Sold Out (short story): Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 19:29, 23 April 2024

Sold Out

Key crew

Writer:

Danny Oz

Release details

Part of:

Short Trips: A Day in the Life

Release date:

7 July 2005

Short Trips short stories
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After Midnight	Undercurrents

Sold Out was the second short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: A Day in the Life. It was written by Danny Oz. It featured the Sixth Doctor and Mel.

Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor attends a virtual reality dream concert by rock star Diamond Sharp while Mel watches the technicians, Alec and Carol, work the consoles.

In the dream concert, the Doctor and several others are connected to the computer. Diamond's agent, Rolly, and a music critic, Robin Pen, are there as well.

The concert starts with a giant-sized Diamond, decades younger in appearance, playing his guitar while black skeletons fight against white skeletons. Suddenly a giant pink snake appears and eats Diamond. The others think it's part of the show, but Rolly knows better. The snake disappears, and a giant robot appears. It kills two members of the audience, and the Doctor shouts for everyone to hit their wake-up switches. However, this does not work.

Alec, Carol and Mel are aware that something is wrong, but they can't disconnect the viewers. In the dream concert, the Doctor grabs a guitar and plays a chord that shatters the robot's left hand, but the robot brushes off a black skeleton that tries to stop it, grabs Rolly and stalks off.

The Doctor assigns to Robin the safety of the audience. He tells them to find the exit, and recruits the black skeleton, whom he names Jack. Robin and the survivors are chased by a black cloud, and the Doctor and Jack encounter a talking dragon. Alec and Carol tell Mel that Diamond's computer deck used to belong to a serial killer.

Mel connects herself to the dream and finds herself in a huge library. The librarian denies that she is killing anyone, though she is being used to kill. Robin confronts the cloud, remembering that the Doctor had told him he can change things in this environment.

The librarian tells Mel that Diamond's plan is to hold one last concert, kill the audience, blame it on the computer deck and collect millions from his story. The Doctor and Jack find Diamond in the dream. The Doctor confronts him, and Diamond tries to dig into the Doctor's subconscious thoughts. Robin makes the cloud disappear.

The librarian tells Mel that the Doctor has help from her avatar, Jack. However, she can't help the Doctor. Mel sees the Doctor in a small laboratory, where a man dressed in an organ-grinder's outfit orders him to dance. Mel yells at the librarian, and suddenly she finds herself back into the control room, having been kicked out of the dream by the librarian.

The Doctor, feeling the same trapped feeling he had during his third incarnation, realises there's only one way to stop a musician, and he brings in several critics who have no idea who Diamond is. Diamond curls up in a corner and cries.

Some time later, the Doctor and Mel contact the librarian, and make arrangements for Rolly to be her manager, as she was the one who wrote the music sung by Diamond. The Doctor suggests to Mel that they drop in on Alistair.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor mentions Daleks and Zygons.
The Doctor considers visiting his old laboratory.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Diamond references the Doctor's role in the destruction of the Vervoids (TV: Terror of the Vervoids) and the Silurians. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians)

Short Trips short stories

BBC Books

Short Trips	Model Train Set • Old Flames • War Crimes • The Last Days • Stop the Pigeon • Freedom • Glass • Mondas Passing • There are Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden • Mother's Little Helper • The Parliament of Rats • Rights • Wish You Were Here • Ace of Hearts • The People's Temple

More Short Trips	Totem • Scientific Adviser • Missing, Part One: Business as Usual • Moon Graffiti • One Bad Apple • 64 Carlysle Street • The Eternity Contract • The Sow in Rut • Special Weapons • Honest Living • Dead Time • Romans Cutaway • Return of the Spiders • Hot Ice • uPVC • Good Companions • Missing, Part Two: Message in a Bottle • Femme Fatale

Short Trips and Side Steps	The Longest Story in the World • A Town Called Eternity • The Not-So-Sinister Sponge • Nothing at the End of the Lane • Countdown to TV Action • The Queen of Eros • The Android Maker of Calderon IV • Revenants • Please Shut the Gate • Turnabout is Fair Play • Do You Love Anyone Enough? • Dr Who and the House on Oldark Moor • Gone Too Soon • Reunion • Planet of the Bunnoids • Monsters • Better Watch Out, Better Take Care • Face Value • Storm in a Tikka • Playing with Toys • Vrs

Big Finish Productions

Zodiac	The True and Indisputable Facts in the Matter of the Ram's Skull • Growing Higher • Twin Piques • Still Lives • Constant Companion • Virgin Lands • The Switching • Jealous, Possessive • Five Card Draw • I Was a Monster!!! • The Invertebrates of Doom • The Stabber • Introduction and links

Companions	The Tip of the Mind • The Splintered Gate • The Man from DOCTO(R) • Apocrypha Bipedium • A Boy's Tale • Kept Safe and Sound • The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe • Hearts of Stone • Distance • Qualia • Curriculum Vitae • Notre Dame du Temps • The Little Drummer Boy • Hidden Talent • The Canvey Angels • Balloon Debate • A Long Night

A Universe of Terrors	The Exiles • Mire and Clay • Ash • Face-Painter • Losing Track of Time • The Discourse of Flies • The Fear • Mauritz • The Comet's Tail • Long Term • Soul Mate • Whiskey and Water • The Death of Me • This is My Life • Gazing Void

The Muses	Introduction • Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing • The Brain of Socrates • Mordieu • An Overture Too Early • Hymn of the City • Confabula • The Astronomer's Apprentice • Katarina in the Underworld • The Glass Princess

Steel Skies	Corridors of Power • A Good Life • Reversal of Fortune • Monitor • Dust • Light at the End of the Tunnel • No Exit • House • Deep Stretch • Inmate 280 • Doing Time • The Ruins of Heaven • Cold War • O, Darkness • Greenaway • Eternity

Past Tense	The Immortals • Far from Home • All Done with Mirrors • CHAOS • Ante Bellum • The Thief of Sherwood • Come Friendly Bombs... • Graham Dilley Saves the World • Bide-a-Wee • Mortlake • White Man's Burden • Of the Mermaid and Jupiter • The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up • One Small Step... • To Kill a Nandi Bear • Fixing a Hole • That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress

Life Science	Syntax • Primitives • The Northern Heights • Observation • Mortal Thoughts • Lant Land • A Star is Reborn • The Southwell Park Mermaid • The Destroyers • The Reproductive Cycle • Jonah • Scribbles in Chalk • The End • The Age of Ambition • Echo • A Rose by Any Other Name

Repercussions	The Time Lord's Story • The Ghost's Story • The Rag & Bone Man's Story • The Seismologist's Story • The Dead Man's Story • The Inquisitor's Story • The Gangster's Story • The Bushranger's Story • The Schoolboy's Story • The Juror's Story • The Farmer's Story • The Republican's Story • The Assassin's Story • The Diplomat's Story • The Steward's Story • The Tramp's Story • Repercussions...

Monsters	Best Seller • From Eternity • Last Rites • The Touch of the Nurazh • Flashpoint • These Things Take Time • Categorical Imperative • Trapped! • Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life • Screamager • The Colour of Monsters

2040	The Nuclear Option • Separation • Thinking Warrior • Observer Effect • Artificial Intelligence • Daisy Chain • Sustainable Energy • Culture War • The Baron Wastes • /Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet • Outsourcing • Anteus • The Last Emperor • The Ethereal

A Christmas Treasury	Last Christmas • UNIT Christmas Parties: First Christmas • In the TARDIS: Christmas Day • Water's Edge • A Yuletide Tail • Spookasem • Christmas Special • Never Seen Cairo • The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas • Last Minute Shopping • Every Day • The Eight Doctors of Christmas • The Little Things • UNIT Christmas Parties: Christmas Truce • The Clanging Chimes of Doom • Perfect Present • Present Tense • Goodwill Toward Men • It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow • All Our Christmases • Lily • ...Be Forgot • The Feast of Seven... Eight (and Nine) • UNIT Christmas Parties: Ships That Pass • Evergreen

Seven Deadly Sins	The Duke's Folly • That Which Went Away • Angel • Suitors, Inc. • The 57th • Telling Tales • Too Rich for My Blood • Seven Deadly Sins

A Day in the Life	After Midnight • Sold Out • Undercurrents • The Five O'Clock Shadow • The Sooner the Better • Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast • The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac • Waiting for Jeremy • A Life in the Day • Morphology • Making History • One Wednesday Afternoon • How You Get There • The Last Broadcast • The Terror of the Darkness • Visiting Hours • Before Midnight

The Solar System	Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune • Pluto • Sedna

The History of Christmas	The Lampblack Wars • Home Fires • The Feast • Rome • Set in Stone • The Thousand Years of Christmas • Presence • Danse Macabre • The Church of Saint Sebastian • The Prodigal Sun • Be Good for Goodness's Sake • Ode to Joy • Nobody's Gift • The Innocents • Comforts of Home • Christmas on the Moon • The Anchorite's Echo • The Revolutionaries • The Gift • Callahuanca • Not in My Back Yard • She Won't Be Home • Saint Nicholas's Bones • The Long Midwinter

Farewells	The Mother Road • Father Figure • The Bad Guy • Separation Day • The Very Last Picture Show • Into the Silent Land • Wake • The Velvet Dark • Life After Queth • Black and White • Curtain Call • Utopia • The Wickerwork Man • The Three Paths

The Centenarian	Prologue • Echoes • Direct Action • Dream Devils • Falling from Xi'an • Log 384 • The Church of Football • Incongruous Details • Ancient Whispers • First Born • Dear John • Checkpoint • Childhood Living • The Lost • Old Boys • Testament • Forgotten

Time Signature	An Overture Too Early • The Ruins of Time • Gone Fishing • The Avant Guardian • Second Contact • Resonance • Walkin' City Blues • The Hunting of the Slook • The Earwig Archipelago • DS Al Fine • Certificate of Destruction

Dalek Empire	Kalendorf • Natalie's Diary • Alby • Private Investigations • Suz • The Best Joke I Ever Told • Hide and Seek • The Eighth Wonder of the World • Mutually Assured Survival • Museum Peace

Destination Prague	Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • Room for Improvement • Life from Lifelessness • The Long Step Backward • Strange Attractor • Gold and Black Ooze • The Dogs of War • Sunday Afternoon, AD 848,988 • Nanomorphosis • Spoilsport • War in a Time of Peace • The End of Now • Suspension and Disbelief • Leap Second • Lady of the Snows • The Time Eater • Fable Fusion • Men of the Earth • Across Silent Seas • The Dragons of Prague • Omegamorphosis

Snapshots	Golem • Indian Summer • All of Beyond • The Eyes Have It • The Misadventure of Mark Thorne • Attachments • There's Something About Mary • My Hero • Plight of the Monkrah • Remain in Light • In Case of Emergencies • Puppeteer • Osskah • Piecemeal • The Report • You Had Me at Verify User Name and Password • She Knew • The Glarn Strategy • Salva Mea • The Sorrows of Vienna • Fanboys

The Ghosts of Christmas	Faithful Friends: Part One • But Once a Year • For the Man Who Has Everything • Tell Me You Love Me • The Cutty Wren • Do You Dream in Colour? • The Nobility of Faith • 24 Crawford Street • The Sommerton Fetch • Faithful Friends: Part Two • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Do You Believe in the Krampus? • They Fell • The Christmas Presence • Snowman in Manhattan • The Crackers • Jigsaw • Dr Cadabra • Far Away in a Manger • All Snug in Their Beds • Decorative Purposes • The Stars Our Contamination • Keeping It Real • Christmas Every Day? • Faithful Friends: Part Three

Defining Patterns	Machine Time • The Time and Tide • Losing the Audience • One Card for the Curious • Séance, or Smoking is Highly Addictive, Don't Start • The Celestial Harmony Engine • Mutiny • Numb • Closing the Account • The Great Escapes • Loose Change • Lepidoptery for Beginners • One Step Forward, Two Steps Back • Homework • The Devil Like a Bear • Stanley • Twilight's End • The Book of My Life • Defining Patterns

The Quality of Leadership	From Little Acorns • One Fateful Knight • The Slave War • Goths and Robbers • Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen • The Price of Conviction • God Send Me Well to Keep • Peaceable Kingdom • Rock Star • On a Pedestal • Clean-up on Aisle Two • The Spindle of Necessity • Epilogue

Transmissions	Doctor Who and the Adaptation of Death • Policy to Invade • Only Connect • Gudok • Generation Gap • Lonely • Blue Road Dance • Tweaker • Link • Driftwood • Methuselah • Nettles • Larkspur • See No Evil • iNtRUsioNs • Breadcrumbs • Transmission Ends

How the Doctor Changed My Life	Homework • Change Management • Curiosity • Potential • Second Chances • Child's Play • Relativity • Outstanding Balance • The Last Thing You Ever See • The Shopping Trolleys of Doom • The Final Star • The Man on the Phone • The Monster in the Wardrobe • Suns and Mothers • Taking the Cure • Those Left Behind • Evitability • £436 • Time Shear • Running on Empty • Swamp of Horrors (1957) - Viewing Notes • Insider Dealing • The Andrew Invasion • Stolen Days • Lares Domestici

Christmas Around the World	Planet of the Elves • Exclave • A Visit from Saint Nicholas • Instead of You • Christmas Every Day • Mirth, or Walking Spirits • Do You Smell Carrots? • The Doctor's Cross Word • Dateline to Deadline • Autaia Pipipi Pia • No Room • Interesting Times • Revellers of Doom • Lost and Founded • The Best of Days • Conscription • Christmas in Toronto • Companion • Illumination • White on White

Indefinable Magic	Phoenix • The Power Supply • Favourite Star • Hiccup in Time • Shamans • The Fall of the Druids • Priceless Junk • Have You Tried Turning It Off and Then Back On Again? • The Reign Makers • Pass It On • The Science of Magic • Hello Goodbye • Trial by Fire • Death Sentences • Once upon a Time Machine • Mardi Gras Massacre • Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Re:Collections	I Was a Monster!!! • Apocrypha Bipedium • Face-Painter • The Glass Princess • The Ruins of Heaven • The Thief of Sherwood • The Age of Ambition • The Dead Man's Story • Flashpoint • Thinking Warrior • All Our Christmases • Suitors, Inc. • How You Get There • Venus • The Lampblack Wars • Life After Queth • Checkpoint • The Avant Guardian • Museum Peace • Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • The Glarn Strategy • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Losing the Audience • The Spindle of Necessity • Lonely • Lares Domestici • Lost and Founded • The Fall of the Druids

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Sold_Out_(short_story)&oldid=3780705"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Infobox Short Story|
+{{title dab away}}
-story name=Sold Out|
+{{real world}}
-series=[[Big Finish - Short Trips]]|
+{{Infobox Story SMW
-doctor=[[Sixth Doctor]]|
+|series=[[Short Trips (series)#In print|Short Trips short stories]]
-companions=[[Mel]]|
+|doctor = Sixth Doctor
-year=|
+|companions=[[Melanie Bush|Mel]]
-writer=[[Danny Oz]]|
+|setting=
-publication=[[Short Trips: A Day in the Life]]|
+|writer = Danny Oz
-previous story=[[Round Trip: After Midnight]]|
+|anthology = Short Trips: A Day in the Life
-next story=[[Undercurrents]]|
+|release date = 7 July 2005
-|}}
+|prev = After Midnight (short story)
+|next=Undercurrents (short story)
+|enemy=[[Diamond Sharp]]}}'''''Sold Out''''' was the second short story in the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] anthology ''[[Short Trips: A Day in the Life]]''. It was written by [[Danny Oz]]. It featured the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Melanie Bush|Mel]].
-==Summary==
+== Summary ==
+The Doctor attends a virtual reality dream concert by rock star [[Diamond Sharp]] while Mel watches the technicians, [[Alec (Sold Out)|Alec]] and [[Carol (Sold Out)|Carol]], work the consoles.
-The Doctor attends a virtual-reality concert created by Diamond Sharp, the greatest rock star of his generation, while Mel sits in with the technicians, more interested in the technology than the performance. However, one of Diamond’s horror icons unexpectedly bites him in half, and monsters from his earlier rock operas storm off the stage and begin to slaughter the audience members, who find themselves unable to escape into reality. Diamond’s manager, Rolly, manages to reach an exit point and escape; however, once outside the simulation, he’s more concerned with handling the negative publicity for this fiasco than in helping those still trapped in the deadly VR environment. Inside, the Doctor is assisted by a black skeleton whom he names Jack, and by Robin Pen, a critic who helps escort the surviving audience members to an exit point. Mel connects herself to the VR simulation when she realises that Rolly isn’t going to help, and meets an avatar of the AI that controls Diamond’s computer deck.
+In the dream concert, the Doctor and several others are connected to the computer. Diamond's agent, [[Rolly (Sold Out)|Rolly]], and a music critic, [[Robin Pen]], are there as well.
-The AI used to belong to a serial killer who forced it to kill innocent victims, and when it began writing music as therapy to atone for what it had been made to do, Diamond took the AI’s songs and sold them as his own. When the AI decided the time had come for it to move on, Diamond put together this final concert, intending to slaughter his audience, blame the AI and retire on the profits. The Doctor has by now deduced the truth for himself and confronted Diamond, who tries to kill him using imagery from the Doctor’s own memories -- specifically, reminding him of the time he was exiled to Earth and forced to dance to the Brigadier’s tune. However, Mel learns that the skeleton Jack is another avatar of the AI, and demands that it overcome the limitations of its programming and refuse to obey Diamond’s homicidal commands any longer. Jack steps in to save the Doctor from his bad dreams, and the Doctor sends Diamond into a coma by creating a scenario in which Diamond has become universally forgotten. The Doctor and Mel emerge from VR and convince Rolly to take on the AI as his new client; if he sells its songs to many artists instead of just one, he will become rich and famous.
+The concert starts with a giant-sized Diamond, decades younger in appearance, playing his [[guitar]] while black skeletons fight against white skeletons. Suddenly a giant pink snake appears and eats Diamond. The others think it's part of the show, but Rolly knows better. The snake disappears, and a giant [[robot]] appears. It kills two members of the audience, and the Doctor shouts for everyone to hit their wake-up switches. However, this does not work.
-==Characters==
+Alec, Carol and Mel are aware that something is wrong, but they can't disconnect the viewers. In the dream concert, the Doctor grabs a guitar and plays a chord that shatters the robot's left hand, but the robot brushes off a black skeleton that tries to stop it, grabs Rolly and stalks off.
-*[[Sixth Doctor]]
-*[[Mel]]
-==References==
+The Doctor assigns to Robin the safety of the audience. He tells them to find the exit, and recruits the black skeleton, whom he names [[Jack (Sold Out)|Jack]]. Robin and the survivors are chased by a black cloud, and the Doctor and Jack encounter a talking dragon. Alec and Carol tell Mel that Diamond's computer deck used to belong to a serial killer.
+Mel connects herself to the dream and finds herself in a huge library. The librarian denies that she is killing anyone, though she is being used to kill. Robin confronts the cloud, remembering that the Doctor had told him he can change things in this environment.
+The librarian tells Mel that Diamond's plan is to hold one last concert, kill the audience, blame it on the computer deck and collect millions from his story. The Doctor and Jack find Diamond in the dream. The Doctor confronts him, and Diamond tries to dig into the Doctor's subconscious thoughts. Robin makes the cloud disappear.
+The librarian tells Mel that the Doctor has help from her avatar, Jack. However, she can't help the Doctor. Mel sees the Doctor in a small [[laboratory]], where a [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|man]] dressed in an organ-grinder's outfit orders him to dance. Mel yells at the librarian, and suddenly she finds herself back into the control room, having been kicked out of the dream by the librarian.
+The Doctor, feeling the same trapped feeling he had during his [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]], realises there's only one way to stop a musician, and he brings in several critics who have no idea who Diamond is. Diamond curls up in a corner and cries.
+Some time later, the Doctor and Mel contact the librarian, and make arrangements for Rolly to be her manager, as she was the one who wrote the music sung by Diamond. The Doctor suggests to Mel that they drop in on Alistair.
+== Characters ==
+* [[Sixth Doctor]]
+* [[Melanie Bush]]
+* [[Diamond Sharp]]
+* [[Rolly (Sold Out)|Rolly]]
+* [[Alec (Sold Out)|Alec]]
+* [[Carol (Sold Out)|Carol]]
+* [[Robin Pen]]
+* [[Jack (Sold Out)|Jack]]
+* The [[Librarian (Sold Out)|librarian]]
+== Worldbuilding ==
+* The Doctor mentions [[Dalek]]s and [[Zygon]]s.
+* The Doctor considers visiting his old [[laboratory]].
+== Notes ==
 ''to be added''
-==Notes==
+== Continuity ==
-''to be added''
+* Diamond references the Doctor's role in the destruction of the [[Vervoid]]s ([[TV]]: ''[[Terror of the Vervoids (TV story)|Terror of the Vervoids]]'') and the [[Silurian]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'')
-==Continuity==
+{{ST prose}}
-''to be added''
+{{TitleSort}}
-==External Links==
-''to be added''
 [[Category:Sixth Doctor short stories]]
+[[Category:Short Trips: A Day in the Life short stories]]

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Sold Out (short story): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:29, 23 April 2024

Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

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Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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