The Prisoner's Dilemma (audio story)

The Prisoner's Dilemma
Main character(s):	Ace
Featuring:	Seventh Doctor
Main enemy:	Zara, Robot Constables
Main setting:	Erratoon
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Simon Guerrier
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	David Darlington
Sound:	David Darlington
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Number of parts:	2
Release number:	3.8
Release date:	22 January 2009
Format:	1 CD Download
Production code:	BFPDWCC15
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-357-6
The Companion Chronicles
← Previous	The Transit of Venus
Next →	Resistance

The Prisoner's Dilemma was the eighth story of the third series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Guerrier, narrated by Sophie Aldred and featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Zara.

It was set directly during the Key-2-Time arc in the Main Range featuring the Fifth Doctor and Amy. It's also the first story in the Companion Chronicles range to feature the Seventh Doctor.

Publisher's summary

Two prisoners meet in a prison cell. Zara is searching for the segments of the Key to Time; she was only born yesterday but already she's killed hundreds of people. Ace is more ambitious: she was going to kill everyone on the planet.

What have they got against the people of Erratoon? They go peaceably about their simple assignments, beneath their artificial sky. They share their meals and leisure time and they never ask questions. Are they even real?

Ace and Zara will only survive if they can trust each other. Or perhaps if they sell each other out... If not their awful punishment is to become just like everyone else.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Ace - Sophie Aldred
• Zara - Laura Doddington

References

• Zara refers to the Grace, the Tracers, the Key to Time, the White Guardian and the Black Guardian.
• Ace mentions Florana, the Eye of Orion and being quite an expert on making explosions.
• Harmonious 14 Zink uses a Time Ring.
• Zink was married to 1V Magda.

Textless cover art

Notes

• This audio drama was recorded on 16 June 2008 at the Moat Studios.
• It was released on 22 January 2009.
• Unlike most other Big Finish Productions audios, this story is set during the Virgin New Adventures era. Bernice Summerfield is mentioned but not named. One other Companion Chronicle, Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code, is set during that era, although Ace is absent from that story.
• This story is narratively linked to the audio story The Judgement of Isskar, which was released in January 2009.
• This story is told from Ace's perspective.
• This story is set after Survival.

Continuity

• Ace tells Zara that she once met a "bloke made of liquorice." (TV: The Happiness Patrol)
• Zara is the twin sister of the Fifth Doctor's former companion Amy (later Abby). The Doctor previously encountered Zara on Mars in the distant past (AUDIO: The Judgement of Isskar) and on Chaos at the end of recorded time (AUDIO: The Chaos Pool). Both of these events have yet to take place in her personal timeline.
• Ace uses logic to confuse the Robot Constables. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
• Ace has had her memories removed once before. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys)
• Ace remembers travelling with the Doctor and a woman wearing earrings who "knew a lot about dead things." (PROSE: Love and War)
• Ace mentions visiting the Trib Museum. (AUDIO: The Lost Museum)
• Ace vaguely recalls her mother bringing someone to a wedding, (PROSE: Happy Endings) and that she had previously met them when they was the same age as her. (PROSE: Nightshade)
• Ace mentions having Christmas dinner in Cheldon Bonniface in 1992. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
• Zara refers to the fact that the Fourth Doctor and Romana went on the run after assembling the Key to Time. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)

External links

• Official The Prisoner's Dilemma page at bigfinish.com
• The Prisoner's Dilemma at the Doctor Who Reference Guide