Cobwebs (audio story): Difference between revisions

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{{real world}}
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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image            = Cobwebs cover.jpg
|image            = Cobwebs cover.jpg
|range            = Main Range
|range            = Main Range
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|doctor            = Fifth Doctor
|doctor            = Fifth Doctor
|companions        = [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]], [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]], [[Nyssa]]
|companions        = [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]], [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]], [[Nyssa]]
|enemy            = [[Cractid]]s, [[Bragg (Cobwebs)|Bragg]]
|enemy            = [[Bragg (Cobwebs)|Bragg]]
|setting          = [[Helheim GeneTech Base]], [[3490]] and [[3530]]
|setting          = [[Helheim GeneTech Station]], [[3490]] and [[3530]]
|writer            = [[Jonathan Morris]]
|writer            = Jonathan Morris
|director          = [[Barnaby Edwards (actor)|Barnaby Edwards]]
|director          = [[Barnaby Edwards]]
|producer          = [[David Richardson]]
|producer          = [[David Richardson]]
|music            = [[Steve Foxon]]
|music            = [[Steve Foxon]]
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|epcount          = 4
|epcount          = 4
|publisher        = Big Finish Productions
|publisher        = Big Finish Productions
|release date      = [[15 July (releases)|15 July]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]]
|release date      = 15 July 2010
|format            = 2 CDs<br/>Download
|format            = 2 CDs<br/>Download
|production code  = 6H/A
|production code  = 6H/A
|isbn              = ISBN 978-1-84435-472-6 (physical); ISBN 978-1-78575-683-2 (digital)
|isbn              = ISBN 978-1-84435-472-6 (physical)<br/>ISBN 978-1-78575-683-2 (digital)
|prev              = Legend of the Cybermen (audio story)
|prev              = Legend of the Cybermen (audio story)
|next              = The Whispering Forest (audio story)
|next              = The Whispering Forest (audio story)
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|soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-cobwebs-trailer
|soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-cobwebs-trailer
}}
}}
'''''Cobwebs''''' was the one hundred and thirty-sixth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Jonathan Morris]] and featured [[Peter Davison]] as the [[Fifth Doctor]], [[Sarah Sutton]] as [[Nyssa]], [[Janet Fielding]] as [[Tegan Jovanka]] and [[Mark Strickson]] as [[Turlough]].
'''''Cobwebs''''' was the one hundred and thirty-sixth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Jonathan Morris]] and featured [[Peter Davison]] as the [[Fifth Doctor]], [[Sarah Sutton]] as [[Nyssa]], [[Janet Fielding]] as [[Tegan Jovanka]] and [[Mark Strickson]] as [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]].


Released in [[2010 (releases)|2010]], it began the first season of Fifth Doctor stories for that year. It was the first new story to feature Davison, Sutton, Fielding and Strickson together since the television story ''[[Terminus (TV story)|Terminus]]'' in 1983, thus beginning a "series" of 15 audio dramas for that TARDIS team across five years, finally reaching a conclusion with the audio story ''[[The Entropy Plague (audio story)|The Entropy Plague]]'' in [[2015 (releases)|2015]].
Released in [[2010 (releases)|2010]], it began the first season of Fifth Doctor stories for that year. It was the first new story to feature Davison, Sutton, Fielding and Strickson together since the television story ''[[Terminus (TV story)|Terminus]]'' in 1983, thus beginning a "series" of 15 audio dramas for that TARDIS team across five years, finally reaching a conclusion with the audio story ''[[The Entropy Plague (audio story)|The Entropy Plague]]'' in [[2015 (releases)|2015]].
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In [[3530]], [[Nyssa]] lands on [[Helheim]] with [[Loki (Cobwebs)|Loki]], a [[robot]], to investigate the work of a research base [[quarantine]]d forty years ago. The base is without contamination, but covered in [[cobweb]]s made by [[maintenance spider]]s as a protective sealant to combat leaking insulation. After activating the backup [[solar stack]] and restoring power, Nyssa is attacked by [[Cractid|crustaceans]] which Loki is unable to see or detect and thus unable to neutralise.
In [[3530]], [[Nyssa]] lands on [[Helheim]] with [[Loki (Cobwebs)|Loki]], a [[robot]], to investigate the work of a research base [[quarantine]]d forty years ago. The base is without contamination, but covered in [[cobweb]]s made by [[maintenance spider]]s as a protective sealant to combat leaking insulation. After activating the backup [[solar stack]] and restoring power, Nyssa is attacked by [[Cractid|crustaceans]] which Loki is unable to see or detect and thus unable to neutralise.


[[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] argues with [[Fifth Doctor|the Doctor]] about [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]]'s presence aboard [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] given his actions, but relents when Turlough visits [[Tegan Jovanka's TARDIS bedroom|her bedroom]] and tells him that he does not have to return to [[Trion (planet)|his planet]] on her account. The ship is dragged down a [[temporal spiral]] to Helheim where they are reunited with Nyssa, for whom it has been fifty years since she last saw them, and learn that the base was researching [[Richter's Syndrome]], a deadly strain of which has now killed six billion people and for which Nyssa hopes to find a cure. Whilst Tegan, Nyssa and Loki go to the control room and learn from the [[computer]] [[EDGAR]] that they will go back in [[time]] forty years, the other two explore the ruins below.  
[[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] argues with [[Fifth Doctor|the Doctor]] about [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]]'s presence aboard [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] given his actions, but relents when Turlough visits [[Tegan Jovanka's TARDIS bedroom|her bedroom]] and tells him that he does not have to return to [[Trion (planet)|his planet]] on her account. The ship is dragged down a [[temporal spiral]] to Helheim where they are reunited with Nyssa, for whom it has been fifty years since she last saw them, and learn that the base was researching [[Richter's Syndrome]], a deadly strain of which has now killed six billion people and for which Nyssa hopes to find a cure. Whilst Tegan, Nyssa and Loki go to the control room and learn from the [[computer]] [[EDGAR]] that they will go back in [[time]] forty years, the other two explore the ruins below.


Turlough collapses after [[hallucination|hallucinating]] being shot and, when he comes to, he and the Doctor join the others. The Doctor deduces that Turlough and Nyssa have both experienced [[telepathic memory projection]] thanks to EDGAR, who then shows them a projection of themselves in the past before the Doctor stops him, not wanting to create a [[fixed point in time|fixed point]]. EDGAR tells them that the crew are in the [[medical bay]] where they find four [[skeleton]]s wrapped in cocoons, wearing the clothes of the Doctor and his companions.
Turlough collapses after [[hallucination|hallucinating]] being shot and, when he comes to, he and the Doctor join the others. The Doctor deduces that Turlough and Nyssa have both experienced [[telepathic memory projection]] thanks to EDGAR, who then shows them a projection of themselves in the past before the Doctor stops him, not wanting to create a [[fixed point in time|fixed point]]. EDGAR tells them that the crew are in the [[medical bay]] where they find four [[skeleton]]s wrapped in cocoons, wearing the clothes of the Doctor and his companions.
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Loki's scan, a [[spectography|spectographic]] examination and a test by cutting the lining of Turlough's [[jacket]] seem to confirm that the skeletons are those of the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa. Loki begs to leave, saying that he knows that they will all die because of something in his head, but maintenance spiders sent by EDGAR destroy Nyssa's ship to ensure that nobody can leave. After Tegan experiences a memory projection of being [[suffocation|suffocated]], EDGAR asks them to go back in time to save the crew and activates the base's [[self-destruct]].
Loki's scan, a [[spectography|spectographic]] examination and a test by cutting the lining of Turlough's [[jacket]] seem to confirm that the skeletons are those of the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa. Loki begs to leave, saying that he knows that they will all die because of something in his head, but maintenance spiders sent by EDGAR destroy Nyssa's ship to ensure that nobody can leave. After Tegan experiences a memory projection of being [[suffocation|suffocated]], EDGAR asks them to go back in time to save the crew and activates the base's [[self-destruct]].


The Doctor and Nyssa fetch Loki from the control room and EDGAR wipes his own mind, but the self-destruct cannot be countermanded. They travel back in time to [[3490]] with Tegan and Turlough, who elect to stay in the TARDIS, and convince [[Cardell|Director Cardell]], [[Bragg (Cobwebs)|Enforcement Officer Bragg]] and [[Valis (Cobwebs)|Bio Technician Valis]] that they have come to inspect their progress on a cure for Richter's.
The Doctor and Nyssa fetch Loki from the control room and EDGAR wipes his own mind, but the self-destruct cannot be countermanded. They travel back in time to [[3490]] with Tegan and Turlough, who elect to stay in the TARDIS, and convince [[Cardell|Director Cardell]], [[Bragg (Cobwebs)|Enforcement Officer Bragg]] and [[Valis (Cobwebs)|Bio Technician Valis]] that they have come to inspect their progress. They have been trying to replicate the antivirals of Cractids, who are uniquely immune to Richter's, without success and Nyssa suggests that they instead adapt the [[antigen]] to function as part of the human [[immune system]]. Cardell agrees and explains how the team have had their [[memory|memories]] removed and will not be returned until the cure has been found.


Inside the TARDIS, Tegan and Turlough watch all of this and Tegan remarks that they are safe unlike the Doctor and Nyssa. Turlough wonders if staying in the TARDIS is the action that will lead them to end up dead in the future, and suggests they should try and warn the crew as it might change their own futures as well. Tegan and they both leave the TARDIS.
Tegan and Turlough leave the TARDIS in an attempt to change history and are captured by Bragg, who has asked [[Echelon]] about the supposed inspection and shot Loki. He interprets Tegan and Turlough's warnings about the team's deaths as threats and straps the two of them, the Doctor and Nyssa to beds in the [[medical bay]] to be [[execution|executed]] as [[spy|spies]] by lethal injection. Nyssa reminds the Doctor of the four skeletons in the medical bay and, as Cardell prepares to inject them, the Doctor remarks that the future has caught up with them.
 
In the laboratory, Nyssa recognises the crab like creatures from the memory projection in cages and Cardell tells her they are called [[Cractid]]s. They are the only creatures with an immunity to Richter's syndrome and they have been trying to replicate their immunity in humans by infecting them. Nyssa suggests making the Cractid immunity part of the human immune system instead of the other way around — an idea that is met with positivity by Cardell.
 
Bragg checks up on the Doctor and Nyssa by phoning the company. He finds out that they have been lying and so plans to kill them, he then locates Tegan and Turlough leaving the TARDIS. He is interrupted by Loki and destroys him when Loki tries to stop him from killing the travellers.
 
Back in the laboratory, Nyssa asks Valis what she used to do, but she tells her that the entire crew had their memories wiped before starting the mission and they get them back after the end of the mission. Cardell is suspicious about why the Doctor does not know this considering he's from the company but he pretends to have forgotten.
 
Tegan and Turlough are trying to find a member of the crew when Bragg finds them and holds them at gunpoint. They try to warn him about the crew's forthcoming deaths but he believes they are threatening him. They are led away.
 
Valis is injecting the modified cure into a Cractid, when Bragg brings Tegan and Turlough in, he tells Cardell about the travellers lies, and the travellers are taken to the medical bay. There they are strapped to the beds and are to be given lethal injections. The Doctor points out this is how they end up dead in the future and postulate that it seems their futures have caught up with them.


=== Part three ===
=== Part three ===
Just as the injection is about to be delivered Vallis stops the procedure. She shares the news that the cure for Richter's has been found and that they should utilise the four trespassers as test subjects. She asks for Nyssa first. The rest of the travellers are left with Bragg. He refuses to believe they are from the future. He states that If they were from the future they would know the secret of the ruins. The Doctor tempts Bragg into showing them this secret. In order to ensure they do not harm Bragg he keeps Turlough behind as a makeweight.
Valis stops the execution as the modified antivirals work and she wants to begin tests, starting with Nyssa, but EDGAR restores Cardell's memories and displays a recorded message from her addressing the base's true objective: to engineer a new strain of Richter's incurable by anybody but [[The Company (Cobwebs)|the Company]]. Valis makes the new strain more transmissable, but does not want to be an accomplice to [[murder]] nor have her memories back. Meanwhile, a scheme by Turlough leads Bragg to take the Doctor and Tegan to the ruins to show them patterned symbols which he has interpreted as the names of the team, making him believe that there is no [[planet|world]] other than this one.


Cardell is us mounded to the main room by EDGAR and is told that now the objective of the mission has been met the crew are now allowed their memories back. Cardell's memories are restored including the real purpose of the mission: the development of a more deadly strain of Richter's which the corporation can sell a cure for as well as the fact that the lives of her children are in danger if she does not comply.
Upon returning to the medical bay, Cardell takes the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough to be tested on and Bragg is given his memories back, making him realise that he actually belongs to the [[Independent Biodevelopment Group]] and has been tasked with stealing a sample of the new strain and the antiviral solution. He makes EDGAR obey only him and shoots Valis, forcing Cardell to hand the samples over and then enter an [[isolation chamber]] with the Cractids. He soon releases her and has EDGAR upload her and Valis's memories of their near-death experiences to make it look as though they died, after which he takes Valis with him and leaves Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell locked in with the Cractids.


Down at the ruins Bragg shows Tegan and the Doctor an inscription that on,y he can see. He explains that it bears the names of the crew and states that that shows that they are bound to be here. As they come up from the ruins Cardell collects the Doctor and Tegan to take them to the lab.
EDGAR knows that the crew supposedly die on this date as his future self came back in time inside Loki and is fighting for supremacy inside EDGAR's mind. Bragg has EDGAR erase all data on the antidote, destroys Valis's memories and fakes his death in the airlock before drawing [[fuel]] for a ship to escape and leaving Valis to die. The Doctor, separated from the others with Tegan, is able to get Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell out of the lab but is unable to close the door, giving the Cractids free rein of the base. Cardell goes to talk with EDGAR and the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa run to the medical bay and are sealed inside, apparently doomed to die there.
 
When Vallis gets Nyssa into the lab she asks her how she knew how to cure the disease. Vallis explains that it is because she is from the future and knows how they began the process of the cure. She also refuses to have her memories back, saying there must have been a reason why she chose to come on the mission.
 
Bragg is summoned to the control room and is given his memories back. He remembers that he is an agent from independent company who has been tasked with gaining the antidote. Bragg reprogrammed EDGAR so that it will only obey him.
 
Cardell delivers the Doctor, Turlough and Tegan to the lab and is confused to see that Nyssa hasn't been experimented on. Vallis explains she has no intention on performing experiments on live human samples. Cardell says that she has no such qualms and will begin on Vallis. They are interrupted by Bragg who comes in wielding his weapon. Turlough, remembering the memory from the future, tells the Doctor and Tegan to get down, remembering that this is how one of the crew dies. Bragg fires. The Doctor and Nyssa run out of the room leaving Turlough and Nyssa behind. As they run they hear EDGAR short circuiting over the tannoy. They decide to go and seek out the cause.
 
Back in the lab Turlough is surprised to discover that Vallis is not dead. Bragg grabs Cardell and places her in the Cracktid cage before releasing the creatures. The Doctor watches this from the control room but cannot override the system. As the Doctor tries to solve the situation Tegan asks how the memories that they experienced in the future could be the final memories of the crew as they wouldn't have been uploaded. The Doctor agrees only to see Bragg stun the Cracktids and upload the memories to EDGAR and give the demand that all future memories should be wiped, making these the last memories the crew had. Bragg takes Vallis hostage and leaves Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell locked in the lab in imminent danger as soon as the Cracktids gain consciousness.
 
In the control room EDGAR explains that because the crew died at this date he has to kill them as it is now looking like this is not going to happen. Tegan and the Doctor wonder how EDGAR gained this knowledge of the future. The Doctor notices that the voice of EDGAR is also coming from the damaged husk of Loki and explains that the future EDGAR must have come back into the past and merged with the historical EDGAR to create this paradox. The Doctor manages to short circuit the door meaning that his friends can escape, however he cannot close meaning that the Cracktids are now free to roam the ship. He goes in search of Bragg.
 
Bragg cancels all data on the antidote to the virus in order to retain the value of his knowledge. He destroys Vallis' memories before joining the crew before leaving her behind a locked door with the Cracktids approaching from behind. Bragg plans to leave through an emergency pod. Before he leaves he fakes his own death by ordering EDGAR to depressurise the airlock to 0 before repressurising it and asking for his records to be wiped just before the repressurising. He is annoyed to find that the fuel in the ship is at zero and he has to draw fuel from another part of the ship, delaying his escape.
 
The Doctor, reunited with all his companions, are chased by Cracktids into the [[medical bay]]. The door is permanently locked from the inside. The Doctor explains that this must be how their bodies are discover long in the future and that they have consigned themselves to their own deaths.


=== Part four ===
=== Part four ===
The Doctor contacts Cardell to ensure that she is safe. She radioes back saying that she's fine but Bragg is about to escape. Nyssa comes up with the plan to use the fact EDGAR placed a part of itself in Loki to see if it can counteract Bragg demands. Nyssa sends the robot maintenance spiders to stop the power from the solar banks to power the escape pod. This plan works. When Bragg tries to counteract it EDGAR insists he is Loki.
Nyssa gets Loki to sent maintenance spiders to cut the feed of power to Bragg's ship and to release a [[sonic burst]] to stun the Cractids. Bragg has EDGAR erase Loki's [[personality]] and restore power to his ship, but Cardell knocks him out when the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa arrive and goes to the ship with Tegan and Nyssa to find the samples, ordering them to hand over the [[phial]]s upon doing so. Tegan runs away with the cure, but Nyssa drops the phial containing the virus in a scuffle and it is released into the air. She warns the Doctor.
 
Back in the medical bay the Doctor insists that this can't be their fate as their was no second TARDIS. Turlough comes up with the idea that they can use a sonic bast like Bragg used to eliminate the Cracktids waiting outside. They do this. Turlough wants to kill them but the Doctor forbids him saying that to kill is only their instinct. The Doctor goes to seek out Bragg.
 
In the control panel Cardell tries to record the research but is stopped by Bragg. Bragg overrides EDGAR and deletes all traces of Loki and orders EDGAR to send spiders to fix the solar banks. The Doctor enters, distracted by this Cardell manages to knock Bragg out. Cardell, Nyssa and Tegan go to get the research files whilst Turlough and The Doctor wait for Bragg to wake up.
 
Once they get the files Cardell orders that she is given the new super virus. The two women refuse and a scuffle ensues. Tegan manages to escape with the cure however in the scuffle the vial containing the stronger strain of the virus is broken and released into the air. Nyssa warns the Doctor. Bragg wakes to hear this and laughs saying that they will die altogether after all. EDGAR watches over this pleased that his plan is coming together. The three men decide to go and meet Tegan at the medical bay to receive the cure. As they leave the control room EDGAR locks the door after them.
 
As they leave the research centre to meet Tegan at the medical bay, Cardell cramps up the first sign of Richter's Syndrome. Cardell orders Tegan to leave her and come back later with the cure.


In the medical Bay the Doctor hands out the cure to his companions. Bragg refuses the cure saying that his company wanted a sample of the disease and the cure and he plans to give it to them. He takes Tegan hostage and orders the Doctor to hand over the cure. He himself will be the sample of the disease. As he leaves, Bragg triggers the decontamination of the centre. The Doctor follows. As Tegan is dragged through the corridors she sees the Cracktids waking up. Bragg bumps into Cardell. Bragg tries to reason with Cardell, stating that there is room on the escape pod for the pair of them. Cardell says she only knows one thing she can do now and threatens to blast a hole in the wall of the base. Sucking the disease and them all in to space. The Doctor sneaks in and gets Tegan's attention. He finds some space suits and the pair put them on. Cardell blasts a hole on the wall which sucks her, the disease and the Cracktids out. Tegan and The Doctor look to see where Bragg went.
The Doctor, Turlough and Bragg meet Tegan in the medical bay, soon joined by Nyssa, and EDGAR locks the door of the control room behind them. Whilst everybody else takes the cure, Bragg refuses as he wants to take his infection back to the Independent Biodevelopment Group and takes Tegan hostage before activating EDGAR's self-destruct. He heads towards the ship with her, followed by the Doctor, but Cardell rigs the airlock and blasts a hole in the [[wall]] which sucks her and the Cractids out onto the [[planet]]'s surface. Bragg manages to escape, however, and [[Suspended animation|cryogenically freezes]] himself aboard the ship. The Doctor and Tegan are unharmed, having put on [[space suit]]s, and Turlough and Nyssa get EDGAR to delay the self-destruct until they arrive in 3530.


Bragg managed to escape to the pod and begins the process of blast off. The Doctor and Tegan holding on to the side of the ship, see the pod start to take off and pull themselves into the air lock. As they brush themselves down they see the spiders immediately begin the process of rebuilding the ship.
Promising EDGAR that they will return, the Doctor shows his [[companion]]s on the [[TARDIS scanner]] how EDGAR has the maintenance spiders try to replicate the four of them, creating the skeletons that they found. The Doctor pulls his past self's TARDIS to Helheim in 3530 and agrees to try to get Nyssa to an infected world, although Tegan warns her that it could take some time. In [[3520]], Bragg is awoken on [[Gondol Prime]] by [[Hawks (Cobwebs)|Company Officer Hawks]] and realises that Hawks's crew are unwittingly spreading Richter's Syndrome across the [[star]]s.
 
Nyssa, left in the medical bay, tries to reason with EDGAR. She points out that EDGAR knows they come back in the future so how can the research centre be destroyed now. EDGAR admits that this would create a paradox so postpones the decontamination.
 
Bragg has no fuel left to go into warp so cryogenically freezes himself.
 
The Doctor and Tegan return to the TARDIS and pilot it to the medical bay. Before they leave they ask how their bodies can be there. The Doctor says he will show them. Before they leave the doctor promises EDGAR they'll be back. EDGAR is left pining after his new "crew".
 
Inside the TARDIS the Doctor tells his companions to look at the screen and shows them the [[medical bay]] at a rate of one second per day. They watch as the spiders enter and try and rebuild the Doctor and his companions. The Doctor explains that the bodies weren't decomposed they were being built up by EDGAR as a replacement crew before EDGAR went into hibernation prior to their original visit. Nyssa orders to be taken back home. The Doctor seems put out that she won't travel with him more. She states it is her mission to cure Richter's Syndrome and she has the information she needs now. The Doctor agrees but Tegan points out that, knowing the TARDIS it might be a while before they find themselves back in Nyssa's time. Nyssa agrees with this and goes to look for her old bedroom.
 
Thirty years in the future Bragg is unfrozen. He finds himself on a crowded passenger ship. He orders the ship to be quarantined but his finder informs him it is too late. The passengers have all already left — taking Richter's Syndrome with them.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
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* [[Valis (Cobwebs)|Bio Technician Valis]] / [[Echelon]] - [[Charlotte Lucas]]
* [[Valis (Cobwebs)|Bio Technician Valis]] / [[Echelon]] - [[Charlotte Lucas]]


== References ==
== Crew ==
 
* Cover Art - [[Iain Robertson]]
* Director - [[Barnaby Edwards]]
* Executive Producers - [[Nicholas Briggs]] and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
* Music and Sound Design - [[Steve Foxon]]
* Producer - [[David Richardson]]
* Script Editor - [[Alan Barnes]]
* Writer - [[Jonathan Morris]]
 
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
''to be added''


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{{bigfinish|releases/v/cobwebs-302|Cobwebs}}
{{bigfinish|releases/v/cobwebs-302|Cobwebs}}
{{dwrefguide|who_bf136.htm|Cobwebs}}
{{dwrefguide|who_bf136.htm|Cobwebs}}
* {{tetrap|5/cobwebs.html|Cobwebs}}
{{tetrap|5/cobwebs.html|Cobwebs}}
{{BFA monthly}}
{{BFA monthly}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[fr:Cobwebs]]


[[Category:Fifth Doctor audio stories]]
[[Category:Fifth Doctor audio stories]]
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[[Category:Fifth Doctor Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:Fifth Doctor Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:2010 Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:2010 Main Range audio stories]]
[[fr:Cobwebs]]

Latest revision as of 23:16, 17 November 2024

RealWorld.png

Cobwebs was the one hundred and thirty-sixth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Jonathan Morris and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

Released in 2010, it began the first season of Fifth Doctor stories for that year. It was the first new story to feature Davison, Sutton, Fielding and Strickson together since the television story Terminus in 1983, thus beginning a "series" of 15 audio dramas for that TARDIS team across five years, finally reaching a conclusion with the audio story The Entropy Plague in 2015.

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

"You know what cobwebs mean. Spiders..."

In search of a cure for a sickness that's so far claimed six billion lives, scientist Nyssa arrives at an abandoned gene-tech facility on the toxic planet Helheim. "Hellhole", more like.

Nyssa's not alone. The TARDIS has also been drawn to the Helheim base — and in its cobweb-coated corridors, she soon runs into the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough, her travelling companions of half a century past. But who, or what, has engineered this strange reunion? The Black Guardian, perhaps?

The answer's here, in the dark. With the Cractids. In the cobwebs.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 3530, Nyssa lands on Helheim with Loki, a robot, to investigate the work of a research base quarantined forty years ago. The base is without contamination, but covered in cobwebs made by maintenance spiders as a protective sealant to combat leaking insulation. After activating the backup solar stack and restoring power, Nyssa is attacked by crustaceans which Loki is unable to see or detect and thus unable to neutralise.

Tegan argues with the Doctor about Turlough's presence aboard the TARDIS given his actions, but relents when Turlough visits her bedroom and tells him that he does not have to return to his planet on her account. The ship is dragged down a temporal spiral to Helheim where they are reunited with Nyssa, for whom it has been fifty years since she last saw them, and learn that the base was researching Richter's Syndrome, a deadly strain of which has now killed six billion people and for which Nyssa hopes to find a cure. Whilst Tegan, Nyssa and Loki go to the control room and learn from the computer EDGAR that they will go back in time forty years, the other two explore the ruins below.

Turlough collapses after hallucinating being shot and, when he comes to, he and the Doctor join the others. The Doctor deduces that Turlough and Nyssa have both experienced telepathic memory projection thanks to EDGAR, who then shows them a projection of themselves in the past before the Doctor stops him, not wanting to create a fixed point. EDGAR tells them that the crew are in the medical bay where they find four skeletons wrapped in cocoons, wearing the clothes of the Doctor and his companions.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

Loki's scan, a spectographic examination and a test by cutting the lining of Turlough's jacket seem to confirm that the skeletons are those of the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa. Loki begs to leave, saying that he knows that they will all die because of something in his head, but maintenance spiders sent by EDGAR destroy Nyssa's ship to ensure that nobody can leave. After Tegan experiences a memory projection of being suffocated, EDGAR asks them to go back in time to save the crew and activates the base's self-destruct.

The Doctor and Nyssa fetch Loki from the control room and EDGAR wipes his own mind, but the self-destruct cannot be countermanded. They travel back in time to 3490 with Tegan and Turlough, who elect to stay in the TARDIS, and convince Director Cardell, Enforcement Officer Bragg and Bio Technician Valis that they have come to inspect their progress. They have been trying to replicate the antivirals of Cractids, who are uniquely immune to Richter's, without success and Nyssa suggests that they instead adapt the antigen to function as part of the human immune system. Cardell agrees and explains how the team have had their memories removed and will not be returned until the cure has been found.

Tegan and Turlough leave the TARDIS in an attempt to change history and are captured by Bragg, who has asked Echelon about the supposed inspection and shot Loki. He interprets Tegan and Turlough's warnings about the team's deaths as threats and straps the two of them, the Doctor and Nyssa to beds in the medical bay to be executed as spies by lethal injection. Nyssa reminds the Doctor of the four skeletons in the medical bay and, as Cardell prepares to inject them, the Doctor remarks that the future has caught up with them.

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

Valis stops the execution as the modified antivirals work and she wants to begin tests, starting with Nyssa, but EDGAR restores Cardell's memories and displays a recorded message from her addressing the base's true objective: to engineer a new strain of Richter's incurable by anybody but the Company. Valis makes the new strain more transmissable, but does not want to be an accomplice to murder nor have her memories back. Meanwhile, a scheme by Turlough leads Bragg to take the Doctor and Tegan to the ruins to show them patterned symbols which he has interpreted as the names of the team, making him believe that there is no world other than this one.

Upon returning to the medical bay, Cardell takes the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough to be tested on and Bragg is given his memories back, making him realise that he actually belongs to the Independent Biodevelopment Group and has been tasked with stealing a sample of the new strain and the antiviral solution. He makes EDGAR obey only him and shoots Valis, forcing Cardell to hand the samples over and then enter an isolation chamber with the Cractids. He soon releases her and has EDGAR upload her and Valis's memories of their near-death experiences to make it look as though they died, after which he takes Valis with him and leaves Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell locked in with the Cractids.

EDGAR knows that the crew supposedly die on this date as his future self came back in time inside Loki and is fighting for supremacy inside EDGAR's mind. Bragg has EDGAR erase all data on the antidote, destroys Valis's memories and fakes his death in the airlock before drawing fuel for a ship to escape and leaving Valis to die. The Doctor, separated from the others with Tegan, is able to get Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell out of the lab but is unable to close the door, giving the Cractids free rein of the base. Cardell goes to talk with EDGAR and the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa run to the medical bay and are sealed inside, apparently doomed to die there.

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

Nyssa gets Loki to sent maintenance spiders to cut the feed of power to Bragg's ship and to release a sonic burst to stun the Cractids. Bragg has EDGAR erase Loki's personality and restore power to his ship, but Cardell knocks him out when the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa arrive and goes to the ship with Tegan and Nyssa to find the samples, ordering them to hand over the phials upon doing so. Tegan runs away with the cure, but Nyssa drops the phial containing the virus in a scuffle and it is released into the air. She warns the Doctor.

The Doctor, Turlough and Bragg meet Tegan in the medical bay, soon joined by Nyssa, and EDGAR locks the door of the control room behind them. Whilst everybody else takes the cure, Bragg refuses as he wants to take his infection back to the Independent Biodevelopment Group and takes Tegan hostage before activating EDGAR's self-destruct. He heads towards the ship with her, followed by the Doctor, but Cardell rigs the airlock and blasts a hole in the wall which sucks her and the Cractids out onto the planet's surface. Bragg manages to escape, however, and cryogenically freezes himself aboard the ship. The Doctor and Tegan are unharmed, having put on space suits, and Turlough and Nyssa get EDGAR to delay the self-destruct until they arrive in 3530.

Promising EDGAR that they will return, the Doctor shows his companions on the TARDIS scanner how EDGAR has the maintenance spiders try to replicate the four of them, creating the skeletons that they found. The Doctor pulls his past self's TARDIS to Helheim in 3530 and agrees to try to get Nyssa to an infected world, although Tegan warns her that it could take some time. In 3520, Bragg is awoken on Gondol Prime by Company Officer Hawks and realises that Hawks's crew are unwittingly spreading Richter's Syndrome across the stars.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ LATEST AND UPCOMING RELEASES - Archived on 23 July 2010

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

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