Light at the End of the Tunnel

"I wanted to see the universe, not get killed."

Writer: Mark Wright

Format: Short Story

Released: December 2003

Printed in: Short Trips: Steel Skies 06

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

There are many places that most of us can never see: places that are sheltered, locked away, cordoned off from the outside world. But to the Doctor, and those who travel with him in his TARDIS, there is no such thing as a locked door. Anywhere in space and time is open to them to visit – even if sometimes it might be better to leave such places well alone.

Steel Skies is a collection of stories based in enclosed and artificial environments: places constructed to keep the dangers of the universe outside, perhaps, or to keep their inhabitants locked in. It is divided into four sections, each exploring a different kind of confinement:

Section One, Flight, comprises four tales of travellers who left their homes for far-away destinations – to explore, to start a new life, or to fight for the survival of their species.

Section Two, Frontiers, explores the corridors, living quarters and ventilation shafts of four futuristic environments – designed to shelter men, women and children from harsh natural forces, or from the threat of nuclear war.

Section Three, Incarceration, tells four stories of punishment and imprisonment, from San Francisco's infamous Alcatraz, to the cage of a flightless angel in the dilapidated ruins of Heaven. 

Section Four, Isolation, deals with the loneliness and despair of being cut off from the world outside, by physical or mental incapacity, by the ravages of war, or caught between destinations aboard the TARDIS itself. 

A recurring theme in all four sections is the effect of the Doctor's arrival in these enclosed environments – sometimes positive, sometimes less so.

Verdict

Light at the End of the Tunnel was a really strong story to continue my way through the Steel Skies edition of Short Trips! I was intrigued by the name of the story and I always love to extend the time spent in the TARDIS between the Fifth Doctor and Peri because they’re such an underrated and underutilised pairing. It’s a huge shame that The Caves of Androzani was the only on screen serial with the pair as the sole Doctor and companion combination because I think they work so well together. It’s probably the fact they’re both youthful in the roles and I definitely do consider them as the first precursors for the dynamic we would see in the TARDIS in the modern era. I’m not sure if this could be considered Peri’s very first journey in the TARDIS as companion following the events of Planet of Fire, but if it isn’t it’s one of the very few at the start! I think that’s good as it presents Peri in a different way to what the majority of her adventures are because she’s still new to all of this. Life in the TARDIS is not a breeze and she found that out here with the robot trying to kill her purely for her being present, but then the view she got at the end showed that some of the risks associated with travel alongside the Doctor might just be worth it. I thought that was pretty poignant and this did have a kind of mini modern era episode two vibe as Peri saw the threats that come with companion life but then had that moment of realisation that it’s absolutely where she wants to be. I’m a big fan of that and it just works here with Peri. She’s a valuable companion and definitely could be inserted into the modern era with ease so maybe that’s why it’s so relatable? I sense the irony though as I’m reading over two decades since this was published and the modern era wasn’t even around! But the formula is definitely present and that was fun to dissect. I thought the story basically being a cliche of a typical escape from a situation caused by the Doctor was good fun and I liked how much of it was within corridors. It felt very dark and I mean that purely in lighting which is an impressive thing to present in prose. Especially in a short story as well! But Mark Wright is a familiar writer in the Whoniverse so I can’t say I’m surprised. Full compliments! I really wasn’t sure about the use of spiders in this story because I couldn’t wholly buy into the concept of the Fifth Doctor being scared of a normal house spider. Sure, I can fully appreciate that he might have very bad memories of the events of Planet of the Spiders causing his regeneration which may now trigger trauma, but surely normal sized spiders are all good in his estimations? Peri was dumbfounded which I somewhat agreed with but I then did find myself not wholly disagreeing with the Doctor’s retort about being scared if you had dealt with the spiders he had. They weren’t exactly ordinary spiders though! It was really good how the spiders actually helped the Doctor and Peri though with the former realising that quite nicely as they were finding the path that was away from the gas that had been emitted. That was a good threat in their contained environment of the story and I liked how the spiders served as connective tissue between the start and end of the story. Sure, in a longer form I would love to have got the full experience of what happened with the N’tia and their slaves that sparked a revolution at the Doctor’s hands, but this is where the Short Trips come in. We just don’t have the page count for that! And that’s completely fine. At least we got the backlog and I think that’s what we needed for Peri as she came to her realisation of life in the TARDIS. The description of the beauty she saw at the end after they’d made their escape really did sound beautiful and I was rather jealous! Overall, a great little read to continue my way through the collection. 

Rating: 8/10