‘DISTANCE’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Trips to the Hospital for Barbara

This story is by Tara Samms and it features Ian and Barbara. Apparently, Tara Samms is a pseudonym for Stephen Cole. Not sure why he decided to have this Short Trip under a different name. He previously wrote three Short Trips and wrote five more in prose under that particular pseudonym. 😐

He also wrote a Telos novella as Tara Samms. ‘Distance’ depicts Ian and Barbara who are now married after their travels with the First Doctor. I like how Ian and Barbara’s married life gets touched upon in this short story as well as ‘The Five Companions’ and ‘Hunters of the Burning Stone’.

‘Distance’ is divided into three staves. It has Barbara at a hospital where she meets a girl called Karen Ellis, who is the daughter of Frank Ellis, an old friend of Ian’s. During the story, Barbara experiences some harrowing developments when Frank is dying and Karen becomes involved in this.

I’m not sure why Barbara visited the hospital in the first place, but as it’s indicated by the end of the story, she seems to be very ill since she went for an ultrasound scan. Ian is unaware of this. Barbara begins to tell him that something’s wrong with her when it comes to the conclusion of this little tale.

For a while, I was enjoying the interaction between Ian and Barbara and how they reflect on their past adventures with the Doctor, despite not mentioning his name much. When it came to Barbara confronting Karen and the death of her father however, I’m afraid some plot details got lost on me.

‘Distance’ rating – 6/10