Fear of Flying

"You've seen these windows fail?"

Writer: Paul F Voerhoeven

Format: Audio

Released: February 2022

Series: Short Trips 11.05

Featuring: Tenth Doctor 

Synopsis

Hawa Hassan is terrified of flying. However, to make the most important audition in her life, Hawa's braving boarding an aeroplane. After all, it's just one flight. What could possibly go wrong?

Verdict

Fear of Flying was a somewhat average story to continue my way through the eleventh series of Short Trips! I think this is kind of the definition of a throwaway adventure which is a shame because it did have a strong core idea and setting. I think the idea of having a story set on board of a flight is actually really strong and I appreciate the unique nature of it. However, I think the choice of Doctor was a huge mistake. Because this featured the Tenth Doctor, I was getting very strong Midnight vibes and whilst on the face of it that would sound like a positive thing given that episode’s reputation, I unfortunately found myself in the camp of it feeling repetitive and same same. That’s a little disappointing and I appreciate that this might sound harsh, but I don’t think that would have come into my head at all if it was any other incarnation of the Doctor. There wasn’t any real benefit to the Tenth Doctor featuring so I’m surprised by the choice. This is nothing against the narrator by the way as her performance was absolutely fine, but I am also unsure about the choice of actor. She didn’t seem the right kind of vibe for this story and whilst I appreciated that she’s primarily there as the identifiable voice for Hawa, the focus is almost always on the Doctor. It’s almost impossible not to be! I actually like the idea of feeding off fear and whilst that’s not exactly a unique concept, harnessing someone’s fear of flying whilst mid air on a flight is! I thought that was pretty good and it was quite enjoyable for her to be sitting next to the Doctor who was commenting on just how unsafe being on aeroplane was. Exactly what you want when you’re a nervous flyer! I thought Hawa’s background as an actor was decent enough but I can’t say I was exactly rooting for her to get the job after her dismissive attitude towards three minutes of screen time. She didn’t exactly seem confident of getting the gig so with such a phobia of flying it was a wonder she was taking the risk in the first place! She did through provide the basis for the threat and fear being used as energy is a good concept I can get behind because there are numerous ways it can be used, as evidenced here. I thought the Doctor kicking into gear once he realised what was happening was good, even if he had to get another jibe in about the unsafe nature of flying. Hell, he even had an example of when the worst happened on board a flight as I took my quote from. I could picture the Tenth Doctor there, but I’m not convinced the characterisation was all there in the writing nor the infectious enthusiasm in the performance to capture this incarnation’s essence. When it comes to the story, it was a worthwhile thirty-eight minutes or so and it was certainly what it said on the tin! I’m just not sure it was all that exciting unfortunately. 

Rating: 6/10