'Short Trips': 'Snapshots' edited by Joseph Lidster

A mysterious ghost haunts a hotel in India. The terrifying alien C'rizz attacks commuters in King's Cross station. Beneath a London council estate, a creature is waiting to be born. And on a distant world, an old man trades stories with a strange time traveller.

Throughout his adventures in time and space, the Doctor meets so many people and each one is affected in some way. The waiter who keeps a special table for the Time Lord's granddaughter, Susan. The American student who befriends lost Lucie Miller. The teenage girl who discovers that she may be something more than human.

What is it like when that strange blue box appears in your life? What is it like when your eyes are opened to so much more?

What is it like when everything changes?

__________________________________________________________________

'The Golem' by Lizzie Hopley

On a run down housing estate, television signals combine with the raw emotions of a gang of teenage outcasts to awaken a slumbering golem in the ground below. Infused with their rage, the creature rises from the earth, manifesting itself in the form of a young girl. However, before it can start killing, the golem is stopped by the arrival of the Doctor, who consigns the monster back to the ground it came from.

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor

*The Doctor is alone, so I'm choosing to place this story after 'The War Games', when he is working for the Time Lords

__________________________________________________________________

'Indian Summer' by James Goss

At a seafront hotel in Bombay in the year 1816, waiter Suresh Parekh is startled to see the ghost of an old man suddenly appear at one of his restaurant’s tables; the ghost points to one of its fellow diners – and the following day, that man meets an untimely end. Over the next few years the ghost continues to appear in the restaurant; each time, the guest identified by the spectre dies not long after. Conversely, Suresh notices that, despite the fact that his family are growing older around him, he appears not to be aging at all… When the hotel manager confronts the ghost he is driven mad, and he eventually dies in an institution, leaving the business to his elder sister. The years pass, and Suresh meets a young girl looking for her grandfather; when he notices that the girl appears not to age between her visits, he deduces that she is looking for the ghost. The manageress pays her hotel a visit, but she too dies after seeing the ghost; however, she leaves behind a letter addressed to Suresh, advising him that the spectre wants him to build a strange contraption from a glass, a cork and two forks. Suresh meets the ghost once more the following year, and uses the unorthodox device to communicate with the old man; he learns that he is in fact a traveller called the Doctor, who became separated from his granddaughter after he attempted repairs to his time-space ship. Drifting through time, the Doctor is latching onto people close to death, who give him temporal stability; meanwhile, his granddaughter is attempting to locate and rescue him. Learning that the Doctor’s chronal seepage is causing him to age slowly, Suresh chooses to leave the hotel and travel the world, eventually returning decades, later posing as his own son. Resuming his role of head waiter, Suresh is delighted when the Doctor – now corporeal – walks into the restaurant with his granddaughter and sits down for dinner.

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor and Susan

*Time-placing: this happens pre-Season 1, before the Doctor and Susan have settled in 1960s London

__________________________________________________________________

'All Of Beyond' by Helen Raynor

The Doctor and Jamie arrive on Earth in the year 54,010, inside a huge bio-dome. Here they meet a tribe of Stone Age humans, who believe that the world outside their tropical paradise has been devastated by a terrible war. The Doctor is concerned, and tells them that there was never a war – the tribe are part of a social experiment left unchecked, while the world outside the dome is unharmed. Using equipment from the TARDIS, the Doctor breaks a hole in the dome, allowing the tribe to finally leave their prison and step out into the real world beyond…

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor and Jamie

*Time-placing: the Doctor is looking very old, suggesting the latter days of his incarnation; the fact that he mentions Victoria as if she is still travelling with him and Jamie suggests that this story takes place after 'The War Games', when the trio are working for the Time Lord’s CIA organisation

__________________________________________________________________

'The Eyes Have It' by Colin Harvey

Pest controller Lionel Tooley is sent to the house of a little old blind lady, to investigate reports of strange noises and ‘goo’. Here he meets two people from the Council, the Doctor and Mel, who are tracking the source of a distress signal. The trio discover an insectoid alien living in the attic, which has grown to massive proportions over the years, and stolen the owner’s eyes so that it can see while on Earth. Having sent out a call for reinforcements, the creature has forced the blind lady to lure unsuspecting people into her home so that the bug can take their eyes and return hers. While Lionel uses his untapped ventriloqual skills to distract the alien, the Doctor destroys the creature with the exterminator’s insecticide, and then returns the stolen eyes to the suitably chastised old lady.

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Mel

__________________________________________________________________

'The Misadventure of Mark Thorne' by Andy Frankham

Obnoxious chef Mark Thorne inadvertently stumbles inside the TARDIS and knocks himself out, glimpsing two concerned men as he slips into unconsciousness; when he awakes, Mark makes his way outside and finds himself on a different planet. Making his way to a nearby stone city, Mark looks on as the two men he saw earlier are captured by alien creatures; the cowardly Mark chooses to hide not help, but then he too is captured. To Mark’s surprise, the aliens - known as the Shev - give Mark food, and it is not long before he is creating culinary delights for his new found friends. When the Shev take Mark on a hunt, he is shocked to learn that their quarries are the two men; realising that the Shev consider humans to be a delicacy, Mark runs for his life, but the two men, unaware that their guest has left their ship, reach the safety of their blue box and vanish – leaving the self-centred Mark to face his just desserts…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Turlough

__________________________________________________________________

'Attachments' by Scott Handcock

Student Oliver Day sends an email to his girlfriend, Chloe, explaining that even though he has only been gone a short time to her, he has in fact been travelling through time and space for several months with a stranger named the Doctor. It seems that Oliver only stopped travelling after he was injured during an incident with an alien creature, which left him as an amnesiac. As he recovered, Oliver began to recall his travels with the Doctor; questioning his sanity, he tried tracking the man down, finally gaining vindication after finding a picture of himself with the Doctor on a ‘conspiracy-theory’ website. Returning to the site of the incident, Oliver comes face-to-face with the monster once more, but before it can exact its revenge, the TARDIS materialises, bringing with it the Doctor, who promptly deals with the alien and then invites Oliver to resume their travels together. As Oliver signs off his message to Chloe, he vows that he will one day return from his adventures to rejoin her…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor, and introducing Oliver Day

*Working title: 'The Definite Article'

__________________________________________________________________

'There’s Something About Mary' by Simon Guerrier

When a young girl named Mary, gifted with powers such as telepathy and telekinesis, accidentally kills her mother in an explosion, she is taken to a military council to decide her fate. Also attending is the Doctor, who convinces one of the men present to adopt the girl to allow her to carry on with her life. Every year, the Doctor pays Mary a visit to check up on her; she comes to trust him, even when he somehow changes his physical appearance. At the age of eleven, Mary leans that she was adopted; she runs away from home, but the Doctor quickly finds her and encourages her to come home. Four years later, Mary decides that she wants to become a soldier; when her father objects, Mary uses her powers to run away to Neptune, and it is only the timely intervention of the Doctor that prevents an interplanetary incident. After passing her ‘A’ Levels, Mary attends a college open day, where she learns about the famine in Africa from a tutor and immediately transports herself there to help. Mary soon meets the Doctor, who tells her that she was created as a weapon; after the accident that killed her mother, she was to have been terminated, but was taken in by her adoptive father when he was shown the good in her. Agreeing to return home, Mary and her father then pay a visit to the authorities, to ask for a job that will enable Mary to use her powers for good.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors

*Time-placing: All the Doctors are travelling alone, so I'm placing the story like this: the Fifth Doctor - during the early part of season 20; the Sixth Doctor - during 23a; the Seventh Doctor – towards the end of his travels

__________________________________________________________________

'My Hero' by Stuart Manning

When a young woman finds a strange square of plastic-like material on her way to work, she never suspects the impact it will have on her life. Firstly, an eccentric man appears at the post office where she works and warns her of the object, before being dragged away by security guards; then, as the girl makes her way home on the Underground, the square causes a vending machine to come to life and attack her. Luckily, the strange man appears and disables the machine; he then takes custody of the square, explaining to the woman that the object is alive. As the man takes the device away with him, he shows the girl the interior of the Police Box in which he travels. The experience disturbs her, and she struggles to come to terms with the concept of things that go against everything she knows to be true; but in the end, she realises she has no option but to accept the Doctor for what he is…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor

__________________________________________________________________

'Plight of the Monkrah' by John Davies

Arriving in a marketplace, the Doctor and Oliver meet Manicoll showman Gravkrom-Vey, owner of the last Monkrah fish in the world. Gravkrom-Vey shows them the history of the Monkrah: when a politician criticised his meal while eating a Monkrah in a restaurant, the indignant fish used its dying moments to kill; the incident sparked off a civil war amongst the Manicoll, as half of them called for the decimation of the Monkrah fish, while the rest called for their preservation. When the fish were wiped out, it soon became apparent that the Manicoll needed the fish as part of their diet, and they too began to die. When Gravkrom-Vey asks for help in releasing the last Monkrah, Oliver agrees, and takes part in a task that looks suspiciously like a fairground game of skill. Having completed his ‘mission’, Oliver is surprised when the Doctor reveals Gravkrom-Vey to be a human in a clever disguise; his cover blown, Gravkrom admits that he is attempting to complete his acting diploma by creating, believing and propagating a fiction. The two time-travellers sign Gravkrom’s report card, and then help him to obtain his final signature – by taking him to the real Manicoll homeworld, to give the performance of his life…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor and Oliver Day

__________________________________________________________________

'Remain in Light' by Eddie Robson

Staying at the Californian beach house of the friend of a friend, Anton Hellinger is surprised to receive a phone call from a man calling himself the Doctor, asking for someone called Alison. Despite himself, Anton finds himself helping the Doctor, and he retrieves a body bag that has just washed up on the beach; cutting it open, Anton finds a young girl named Lucie, whom he revives using some drugs that she carries with her. With the Doctor unable to join them for a few days, Anton and Lucie get to know each other. Returning from a night out with his friends - a group of vacuous, gossiping trend-followers - Anton and Lucie are shocked to find a corpse disintegrating in the middle of the beach house. After meeting up with the Doctor the following morning, they then meet Cameron, the owner of the beach house, who tells them that he has lived there for three years; the Doctor’s suspicions are immediately aroused, as he met Alison there only a year ago. Later, one of Anton’s friends openly admits that Cameron is helping the group by sucking the life out of people, and then changing his victim’s will so that he can obtain their possessions. The Doctor realises that Cameron is a Concepton, an abstract being that has been given physical form by Anton’s daydreaming ex-girlfriend. Lucie discredits Cameron by taking on a fabricated identity, that of his ‘wife’, Darlene Fishman, spreading the rumour that her ‘husband’ is out to scam everyone. As word spreads, Anton’s friends begin to doubt Cameron, and with their faith in him lost, he melts away into nothingness.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie

__________________________________________________________________

'In Case of Emergencies' by Ian Farrington

On the trail of an alien menace in 1910, the Doctor arrives at a Mayfair hotel, where he meets lift porter, Philip Fowler. When the lift becomes stuck between floors during its ascent, the two occupants are forced to await help; Philip soon finds himself talking with the Doctor, and expounds on how the recent death of the king will bring about great change for the country. As Philip’s opinions become more obsessive, the Doctor realises that the attendant is not real, but is in fact an artificial construct strategically planted by alien invaders to precipitate the revolution of Edwardian England. With no choice but to deactivate Philip, the Doctor then sets off to stop the invaders…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor

__________________________________________________________________

'Puppeteer' by Benjamin Adams

The Doctor and Oliver are on the trail of the Puppeteer – an evil presence that has followed mankind’s progress from Earth to the stars, feeding off humanity’s dark thoughts during its many wars and conflicts over the centuries. On the planet Gondovan they meet investigative archivist Annajin Valentin, who is also searching for the creature after it possessed her brother, Sukhrit; when the two time-travellers offer to join forces with her, Anna she accepts their help. However, unknown to the Doctor, Oliver has already met Sukhrit, and has been taken over by the Puppeteer. Oliver attacks Annajin in her room, but she is saved by the arrival of the Time Lord, who uses a jury-rigged ultrasonic skull resonator to drive the alien parasite out of Oliver’s head. The Doctor explains that the worm-like creature is a Vrund, a symbiotic creature that crash-landed on Earth in the Nineteenth Century that was driven mad when it attempted to bond with a human. Disgusted by the parasite’s murderous history, Anna kills the creature; she is then elated to learn from the Doctor that her brother is still alive, and is recovering in hospital. Oliver is badly shaken by his experience of the Puppeteer’s dark thoughts, and, fearing that if her were to return home he would harm his loved ones, he elects to stay behind with Anna.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor and Oliver Day

__________________________________________________________________

'Osskah' by Gary Owen

When the TARDIS crash lands on a mountainside, its avian inhabitants take the Doctor to meet their elder, Wingleader Osskah Longspan; the Time Lord is forced to pose as a god, lest the birds decide to throw him to his death. Surmising that Osskah is dying, the Doctor offers to perform surgery in an attempt to prolong the creature’s life – although the operation will be risky, as he will be without the aid of the TARDIS, which is currently repairing itself. During the makeshift surgery, the Doctor distracts Osskah by telling him of his recent mission saving several sentient suns from a blight brought by colonists to their solar systems. In turn, Osskah tells the Doctor of a civil war amongst his people; after wiping out half their race, he and his fellows realised the folly of their actions, and attempted to remember the dead by chronicling their lives. Having confessed that his efforts to save Osskah have been in vain, the Doctor reads the avians’ history book, and is greatly moved. Realising that the Doctor’s actions saving the suns has inadvertently doomed his world to destruction, Osskah gives the history book to the departing traveller to ensure that his race will not be forgotten.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor

*Time-placing: the Doctor seems quite world-weary, so I'm placing this towards the end of his adventures

__________________________________________________________________

'Piecemeal' by James Swallow

After the survey vessel Pride of Sheboygan is hit by an ionic plume, the crew experiences widespread amnesia. With over a year of her memory lost, Technician Sayn Rohar begins piecing events together from ship’s records, and is perplexed to find that only the ship’s doctor and his assistant, Turlough, are unaffected. Sayn’s surprise at discovering that the doctor has set the vessel on course for the Soloto system soon turns to shock when she is informed that one of the aliens in the ship’s hold has escaped from its containment pod, and is currently attacking the crew. The doctor explains that the extraterrestrial is a memeovore, an apparently harmless creature that feeds off the RNA in its victims’ brains, inducing amnesia; it seems that the crew of the Pride captured the xenoform for dissection, to determine if it could be used for financial gain. The doctor reveals that he allowed the memeovore to remove the last few months of the crews’ memories, to give him the opportunity to take the creature to the remote world of Soloto where it can live out its life in peace. Saya agrees with the doctor’s actions, and allows her memory to be wiped again. Some time later, after the Doctor and Turlough have departed with the memeovore, the Pride is rescued and Saya begins piecing recent events together…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Turlough

__________________________________________________________________

'The Report' by Gary Russell

On a colony world, Law Enforcer Captain Lukas Ryan gives a report on recent events, after three mysterious people known as the Doctor, Hex and Ace arrived on the scene of a bomb threat at a shopping mall in Central City. Although one of the bombs detonated, killing two LE officers, the Doctor and his companions were able to save the citizens inside and capture the remaining two bombers. When Lukas asked the Doctor about what happened, the strange man pointed him to an old lady, who was also at the scene; Lukas later paid the woman a visit, and over tea learnt that she had admired the Doctor ever since she heard tales of him at school. The old woman then confessed that she had once worked for Kellagne, the dictator responsible for killing over half the population decades ago; at the time the woman turned a blind eye, but ever since Kellagne was killed sixty years ago, she had been wracked with guilt. After learning that the old lady recently contacted the Doctor, Lukas succumbed to the drugged tea, and could only look on helplessly as she shot herself. When Lukas finally regained consciousness, he found that the Doctor and his friends had cleaned up the body. At that point Lukas realised that the Doctor was also torn with guilt, as the old lady’s adulation of him led her to come to this world and aid Kellagne in commit mass murder.

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex

*Working title: 'Gray'

__________________________________________________________________

'You Had Me At Verify Username and Password' by Stel Pavlou

Ever since the Doctor saved the planet Trebidden from the Kolranis Expansion, Calabria, Fifth Moof of Trebidden, has been obsessed with her world’s saviour. Her attempts to track him down eventually lead her to the planet Earth, where she makes contact with the elusive Time lord via the internet and learns that he is busy trying to rescue his friend Charley from a Nigerian prison. Seeing as way to convince him of her love, the cyber-stalking alien offers to help, and sends the consignment of gold required to make the bail fee. However, after the money has been sent to the Doctor, the overly-flirtatious alien becomes concerned when her emails go unanswered…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor and Charley

__________________________________________________________________

'She Knew' by Nigel Fairs

After splitting up with his boyfriend, artist Jonathan Smith heads for their holiday home in Llanfairfach, Wales, only to find his estranged partner already there with someone else. After spending an uncomfortable night on the sofa, Jonathan heads for the local pub, where he meets and shares a bottle of wine with a strange man. As the two spend their time talking about those they have recently lost, Jonathan breaks down and reveals that he was so angry that he nearly burnt down the cottage when he began burning his old love letters. The older man tells Jonathan that he must move on with his life, and then, taking his own advice to heart, he drives off in his old car…

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor

*Time-placing: this takes place immediately after the events of 'The Green Death'

__________________________________________________________________

'The Glarn Strategy' by Brian Dooley

The Doctor and Romana’s quest for the Key to Time is interrupted when they detect an extraterrestrial power source in the British Isles. Tracing its source to a small estate agency, the two Time Lords investigate and meet arrogant salesman Martin Stowe, and his two colleagues, Sheila and Indira, who have recently become the targets of vindictive emails, texts and phone calls; having received hundreds of these spiteful communications, each suspects the other, and now an air of tension and mistrust fills their office. The Doctor offers to help, and soon determines the situation to be the work of the Glarn, an alien race of molluscs skilled in the arts of manipulation and propaganda as a means of invasion. When the Doctor’s interference is detected, he too gets a hate email, causing Martin to question his veracity; undaunted, the Doctor instructs the workers to mount a counter-attack by sending out as many funny and entertaining emails to as many of their friends and family as possible, and once the positive responses generated by these missives begin to flood in, the Glarn give up their invasion plans. The Doctor and Romana leave to continue their quest, while a much happier Martin, Sheila and Indira to go down the pub.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor and Romana

*Time-placing: the Doctor and Romana have interrupted their serach for the fifth segment of the Key to Time, placing this just prior to 'The Power of Kroll'

*Working title: 'Tuesday'

__________________________________________________________________

'Salva Mea' by Joseph Lidster

While waiting at King’s Cross for the train to take him to his granddad’s funeral, Luke Tillyard meets a panicked girl named Charley, who desperately asks him to save her from her friend C’Rizz, who has apparently “changed” and gone berserk. At the sight of the six-foot tall, snarling alien that is C’Rizz, everyone in the station panics and flees for their life, leaving Luke to defend Charley single-handed; but before the terrified Luke can act, another man – the Doctor – appears on the scene and engages C’Rizz in a terrible battle that destroys much of the station concourse. As Luke realises that the fight is being televised on live a news channel via the station’s CCTV, C’Rizz overpowers the Doctor and begins throttling him; hearing the enraged alien’s comment that the noise in the station drove him insane, Luke bravely jumps forward and slips the earphones from his .mp3 player into C’Rizz’ ears, sending full-volume music blasting into the alien’s skull, knocking him unconscious. Thanking Luke for his help, Charley and the Doctor take their subdued friend back to a blue box; when Luke tries to follow, he hears the trio laughing inside, and then the box vanishes into thin air. Some time later, Luke – now hailed as a hero thanks to his part in recent events – attends his granddad’s funeral, where his father gives him a letter from his departed relative. With surprise, Luke learns that his granddad also knew the Doctor, and helped him and his companions, Will and Emily, on a number of adventures. It seems that the old man was concerned that his grandson was unhappy with his life, and so asked the Doctor to give him an adventure too to brighten up his life. Luke is glad that the Doctor’s actions have changed his life, and wonders who else the strange man has helped in his travels.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Charley and C'Rizz

__________________________________________________________________

'The Sorrows of Vienna' by Steven Savile

While buying fish in a Viennese market, the Doctor encounters the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who is apparently being driven mad by the ghost of his dead lover. After the Doctor also sees his former companions, Charley and C’Rizz, he and von Goethe seek refuge in a tavern, only to find that everyone inside, including the barman, wears the aspect of the poet’s deceased lover. The barman tries to entice the grieving von Goethe to end his pain by drinking some wine, but the Doctor realises that the drink is tainted. Using a kaleidoscope-like device, the Time Lord forces the barman to show his real self: that of a Bacchanite, a parasitic demon that feeds off people’s pain. The Doctor tricks the creature into believing that a projection of sorrowful lovers is true, trapping it within the beam of light before shutting off the image; with the Bacchanite destroyed, everyone reverts to normal. The Doctor bids farewell to von Goethe, knowing that the poet will turn his experience into his most fabulous story, ‘Faust’…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor

*Time-placing: this takes place after the Doctor has parted company with Charley and C'Rizz, prior to meeting Lucie

__________________________________________________________________

'Fanboys' by Paul Magrs

David and Chris are two children who adore the television programme 'Doctor Who'...

Notes:
*This non-canonical story does not feature the Doctor

__________________________________________________________________


Notes:
*Published by Big Finish