Zagreus (Doctor Who audio)
Encyclopedia
Zagreus is a Big Finish Productions
audio drama based on the long-running British
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
. This audio drama was presented on three compact disc
s, and was made by Big Finish as their primary release to celebrate forty years of Doctor Who.
Following directly from the events of NeverLand
, the casket of anti-time which was destined for Gallifrey
had exploded within the confines of the TARDIS
. It seems that the Eighth Doctor
and Charley
have saved Gallifrey, and that the paradox of Charley's existence had been resolved, but the Doctor begins behaving strangely — he has been taken over by Zagreus.
The Doctor/Zagreus rages through the TARDIS and strikes Charley, but there is a loud explosion, and when they recover the Doctor/Zagreus is alone in the TARDIS. Charley finds herself in Harley Street
talking to her mother Lady Louisa Pollard, who mentions amongst other out of place information that one of her sisters is called Romana. Charley is taken to see a Dr Zagreus, and her mother turns into a white rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
. Charley then meets someone whom she recognises as the Brigadier
.
The Doctor/Zagreus, unsure of his true identity, stumbles into a TARDIS library. He hears a mysterious voice in the TARDIS, that of one his previous incarnations, the Third Doctor
. The Brigadier tells Charley that everything she has seen is a holographic projection created by the TARDIS. She is then shown scenes from her own memory to provide her with insight into what has happened to the Doctor.
The Doctor leaves the library through a secret passage
and finds a part of the TARDIS unaffected by the anti-time infection, from where he is able to converse with Zagreus. Zagreus shows him all possible alternate time lines, including universes where the Doctor plucked out one of his own hearts, and tells the Doctor that he would destroy all of them if he was unleashed.
Charley and the Brigadier find themselves in another holographic projection, this time a 1950s army barracks. Charley realises that the Brigadier is also a hologram, created by the TARDIS. The Brigadier mentions something called "The Divergence" and says that the Time Lords would not be able to intervene lest they become infected with the anti-time. In the TARDIS, the Doctor hears the Third Doctor's voice again and finds a book The Alice Compendium in which he reads Charley's name and the phrases "the divergence" and "Nana Saviltride".
Charley and the Brigadier realise the projection is of Cardington, where the R101
was launched in 1930. There, a Doctor Stone is conducting an experiment, which causes a huge explosion. The Doctor hears the explosion and rushes to the TARDIS control room, but finds himself instead in a forest. There he encounters a talking Cat and a large metal box. The Cat tricks the Doctor into entering the box, which is a Schrödinger's cat
demonstration. The Doctor realises the meaning — if he left the TARDIS he would become either fully himself or fully Zagreus.
At Cardington, Stone argues with the base chaplain Matthew Townsend about his research. Townsend expresses reservations about possible military applications of Stone's research, and wonders about the course of human evolution. Charley overhears Stone talking about the military application of "Dionysus
" — the code name of her project. It had torn a hole in reality, which might be used as a weapon. Miss Foster, who had told Charley and the Brigadier that she was a military secret agent, tries to plant a bomb on the Dionysus project; she was in fact a spy for communist
Cuba
. Threatening to kill them all, Foster forces Townsend to operate the machine, creating another rift in time. All but Charley and Townsend are sucked into the rift; on the other side of the rift are creatures trying to break through.
----
On ancient Gallifrey, the Great Mother, Cassandra, Provost Tepesh and Lady Ouida discuss why their groups despise Rassilon
. Rassilon has destroyed followers of the Great Mother's religion, and Tepesh is of the Arcalian chapter whom Rassilon has hunted nearly to extinction. Combined, they plan to attack Rassilon's Foundry, his secret base. Charley and Brigadier are between holographic projections. They discuss what they saw at Cardington, creatures from outside of the boundaries of time and space trying to break through. Charley wonders aloud whether she could take the Doctor's place by absorbing Zagreus into her, allowing the Doctor to go free.
The Doctor is beginning to unravel the mystery. The Cat is another avatar of the TARDIS. The Doctor's being in the forest was to protect him from events elsewhere. He realises "Saviltride" is an anagram of "evil TARDIS", from which he deduces that not only was his only personality split in two, so was that of the TARDIS. Tepesh and the Great Mother enter Rassilon's Foundry where they meet Charley, however they perceive her as being Rassilon. Cassandra says something which offends Tepesh, and he orders Ouida to kill her and drink her blood. She cannot regenerate as Rassilon was still in the early stages of the genetic experimentation into the Time Lord gift. When an automated system reveals some of Rassilon's secrets, Charley discovers that Rassilon, fearing for the survival of the Time Lords, created self-replicating biogenic molecules and sent them back in time. The effect of these molecules was to ensure that all life-forms in the universe evolved to something approximating the Gallifreyan norm. To prevent creatures from the Divergence entering our universe, he then sealed time into a loop.
The Dionysus Project that Charley saw at Cardington had breached the loop, allowing creatures from the Divergent universe to enter ours. Tepesh reveals that the Vampires had only drunk the blood of specially bred animals, but Rassilon's purges forced them to drink the blood of intelligent species in order to survive. He refrains from attacking Charley/Rassilon until he has discovered all the Foundry's secrets. The automated recorder reveals the Foundry draws its power from the Divergent universe. When the Brigadier advises Charley to switch off the power, this allows creatures from the Divergence to break through. The Great Mother reveals that Rassilon stole the secret of regeneration from the Vampires, and that much of Time Lord technology was stolen from the Divergent universe. The Foundry's defences seal off the whole base and prepare to fire storm it to prevent the escape of the Divergent creatures. The Brigadier and Charley escape through a mirror, but Tepesh, Ouida and the Great Mother are killed.
Charley finds herself within another scenario, and this time her appearance is that of a 6 feet (1.8 m) mouse in battle armour. She is in some sort of bizarre theme park where animatronic animals are battling with animatronic humans. The Doctor meanwhile is fighting against the TARDIS, destroying parts of its architecture. The Brigadier arrives, and is revealed to be an avatar of the TARDIS's Zagreus personality. To defend the TARDIS, the Brigadier summons a Jabberwock, and the Doctor flees. Charley encounters Goldilocks, the leader of the enemy humans. They are fighting to get control of the Animator, but both sides wish to release from suspended animation so they do so. The Animator, Uncle Winky, was suspended in the year 2367. To his horror, he discovers he has been in suspended animation for 60 billion years and has awoken on the dead world of Gallifrey. They are on what was once the Foundry, and the animatronic creatures have fallen under the influence of the Divergence creatures. They revived Winky to operate the controls of the Foundry machines, but he dies of the heart condition which he had entered suspended animation to survive.
Having escaped the Jabberwock, the Doctor now plucks Charley out of the simulation. Charley is unable to trust the Doctor as he had hit her earlier, and she no longer trusts the Brigadier avatar. Rassilon himself appears and reveals that after the explosion, the Doctor and Charley had been unconscious for six months, in which time Rassilon had persuaded the TARDIS to aid him in exchange for freeing it from the Doctor/Zagreus's influence. On Gallifrey, Cardinal Braxiatel
informs Romana that the Doctor's TARDIS has dematerialised of its own accord. Leela
then arrives with a message from Rassilon concerning the fate of the Doctor.
Charley finds herself in a bleak landscape, together with Townsend, Tepesh and Winky. Ahead of them they see a Dark Tower — they are in the Death Zone
on Gallifrey.
----
Romana
, Leela and K-9
transmat to Rassilon's tomb within the dark tower. Rassilon's spirit speaks through Leela, and leads them to a Matrix
simulation of the Dark Tower in ancient times. Meanwhile, Charley informs Townsend, Tepesh and Winky that they are Zagreus's recreations of the Fifth
, Sixth
and Seventh Doctor
s, and also the only people to have ever seen the Divergence. Charley tried to persuade them to go to the Dark Tower, but Tepesh is reluctant to play the Game of Rassilon. The Jabberwock then appears, but they subdue it by reciting nonsense poetry, using it to fly them into the Dark Tower.
Rassilon demands that Romana resign from the presidency in favour of Zagreus. When she refuses, Rassilon uses the possessed Leela to attack Romana and K-9, whose head gets knocked off. The Jabberwock crashes into the Dark Tower, but Charley and the recreated Doctors make their way inside. Their passage is blocked by a booby-trapped chessboard. The Doctors think the answer is related to the number pi
, but upon crossing Winkle is nearly hit by a bowspike. Instead Charley deduces that they must move across using the knight's move in chess. They find Leela attacking Romana, and Charley knocks her unconscious.
Rassilon and the Brigadier avatar have chained up the Doctor and are preparing to torture him. When the Doctor asks about Charley, the avatar flies into a rage, ranting about how the TARDIS had suffered in its many adventures with the Doctor, especially its recent absorption of anti-time to save Charley. The Doctor realises the TARDIS is jealous of Charley. Rassilon summons the Doctor and the Brigadier into the Foundry, which he proudly declares to be the place where he created the Nemesis and the De-mat gun. Rassilon shows them a frozen solar system — one which housed a species which could have threatened the Time Lords. The Brigadier avatar destroys the police box shell of the TARDIS in the Foundry's smelting works.
From the Dark Tower, Romana, Charley, the Doctors and a repaired K-9 find a secret entrance to the Foundry. Townsend cracks a code in Old High Gallifreyan, proving they were created from the Doctor's memories and thus retain some elements of his knowledge. Pushing past the Brigadier, they find the Doctor by an anvil creating a sword from the molten TARDIS shell. Rassilon believes that he has destroyed the Doctor's sanity thus allowing Zagreus full control. The Doctor's other aspects tell him Rassilon is manipulating him as a weapon against the creatures of the Divergent universe, as the creatures of the Divergent Universe would have evolved to surpass the Time Lords before Rassilon locked them away. Rassilon seizes the anti-time sword and slays all the Doctors but the Eighth. Charley, Romana and Leela try to avoid being shot by the Brigadier, and Romana transports him into the crucible.
The Doctor gives the anti-time sword to Charley, and begs her to kill him before Zagreus takes over. Charley cannot kill him for she loves him, but when the Doctor tells her that he does not love her, she pierces him with the sword before breaking down in tears. The Doctor does not regenerate, however; when Rassilon killed Townsend, Tepesh and Winkle those parts of him were removed, and when Charley stabbed him they were restored saving him from death. It is Zagreus who awakens, but when Rassilon commands him to enter the Divergent universe to slay the creatures, Zagreus instead throws Rassilon into the Divergence to face his fate, refusing to be Rassilon's puppet. Zagreus prepares to attack the Doctor's companions, but the Brigadier arrives and overpowers him. In the crucible, the TARDIS had been restored. Now free from the anti-time infection, the Brigadier avatar gives Zagreus a "drink me" potion which purges the Zagreus influence from the Doctor.
The Doctor tells Charley that she must leave him — the zero matter in the "drink me" potion has stabilised him, but he is still infected by anti-time. He intends to travel to the Divergent universe to quarantine himself forever and protect the universe from the anti-time infection. Charley storms out of the TARDIS, whereupon Romana speaks to the Doctor telling him that he will never be allowed to return and the Time Lords will prevent him from doing so if he tries. Romana leaves the TARDIS and it dematerialises. Romana asks Leela where Charley is, and Leela asks Romana if she was aware that the TARDIS had a back door.
The Doctor prepares for his new life in the Divergent universe, excited by the prospect of seeing new worlds and new people. He is not yet aware that Charley will be seeing them with him…
. This is the first indication in the audio dramas that they take place in an alternate universe to that of the book series. Likewise, he makes reference to "Standing on a planet called Oblivion, facing down a race known as the Horde". This event took place in the comic strips published in Doctor Who Magazine
. Dionysus
is also known by the name Zagreus
in Greek mythology
. This is probably the same religion featured in the Old Time sequences of the New Adventure
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
. Given the references to disguised science and youth potions, it is also almost certainly the Sisterhood of Karn
. Another reference to the Cat's Cradle trilogy.
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama based on the long-running British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series 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...
. This audio drama was presented on three compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s, and was made by Big Finish as their primary release to celebrate forty years of Doctor Who.
Plot
- Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed and eats you when you're sleeping...
-
- - old Gallifreyan nursery rhyme.
-
Following directly from the events of NeverLand
Neverland (Doctor Who audio)
Neverland is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
, the casket of anti-time which was destined for Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
had exploded within the confines of the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
. It seems that the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
and Charley
Charley Pollard
Charlotte Elspeth Pollard, or simply Charley, is a fictional character played by India Fisher in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, many of which were broadcast on BBC Radio 7, based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A young woman...
have saved Gallifrey, and that the paradox of Charley's existence had been resolved, but the Doctor begins behaving strangely — he has been taken over by Zagreus.
The Doctor/Zagreus rages through the TARDIS and strikes Charley, but there is a loud explosion, and when they recover the Doctor/Zagreus is alone in the TARDIS. Charley finds herself in Harley Street
Harley Street
Harley Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery.- Overview :...
talking to her mother Lady Louisa Pollard, who mentions amongst other out of place information that one of her sisters is called Romana. Charley is taken to see a Dr Zagreus, and her mother turns into a white rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. Charley then meets someone whom she recognises as the Brigadier
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Nicholas Courtney...
.
The Doctor/Zagreus, unsure of his true identity, stumbles into a TARDIS library. He hears a mysterious voice in the TARDIS, that of one his previous incarnations, the Third Doctor
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
. The Brigadier tells Charley that everything she has seen is a holographic projection created by the TARDIS. She is then shown scenes from her own memory to provide her with insight into what has happened to the Doctor.
The Doctor leaves the library through a secret passage
Secret passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel. Such passageways are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow occupants to enter or exit buildings without being seen...
and finds a part of the TARDIS unaffected by the anti-time infection, from where he is able to converse with Zagreus. Zagreus shows him all possible alternate time lines, including universes where the Doctor plucked out one of his own hearts, and tells the Doctor that he would destroy all of them if he was unleashed.
Charley and the Brigadier find themselves in another holographic projection, this time a 1950s army barracks. Charley realises that the Brigadier is also a hologram, created by the TARDIS. The Brigadier mentions something called "The Divergence" and says that the Time Lords would not be able to intervene lest they become infected with the anti-time. In the TARDIS, the Doctor hears the Third Doctor's voice again and finds a book The Alice Compendium in which he reads Charley's name and the phrases "the divergence" and "Nana Saviltride".
Charley and the Brigadier realise the projection is of Cardington, where the R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...
was launched in 1930. There, a Doctor Stone is conducting an experiment, which causes a huge explosion. The Doctor hears the explosion and rushes to the TARDIS control room, but finds himself instead in a forest. There he encounters a talking Cat and a large metal box. The Cat tricks the Doctor into entering the box, which is a Schrödinger's cat
Schrödinger's cat
Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat that might be...
demonstration. The Doctor realises the meaning — if he left the TARDIS he would become either fully himself or fully Zagreus.
At Cardington, Stone argues with the base chaplain Matthew Townsend about his research. Townsend expresses reservations about possible military applications of Stone's research, and wonders about the course of human evolution. Charley overhears Stone talking about the military application of "Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
" — the code name of her project. It had torn a hole in reality, which might be used as a weapon. Miss Foster, who had told Charley and the Brigadier that she was a military secret agent, tries to plant a bomb on the Dionysus project; she was in fact a spy for communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Threatening to kill them all, Foster forces Townsend to operate the machine, creating another rift in time. All but Charley and Townsend are sucked into the rift; on the other side of the rift are creatures trying to break through.
----
On ancient Gallifrey, the Great Mother, Cassandra, Provost Tepesh and Lady Ouida discuss why their groups despise Rassilon
Rassilon
Rassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey...
. Rassilon has destroyed followers of the Great Mother's religion, and Tepesh is of the Arcalian chapter whom Rassilon has hunted nearly to extinction. Combined, they plan to attack Rassilon's Foundry, his secret base. Charley and Brigadier are between holographic projections. They discuss what they saw at Cardington, creatures from outside of the boundaries of time and space trying to break through. Charley wonders aloud whether she could take the Doctor's place by absorbing Zagreus into her, allowing the Doctor to go free.
The Doctor is beginning to unravel the mystery. The Cat is another avatar of the TARDIS. The Doctor's being in the forest was to protect him from events elsewhere. He realises "Saviltride" is an anagram of "evil TARDIS", from which he deduces that not only was his only personality split in two, so was that of the TARDIS. Tepesh and the Great Mother enter Rassilon's Foundry where they meet Charley, however they perceive her as being Rassilon. Cassandra says something which offends Tepesh, and he orders Ouida to kill her and drink her blood. She cannot regenerate as Rassilon was still in the early stages of the genetic experimentation into the Time Lord gift. When an automated system reveals some of Rassilon's secrets, Charley discovers that Rassilon, fearing for the survival of the Time Lords, created self-replicating biogenic molecules and sent them back in time. The effect of these molecules was to ensure that all life-forms in the universe evolved to something approximating the Gallifreyan norm. To prevent creatures from the Divergence entering our universe, he then sealed time into a loop.
The Dionysus Project that Charley saw at Cardington had breached the loop, allowing creatures from the Divergent universe to enter ours. Tepesh reveals that the Vampires had only drunk the blood of specially bred animals, but Rassilon's purges forced them to drink the blood of intelligent species in order to survive. He refrains from attacking Charley/Rassilon until he has discovered all the Foundry's secrets. The automated recorder reveals the Foundry draws its power from the Divergent universe. When the Brigadier advises Charley to switch off the power, this allows creatures from the Divergence to break through. The Great Mother reveals that Rassilon stole the secret of regeneration from the Vampires, and that much of Time Lord technology was stolen from the Divergent universe. The Foundry's defences seal off the whole base and prepare to fire storm it to prevent the escape of the Divergent creatures. The Brigadier and Charley escape through a mirror, but Tepesh, Ouida and the Great Mother are killed.
Charley finds herself within another scenario, and this time her appearance is that of a 6 feet (1.8 m) mouse in battle armour. She is in some sort of bizarre theme park where animatronic animals are battling with animatronic humans. The Doctor meanwhile is fighting against the TARDIS, destroying parts of its architecture. The Brigadier arrives, and is revealed to be an avatar of the TARDIS's Zagreus personality. To defend the TARDIS, the Brigadier summons a Jabberwock, and the Doctor flees. Charley encounters Goldilocks, the leader of the enemy humans. They are fighting to get control of the Animator, but both sides wish to release from suspended animation so they do so. The Animator, Uncle Winky, was suspended in the year 2367. To his horror, he discovers he has been in suspended animation for 60 billion years and has awoken on the dead world of Gallifrey. They are on what was once the Foundry, and the animatronic creatures have fallen under the influence of the Divergence creatures. They revived Winky to operate the controls of the Foundry machines, but he dies of the heart condition which he had entered suspended animation to survive.
Having escaped the Jabberwock, the Doctor now plucks Charley out of the simulation. Charley is unable to trust the Doctor as he had hit her earlier, and she no longer trusts the Brigadier avatar. Rassilon himself appears and reveals that after the explosion, the Doctor and Charley had been unconscious for six months, in which time Rassilon had persuaded the TARDIS to aid him in exchange for freeing it from the Doctor/Zagreus's influence. On Gallifrey, Cardinal Braxiatel
Irving Braxiatel
Irving Braxiatel or Cardinal Braxiatel is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures—spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He subsequently became a regular character in novels and audio dramas in the Bernice Summerfield universe...
informs Romana that the Doctor's TARDIS has dematerialised of its own accord. Leela
Leela (Doctor Who)
Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978...
then arrives with a message from Rassilon concerning the fate of the Doctor.
Charley finds herself in a bleak landscape, together with Townsend, Tepesh and Winky. Ahead of them they see a Dark Tower — they are in the Death Zone
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
on Gallifrey.
----
Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, Leela and K-9
K-9 (Doctor Who)
K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977...
transmat to Rassilon's tomb within the dark tower. Rassilon's spirit speaks through Leela, and leads them to a Matrix
Matrix (Doctor Who)
The Matrix, in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a massive computer system on the planet Gallifrey that acts as the repository of the combined knowledge of the Time Lords....
simulation of the Dark Tower in ancient times. Meanwhile, Charley informs Townsend, Tepesh and Winky that they are Zagreus's recreations of the Fifth
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
, Sixth
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
and Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
s, and also the only people to have ever seen the Divergence. Charley tried to persuade them to go to the Dark Tower, but Tepesh is reluctant to play the Game of Rassilon. The Jabberwock then appears, but they subdue it by reciting nonsense poetry, using it to fly them into the Dark Tower.
Rassilon demands that Romana resign from the presidency in favour of Zagreus. When she refuses, Rassilon uses the possessed Leela to attack Romana and K-9, whose head gets knocked off. The Jabberwock crashes into the Dark Tower, but Charley and the recreated Doctors make their way inside. Their passage is blocked by a booby-trapped chessboard. The Doctors think the answer is related to the number pi
Pi
' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants...
, but upon crossing Winkle is nearly hit by a bowspike. Instead Charley deduces that they must move across using the knight's move in chess. They find Leela attacking Romana, and Charley knocks her unconscious.
Rassilon and the Brigadier avatar have chained up the Doctor and are preparing to torture him. When the Doctor asks about Charley, the avatar flies into a rage, ranting about how the TARDIS had suffered in its many adventures with the Doctor, especially its recent absorption of anti-time to save Charley. The Doctor realises the TARDIS is jealous of Charley. Rassilon summons the Doctor and the Brigadier into the Foundry, which he proudly declares to be the place where he created the Nemesis and the De-mat gun. Rassilon shows them a frozen solar system — one which housed a species which could have threatened the Time Lords. The Brigadier avatar destroys the police box shell of the TARDIS in the Foundry's smelting works.
From the Dark Tower, Romana, Charley, the Doctors and a repaired K-9 find a secret entrance to the Foundry. Townsend cracks a code in Old High Gallifreyan, proving they were created from the Doctor's memories and thus retain some elements of his knowledge. Pushing past the Brigadier, they find the Doctor by an anvil creating a sword from the molten TARDIS shell. Rassilon believes that he has destroyed the Doctor's sanity thus allowing Zagreus full control. The Doctor's other aspects tell him Rassilon is manipulating him as a weapon against the creatures of the Divergent universe, as the creatures of the Divergent Universe would have evolved to surpass the Time Lords before Rassilon locked them away. Rassilon seizes the anti-time sword and slays all the Doctors but the Eighth. Charley, Romana and Leela try to avoid being shot by the Brigadier, and Romana transports him into the crucible.
The Doctor gives the anti-time sword to Charley, and begs her to kill him before Zagreus takes over. Charley cannot kill him for she loves him, but when the Doctor tells her that he does not love her, she pierces him with the sword before breaking down in tears. The Doctor does not regenerate, however; when Rassilon killed Townsend, Tepesh and Winkle those parts of him were removed, and when Charley stabbed him they were restored saving him from death. It is Zagreus who awakens, but when Rassilon commands him to enter the Divergent universe to slay the creatures, Zagreus instead throws Rassilon into the Divergence to face his fate, refusing to be Rassilon's puppet. Zagreus prepares to attack the Doctor's companions, but the Brigadier arrives and overpowers him. In the crucible, the TARDIS had been restored. Now free from the anti-time infection, the Brigadier avatar gives Zagreus a "drink me" potion which purges the Zagreus influence from the Doctor.
The Doctor tells Charley that she must leave him — the zero matter in the "drink me" potion has stabilised him, but he is still infected by anti-time. He intends to travel to the Divergent universe to quarantine himself forever and protect the universe from the anti-time infection. Charley storms out of the TARDIS, whereupon Romana speaks to the Doctor telling him that he will never be allowed to return and the Time Lords will prevent him from doing so if he tries. Romana leaves the TARDIS and it dematerialises. Romana asks Leela where Charley is, and Leela asks Romana if she was aware that the TARDIS had a back door.
The Doctor prepares for his new life in the Divergent universe, excited by the prospect of seeing new worlds and new people. He is not yet aware that Charley will be seeing them with him…
Cast
- Jon PertweeJon PertweeJohn Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
as the Third DoctorThird DoctorThe Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee.... - Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
as the Fifth DoctorFifth DoctorThe Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
and Reverend Matthew Townsend - Colin BakerColin BakerColin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
as the Sixth DoctorSixth DoctorThe Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
and Provost Tepesh - Sylvester McCoySylvester McCoySylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
as the Seventh DoctorSeventh DoctorThe Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
and Walton "Uncle Winky" Winkle - Paul McGannPaul McGannPaul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
as the Eighth DoctorEighth DoctorThe Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
and Zagreus - India FisherIndia FisherIndia Fisher is a British actress born in 1974. Her father is the ex-MP Mark Fisher. She is also the stepsister of musician Crispin Hunt and of actress Francesca Hunt, who appears with her in the play Other Lives....
as CharleyCharley PollardCharlotte Elspeth Pollard, or simply Charley, is a fictional character played by India Fisher in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, many of which were broadcast on BBC Radio 7, based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A young woman... - Lalla WardLalla WardSarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
as RomanaRomanaRomana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who... - Louise JamesonLouise JamesonLouise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
as LeelaLeela (Doctor Who)Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978... - Don WarringtonDon WarringtonDon Warrington, MBE is a Trinidadian British actor.-Personal life:Warrington was born in Trinidad and Tobago on 23 May 1951 and brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne, England from age five. His father was the Trinidadian politician, Basil Kydd, who died in 1958. He has two sons.His acting career...
as RassilonRassilonRassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey... - Nicholas CourtneyNicholas CourtneyWilliam Nicholas Stone Courtney was an English television actor, most famous for playing Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
as TARDISTARDISThe TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s... - Anneke WillsAnneke WillsAnneke Wills is an English actress, best-known for her role as the Doctor Who's companion Polly in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Biography:...
as Lady Louisa Pollard - Stephen Perring as Receptionist
- Elisabeth SladenElisabeth SladenElisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
as Miss Lime - Conrad WestmaasConrad WestmaasConrad Westmaas is a British actor who trained at The Poor School, London from 1998-2000.Westmaas has appeared mainly in theatre, including Romeo and Juliet for Shakespeare's Globe in 2008 and also played Paul McGann's companion C'rizz in a range of audio dramas by Big Finish Productions based on...
as the Cat - Mark StricksonMark StricksonMark Strickson is a British TV producer and actor best known for his acting role as the character of Vislor Turlough on the television series Doctor Who.Strickson was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England...
as Captain MacDonell - Sarah SuttonSarah SuttonSarah Sutton is a British actress best known for her role as Nyssa in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Nyssa was a companion of Tom Baker and Peter Davison's Doctors from 1981 to 1983...
as Miss Foster - Nicola BryantNicola Bryant-External links:** at shillpages.com/dw *...
as Stone and Ouida - Caroline MorrisCaroline MorrisCaroline Morris is a British actress who played the part of the companion Erimem in a range of audio dramas by Big Finish Productions based on the BBC television series Doctor Who....
as Mary Elson - Maggie StablesMaggie StablesMaggie Stables is a British actress who plays the part of the companion Evelyn Smythe in a range of audio dramas by Big Finish Productions based on the BBC television series Doctor Who.-Career:...
as the Great Mother - Bonnie LangfordBonnie LangfordBonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford is an English actress, dancer and entertainer. She came to prominence as a child star in the early 1970s then she subsequently became a companion of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy's Doctor Who and has appeared on stage in various musicals such as Peter Pan:...
as Cassandra and Goldilocks - Robert JezekRobert JezekRobert Jezek is a Canadian film and television actor based in the United Kingdom.-Career:He is known for playing companion Frobisher in a range of Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions and based on the BBC television series Doctor Who...
as the Recorder - Stephen FewellStephen FewellStephen Fewell is a British actor who portrays Jason Kane in the audio adventures of Bernice Summerfield. He has also appeared in classical theatre and as several roles in various Doctor Who audio productions...
as Corporal Heron - Sophie AldredSophie AldredSophie Aldred is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of The Doctor's companion Ace in the television series Doctor Who during the late 1980s.-Early life:...
as Captain Duck - Lisa BowermanLisa BowermanLisa Bowerman is a British actress.Bowerman trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and was a regular in the first two series of BBC medical drama Casualty playing Sandra Mute, the show's first female paramedic. Her other television work includes: Dodgem, The Count of Solar, Grange Hill, The...
as Sergeant Gazelle - Miles RichardsonMiles RichardsonMiles Richardson is a British actor.He was born on 15 July 1963 in Battersea, London to parents Ian Richardson and Maroussia Frank , both founder members of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Cardinal BraxiatelIrving BraxiatelIrving Braxiatel or Cardinal Braxiatel is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures—spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He subsequently became a regular character in novels and audio dramas in the Bernice Summerfield universe... - John LeesonJohn LeesonJohn Leeson is a British actor who is best known for voicing K-9 on the television series Doctor Who from 1977 to 1979, and again in the 1980–1981 season. He was called back to do the voice of K-9 again for the 2006 episode "School Reunion" and again for the 2008 Doctor Who episode "Journey's End"...
as K-9K-9 (Doctor Who)K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977...
Continuity
- As well as featuring in NeverLandNeverland (Doctor Who audio)Neverland is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
, the name Zagreus had already cropped in several earlier audio plays. The Sixth DoctorSixth DoctorThe Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
hummed the Zagreus sits inside your head rhyme in Project: TwilightProject TwilightProject: Twilight is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, and in OmegaOmega (Doctor Who audio)Omega is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:Jolly Chronolidays is offering sight-seeing tours of the "Sector of Forgotten Souls", the place where in ancient times the Time Lord Omega detonated a star that enabled...
, a hologram of the legendary Time Lord was featured. DeathDeath (personification)The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
sang a paraphrased version of the rhyme in MasterMaster (Doctor Who audio)Master is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It forms a trilogy with Omega and Davros to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show...
. Zagreus was also briefly mentioned in the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
novel Instruments of DarknessInstruments of DarknessInstruments of Darkness is a BBC Books original novel written by Gary Russell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and Mel....
by Gary RussellGary RussellGary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
.
- Leela appears for the first time since leaving the Fourth DoctorFourth DoctorThe Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
and choosing to live on Gallifrey in Invasion of Time.
- The delirious Doctor/Zagreus mentions John William Polidori; continuing the running joke references to a previous adventure (or adventures) at Lake GenevaLake GenevaLake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
, during the winter when Mary ShelleyMary ShelleyMary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
wrote FrankensteinFrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
. The story is finally told in the "Mary's Story" segment of The Company of FriendsThe Company of FriendsThe Company of Friends is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The play is made of four one-part stories, by different authors, rather than the usual multi-part serial...
.
- Romana and Leela's story continues in the Gallifrey series.
- Cardinal BraxiatelIrving BraxiatelIrving Braxiatel or Cardinal Braxiatel is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures—spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He subsequently became a regular character in novels and audio dramas in the Bernice Summerfield universe...
(Miles RichardsonMiles RichardsonMiles Richardson is a British actor.He was born on 15 July 1963 in Battersea, London to parents Ian Richardson and Maroussia Frank , both founder members of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
) had earlier appeared in several Bernice SummerfieldBernice SummerfieldBernice Surprise Summerfield is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length Doctor Who novels, the New Adventures...
audio dramas and would later become a regular character in the GallifreyGallifrey (audio series)Gallifrey is the umbrella title of a line of audio plays set in the Doctor Who universe, produced by Big Finish Productions, featuring Louise Jameson as Leela, Lalla Ward as President Romana, and John Leeson as two K-9 units, Mark I and Mark II...
audio series.
- The Doctor's TARDIS again takes human form in The Doctor's WifeThe Doctor's Wife (Doctor Who)"The Doctor's Wife" is the fourth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was broadcast on 14 May 2011 in the United Kingdom, as well as in the United States...
.
Footnotes
A reference to events in the Eighth Doctor AdventuresEighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are 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. 73 books were published overall...
. This is the first indication in the audio dramas that they take place in an alternate universe to that of the book series. Likewise, he makes reference to "Standing on a planet called Oblivion, facing down a race known as the Horde". This event took place in the comic strips published in Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
is also known by the name Zagreus
Zagreus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, the obscure and ancient figure of Zagreus was identified with the god Dionysus and was worshipped by followers of Orphism, whose late Orphic hymns invoke his name....
in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
. This is probably the same religion featured in the Old Time sequences of the New Adventure
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor and Ace.-Plot:...
. Given the references to disguised science and youth potions, it is also almost certainly the Sisterhood of Karn
The Brain of Morbius
The Brain of Morbius is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1976...
. Another reference to the Cat's Cradle trilogy.