Wirrn Isle

Main Range #158

Released: March 2012

Listened: 8/11/20

Flip’s next trip takes a turn for the very dark and scary, set in the far future, after the solar flare disaster, when humans were just starting to restore the Earth. Which is pretty much a textbook setup for Wirrn and references to “The Ark in Space.” This story also leans heavily on transmat technology and all the ways that can go wrong, which gives it a bit of a Star Trek feel, which is odd coming immediately after a “holodeck gone wrong” episode. Flip continues to be courageous, verging on foolish, a fact that even the Doctor has noticed by now. I’m not certain that the Wirrn behavior here really tracks with what we’ve seen before, and the writer seems to be going for “creatures doing what they must to survive” instead of “implacable force.” It also reminds me strongly of “Wirrn Dawn,” just as the previous story reminded me of “Max Warp,” which gives the impression that Flip is kind of a second-rate Lucie, which isn’t really fair, but there are parallels.