like a lifetime of prose but I'm thankful to have pretty much done everything there is to do that I don't own in Bristol Central Library in just under a year, but this one was a story I quickly chucked on in bed this morning as I woke up free of actually doing any university work. It's quite the feeling when all you have to do today is print your dissertation and get it bound. But with this, my day started off in a good way with a quite audacious audio story! It really was quite fascinating and anytime a story delves into trying to fix the chameleon circuit, I'm sold. It's just such an interesting concept and part of Doctor Who's history, and even though I love the story, I still wish it wasn't temporarily fixed during Attack of the Cybermen. It wasn't quite the same seeing something other than a police box materialise and have the Doctor walk out of it. The Fifth Doctor was the incarnation here though, and his reaction to Nyssa attempting to fix the chameleon circuit was fantastic! Even more so was the prospect of her doing so without having consulted the TARDIS Manual, he couldn't quite believe she had made so much progress. When the Doctor was happy to enough to test things and put Nyssa's work into action, the result was unexpected and unlike anything I could have possibly imagined. The concept of the chameleon circuit working on the inside of the TARDIS was just sublime and such a good idea. It really was faultless and the execution was fantastic! The image in my head of the console just melting into nothingness as the TARDIS became a whale was extraordinary. Yes, that is correct. This is an audio where the TARDIS became a giant sea creature. It was absolutely mad but I loved it. Nyssa's reaction when she and the Doctor were just left on the beach as the TARDIS whale went off into the ocean was hilarious. It really was unlike anything else and I commend the story for that. It's not easy to achieve with the sheer volume of Doctor Who available today so I was glad that I got something new. I thought Peter Davison was superb in narrating this adventure and whilst he may not have the best reputation for his audio performances, I thought he was on top form here which made listening very easy. The plan of the Doctor to communicate with his TARDIS through sonar as it was still very much a whale was quite funny and I liked the danger of him almost causing a mass beaching. That would have been horrifying! Alas, the TARDIS whale warned the other whales off and through the symbiotic link it had with the Doctor, was able to be reverted back to normality and wiggle off the damage of the chameleon circuit. He would get to keep his TARDIS in the shape of the little blue police box that he very much liked, which also kept the story in line with Hunters of the Burning Stone which was good. Overall, a fantastic audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10