1 episode. Approx. 15 minutes. Written by: Ally Kennen. Directed by: Nicholas Briggs, Ken Bentley. Produced by: Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery. Performed by: Peter Davison.
THE PLOT
When Nyssa announces that she thinks she's fixed the TARDIS chameleon circuit, the Doctor decides to test it in a big way: By materializing in the depths of the ocean. The chameleon circuit kicks in, and the TARDIS transforms into a whale... but it doesn't stop with the outside. The console room is replaced by the inside of a whale, and the Doctor and Nyssa are ejected into the sea!
Now the Doctor is left to improvise desperately. He needs to draw the TARDIS-whale to him before it eats, while it's still drawing energy from what's left of the TARDIS core. If it ingests so much as a single krill, it will become fully a whale - stranding the time travelers on Earth for all eternity!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Realizes that it's a bad idea for Nyssa to tamper with the TARDIS circuitry. But he's so excited by the thought of having a working chameleon circuit again, that he rationalizes away his doubts. He gives his companion's work only the most cursory inspection before his enthusiasm runs away with him. "If we were to go to Earth and arrive in a desert, the TARDIS might become a rock or a cactus... If we arrived in Antarctica, we might become an iceberg!" He pays for his lack of caution by nearly losing the TARDIS, though his quick thinking allows him to get away with only a short period of inconvenience.
Nyssa: Is led to try to fix the Chameleon Circuit because she hopes it will make their lifestyle a bit safer. Perhaps Adric's fate is on her mind? She's dismayed when the Doctor decides to push the circuit's "test run" as far as he can, when she would clearly rather start with something simpler.
THOUGHTS
The Deep was the 5th Doctor's story from the first Big Finish audio Short Trips collection. It's notable for being written by Ally Kennen, an award-winning young adult fiction writer. Kennen's ability does show. This is a well-written story, with quick but vivid descriptions, and it successfully packs a clever narrative into a brisk 15 minute running time. For the short-lived audio "Short Trips" range, this is above-average.
But not much above average, however - and the culprit, as with so many of the Short Trips, is the running time. With only 15 minutes to work with, there's just enough time to create the problem and explain it before the story has to rush to resolve it. All of these stages are well done, and there are some amusing asides such as the Doctor's worry about the TARDIS-whale mating with a real whale. The only thing lacking is some development. The same story with the Doctor having to make multiple, increasingly desperate attempts to recover his TARDIS would be much more fun - but there isn't enough time to explore any of the complications.
It's an enjoyable 15 minutes - But with a little longer a running time it could have been a lot better.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Set Between Season 19 and Season 20.
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