The Way Forwards

"The future is the winner."

Writer: Steve Case
Format: Audio
Released: February 2011
Series: Short Trips 2.02

Featuring: Second Doctor, Victoria

Synopsis

Chaos ensues when a young boy called Sherman discovers time travel for a science project.

Verdict

The Way Forwards was a very good little audio adventure to continue my sporadic and roundabout listening of the Short Trips series. The Doctor didn't feature a great deal but I have come to expect that in these short adventures and it really is okay. I think it's important to have that expectation going in, especially in these volume series where the stories really don't go much longer than fifteen minutes, as he doesn't really become the focus or have as much importance as he would in a traditional tale. That's absolutely fine as well. I liked the idea of playing time travel and I think it's quite intriguing how things work out for me personally after reading Touched by an Angel yesterday where time travel was very prominent! It was so again here but in a very different way whilst having an ordinary person travel through time. I loved the idea of Sherman having a time travel theory for a science project and he was determined to win first place at the fair with his proposals. He was worried though because he knew that it was too clever and complex for the judges to understand so winning may become unlikely. What I would like to know about the Doctor during this story is just why he was attending a science fair. That never came up but I can just picture the Doctor, particularly in his second incarnation as was the case here, fitting perfectly well in that type of environment. I really liked that we had a rare outing for just the Doctor and Victoria and whilst she didn't have a great deal to do in the companion role, it was just nice for there to be a slightly different dynamic. However, I do think Jamie's absence should have been addressed though as it doesn't fit in with any established chronology that he wouldn't be with the Doctor and Victoria. Her inability to fully grasp a paradox was great and it meant the Doctor could just say she was right by explaining everything she didn't understand. Sherman changing history once the Doctor gave him the right formula came out of nowhere and the surprise of our hero once Sherman vanished and the landscapes surrounding them were in flux was very good. I wasn't sure about the constant change in setting though as surely time should have rewrote itself so the TARDIS wouldn't still be there in the new surroundings? Or am I just reading a bit too much into things? Who knows. What I did like was that Sherman didn't have any evil intentions and he was trying to put things right himself. He was just way out of his depth and that showed when the Doctor showed up again to put things right. He was delighted to no longer be alone and needed the help to put things back on track. His reaction to the TARDIS interior, or rather lack of it, was unexpected as he didn't comment on it being bigger which was a shame. The ending kind of fizzled out a little bit but it was a nice little story. Overall, a very enjoyable little story!

Rating: 7/10