Salvage

"This train is literally running on time."

Writer: Max Curtis

Format: Audio

Released: February 2023

Series: Short Trips 12.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Bliss 

Synopsis

There's a place where all lost things go. Salvage, a sanctuary where the abandoned and misplaced can be found. In the Time War, more has been lost than ever before. Planets, people, and even whole timelines have been consumed by the fighting. Everyone needs Salvage, but even this haven isn't immune from the effects of the Time War.

Verdict

Salvage was an excellent start to the twelfth series of Short Trips! What a place to start in the Time War with the Eighth Doctor and Bliss as this is a really fascinating time for the Doctor and his companion. I love the idea of the Eighth Doctor refusing to take part in the Time War because we know of that occurs in The Night of the Doctor to become a warrior and finally take his place. But here we see part of what drives him to that decision and it showcases the true horrors of the universal conflict. This is a war unlike any others and I thought that was really captured well here. It's a shame that we didn't get either actor of the Doctor or Bliss to perform the story, but Adele Anderson did a tremendous job! She didn't need to do a top class impression of either main character because the writing did more than enough to capture their characterisation. Bliss is still a very intriguing companion because she comes from a world that now doesn't exist meaning she shouldn't either, and that formed an important part of the plot. The concept of the Salvage was really strong and I liked that it went back to the childhood of Bliss. She was told stories about it and the idea of her clinging onto the hope of there being a place for all of those lost things was terrific. She really did think there was somewhere out there where her lost teddy or her grandma's ring could be located, and coming to terms with the fact that might not actually exist was tough for her. This brought out a lot of emotion in Bliss which I was grateful to listen to. The nature of her being a companion in the Time War means her history and background is complicated so this was a good insight into her childhood. I thought it was really nice for her that she got to revisit her old bedroom and remember what that looked and smelt like, and just being back on Derilobia must have been so rewarding and hard at the same time knowing that she would eventually have to leave again. I thought the concept behind the Salvage train was fantastic and the fact that carriages were constantly being added said a lot about the scale of people being lost. It was something that came to those that were about to be lost to time and history because of the scale of the temporal conflict, and it could whisk them away to the safety of another dimension. I thought that was nice and it was actually quite fun for the train to be targeting Bliss. She was someone who should have been lost to the Time War so as far as the train was concerned, she needed salvation. That was really good to explore and I really liked that the Doctor clocked onto the fact Bliss knew about it. It was fun to venture down the train and the further down you got the more clear people became. Each carriage being locked onto its passengers presented a bit of a problem, but finding out that it was actually using the materials of the lost things and was in fact the Salvation it claimed was its destination was brilliant. The use of the gossip stone by Bliss was a nice touch too and I liked how she used it at the end when her planet was about to be erased from time and existence. That is a pretty daunting prospect, but the idea of the Doctor utilising everything around and creating a home for the passengers where they could move freely until the Time War was over was great. Overall, an excellent start to the series and a fine use of the Time War! A fantastic listen.

Rating: 9/10