Following on from their misadventures with killer static, the second instalment in the Eleventh Doctor Adventures boxset sees new companion, Eleanor, get her first proper space adventure.

Set on the space station Space Florida, her first trip is anything but swimming and sandcastles. On the ship, they are all alone, except for a chatty AI and the monsters lurking in the distance.  

In an attempt to ease Eleanor into time and space travel, the Doctor takes her to Space Florida. Unfortunately, it’s not the relaxing paradise he remembers. The holidaymakers are missing, so are the crew, and something monstrous is closing in.

Big Finish Synopsis

For the second story in the boxset, The Tourist Trap plays on yet another popular adventure foundation: a vacation gone wrong/bleak resort. With no fewer than 190 examples set across the TV series and EU, it’s a crowded field with which to create a story that is both original and engaging. Axford’s attempts at creating a successful story under this trope are mixed.

The story, unfortunately, begins on the wrong note. The abandoned resort, the mysterious monster and helpful little AI/robotic interface are abundant throughout the genre, and this variation on a theme does little to differentiate itself. It’s a worrying development to have, especially after such a stellar story previously. In all fairness, however, these issues abate as the runtime progresses. Axford ultimately uses these tired motifs to trick listeners into a sense of false security. Towards the halfway point, the mysteries presented by Space Florida’s bleak resort are turned on their head. During this twist to the narrative, what was once a story about helping to preserve the last vestiges of humanity in cryosleep becomes a tense race against time, as a vicious AI misunderstands its objectives, becoming a one-robot human-killing machine which the Doctor has inadvertently been helping make stronger. This little twist to the plot does end up saving what is otherwise something completely forgettable, even if the twist itself isn’t exactly groundbreaking.

While the plot of this story is mixed, there are certainly better things to be found surrounding the development of new companion Eleanor and her dynamic with The Doctor. As this is her first adventure in the TARDIS, it is understandable that Eleanor gets the bulk of this episode’s focus. In this adventure, she’s thrown into the deep end with a story that really requires her to think on her feet. Met with unpredictable scenarios and unimaginable dangers, her former status as a CEO is put to good use throughout and proves to be more than just a title stories will use from time to time when convenient. Moreover, this story gets deeply personal for her, as its events of the adventure are directly linked to the Earth’s shaky future. Despite learning that, in the future, her home is no more, she’s able to maturely deal with the situation and focus on the issues at hand.

During this instalment, Eleanor also learns more about her eccentric travelling companion, The Doctor. As the story progresses, she learns just how dangerous it can be travelling with him. Through all the quirkiness and the fun, he loses people and, more often than not, loses himself. In spite of this, Eleanor still chooses to travel with him, not out of some wide-eyed wonder, but because she believes that by being with him, she can do some good herself.