Kaldor City
Encyclopedia
Kaldor City is a human city of the future on an unspecified alien world, created by Chris Boucher
for the Doctor Who
serial The Robots of Death
broadcast in 1977, and reused in his Past Doctor Adventure
Corpse Marker
in 1999. It is also the setting and title of a series of audio plays
produced by Magic Bullet Productions
.
Some of the plays in the series also feature the Fendahl, a race of creatures also created by Boucher for the Doctor Who story Image of the Fendahl
.
The society shown in The Robots of Death
is one where higher class "founding families" (presumably a reference to the families that founded the colony planet) have hit financial difficulties and are forced to work with (and sometimes subordinate to) citizens who have achieved their power, influence and wealth through their own hard work and scheming. This has led to a certain amount of resentment between the new and old money, reflecting the decline in the financial power of the gentry in England
. The society is also highly reliant on the use of robots at all levels, with three class of robots being used: Dum robots are for menial work and are unable to speak; Voc robots are the next level up and can speak and have limited reasoning capabilities; Super-Voc robots are the most advanced robots, and can be used to monitor complex activities including the day to day activities of other, lower class robots. Each robot is given a designation based on its class (for example D-84 is a Dum class robot and SV-7 is a Super-Voc) and is programmed with a variant on Asimov
's Three Laws of Robotics
.
The society is not entirely comfortable with the use of robots, and the machines' humanoid design but complete lack of emotion and body language have given rise to a mental disorder called Robo-Phobia. This is shown as a paranoid delusion that robots are actually the living dead, intent on harming humans. The Robots of Death
also shows us that it is possible to reprogram robots so that they can break the restrictions on them harming humans, as robotics genius Taren Capel has discovered in his attempts to free his robot "brothers" from their slavery.
Kaldor City is also the setting of the Past Doctor Adventure Corpse Marker, where we get to see the city and its ruling board of "Topmasters". At the time of Corpse Marker, the Board comprises twenty Topmasters from the founding families, and they are seen to be keen to keep anyone not from a founding family off the board. The novel also introduces the character of Carnell to Kaldor City, who is a psychostrategist on the run from a corrupt "Federation" and hiding out in the city whilst ingratiating himself to the board by helping them compose their strategies: Carnell is a character from one of Chris Boucher's Blake's 7
episodes, Weapon broadcast in 1979, and this novel is the first time that the fan-theory that Doctor Who and Blake's 7 take place in the same fictional universe has received any kind of semi-official recognition. This theory has its basis in the story that Blakes 7 creator Terry Nation
wanted to introduce his Doctor Who
monsters the Dalek
s into the series, but was stopped by the BBC
.
The novel also introduces the concept of the sewer-pits, the slums of Kaldor City where the underclass try to scrape their living. The slums are the breeding ground of a new breed of terrorists, the Tarenists, who have adapted the teachings of the late Taren Capel into an almost religious doctrine preaching the downfall of the ruling classes at the hands of robots. By the end of the novel, Topmaster Uvanov (formerly commander of the storm mine in The Robots of Death, and not a member of a founding family) has secured his succession to Chairholder of the Company Board.
in creating a vision consistent with all that had gone before whilst also creating a new and interesting ongoing story. Boucher also wrote the second of the releases, the play Death's Head.
The plays feature a cast headed by Paul Darrow
, Scott Fredericks and the late Russell Hunter
, with, among others, David Baillie, David Collings
, Philip Madoc
, Peter Miles
and Gregory de Polnay
. They feature sound design, effects and music by Alistair Lock, and are co-directed by both Stevens and Lock.
The first three CDs can be heard on their own as standalone stories, but the final three form a serial, and should be listened to in order. From the early releases, it seemed that the series was telling a story of political intrigue and manipulation that was gearing towards the use of the robot workforce as a means of revolution, as shown previously in The Robots of Death and Corpse Marker. However, the fifth play Checkmate by Alan Stevens takes the theme of manipulation to a higher level, introducing the Fendahl from Boucher's Doctor Who serial Image of the Fendahl
as the series' major villain, manipulating events in Kaldor City to ensure its own emergence. Once the Fendahl's involvement was made known, it was possible to return to the series' earlier installments and see the emergence foreshadowed: for example, Uvanov is given a painting of a Fendahleen, and Carnell muses about the existence of an alien grand manipulator whose goals and methods would be unknowable.
. It focuses on the arrival of a mysterious figure called Kaston Iago (named for the manipulative character from Shakespeare's Othello and the noted Shakespeare editor David Kastan and played by Paul Darrow
) and his insinuation into the confidence of Chairholder Uvanov (played by Russell Hunter
, reprising his role from The Robots of Death). Iago helps Uvanov solve a series of murders involving Company board members, and his success earns him a permanent position as Uvanov's new bodyguard: however, as the title
hints, the simplest explanation is true; and Iago has been committing the murders himself before framing another board member in order to gain Uvanov's trust.
Through the course of the play, Iago also meets Psychostrategist Carnell (Scott Fredericks
, reprising his role from Blake's 7) and makes it clear that he knows what a psychostrategist is and about the Federation; with Carnell remarking that he must be the only other person on the planet with this information. Many fans of the series have taken this - combined with similarities in Darrow's performance - to mean that Kaston Iago is in fact Kerr Avon going for his own reasons under an assumed name. Magic Bullet have neither confirmed nor denied this, and although other characters have been more explicitly linked to either Doctor Who or Blake's 7, Chris Boucher did not create Kerr Avon and so would have no claim to his copyright.
and Fiona Moore is the third play in the series, and follows the attempts of "The Church of Taren Capel" to commit an act of terrorism to further their cause. The Church has been infiltrated by Blayes, who is working for Chairholder Uvanov, and Kaston Iago is dispatched in an attempt to save her. Iago has also begun acting on his own suspicions, and is attempting to move against Carnell. The title of the play is derived from The Hidden Persuaders by media theorist Vance Packard
and is partially an attempt to introduce some of the themes of his work into the series. The play reintroduces the character of Poul/Paullus from The Robots of Death, again played by David Collings
.
, and focuses on Iago's attempt to get to the bottom of a scheme apparently instigated by Taren Capel before his death, and continued by the Church of Taren Capel. Iago discovers that Capel has already programmed several robots in Kaldor City to become killers, with only a trigger phrase contained in his diary required to activate them. The diary is also kept with Capel's genuine skull, recovered from the desert. The play closes with a grand piece of misdirection, with Iago managing to convince Uvanov of the danger but with the robots being activated: this created expectations that the following plays would deal with a robot-destroyed city.
Taren Capel also saw the apparent departure of Carnell, although the character may have possibly returned in the following play: it is likely, however, that the Carnell in Checkmate was a projection of Iago's mind and/or the Fendahl rather than the actual psychostrategist.
Following the release of this play, and the sad death of Russell Hunter
, it was generally assumed that the Kaldor City audios had reached a natural end.
reprising roles they had played in the Kaldor City series, written by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore for release on the CD The Actor Speaks: Paul Darrow, produced by MJTV. The play features an interrogation between Kaston Iago and Firstmaster Landerchild, whereby Iago attempts to convince his interrogator that they are both figments of something else's imagination. In fact, this is a technique that appears to work so well that by the end of the play, both characters seem to disappear.
The title points the audience to the writers' love of the ATV series The Prisoner
, and whilst it also suggests that (like that TV series) the main theme of the Kaldor City series may be the nature of reality and fiction, it also suggests (again, like the TV series) that definite answers may not be forthcoming.
. It centres on the character of Blayes, who finds herself awaking on a storm mine going round in circles in the desert. She is joined by a series of strange characters, and the disembodied voice of Kaston Iago frustratedly trying to get her to act to his will. The story at first glance seems to bear no real connection to the series as a whole, although it is suggested that Kaldor City itself is quarantined due to the killer robots. However, there are several hints within the play that all is not as it seems - for example, several of the characters bear similarities to characters from earlier plays, such as Philip Madoc
's Commander sharing mannerisms with Russell Hunter's Uvanov, himself once a storm mine Commander. The Fendahl also appears in the play, apparently manipulating the crew and one of its robots for its own ends, and it has been suggested that in fact the play is demonstrating what it feels like for the characters to be assimilated into the Fendahl's gestalt entity.
When questioned on the play's apparent lack of connection to the previous installments, producer and writer Alan Stevens often directs listeners to the analysis of the play by author Dale Smith, posted to Outpost Gallifrey
's forums.
Chris Boucher
Chris Boucher is a British television writer, best known for his frequent contributions to two genres, science fiction and crime dramas.-Biography:...
for the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1977.-Synopsis:...
broadcast in 1977, and reused in his Past Doctor Adventure
Past Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...
Corpse Marker
Corpse Marker
Corpse Marker is a BBC Books original novel written by Chris Boucher and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Fourth Doctor and Leela. The concepts and characters are derived from the 1977 television serial The Robots of Death and reused in...
in 1999. It is also the setting and title of a series of audio plays
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
produced by Magic Bullet Productions
Magic Bullet Productions
Magic Bullet Productions is an independent audio-production company formed in 2000 by Alan Stevens, focusing on Doctor Who and Blake's 7 spinoff audios...
.
Some of the plays in the series also feature the Fendahl, a race of creatures also created by Boucher for the Doctor Who story Image of the Fendahl
Image of the Fendahl
Image of the Fendahl is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 October to 19 November 1977.-Plot:...
.
Kaldor City
Kaldor City is a major city "on a corrupt world governed by an all-powerful Company, where the rich scheme in mansions filled with robot slaves, the poor scrabble for survival in the Sewerpits, the Security forces are out of control and terrorism is a daily fact of life". The city was first mentioned in The Robots of Death as the home base of a "storm mine" touring the desert searching for and mining precious minerals from within the sands, with the crew working on commission for the Company.The society shown in The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1977.-Synopsis:...
is one where higher class "founding families" (presumably a reference to the families that founded the colony planet) have hit financial difficulties and are forced to work with (and sometimes subordinate to) citizens who have achieved their power, influence and wealth through their own hard work and scheming. This has led to a certain amount of resentment between the new and old money, reflecting the decline in the financial power of the gentry in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The society is also highly reliant on the use of robots at all levels, with three class of robots being used: Dum robots are for menial work and are unable to speak; Voc robots are the next level up and can speak and have limited reasoning capabilities; Super-Voc robots are the most advanced robots, and can be used to monitor complex activities including the day to day activities of other, lower class robots. Each robot is given a designation based on its class (for example D-84 is a Dum class robot and SV-7 is a Super-Voc) and is programmed with a variant on Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's Three Laws of Robotics
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and later added to. The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories...
.
The society is not entirely comfortable with the use of robots, and the machines' humanoid design but complete lack of emotion and body language have given rise to a mental disorder called Robo-Phobia. This is shown as a paranoid delusion that robots are actually the living dead, intent on harming humans. The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1977.-Synopsis:...
also shows us that it is possible to reprogram robots so that they can break the restrictions on them harming humans, as robotics genius Taren Capel has discovered in his attempts to free his robot "brothers" from their slavery.
Kaldor City is also the setting of the Past Doctor Adventure Corpse Marker, where we get to see the city and its ruling board of "Topmasters". At the time of Corpse Marker, the Board comprises twenty Topmasters from the founding families, and they are seen to be keen to keep anyone not from a founding family off the board. The novel also introduces the character of Carnell to Kaldor City, who is a psychostrategist on the run from a corrupt "Federation" and hiding out in the city whilst ingratiating himself to the board by helping them compose their strategies: Carnell is a character from one of Chris Boucher's Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
episodes, Weapon broadcast in 1979, and this novel is the first time that the fan-theory that Doctor Who and Blake's 7 take place in the same fictional universe has received any kind of semi-official recognition. This theory has its basis in the story that Blakes 7 creator Terry Nation
Terry Nation
Terry Nation was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist.He is probably best known for creating the villainous Daleks in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who...
wanted to introduce his Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
monsters the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s into the series, but was stopped by the BBC
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
.
The novel also introduces the concept of the sewer-pits, the slums of Kaldor City where the underclass try to scrape their living. The slums are the breeding ground of a new breed of terrorists, the Tarenists, who have adapted the teachings of the late Taren Capel into an almost religious doctrine preaching the downfall of the ruling classes at the hands of robots. By the end of the novel, Topmaster Uvanov (formerly commander of the storm mine in The Robots of Death, and not a member of a founding family) has secured his succession to Chairholder of the Company Board.
Kaldor City audio plays
In 1999, Magic Bullet Productions approached Chris Boucher to discuss the possibility of creating a range of audio plays based on the characters and concepts from his previous work relating to Kaldor City. Boucher gave his permission, working closely with producer Alan StevensAlan Stevens
Alan Stevens is a British writer and producer who is currently based in the Southeast of England, where he runs his own audio production company, Magic Bullet Productions....
in creating a vision consistent with all that had gone before whilst also creating a new and interesting ongoing story. Boucher also wrote the second of the releases, the play Death's Head.
The plays feature a cast headed by Paul Darrow
Paul Darrow
Paul Darrow is an English actor best known for his portrayal of Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series Blake's 7...
, Scott Fredericks and the late Russell Hunter
Russell Hunter
Russell Hunter was a popular Scottish television, stage and film actor. He is perhaps best known as the character "Lonely" in the TV thriller series Callan, starring Edward Woodward and that of Shop-Steward Harry in the Yorkshire Television sitcom The Gaffer.-Life:Born Russell Ellis in Glasgow,...
, with, among others, David Baillie, David Collings
David Collings
David Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....
, Philip Madoc
Philip Madoc
Philip Madoc is a Welsh actor who has had many television and film roles.One prominent role was the title character in the BBC Wales drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George...
, Peter Miles
Peter Miles
Peter Miles is a British actor. He has played many television roles including several different characters in Z-Cars and Doctor Who. His other television work has included Survivors, The Sweeney, Dixon of Dock Green, Moonbase 3, Poldark and Bergerac.In the science fiction series Blake's 7 he played...
and Gregory de Polnay
Gregory de Polnay
Gregory de Polnay is a London-born actor who is noted for his work on British television.Probably best remembered for his role as Det. Sgt...
. They feature sound design, effects and music by Alistair Lock, and are co-directed by both Stevens and Lock.
The first three CDs can be heard on their own as standalone stories, but the final three form a serial, and should be listened to in order. From the early releases, it seemed that the series was telling a story of political intrigue and manipulation that was gearing towards the use of the robot workforce as a means of revolution, as shown previously in The Robots of Death and Corpse Marker. However, the fifth play Checkmate by Alan Stevens takes the theme of manipulation to a higher level, introducing the Fendahl from Boucher's Doctor Who serial Image of the Fendahl
Image of the Fendahl
Image of the Fendahl is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 October to 19 November 1977.-Plot:...
as the series' major villain, manipulating events in Kaldor City to ensure its own emergence. Once the Fendahl's involvement was made known, it was possible to return to the series' earlier installments and see the emergence foreshadowed: for example, Uvanov is given a painting of a Fendahleen, and Carnell muses about the existence of an alien grand manipulator whose goals and methods would be unknowable.
Occam's Razor
Occam's Razor is the first play in the series, written by Alan Stevens and Jim SmithJim Smith (Writer)
James Edward Smith is a writer and critic best known for writing film and television criticism and directorial critical biographies - including studies of George Lucas, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino...
. It focuses on the arrival of a mysterious figure called Kaston Iago (named for the manipulative character from Shakespeare's Othello and the noted Shakespeare editor David Kastan and played by Paul Darrow
Paul Darrow
Paul Darrow is an English actor best known for his portrayal of Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series Blake's 7...
) and his insinuation into the confidence of Chairholder Uvanov (played by Russell Hunter
Russell Hunter
Russell Hunter was a popular Scottish television, stage and film actor. He is perhaps best known as the character "Lonely" in the TV thriller series Callan, starring Edward Woodward and that of Shop-Steward Harry in the Yorkshire Television sitcom The Gaffer.-Life:Born Russell Ellis in Glasgow,...
, reprising his role from The Robots of Death). Iago helps Uvanov solve a series of murders involving Company board members, and his success earns him a permanent position as Uvanov's new bodyguard: however, as the title
Occam's razor
Occam's razor, also known as Ockham's razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as lex parsimoniae , is a principle that generally recommends from among competing hypotheses selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.-Overview:The principle is often summarized as "simpler explanations...
hints, the simplest explanation is true; and Iago has been committing the murders himself before framing another board member in order to gain Uvanov's trust.
Through the course of the play, Iago also meets Psychostrategist Carnell (Scott Fredericks
Scott Fredericks
Scott Fredericks is an Irish actor best known for his roles on British television.He appeared in the Doctor Who serials Day of the Daleks and Image of the Fendahl. Other credits include: Blake's 7, Z-Cars, Sutherland's Law, Dixon of Dock Green and Triangle. More recently he appeared as a regular...
, reprising his role from Blake's 7) and makes it clear that he knows what a psychostrategist is and about the Federation; with Carnell remarking that he must be the only other person on the planet with this information. Many fans of the series have taken this - combined with similarities in Darrow's performance - to mean that Kaston Iago is in fact Kerr Avon going for his own reasons under an assumed name. Magic Bullet have neither confirmed nor denied this, and although other characters have been more explicitly linked to either Doctor Who or Blake's 7, Chris Boucher did not create Kerr Avon and so would have no claim to his copyright.
Death's Head
Death's Head by Chris Boucher is the second play in the series, and features an investigation into the attempted murder of Chairholder Uvanov. The play sets up several ideas that only receive some kind of resolution later in the series, such as the existence of Taren Capel's skull (although in this play, the skull is a fake) and several clashing schemes and plots that the Topmasters, Carnell and Iago are attempting to put into action. The play also introduces the character of Blayes, played by Tracy Russell, who features more prominently in later plays.Hidden Persuaders
Hidden Persuaders by Jim SmithJim Smith (Writer)
James Edward Smith is a writer and critic best known for writing film and television criticism and directorial critical biographies - including studies of George Lucas, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino...
and Fiona Moore is the third play in the series, and follows the attempts of "The Church of Taren Capel" to commit an act of terrorism to further their cause. The Church has been infiltrated by Blayes, who is working for Chairholder Uvanov, and Kaston Iago is dispatched in an attempt to save her. Iago has also begun acting on his own suspicions, and is attempting to move against Carnell. The title of the play is derived from The Hidden Persuaders by media theorist Vance Packard
Vance Packard
Vance Packard was an American journalist, social critic, and author.- Life and career :He was born in Granville Summit, Pennsylvania to parents Philip J. Packard and Mabel Case Packard...
and is partially an attempt to introduce some of the themes of his work into the series. The play reintroduces the character of Poul/Paullus from The Robots of Death, again played by David Collings
David Collings
David Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....
.
Taren Capel
The fourth play in the series is Taren Capel by Alan StevensAlan Stevens
Alan Stevens is a British writer and producer who is currently based in the Southeast of England, where he runs his own audio production company, Magic Bullet Productions....
, and focuses on Iago's attempt to get to the bottom of a scheme apparently instigated by Taren Capel before his death, and continued by the Church of Taren Capel. Iago discovers that Capel has already programmed several robots in Kaldor City to become killers, with only a trigger phrase contained in his diary required to activate them. The diary is also kept with Capel's genuine skull, recovered from the desert. The play closes with a grand piece of misdirection, with Iago managing to convince Uvanov of the danger but with the robots being activated: this created expectations that the following plays would deal with a robot-destroyed city.
Taren Capel also saw the apparent departure of Carnell, although the character may have possibly returned in the following play: it is likely, however, that the Carnell in Checkmate was a projection of Iago's mind and/or the Fendahl rather than the actual psychostrategist.
Checkmate
Checkmate by Alan Stevens continues directly after the events of Taren Capel, and whilst it ostensibly deals with Uvanov and Iago's struggle to contain the threat of the killer robots, it becomes clear as the play progresses that another plot is being hatched: the Church of Taren Capel seem more concerned with Capel's skull than his diaries, and eventually this is used to bring forth the Fendahl. At the close of the play, Iago is shot and apparently dying when the Fendahl (through Iago's paramour) offers him a deal. This seems to involve him going back in time and killing his lover, although this may all have been an illusion created by the Fendahl for its own ends.Following the release of this play, and the sad death of Russell Hunter
Russell Hunter
Russell Hunter was a popular Scottish television, stage and film actor. He is perhaps best known as the character "Lonely" in the TV thriller series Callan, starring Edward Woodward and that of Shop-Steward Harry in the Yorkshire Television sitcom The Gaffer.-Life:Born Russell Ellis in Glasgow,...
, it was generally assumed that the Kaldor City audios had reached a natural end.
The Prisoner
This was a 20 minute play featuring Paul Darrow and Peter MilesPeter Miles
Peter Miles is a British actor. He has played many television roles including several different characters in Z-Cars and Doctor Who. His other television work has included Survivors, The Sweeney, Dixon of Dock Green, Moonbase 3, Poldark and Bergerac.In the science fiction series Blake's 7 he played...
reprising roles they had played in the Kaldor City series, written by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore for release on the CD The Actor Speaks: Paul Darrow, produced by MJTV. The play features an interrogation between Kaston Iago and Firstmaster Landerchild, whereby Iago attempts to convince his interrogator that they are both figments of something else's imagination. In fact, this is a technique that appears to work so well that by the end of the play, both characters seem to disappear.
The title points the audience to the writers' love of the ATV series The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
, and whilst it also suggests that (like that TV series) the main theme of the Kaldor City series may be the nature of reality and fiction, it also suggests (again, like the TV series) that definite answers may not be forthcoming.
Storm Mine
The final - to date - play in the series is Storm Mine by Daniel O'MahonyDaniel O'Mahony
Daniel O'Mahony is a half-British half-Irish author, born in Croydon. He is the oldest of five children, his siblings including Eoin O'Mahony of the band Hamfatter, and Madeleine O'Mahony, who has designed and made hats for Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.-Biography:O'Mahony's first professionally...
. It centres on the character of Blayes, who finds herself awaking on a storm mine going round in circles in the desert. She is joined by a series of strange characters, and the disembodied voice of Kaston Iago frustratedly trying to get her to act to his will. The story at first glance seems to bear no real connection to the series as a whole, although it is suggested that Kaldor City itself is quarantined due to the killer robots. However, there are several hints within the play that all is not as it seems - for example, several of the characters bear similarities to characters from earlier plays, such as Philip Madoc
Philip Madoc
Philip Madoc is a Welsh actor who has had many television and film roles.One prominent role was the title character in the BBC Wales drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George...
's Commander sharing mannerisms with Russell Hunter's Uvanov, himself once a storm mine Commander. The Fendahl also appears in the play, apparently manipulating the crew and one of its robots for its own ends, and it has been suggested that in fact the play is demonstrating what it feels like for the characters to be assimilated into the Fendahl's gestalt entity.
When questioned on the play's apparent lack of connection to the previous installments, producer and writer Alan Stevens often directs listeners to the analysis of the play by author Dale Smith, posted to Outpost Gallifrey
Outpost Gallifrey
Outpost Gallifrey was a fan website for the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was active as a complete fan site from 1995 until 2007, then existing solely as a portal to the still-active parts of the site, including its news page and forums Outpost Gallifrey was a fan website...
's forums.