A Forest of All Seasons

Short Trips Special

Released: 21 June 2025

Listened: 3/17/26

This Short Trip is from a special collection of two stories, called "A Feast of Steven." Apparently this came about shortly after the recording of "The Living Darkness," when Jacqueline Rayner wanted to write some more stories with Steven, and Peter Purves wanted some more time playing the First Doctor. The emphasis in both stories is Steven trying to take care of his younger companion, but also getting glimpses into his own potential future. In this story, they're on a planet where the same people and places seem to exist in different time zones simultaneously. This gives Steven the opportunity to meet an attractive woman of his own age, and see them as a young married couple, and again as an older man after her death. The actual sci-fi explanation of how that happens is somewhat weak, in my opinion, but the point of the story is presenting a "life in a day" kind of future that gives Steven something to chew on.