The Blue Tooth (audio story): Difference between revisions

|release date    = February 2007  

'''''The Blue Tooth''''' was the third story in the [[Series 1 (CC)|first series]] of ''[[The Companion Chronicles]]'', produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[Nigel Fairs]], narrated by [[Caroline John]] and featured the [[Third Doctor]], [[Liz Shaw]], [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]] and [[UNIT]].  

It was notable for being the one of the few stories to pit the [[Third Doctor]] against the [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]]. Until the publication of ''[[The Piper (short story)|The Piper]]'' in 2015, this was the only Third Doctor story to use the Cybermen as its main antagonists.

[[Liz Shaw]] recalls her first meeting with [[Jean Baisemore|Jean Baisemore]] and her time with [[UNIT]] and why she left. She recalls a time when she was working for UNIT and during a day off she went to the visit Jean and they were to meet and have lunch at the [[Copper Kettle]]. However, when she didn't turn up, Liz went to investigate, starting with [[Elm View Cottage|Jean's cottage]] in [[Oakington|Oakridge]]. She finds the interior a mess and [[Puddles|Jean's dead cat]] and attempts to contact the [[Third Doctor|Doctor]], who alerts her that he was already on his way with the [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier]], informing her that it's not the first as a string of deaths related to [[Cambridge]] [[Scientist|scientists]] has appeared within the last week. The Doctor arrives and they investigate. Eventually he discovers [[Tooth|teethmarks]]...

=== Part two ===  

The Doctor and Liz search for the source of where the teeth-marks may have come from and eventually find a small tunnel dug in the [[garden]]. They join the Brigadier in a similar crime scene but for property not belonging to a scientist which throws a wrench in the Doctor's theory, until he shows them that all the victims had the same [[dentist]], the university dentist. Liz reminisces during the car trip to HQ about more times with Jean at Cambridge until she is awoken by the Doctor who informs her there'll be split up and she'll be going with [[Mike Yates|Captain Yates]] to investigate the dentist. Liz books an appointment for ten minutes time but when she sits down in the waiting room she is knocked out. Struggling, she barely escapes with the Doctor's help when he finds her. After she makes a recovery the Doctor explains to her what happened. First, they find Andrew Cull, the cleaner whose house they had investigated, had tried to commit suicide, however, the Doctor, having examined his remains, discovered that the train sliced him in half but his body remained intact, something that isn't possible for a human body. Secondly, Andrew's body had been made of metal. In the moratorium, the Doctor and Liz examine the body better, and discover a blue metal, after which the Doctor confirms Liz's hysterical guess that somehow the metal was transferred into his body. Mike finds Liz's [[purse]] after he went back to investigate again, but her UNIT ID pass is missing. Liz examines the [[body]] further but it begins to spasm and [[Cybermat|cybermats]] begin to emerge from the body's shoulder. Sergeant Benton and [[Broadwick]] come in to help Liz when they hear her scream, however, they end up trapped by the creatures...  

=== Part three ===  

Benton distracts the cybermats while Liz sprays them with a [[Fire extinguisher|fire extinguisher]] which momentarily stops them. The Doctor examines and identifies them back at [[UNIT HQ]], explaining that they are up against the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]]. The Doctor explains that the blue metal used by the dentist for fillings, once activated, consumes the patient and uses their body to produce Cybermats. He then examines Liz's new [[filling]] from the dentist, only to discover it is blue, confirming his suspicions. He informs Liz that he has already developed a way to stop the blue metal's growth in a similar way that the chemicals in the fire extinguisher were able to stop the Cybermats. He assures Liz not to worry and that she will be fine for the time being. However, Liz begins to [[Black Out|black-out]] and explains the strange things she did while presumably under the influence of the blue metal. Eventually she and the Doctor end up at the edge of the airfield, where she tries to get away from the sunlight and digs a hole in the ground which she enters, after which the Doctor follows. It turns out to be the interior of a crashed [[Cyber-ship]] which seemed to draw her in like a homing beacon. Liz, unwillingly, knocks out the Doctor and blacks out again herself. Upon awakening, she finds herself strapped down with tubes inserted into her and she sees her friend Jean, who is in the process of being [[Cyber-conversion|cyber-converted]] and in her last moments of life, tells Liz she was late because she forgot her [[Key|keys]], then begs Liz to kill her. However, before Liz can respond, the Cybermats kill Jean. The Doctor, also strapped down, tells her to resist as a Cyberman approaches them. The Doctor and the Cyberman discuss its plan for invasion but it is a swift chat as the Doctor fails to convince the Cyberman of its own individuality. It prepares to convert them both...  

The Doctor uses [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] to get out of the casket and rescues Liz from hers. Liz looks around and is horrified by the conversion caskets she sees with the figures inside being taken over slowly by the blue metal but the Doctor tells her to keep moving. They find the dead Cyberman pilot of the ship however the Doctor realises what has really happened, just as they are found by the same Cyberman as before. The Doctor manages to get the Cyberman to reveal that it was not originally one but was a human named [[Gareth Arnolds]] who discovered the crashed ship that had no survivors, but as a scientist was intrigued by the technology inside that he did not understand. He experimented with the blue metal, first on the pilot (which was missing its legs), then on other humans and is now building a Cyber-army out of it and them to convert the rest of the planet. Liz and the Doctor attempt to escape as they are followed by the Cybermen but they eventually get cornered. However, the Doctor tries to stir the last of Gareth's mind unsuccessfully, when suddenly Liz feels enormous pain in her [[mouth]] and blacks out.  

She awakens on Jean's sofa and the Doctor explains what happened. The Doctor only had enough newly developed antidote for Liz and so had to put an end to Arnold, lamenting that he wasn't able to do more and that once he was eliminated the rest of the Cybermen created from the blue metal simply went back into stasis with no one to receive orders from. He also reveals that Jean was confirmed dead, to a shocked Liz. However, he expresses confidence in Arnold's work, saying that he hopes to explain to the Brigadier how they should do some more scientific investigation into the blue metal and Arnold's work. When Liz asks what was in her mouth the Doctor shows her the dead Cybermat and her broken tooth, much to her disgust. It is also revealed that Arnolds was, in fact, the dentist at the university. As Liz lets this information sink in, the Doctor sees the Brigadier out front, and when he looks inside Mike's gun to find his original compound for destroying the cybermats being used and not the antidote, he is disgusted with the Brigadier, who ignores him and orders the men to finish killing the rest of the Cybermen in the crashed ship. The Doctor sadly walks out, leaving a thoroughly upset and depressed Liz inside the cottage.                

== References ==

* Liz almost doesn't recognise the [[decimal]] [[Money|coins]] in her [[purse]] while under the influence of the [[Anaesthetic|anesthetic]].  

* While under the influence of the blue metal, Liz almost eats a copy of the [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]].  

*Liz had a choice between [[Newnham College]] and [[Girton College]] while at [[Cambridge]]. She chose Newnham.

*The human who turned himself into a Cyberman in this story is named "[[Gareth Arnolds]]". The [[tenth Doctor]] and [[Angela Price (Rise of the Cybermen)|Angela Price]] investigate a Cyberman who was originally a human named [[Sally Phelan]], who was supposed to marry a man named "Gareth", who presumably was also converted into a Cyberman in the same episode. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel (TV story)|The Age of Steel]]'')