Audio Short Trips 1.1: Rise and Fall, by George Mann

My parents had trouble getting me to learn to read; it didn't help that I hated school and my teacher at the time was, to be frank, useless. If I get to the Pertwee years you'll hear more about how I was finally persuaded but that's irrelevant right now, because the bit I want to tell you about is my own six-year-old reasoning. After she'd finally got me started, my mother asked me what the problem had been. I explained that I couldn't see the point of learning to read, because if I wanted a story mum or dad would either read one to me or make one up. Which is logical, you must admit.

Skip forward forty years and, perhaps unsurprisingly, you find me a keen listener of audiobooks. I was also a fan of Big Finish's audio dramas; so why was I reluctant to give the audio short trips a shot? Probably it was due to limited funds making me more conservative in my choices. Again you'll have to wait to find out what changed my mind - but this time, only for a few paragraphs.

As you'd expect from me, I'll state up front that one of the main things Rise and Fall has going for it is William Russell's voice. It's coupled with some lyrical prose that gives him an opportunity to shine, and some very effective sound work. This is a story you can just lie back and enjoy listening to, letting the sound of it drift through your head.

Or, if you prefer, you could pay attention to the story. No, really; I don't mind, and actually it's worth paying attention to. I can't say too much without giving the game away, but Mann has come up with a neat little idea that fits in well with both the short story format and the experimental nature of early Who. This is the only time in the show's history that such a story would really work, and there's also no way this could have been realised on TV in any era - it has some similarities with sections of George Pal's film version of The Time Machine, but the focus is very different. It also has similarities with some of the 'Doctor-lite' episodes of the new series, particularly Love and Monsters or Blink, in that the TARDIS crew are not actively involved in events for much of the story but their presence is felt strongly throughout.

Or at least, the presence of Ian and the Doctor. Susan and Barbara are both sidelined early on, which I often object to, but in this case it doesn't matter, and it's a boon when the reader is Russell. This is a very personal story, but one where any of the crew could have been the main participants. It's also a grand, sweeping story; how you see it depends so much on perspective.

And that's all I want to say.

An Expanding Universe, Part 5: Audio Short Trips
As we shall see again very soon, The history of Who publishing has been marked by oscillations between periods when the BBC has handled it largely in-house and periods when they grant licenses to prolific publishers such as Virgin. In 2009, Big Finish lost its license to produce the Short Trips book series. Since they still had the rights to produce audiobooks they decided to experiment with continuing the range in this format. To encourage buyers they released the first story as a free sample - combined with a great sale, it convinced me to buy the lot; and while it might not do the same for you it's well worth the time to download and listen.

Published:
Date: November 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84435-547-1

Rating:
9/10.

Next Time:
Since I finished reading it last night, and since the order of the stories in this gap is a matter for debate anyway, I might as well move on to City at World's End.

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