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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image           = Dragons Wrath audio cover.jpg  
|image                 = Dragons Wrath audio cover.jpg
|series         = [[Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series]]
|range                  = BSSR
|story number    = 6
|series in range        = Series 1 (BFBS)
|season number  = Season 1 (BFBS)
|series number in range = 1
|number         = 6
|number in series      = 6
|adapted from   = Dragons' Wrath (novel)
|audio series           = ''[[Bernice Summerfield (series)|Bernice Summerfield]]''<br />Single Releases
|main character = [[Bernice Summerfield]]
|audio series number    = [[Series 1 (BFBS)|1]]
|featuring       =
|series release number = 6
|enemy           = [[Truby Kamadrich|Mastrov]], [[Romolo Nusek]]
|adapted from           = Dragons' Wrath (novel)
|setting         = [[Stanturus Three]], [[2593]]
|main character         = [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]]
|writer         = {{il|Based on a novel by [[Justin Richards]]|Adapted for Audio by [[Jacqueline Rayner]]}}
|featuring             = [[Wolsey]]
|director       = [[Edward Salt|Ed Salt]]  
|enemy                 = [[Romolo Nusek|Nusek]]
|producer       = [[Gary Russell]]
|setting               = [[Stanturus Three]], [[2593]]
|post production = [[Toby Richards]] and [[Emily Baker]]
|writer                 = Jacqueline Rayner
|publisher       = Big Finish Productions  
|contributors          = {{il|Based on a novel by [[Justin Richards]];|adapted for audio by [[Jacqueline Rayner]]}}
|cover           = [[Fred Gambino]]
|director               = [[Edward Salt|Ed Salt]]
|release date   = [[September (releases)|September]] [[2000 (releases)|2000]]
|producer               = [[Gary Russell]]
|format         = 1 CD - 2 Parts
|music                  = [[Toby Richards]] and [[Emily Baker]]
|production code =
|sound                  = Toby Richards and Emily Baker
|isbn           = ISBN 1-903654 033
|publisher             = Big Finish Productions
|prev           = Just War (audio story)  
|cover                 = [[Fred Gambino]]
|next           = The Secret of Cassandra (audio story)
|story number          = 6
|series2         = [[Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series]]
|release date           = September 2000
|prev2           = Buried Treasures (audio anthology)
|format                 = 1 CD<br/>Download
|next2           = The Doomsday Manuscript (novel)
|production code       = BFPCD6
}}{{audio stub}}
|isbn                   = ISBN 1-903654-03-3
'''''Dragons' Wrath''''' was the sixth and final audio story published by [[Big Finish Productions]] in the first series of their [[Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series|''Bernice Summerfield'' series]]. It was the final Big Finish adaptation of a [[Virgin New Adventures]] novel until 2012's ''[[Love and War (audio story)|Love and War]]''.
|series                = [[Bernice Summerfield (series)|Regular ''Bernice Summerfield'' audios]]
|prev                   = Just War (audio story)  
|next                   = Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Secret of Cassandra (audio story){{!}}The Secret of Cassandra
|series2               = ''Bernice Summerfield'' audio releases
|prev2                 = Closure (audio story)
|next2                 = Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Secret of Cassandra (audio story){{!}}The Secret of Cassandra
|series3                = ''Bernice Summerfield'' stories
|prev3                  = Closure (audio story)
|next3                  = A Question of Identity (short story)
|epcount                = 1
}}
'''''Dragons' Wrath''''' was the sixth and final audio story published by [[Big Finish Productions]] in the [[Series 1 (BFBS)|first season]] of their [[Bernice Summerfield (series)|''Bernice Summerfield'' series]]. It was the final Big Finish adaptation of a [[Virgin New Adventures]] novel until [[2012 (production)|2012]]'s ''[[Love and War (audio story)|Love and War]]''.


Unlike the previous adaptions, this story was only a single CD while the five earlier stories were each two CDs.
The story featured a performance by [[Richard Franklin]], better known for his role of [[Mike Yates|Captain Mike Yates]] of [[UNIT]] in televised ''[[Doctor Who]]''.


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
The warlord [[Gamaliel]] from the legendary [[Knights of Jeneve]] captured The [[Gamalian Dragon]], ­ a jewel-encrusted statuette, after the [[Battle of Bocaro]]. It is now sought by [[Romolo Nusek]], apparently Gamaliel's descendant, to prove his right to assume his ancestor's mantle as ruler of the Sector.
The warlord [[Hugo Gamaliel|Gamaliel]] from the legendary [[Knights of Jeneve]] captured the [[Gamalian Dragon]],­ a jewel-encrusted statuette, after the [[Battle of Bocaro]]. It is now sought by [[Romolo Nusek]], apparently Gamaliel's descendant, to prove his right to assume his ancestor's mantle as ruler of the Sector.


When [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] joins a group seeking to find the legendary stauette, she hs a secret. No one can possibly find one on [[Stanturus]] because she's already carrying it ­ left for her by a murdered colleague.
When [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] joins a group seeking to find the legendary statuette, she has a secret. No one can possibly find one on [[Stanturus Three|Stanturus]] because she's already carrying it ­left for her by a murdered colleague.


The trouble is, the expedition does find one and, as a result, most of them are mysteriously slaughtered. Benny realises she and historian [[Nicholas Clyde]] must discern the traitor in their midst. Could it be [[Mappin Gilder|Gilder]], the obsequious administrator from Benny's own university? Could it be [[Truby Kamadrich]], the famous archaeologist? Or might it be the bizarre librarian [[Reddick]], who never leaves Nusek's vaults, protected by an inhospitable volcano?
The trouble is, the expedition does find one and, as a result, most of them are mysteriously slaughtered. Benny realises she and historian [[Nicholas Clyde]] must discern the traitor in their midst. Could it be [[Mappin Gilder|Gilder]], the obsequious administrator from Benny's own university? Could it be [[Truby Kamadrich]], the famous archaeologist? Or might it be the bizarre librarian [[Reddick]], who never leaves Nusek's vaults, protected by an inhospitable [[volcano]]?


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
''to be added''
After being kicked out of a [[bar]], [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] finds [[Newark Rappare|Professor Newark Rappare]] bleeding in an [[alley]] and staunches his [[gun]]shot wound. Before he dies, he mentions a dragon and the name "Mastrov" and tells her to take his [[key card]], which she uses it to enter his [[art studio]] at [[St Oscar's University|St Oscar's]] and take a dragon statuette. She attends a meeting at which [[Truby Kamadrich|Dr Truby Kamadrich]] asks her and [[Nicholas Clyde|Dr Nicholas Clyde]] to take part in an excavation on [[Stanturus Three]] funded by [[Romolo Nusek]], whose integrity Nicholas questions. He informs Benny that Nusek is descended from [[Hugo Gamaliel]], who stole the [[Gamalian Dragon]] statuette.
 
Benny takes Nicholas to her rooms and shows her the Gamalian Dragon, which bewilders him as he knows the statuette to be in the archives on [[Tharn]] and almost impossible to be replicated given how rarely it is seen by any but Nusek. To solve this mystery and Rappare's death, Benny and Nicholas accept Kamadrich's offer and meet Nusek, accompanied by St Oscar's accounts manager [[Mappin Gilder]] to ensure that they do not jeopardise the funding that Nusek is offering the university. Benny and Nicholas get permission to see the Gamalian Dragon and are given a tour of the archives by [[Reddick]], who tells them that it has not been removed for two centuries nor have there been any attempts to steal it. However, Benny notices that the [[velvet]] it rests on is slightly disturbed.
 
Benny and Nicholas sneak back into the archive and are attacked by a [[cryvok]], an [[android]] [[Rottweiler]], which Nicholas hits with Benny's [[backpack]]. She switches Nusek's dragon with Rappare's and flees from two other cryvoks and meets Nicholas in the library where, comparing a bookcase to its depiction in a [[painting]], Benny discovers a secret passageway and are welcomed by Reddick to his cavern. Reddick has been collecting [[book]]s that Nusek wants destroyed due to them being critical of Gamaliel and leads Benny and Nicholas out in time for them to board the shuttle to Stanturus Three. During the journey, Benny compares Nusek's dragon with a hologram of Rappare's and confirms that they are completely identical.
 
On Stanturus Three, Benny is bitten by [[rat]] creatures and forced to stay in bed. She uses her [[computer]] to analyse Gamaliel's famous victory in the [[Battle of Bocaro]] and finds that it cannot work out how he could have defeated the [[Knights of Jeneve]]. She waits to hear from Nicholas, but he and several other members of the team are apparently killed in an explosion which destroys the ruins they were examining. When Benny looks at the footage, however, she finds that Nicholas is alive and locates him, unconscious. He tells her that a [[spaceship]] bearing Nusek's emblem was behind the explosion and they did not find anything in the ruins, but Kamadrich claims that they found a Gamalian Dragon. Nicholas is made a [[scapegoat]] and [[arrest]]ed.
 
Benny examines the third dragon and discovers that it does not match the other two. However, she realises that that would be seen as evidence that Rappare's and Nusek's are fakes, made from the same mould. She returns to [[Dellah]] with Gilder and is hit over the head upon arriving at her home. Before the hearing on the authenticity of the third dragon, Kamadrich approaches Benny and they return to Benny's room to discuss their suspicions about Nusek, with Kamadrich suggesting that Nicholas might be responsible for the sabotage and attacking Benny to keep her from attending the hearing. Benny, however, has deduced from Kamadrich knowing where her [[coffee]] is that she is Nusek's right-hand, Mastrov.
 
Benny breaks Nicholas out of his cell and they are immediately confronted by Kamadrich and locked up, but Gilder finds them and releases them. He first calls Nicholas to give his expert opinion on the Gamalian Dragon rather than one of the two caterers that Nusek requested and, Benny notices, Nusek seems surprised when his emblem is mentioned as being on the ship that killed the [[archaeologist]]s. When Benny is called, she claims that the two identical Gamalians are fakes made by Rappare and smashes one of them, saying that the real one contains a video link as it was bugged by the Knights of Jeneve and allowed to be taken by Gamaliel. With his ancestor's honour in question, Nusek openly admits his scheme, incorrectly believing that Mastrov had ended the video feed.
 
On the return journey to Dellah, Benny pieces together that Nicholas and Reddick are both Knights of Jeneve and Gilder realises that Nicholas was the one who killed the archaeologists. Nicholas admits that he killed them all when they found Gamalian bodies which proved that Gamaliel had had an [[outpost]] on the planet, which could have encouraged [[warlord]]s to ally themselves with Nusek. Their ship is intercepted by Mastrov and they are taken back to Tharn where Nusek orders them to be thrown into a [[volcano]]. Reddick saves them, but Nicholas tries to take the Gamalian Dragons and falls into the volcano with Mastrov, his last words being to point Benny to his keyboard. Benny uses it to set the Gamalian Dragon to self-destruct and flees with Reddick, whom she and Mappin lock up until he tells them about the Knights.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
Line 50: Line 73:
* [[Reddick]] - [[Jez Fielder]]
* [[Reddick]] - [[Jez Fielder]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
* Rappare has a [[forgery]] of the ''[[Mona Lisa]]''.
* The first relic that Nicholas unearthed himself was, he claims, a [[computer keyboard]] which he keeps as a [[lucky charm]]. In fact, it is a detonator for the bomb in the [[Gamalian Dragon]].
* [[Wolsey]] greets Benny when she returns home.
* Kamadrich makes Benny [[coffee]].
* [[Hilda Rummage]] and [[Mary-Beth Dooley]] were in charge of [[catering]] at the dig.


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This audio story was recorded on [[7 September (production)|7 September]] [[1999 (production)|1999]].
* [[Gary Russell]] wanted to start the first season of ''[[Bernice Summerfield (series)|Bernice Summerfield]]'' with this story, but was persuaded otherwise by [[Paul Cornell]].<ref name="BFC">''[[The Big Finish Companion: Volume 1]]''</ref>
* The story introduces the new theme tune for the Bernice Summerfield audios, featuring lyrics such as "Adventure is my name, Adventure is my game...".
* The story introduces the new theme tune for the ''Bernice Summerfield'' audios, featuring lyrics such as "Adventure is my name, Adventure is my game...".
* This is the last novel adaptation in the the ''Bernice Summerfield'' range. All subsequent releases were original stories. [[Big Finish Productions]] later returned to novel adaptations in a special ''[[Novel Adaptations]]'' range, whose inaugural release ''[[Love and War (audio story)|Love and War]]'' was, coincidentally, the adaptation of [[Paul Cornell]]'s novel originally introducing the character of [[Bernice Summerfield]]. This new ''Novel Adaptations'' range was also discontinued after only 11 stories because of insufficient sales.
* This was the first release to feature [[Paul Vyse]]'s "Professor Bernice Summerfield" logo for the series, which was retained until the end of the [[Series 6 (BFBS)|sixth season]] and also retroactively applied to the rereleases of the earlier stories.
* After earlier double-disc releases, ''Dragons' Wrath'' began a long stretch of single-disc releases.
* After several false starts, the music and sound design were entrusted to [[Justin Richards]]'s brother [[Toby Richards]].<ref name="BFC" /> He remained at this post until the end of the [[Series 2 (BFBS)|second season]].
* This audio story was recorded on [[7 September (production)|7 September]] [[1999 (production)|1999]] at [[Harvey Summers]]'s studio in [[Hastings]].
* Its release took more than a year due to significant problems with post-production, including music and sound design.<ref name="BFC" />
 
=== Cover gallery ===
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
Dragons Wrath audio cover.jpg|CD cover
Dragons Wrath.jpg|Cover of the original novel
</gallery>


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
Line 61: Line 100:


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{bigfinish|releases/v/dragons-wrath-46|Dragons' Wrath}}
{{bigfinish|releases/v/dragons-wrath-46|Dragons' Wrath}}
{{dwrefguide|benny06.htm|Dragons' Wrath}}
{{dwrefguide|benny06.htm|Dragons' Wrath}}
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{BFBS}}
{{BFBS}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield stories]]
 
[[Category:Series 1 (BFBS) audio stories]]
[[Category:2000 audio stories]]
[[Category:2000 audio stories]]
[[Category:BFBS audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2593]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2593]]
[[Category:Adaptations]]
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield sources]]
[[Category:Stories that use Toby Richards and Emily Baker's Bernice Summerfield theme]]
[[Category:One part audio stories]]

Latest revision as of 20:34, 2 March 2024

RealWorld.png

Dragons' Wrath was the sixth and final audio story published by Big Finish Productions in the first season of their Bernice Summerfield series. It was the final Big Finish adaptation of a Virgin New Adventures novel until 2012's Love and War.

The story featured a performance by Richard Franklin, better known for his role of Captain Mike Yates of UNIT in televised Doctor Who.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The warlord Gamaliel from the legendary Knights of Jeneve captured the Gamalian Dragon,­ a jewel-encrusted statuette, after the Battle of Bocaro. It is now sought by Romolo Nusek, apparently Gamaliel's descendant, to prove his right to assume his ancestor's mantle as ruler of the Sector.

When Benny joins a group seeking to find the legendary statuette, she has a secret. No one can possibly find one on Stanturus because she's already carrying it ­left for her by a murdered colleague.

The trouble is, the expedition does find one and, as a result, most of them are mysteriously slaughtered. Benny realises she and historian Nicholas Clyde must discern the traitor in their midst. Could it be Gilder, the obsequious administrator from Benny's own university? Could it be Truby Kamadrich, the famous archaeologist? Or might it be the bizarre librarian Reddick, who never leaves Nusek's vaults, protected by an inhospitable volcano?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

After being kicked out of a bar, Benny finds Professor Newark Rappare bleeding in an alley and staunches his gunshot wound. Before he dies, he mentions a dragon and the name "Mastrov" and tells her to take his key card, which she uses it to enter his art studio at St Oscar's and take a dragon statuette. She attends a meeting at which Dr Truby Kamadrich asks her and Dr Nicholas Clyde to take part in an excavation on Stanturus Three funded by Romolo Nusek, whose integrity Nicholas questions. He informs Benny that Nusek is descended from Hugo Gamaliel, who stole the Gamalian Dragon statuette.

Benny takes Nicholas to her rooms and shows her the Gamalian Dragon, which bewilders him as he knows the statuette to be in the archives on Tharn and almost impossible to be replicated given how rarely it is seen by any but Nusek. To solve this mystery and Rappare's death, Benny and Nicholas accept Kamadrich's offer and meet Nusek, accompanied by St Oscar's accounts manager Mappin Gilder to ensure that they do not jeopardise the funding that Nusek is offering the university. Benny and Nicholas get permission to see the Gamalian Dragon and are given a tour of the archives by Reddick, who tells them that it has not been removed for two centuries nor have there been any attempts to steal it. However, Benny notices that the velvet it rests on is slightly disturbed.

Benny and Nicholas sneak back into the archive and are attacked by a cryvok, an android Rottweiler, which Nicholas hits with Benny's backpack. She switches Nusek's dragon with Rappare's and flees from two other cryvoks and meets Nicholas in the library where, comparing a bookcase to its depiction in a painting, Benny discovers a secret passageway and are welcomed by Reddick to his cavern. Reddick has been collecting books that Nusek wants destroyed due to them being critical of Gamaliel and leads Benny and Nicholas out in time for them to board the shuttle to Stanturus Three. During the journey, Benny compares Nusek's dragon with a hologram of Rappare's and confirms that they are completely identical.

On Stanturus Three, Benny is bitten by rat creatures and forced to stay in bed. She uses her computer to analyse Gamaliel's famous victory in the Battle of Bocaro and finds that it cannot work out how he could have defeated the Knights of Jeneve. She waits to hear from Nicholas, but he and several other members of the team are apparently killed in an explosion which destroys the ruins they were examining. When Benny looks at the footage, however, she finds that Nicholas is alive and locates him, unconscious. He tells her that a spaceship bearing Nusek's emblem was behind the explosion and they did not find anything in the ruins, but Kamadrich claims that they found a Gamalian Dragon. Nicholas is made a scapegoat and arrested.

Benny examines the third dragon and discovers that it does not match the other two. However, she realises that that would be seen as evidence that Rappare's and Nusek's are fakes, made from the same mould. She returns to Dellah with Gilder and is hit over the head upon arriving at her home. Before the hearing on the authenticity of the third dragon, Kamadrich approaches Benny and they return to Benny's room to discuss their suspicions about Nusek, with Kamadrich suggesting that Nicholas might be responsible for the sabotage and attacking Benny to keep her from attending the hearing. Benny, however, has deduced from Kamadrich knowing where her coffee is that she is Nusek's right-hand, Mastrov.

Benny breaks Nicholas out of his cell and they are immediately confronted by Kamadrich and locked up, but Gilder finds them and releases them. He first calls Nicholas to give his expert opinion on the Gamalian Dragon rather than one of the two caterers that Nusek requested and, Benny notices, Nusek seems surprised when his emblem is mentioned as being on the ship that killed the archaeologists. When Benny is called, she claims that the two identical Gamalians are fakes made by Rappare and smashes one of them, saying that the real one contains a video link as it was bugged by the Knights of Jeneve and allowed to be taken by Gamaliel. With his ancestor's honour in question, Nusek openly admits his scheme, incorrectly believing that Mastrov had ended the video feed.

On the return journey to Dellah, Benny pieces together that Nicholas and Reddick are both Knights of Jeneve and Gilder realises that Nicholas was the one who killed the archaeologists. Nicholas admits that he killed them all when they found Gamalian bodies which proved that Gamaliel had had an outpost on the planet, which could have encouraged warlords to ally themselves with Nusek. Their ship is intercepted by Mastrov and they are taken back to Tharn where Nusek orders them to be thrown into a volcano. Reddick saves them, but Nicholas tries to take the Gamalian Dragons and falls into the volcano with Mastrov, his last words being to point Benny to his keyboard. Benny uses it to set the Gamalian Dragon to self-destruct and flees with Reddick, whom she and Mappin lock up until he tells them about the Knights.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Gary Russell wanted to start the first season of Bernice Summerfield with this story, but was persuaded otherwise by Paul Cornell.[1]
  • The story introduces the new theme tune for the Bernice Summerfield audios, featuring lyrics such as "Adventure is my name, Adventure is my game...".
  • This is the last novel adaptation in the the Bernice Summerfield range. All subsequent releases were original stories. Big Finish Productions later returned to novel adaptations in a special Novel Adaptations range, whose inaugural release Love and War was, coincidentally, the adaptation of Paul Cornell's novel originally introducing the character of Bernice Summerfield. This new Novel Adaptations range was also discontinued after only 11 stories because of insufficient sales.
  • This was the first release to feature Paul Vyse's "Professor Bernice Summerfield" logo for the series, which was retained until the end of the sixth season and also retroactively applied to the rereleases of the earlier stories.
  • After earlier double-disc releases, Dragons' Wrath began a long stretch of single-disc releases.
  • After several false starts, the music and sound design were entrusted to Justin Richards's brother Toby Richards.[1] He remained at this post until the end of the second season.
  • This audio story was recorded on 7 September 1999 at Harvey Summers's studio in Hastings.
  • Its release took more than a year due to significant problems with post-production, including music and sound design.[1]

Cover gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]