Downward Spiral

"Isolation does strange things to the human mind."

Writer: Alan Flanagan 

Format: Audio

Released: July 2020

Series: Short Trips 10.07

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa

Synopsis

Travelling through space on your own can be lonely. It's why Siobhan Matthews' ship has been installed with COMPANY, an AI that has stored personalities of Siobhan's nearest and dearest. Someone to talk to when the silence is overwhelming. 

Siobhan has other guests today, which is impressive considering she didn't let them onboard. They're called the Doctor and Nyssa, but they've arrived at the worst possible time. Siobhan's ship is spiralling towards something in the dark, and it's hungry.

Verdict

Downward Spiral was an outstanding Short Trips adventure! I absolutely loved this story and it has to go down as one of my very favourites from this gem of a range. You really can find some terrific little stories hidden in this series and this is a prime example. I’m a huge fan of Nyssa so having her as the primary character in the story alongside the Fifth Doctor certainly appealed and I really liked her narrative opening addressing the listener about zero gravity and how she was about to tell a story. And what a story she told! The description of Nyssa and the Doctor shouting amongst each other in the TARDIS was a bit of a surprise as they usually have a splendid relationship, but cabin fever was real. Nyssa was keen to go to a meeting of the greatest minds whilst in typical fashion of the Doctor’s fifth incarnation, he fancied going to a planet made entirely of bouncy castles instead. Terrific. I wouldn’t mind a visit myself! The TARDIS had other plans though as it picked up a distress call from 2155 and when arriving at the ship, there being no gravity was a lot of fun. It’s on my bucket list to experience zero gravity so I was jealous! Siobhan was a wonderful character and I enjoyed her shocked reaction to seeing actual people on her ship. It had been so long for her. The narration switching to a form where Nyssa was addressing Siobhan was unique and I loved how that came full circle at the end with it being a recording. Brilliant stuff. It turned out the TARDIS had actually arrived in 2055 missing the target and arriving aboard the Reverance, the first manned ship to Venus. Here we were introduced to COMPANY which was an intriguing form of artificial intelligence! It contained a personalities programme where Siobhan had artificial versions of her dad Dai, her husband Jim, best friend Gina, daughter Nicole and even her boss Ashraf. It seemed a good way to tackle babe psychological effects of isolation as being alone for so long certainly isn’t fun! I absolutely adore Sarah Sutton’s Irish accent as it was so good and I’m just a sucker for it. The dust cloud that nearly cancelled the mission was a good obstacle and I liked that something was blocking the view of space and it didn’t want to be seen, but the Doctor knew it was no coincidence. The TARDIS had come a century early to before a point where the force in 2155 was too strong and it was so afraid it locked the Doctor and Nyssa out until all was resolved! The Doctor wanting to know that they were dragged in from an orbit was good and the threat of being dead in twenty minutes provided some late urgency! Nyssa questioning if the AI message had actually got to the engines was interesting as there was no help around at all. The fire breakout was fantastic from just a small drop of fuel that caught, and I loved that this was a deliberate act of COMPANY as it was designed to protect Siobhan under any circumstances, no matter how literal. There was no reasoning with her, but Nyssa tried her best appealing and using her father’s death to show she understood. She wanted Siobhan to think of the goodness of her own father, not the artificial one, and ask if he’d want his daughter to die. It was powerful stuff! Siobhan blurted out the kill switch for COMPANY and she was free of its grasp. The problem was solved a century early  and I like how things came full circle with Nyssa concluding her recording and us getting that little rewind to what we heard at the start. Overall, a magnificent story!