Only Human (audio story): Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox Story | {{Infobox Story SMW | ||
|image = Only Human CD cover.jpg | |image = Only Human CD cover.jpg | ||
|range = The Time Travellers (series) | |range = The Time Travellers (series) | ||
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|enemy = | |enemy = | ||
|setting = | |setting = | ||
|writer = | |writer = Mark J Thompson | ||
|director = [[Mark J Thompson]] | |director = [[Mark J Thompson]] | ||
|producer = [[Bill Baggs]] | |producer = [[Bill Baggs]] | ||
|publisher = BBV Productions | |publisher = BBV Productions | ||
|release date = | |release date = May 1999 | ||
|format = 1 CD | |format = 1 CD | ||
|isbn = | |isbn = | ||
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== Plot == | == Plot == | ||
''to be | While their ship is on course for [[Earth]], Alice takes the time to swim in the ship's pool. She reports that the feeling of jumping into the cold water has always calmed her down and that being underwater seems to stop ones thoughts for a while. [[Alice Carroll|Ace]] asks the Dominie if he has ever thought of going back in time and changing things. He says he can't do this. | ||
After landing, [[The Dominie]] and Alice notice that they are not where they intended to be. Alice is very irritated by this and reminds the Dominie that she wanted to go home to [[Perivale]] to take care of something. The Dominie says he thought she just wanted to visit some friends. | |||
He is confused by how they could have landed on this planet when they were aiming for Earth. | |||
The planet they have landed on is high in [[oxygen]], dark and the nearby city has houses of a peculiar design, being largely made from [[carbon]]-based, organic material. Alice is very disgusted by this, describing the buildings by comparing them to human [[Organ_(anatomy)|organs]] and calling this a "butcher's fantasy world". | |||
As they turn to leave they are stopped by one of the inhabitants of the planet. The aliens are described as 8 feet tall and blob-like. The alien in question brings them to the city where they are held prisoner. | |||
Omicron, the alien who stopped them confers with one of its kind. We learn that the two outsiders are a threat to the city because, as is afterwards correctly assessed by the Dominie, their very biological makeup is harmful to these aliens. An example he brings is their production of Carbon. The Dominie attests that if they are let go the problem will be gone, but only Omicron believes them. The aliens do not believe the Dominie when he says that Alice and he do not [[Cell (biology)|reproduce as they do]] and that no trace would be left after their departure. | |||
The aliens are shapeshifters who use a mild psychic ability to adapt to their prisoners bodies in order to contain them efficently (arms to hold them etc). The Dominie uses this to project his own image onto the aliens to cause confusion and escape with Alice in their ship. | |||
Back aboard the ship, Alice is shocked and enraged to find her stepfather in the pools changing room. She complains to the Dominie about this, believing that he has brought him onto the ship to make her face her fears. The Dominie reports that they have not landed since leaving the planet. As it turns out, Omicron has stowed away on the ship to escape its home planet. | |||
It needed a humanoid form to survive aboard the ship and took the strongest image it could find from Alice's mind. Alice demands that Omicron stops using the form of her step-father and so it uses a form from The Dominie's mind instead, of a woman called Sandra. | |||
Omicron explains that she wanted to leave her planet, mostly because of the people. The Dominie says he understands this feeling. Omicron says its planet was colonized by its people many years ago and begs the Dominie to let it start its own colony somewhere, with better attitudes. He agrees and sets a course. | |||
Instead of the planet they intended to land on, the group finds itself in a castle. At first they believe they are on Earth, but the lower [[Gravity]] shows that they are not. They meet a very excited robot called Vixxy who is overjoyed to find living humans and welcomes them. He explains that they are on a moon and by the name of this moon, the Dominie realizes that they have landed in the right [[Star system]]. | |||
Vixxy is very avoidant when asked questions about other humans and why they all died. He starts preparing food for his guests and after discovering that he has no fresh vegetables he breaks out in tears, so to speak. | |||
Over the meal Vixxy explains that extra-dimensional beings had come to Earth at some point seeking refuge. This had been a trick to wipe out the local population that was discovered too late by the humans, and when they had started to built their weapon, a robotic killing machine, it was already to late. The aliens had sent a rocket that killed all of them. Alice says that there must have been colonies inhabited by humans, but Vixxy claims he has searched all of them and none of the humans were to be found. Alice is shocked by this, but even more so by the fact that the Dominie will not avert the genocide of the humans by going back in time. | |||
When Vixxy leaves, someone comments on how tough the meat is. Through a tattoo on it, they soon realize that it is human meat. Vixxy apologizes profusely and feels very bad about it. | |||
The meat had come from not just a refrigerator, but a [[Suspended animation|cryogenic]] tank. They awaken a man within. He tells a different story, explaining that Vixxy is the one who killed all the people on the human colonies. It turns out that Vixxy, who was the robotic killing machine meant to wipe out the Earth's enemy, had been unfinished and that the morality circuts had been unable to contain the killing part of his programming. After a long time Vixxy realized what he'd done and now he feels very guilty about it. | |||
In fact, after learning how to navigate the Dominie's ship, Vixxy sends it back in time in order to stop the rocket from launching. The Dominie disagrees with this. | |||
Back on the ship, Omicron changes into Alice's stepfather again due to her intense emotions. Through the conversation it is reveled that Alice had been sexually abused by her stepfather since she was 7 and that her mother was aware, becoming alcoholic for this reason. Her "stepfather" defends himself, believing he had done nothing wrong. Alice promises that when she gets back home she will see him prosecuted and ensure he won't be able to repeat these crimes and hurt anyone else. | |||
In the control room for the rocket, the Dominie & co. are attacked, presumably because an alarm was tripped. The Dominie realizes that the alien who attacked them was of Omicron's race. He concludes that the planet he and Ace had landed on earlier was in fact Earth, after these same aliens had killed the native population and colonized it. | |||
The Dominie explains to Vixxy that by stopping the rocket he would be creating a paradox, since by averting the event he would never come into the position of meeting the Dominie and using his ship to travel back in time. Vixxy doesn't listen and in chasing his futile dream of preventing the genocide of humans and his part in it, Vixxy and the rest of the cast of characters unique to this audio die. | |||
Alice and the Dominie discuss these events. Alice tells her friend to save the human race, but he says he can't do anything to save them. The Dominie tells Ace he would understand if she wanted to leave. She says "Where would I go now?". | |||
== Cast == | == Cast == | ||
| Line 42: | Line 70: | ||
== Crew == | == Crew == | ||
* [[Writer]] - [[Mark J Thompson]] | * [[Writer]] - [[Mark J Thompson]] | ||
* [[Director]] - [[Mark J Thompson]] | * [[Director (crew)|Director]] - [[Mark J Thompson]] | ||
* [[Post-production|Post-Production]] and [[Composer|Music]] - [[Harvey Summers]] | * [[Post-production|Post-Production]] and [[Composer|Music]] - [[Harvey Summers]] | ||
Revision as of 18:41, 24 July 2024
- You may be looking for the Tenth Doctor audio or the Redacted episode.
Only Human was the twelfth audio in BBV Productions' Audio Adventures in Time & Space anthology series, the fifth episode of its second season and the eighth episode in all of the subseries The Time Travellers. It continued to star Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as the Dominie and Alice, close analogues of their BBC characters the Seventh Doctor and Ace.
Publisher's summary
Why won't Alice reveal the real reason for wanting to return home? What is the truth of the planet covered in blood? And who or what is Vixxy? As events unfold, a simple visit to Earth becomes a growing nightmare and the time travellers find themselves caught in a complex web of time, space and emotions — with no choice but to see it through to its chilling conclusion...
Plot
While their ship is on course for Earth, Alice takes the time to swim in the ship's pool. She reports that the feeling of jumping into the cold water has always calmed her down and that being underwater seems to stop ones thoughts for a while. Ace asks the Dominie if he has ever thought of going back in time and changing things. He says he can't do this. After landing, The Dominie and Alice notice that they are not where they intended to be. Alice is very irritated by this and reminds the Dominie that she wanted to go home to Perivale to take care of something. The Dominie says he thought she just wanted to visit some friends.
He is confused by how they could have landed on this planet when they were aiming for Earth. The planet they have landed on is high in oxygen, dark and the nearby city has houses of a peculiar design, being largely made from carbon-based, organic material. Alice is very disgusted by this, describing the buildings by comparing them to human organs and calling this a "butcher's fantasy world". As they turn to leave they are stopped by one of the inhabitants of the planet. The aliens are described as 8 feet tall and blob-like. The alien in question brings them to the city where they are held prisoner. Omicron, the alien who stopped them confers with one of its kind. We learn that the two outsiders are a threat to the city because, as is afterwards correctly assessed by the Dominie, their very biological makeup is harmful to these aliens. An example he brings is their production of Carbon. The Dominie attests that if they are let go the problem will be gone, but only Omicron believes them. The aliens do not believe the Dominie when he says that Alice and he do not reproduce as they do and that no trace would be left after their departure. The aliens are shapeshifters who use a mild psychic ability to adapt to their prisoners bodies in order to contain them efficently (arms to hold them etc). The Dominie uses this to project his own image onto the aliens to cause confusion and escape with Alice in their ship.
Back aboard the ship, Alice is shocked and enraged to find her stepfather in the pools changing room. She complains to the Dominie about this, believing that he has brought him onto the ship to make her face her fears. The Dominie reports that they have not landed since leaving the planet. As it turns out, Omicron has stowed away on the ship to escape its home planet. It needed a humanoid form to survive aboard the ship and took the strongest image it could find from Alice's mind. Alice demands that Omicron stops using the form of her step-father and so it uses a form from The Dominie's mind instead, of a woman called Sandra. Omicron explains that she wanted to leave her planet, mostly because of the people. The Dominie says he understands this feeling. Omicron says its planet was colonized by its people many years ago and begs the Dominie to let it start its own colony somewhere, with better attitudes. He agrees and sets a course.
Instead of the planet they intended to land on, the group finds itself in a castle. At first they believe they are on Earth, but the lower Gravity shows that they are not. They meet a very excited robot called Vixxy who is overjoyed to find living humans and welcomes them. He explains that they are on a moon and by the name of this moon, the Dominie realizes that they have landed in the right Star system. Vixxy is very avoidant when asked questions about other humans and why they all died. He starts preparing food for his guests and after discovering that he has no fresh vegetables he breaks out in tears, so to speak. Over the meal Vixxy explains that extra-dimensional beings had come to Earth at some point seeking refuge. This had been a trick to wipe out the local population that was discovered too late by the humans, and when they had started to built their weapon, a robotic killing machine, it was already to late. The aliens had sent a rocket that killed all of them. Alice says that there must have been colonies inhabited by humans, but Vixxy claims he has searched all of them and none of the humans were to be found. Alice is shocked by this, but even more so by the fact that the Dominie will not avert the genocide of the humans by going back in time.
When Vixxy leaves, someone comments on how tough the meat is. Through a tattoo on it, they soon realize that it is human meat. Vixxy apologizes profusely and feels very bad about it.
The meat had come from not just a refrigerator, but a cryogenic tank. They awaken a man within. He tells a different story, explaining that Vixxy is the one who killed all the people on the human colonies. It turns out that Vixxy, who was the robotic killing machine meant to wipe out the Earth's enemy, had been unfinished and that the morality circuts had been unable to contain the killing part of his programming. After a long time Vixxy realized what he'd done and now he feels very guilty about it.
In fact, after learning how to navigate the Dominie's ship, Vixxy sends it back in time in order to stop the rocket from launching. The Dominie disagrees with this. Back on the ship, Omicron changes into Alice's stepfather again due to her intense emotions. Through the conversation it is reveled that Alice had been sexually abused by her stepfather since she was 7 and that her mother was aware, becoming alcoholic for this reason. Her "stepfather" defends himself, believing he had done nothing wrong. Alice promises that when she gets back home she will see him prosecuted and ensure he won't be able to repeat these crimes and hurt anyone else.
In the control room for the rocket, the Dominie & co. are attacked, presumably because an alarm was tripped. The Dominie realizes that the alien who attacked them was of Omicron's race. He concludes that the planet he and Ace had landed on earlier was in fact Earth, after these same aliens had killed the native population and colonized it.
The Dominie explains to Vixxy that by stopping the rocket he would be creating a paradox, since by averting the event he would never come into the position of meeting the Dominie and using his ship to travel back in time. Vixxy doesn't listen and in chasing his futile dream of preventing the genocide of humans and his part in it, Vixxy and the rest of the cast of characters unique to this audio die.
Alice and the Dominie discuss these events. Alice tells her friend to save the human race, but he says he can't do anything to save them. The Dominie tells Ace he would understand if she wanted to leave. She says "Where would I go now?".
Cast
- The Dominie - Sylvester McCoy
- Alice - Sophie Aldred
- Samantha - Jo Phillips-Lane
- Vixxy - Sammie Winmill
- Reg - Peter Dean
- Karsius - Gary Hailes
Crew
Notes
- This story was one of multiple The Time Travellers stories to receive a new alternative cover on the renewed BBV Productions website in 2021.
- Mark J Thompson wrote the shapeshifter turning into the Brigadier but this was changed to Samantha due to copyright issues.[1]
Continuity
to be written
Footnotes
- ↑ Downtime: The Lost Years of Doctor Who Chapter 20 (Dylan Rees)
External links
- Official Only Human page at bbvproductions.co.uk
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