Trial of the Valeyard (audio story): Difference between revisions

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{{real world}}{{Infobox Story
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|name            = Trial of the Valeyard
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image           = Trial of the valeyard cover.jpg
|image             = Trial of the valeyard cover.jpg
|series          = [[Doctor Who]]<br />[[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories#Special Releases|Specially Released Audio Dramas]]
|range            = The Sixth Doctor Adventures
|number         = XII
|number in range  =
|doctor         = Sixth Doctor
|number           =  
|companions      =
|doctor           = Sixth Doctor
|featuring       = [[The Valeyard]]<br>[[Darkel|The Inquisitor]]      
|featuring         = [[Darkel]]
|enemy           = [[The Valeyard]]
|enemy             = [[The Valeyard]]
|setting         = [[ Space Station Zenobia]]
|setting           = ''[[Space Station Zenobia]]''
|writer         = [[Alan Barnes]] & [[Mike Maddox]]
|writer           = Alan Barnes, Mike Maddox
|director       = [[Barnaby Edwards (actor)|Barnaby Edwards]]
|director         = [[Barnaby Edwards]]
|music           = [[Andy Hardwick]]
|music             = [[Andy Hardwick]]
|sound           = [[Andy Hardwick]]
|sound             = [[Andy Hardwick]]
|publisher       = Big Finish Productions
|cover            = [[Simon Holub]]
|release date   = [[December (releases)|December]] [[2013 (releases)|2013]]
|publisher         = Big Finish Productions
|format         = 1 CD
|release date     = 17 December 2013
|production code =  
|format           = 1 CD<br/>Download
|isbn           = ISBN 978-1-78178-320-7
|production code   = BFPDWCDSUB11
|prev = Night of the Stormcrow (audio story)
|isbn             = ISBN 978-1-78178-320-7
|next  =  
|series            = ''[[Bonus Releases]]''
}}'''''Trial of the Valeyard''''' was [[Big Finish Productions]]' subscriber-free release for [[2013]]. It acted as a sequel to the events of ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]'' with a karmic reversal of who was on trial, and featured [[Michael Jayston]]'s return to the role of [[the Valeyard]] since his last appearance in the [[1986 (releases)|1986]] [[TV|television story]] ''[[The Ultimate Foe]]''. The audio also offered a potential explanation regarding the unknown origins of the Valeyard, but did not confirm any statements in the account given about his past as undeniably true.
|prev             = Night of the Stormcrow (audio story)
|series2          = ''[[The Sixth Doctor Adventures]]''
|prev2            = Voyage to the New World (audio story)
|next2            = The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure
|soundcloudtrailer = https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-bonus-release-trial-of-the-valeyard-trailer
|producer = [[David Richardson]]|epcount = 1}}
'''''Trial of the Valeyard''''' was the twelfth ''[[Doctor Who]]'' bonus story released by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[Alan Barnes]] and [[Mike Maddox]] and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]], [[Lynda Bellingham]] as [[Darkel|the Inquisitor]] and [[Michael Jayston]] as [[the Valeyard]].
 
It acted as a sequel to the events of ''[[Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)|The Trial of a Time Lord]]'' with a karmic reversal of who was on trial, and featured Jayston's latest return to the role of the Valeyard since his last appearance in the [[2003 (releases)|2003]] audio release ''[[He Jests at Scars...]]'' (which featured an [[The Valeyard (He Jests at Scars...)|alternate version]] of the character). The audio also offered a potential explanation regarding the unknown origins of the Valeyard, but did not confirm any statements in the account given about his past as undeniably true.


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
There is some evil in all of us – even [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]]. Transported aboard the Time Lords' orbiting courtroom, the Doctor once again encounters [[the Valeyard]], an amalgamation of the darker sides of his nature. This time, however, the Doctor isn't in the dock. This time, the Valeyard is the defendant, accused of a crime so terrible that the presiding [[Darkel|Inquisitor]] is forbidden to reveal it even to the court, nor even to his counsel for the defence… the Doctor.
There is some evil in all of us — even [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]]. Transported aboard the [[Time Lord]]s' orbiting courtroom, the Doctor once again encounters [[the Valeyard]], an amalgamation of the darker sides of his nature. This time, however, the Doctor isn't in the dock. This time, the Valeyard is the defendant, accused of a crime so terrible that the presiding [[Darkel|Inquisitor]] is forbidden to reveal it even to the court, nor even to his counsel for the defence... the Doctor.


If the Valeyard is found guilty, he'll be executed. Execute the Valeyard, and the secret of his origins dies with him. A secret that the Doctor is desperate to know… and which the Time Lords will stop at nothing to protect.
If the Valeyard is found guilty, he'll be executed. Execute the Valeyard, and the secret of his origins dies with him. A secret that the Doctor is desperate to know... and which the Time Lords will stop at nothing to protect.


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
The Doctor is abducted by the Time Lords into a space station above the gas giant [[Eta Rho]], where a court will be called in session. The Doctor initially refuses to take part in the proceedings, but in finding out that the defendant is the Valeyard, and being told by the Inquisitor that Valeyard has named him as his solicitor, he stays to defend the Valeyard due to his curiosity. The Doctor is at first determined to find the Valeyard guilty, but the situation becomes even more complex as history is rewritten and information becomes classified as the court session goes on. After counselling the defendant, the Doctor agrees to defend the Valeyard due to the Valeyard "being clever".  
The Doctor is abducted by the Time Lords into a space station above the gas giant [[Etarho]], where a court will be called in session. The Doctor initially refuses to take part in the proceedings, but in finding out that the defendant is the Valeyard, and being told by the Inquisitor that Valeyard has named him as his solicitor, he stays to defend the Valeyard in [[Trial of the Valeyard|his trial]] due to curiosity. The Doctor is at first determined to find the Valeyard guilty, but the situation becomes even more complex as history is rewritten and information becomes classified as the court session goes on. After counselling the defendant, the Doctor agrees to defend the Valeyard due to the Valeyard "being clever".


The crime of which the Valeyard is accused, trivial hacking on to the Matrix, bewilders the Doctor. The Valeyard tells that when he was a mere 20 years old, he was found on the mud-moon orbiting Eta Rho by prospectors, who, upon finding out he was a Time Lord, took him to Gallifrey. When examined there, his biodata was apparently found to be the same as the Doctor's, and he was therefore considered a temporal abnormality by Time Lord society and place in a Shadow House. There he met a Time Lord whose regeneration was stuck in a paradox, who encouraged him to take up the study of regeneration. The Valeyard decided to follow the advice, and claims to have made many interesting discoveries during his studies and even voices the heresy that Rassilon himself imposed the fatality in the thirteenth regeneration to keep the Time Lords in check.
The crime of which the Valeyard is accused, trivial hacking on to [[the Matrix]], bewilders the Doctor. In response, the Valeyard tells about his past, explaining that when he was a mere twenty years old, he was found on the mud-moon orbiting Etarho by prospectors, who, upon finding out he was a Time Lord, took him to Gallifrey. When examined there, his [[biodata]] was apparently found to be the same as the Doctor's, and he was therefore considered a temporal abnormality by Time Lord society and placed in a [[Shadow House]]. In the Shadow House the Valeyard met a Time Lord who had been damaged due to temporal interventions by his future self and therefore had his regeneration permanently stuck in a paradox. The man told the Valeyard to study the science of regeneration, in order to gain revenge on the Time Lords for what they had done to every member of the Shadow House. The Valeyard decided to follow the advice, and claims to have made many interesting discoveries during his studies and even voices the heresy that Rassilon himself imposed the fatality in the thirteenth regeneration to keep the Time Lords in check.


The Valeyard says that he was the result of illegal experiments made by the Thirteenth Doctor on the mud-moon. Evidence of the experiments, the Doctor's Black Scrolls, were apparently in a container still on the planet. The moon is translocated by the Time Lords in order to erase the evidence presented. After some commotion, the Valeyard is found guilty by the Inquisitor and sentenced to termination, which is to be carried out immediately. The Valeyard gloats one last time as he is executed in front of the Doctor, claiming that by witnessing this event the Doctor is now irrevocably on the path to eventually become him. Deeply disturbed, the Doctor leaves the court.  
The Valeyard then claims that he was the result of illegal experiments made by the Doctor's [[Eleventh Doctor|thirteenth self]] on the mud-moon. Evidence of the experiments, [[the Doctor's Black Scrolls]], were apparently in a container still on the planet. The moon is translocated by the Time Lords in order to erase the evidence presented. After some commotion, the Valeyard is found guilty by the Inquisitor and sentenced to termination, which is to be carried out immediately. The Valeyard gloats one last time as he is executed in front of the Doctor, claiming that by witnessing this event the Doctor is now irrevocably on the path to eventually become him. Deeply disturbed, the Doctor leaves the court.


The Doctor tracks the displaced timeline containing the mud-moon and finds the supposed thirteenth, mad incarnation of himself, in a shack like the one the Valeyard described. He tries to get some answers from the rambling lunatic, but he is interrupted as several military TARDIS arrives, and he realises that the Inquisitor accompanied a squad of guards has followed him to the moon. The Thirteenth Doctor is startled by their arrival, and runs out into the mud as the forces close in, but gets stuck in a mud hole and starts sinking down, and despite the Doctor's attempt to save him, he goes under.
The Doctor tracks the displaced timeline containing the mud-moon and finds the supposed thirteenth, mad incarnation of himself, in a shack like the one the Valeyard described. He tries to get some answers from the rambling lunatic, but he is interrupted as several military TARDIS arrives, and he realises that the Inquisitor accompanied a squad of guards has followed him to the moon. The Thirteenth Doctor is startled by their arrival, and runs out into the mud as the forces close in, but gets stuck in a mud hole and starts sinking down, and despite the Doctor's attempt to save him, he goes under.


The Inquisitor explains to the that the Time Lords found a container in the supposed laboratory, which they believe contains the Black Scrolls. Only the Doctor's biodata can open it, and the Time Lords went to the Valeyard first, but he refused to open it, and the Inquisitor now begs the Doctor to open the container. The Doctor deduces that the Valeyard was really put on trial, because he refused to reveal the secret of immortality in those scrolls. He then deduces that the container does not actually contain the scrolls, but a bomb set as a trap by the Valeyard and that the Thirteenth Doctor is actually the Valeyard in disguise. The Valeyard then emerges from the mud, and reveals that he faked his execution by placing a Matrix door under the dock, and that he cooked up the whole scheme with the fake Black Scrolls in an attempt to get to get revenge on the Doctor and the Inquisitor. He then activates the bomb before escaping through a Matrix door hidden in the mud. The guards flee, and the Doctor and the Inquisitor escape aboard his TARDIS.
The Inquisitor explains to the that the Time Lords ransacked the supposed laboratory some time ago and came across a mysterious container, which they believe contains the Black Scrolls. They found that only the Doctor's biodata could open it, and therefore they went to the Valeyard first, but he refused to help them opening it, and the Inquisitor now begs the Doctor to open the container for them. The Doctor [[deduce]]s that the actual reason the Valeyard was put on trial was because he refused to reveal the supposed secret of immortality in those scrolls. He then deduces that the container does not actually contain the scrolls, but a bomb set as a trap by the Valeyard and that the Thirteenth Doctor is actually the Valeyard in disguise. The Valeyard then emerges from the mud, and reveals that he faked his execution by placing a Matrix door under the dock, and that he cooked up the whole scheme with the fake Black Scrolls in an attempt to get to get revenge on the Doctor and the Inquisitor. He then activates the countdown on the bomb before escaping through a Matrix door hidden in the mud. The guards flee, and the Doctor and the Inquisitor escape aboard his TARDIS before the bomb explodes.


The Doctor returns the Inquisitor to the courtroom. There they discuss the Valeyard's scheme, and the Doctor warns the Inquisitor that the Valeyard will likely plot to extract revenge on them again, and that he probably had help from someone inside the Time Lord council, pointing out that it would have been nearly impossible for him to sneak a Matrix door into the court on his own. The Inquisitor wonders what could have motivated someone to help the Valeyard, and the Doctor notices that while he believes that most of the Valeyard's claims about his discoveries in the study of regeneration were fiction, he thinks that can still have been a grain of truth to them, and even a fleeting promise of immortality can have been enough to tempt a powerful Time Lord with unfulfilled ambitions and the end of their regeneration cycle closing in. The Inquisitor promises to launch a full juridical inquiry into the matter, and the Doctor says he would expect nothing less from her, before taking his leave.  
The Doctor returns the Inquisitor to the courtroom. There they discuss the Valeyard's scheme, and the Doctor warns the Inquisitor that the Valeyard will likely attempt to extract revenge on them again, and that he probably had help from someone inside the Time Lord council, pointing out that it would have been nearly impossible for him to sneak a Matrix door into the court on his own. The Inquisitor wonders what could have motivated someone to help the Valeyard, and the Doctor notices that while he believes that most of the Valeyard's claims about his discoveries in the study of regeneration were fiction, he thinks that can still have been a grain of truth to them, and even a fleeting promise of immortality can have been enough to tempt a powerful Time Lord with unfulfilled ambitions and the end of their regeneration cycle closing in. The Inquisitor promises to launch a full juridical inquiry into the matter, and the Doctor says he would expect nothing less from her, before taking his leave.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
Line 45: Line 53:
* [[The Valeyard]] - [[Michael Jayston]]
* [[The Valeyard]] - [[Michael Jayston]]
* [[Darkel|Inquisitor Darkel]] - [[Lynda Bellingham]]
* [[Darkel|Inquisitor Darkel]] - [[Lynda Bellingham]]
* Hermit - John Banks
* [[Hermit (Trial of the Valeyard)|Hermit]] - [[John Banks]]
 
== Crew ==
 
* Cover Art - [[Simon Holub]]
* Director - [[Barnaby Edwards]]
* Executive Producers - [[Nicholas Briggs]] and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
* Music and Sound Design - [[Andy Hardwick]]
* Producer - [[David Richardson]]
* Script Editor - [[Alan Barnes]]
* Writer - Alan Barnes and [[Mike Maddox]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
* [[Eta Rho]] is a gas giant around which orbits a single satellite.
* [[Shadow House|Shadow Houses]] are rumoured organisations on Gallifrey where Time Lords who have experienced failed regenerations are sent.
* [[The Doctor's Black Scrolls]] supposedly detail how a Time Lord can breach the twelve-regeneration limit imposed by [[Rassilon]].
* The Doctor mentions the seventeen suns of [[Kasterborous]].
* The Doctor mentions the seventeen suns of [[Kasterborous]].
* While trying to figure out who is on trial, the Doctor lists a few Time Lords. The list consists of [[the Master]], [[the Rani]], [[the Monk]], and [[Morbius]].
* While trying to figure out who is on trial, the Doctor lists [[the Master]], [[the Rani]], [[the Monk]], and even [[Morbius]] as potential candidates.
* The Doctor compares himself to [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer|Rudolph]], not wanting to be a part of the Time Lord's "reindeer games".
* It has been decided in the court hearing [[4-7-336]] that the Valeyard's true identity is classified.
* The Hermit compares the Sixth Doctor's coat to [[Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat|Joseph]]'s.
* A [[Bronze Usher]] is part of the trial procedure.
* The Doctor uses the phrase "[[mea culpa]]".
* He refers to the case of [[Jaundice v. Jaundice]].
* The Lord President has been a run of [[Prydonian Chapter|Prydonians]] and [[Patrex Chapter|Patrexes]] for centuries.
* The Laws of Gallifrey are equated with the [[Laws of Time]].
* [[Darkel's TARDIS]] is stationed aboard [[Space Station Zenobia]].


[[File:The Trial of the Valeyard.jpg|thumb|220x220px|Textless cover art]]
== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This story was released free to Big Finish subscribers whose subscriptions included [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Afterlife (audio story)|Afterlife]]''.
[[File:The Trial of the Valeyard.jpg|thumb|Textless cover art.]]
* This story was recorded on [[15 May (releases)|15]] and [[20 May (releases)|20 May]] [[2013]]
* This story was released free to Big Finish subscribers whose subscriptions included the audio story ''[[Afterlife (audio story)|Afterlife]]''.
* This story was be released to the public in [[December]] [[2014]].
* This story was recorded on [[15 May (production)|15]] and [[20 May (production)|20 May]] [[2013 (production)|2013]] at [[the Moat Studios]].
* [[Lynda Bellingham]] returns to the role of Inquisitor Darkel after the character was killed off in the 2006 story [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mindbomb (audio story)|Mindbomb]]'', a chapter in the ''[[Gallifrey (audio series)|Gallifrey]]'' spin-off series. It was in the ''Gallifrey'' series that the character was given the name Darkel. This was her last performance in the role before her death in [[October (people)|October]] [[2014 (people)|2014]].
* This was the final performance for [[Lynda Bellingham]] as Inquisitor [[Darkel]] before her death on [[19 October (people)|19 October]] [[2014 (people)|2014]].
* [[Michael Jayston]] recorded his lines apart from the rest of the cast, being unable to attend the group recording sessions due to filming a guest role on the [[ITV]] series ''[[Midsomer Murders]]''. ([[BFX]]: ''[[The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure]]'')
* This story was released to the public in [[December (releases)|December]] [[2014 (releases)|2014]].
* As of 2020, this is the most recent [[Bonus Releases|bonus release]].
* After the 2019 redesign of the [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]] website, this release was added to ''[[The Sixth Doctor Adventures]]''.


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* The [[Sixth Doctor]] asks [[the Valeyard]] if he will play the [[spoon]]s for an encore, a trait that he will develop in [[Seventh Doctor|his next incarnation]] as first seen in [[TV]]: ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]''.
* The Valeyard mentions that the Doctor's next incarnation is full of schemes, in order to play a game that was never his to win ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]],'' [[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Death in the Family (audio story)|A Death in the Family]]'', ''[[Gods and Monsters (audio story)|Gods and Monsters]]'', ''[[Love and War (audio story)|Love and War]],'' [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'' et. al.). He also mentions that [[Eighth Doctor|the one after that]] would never shake the shadow of [[death]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'', ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]],'' [[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'', ''[[Interference - Book One (novel)|Interference - Book One]]'', ''[[Interference - Book Two (novel)|Interference - Book Two]]'', ''[[The Ancestor Cell (novel)|The Ancestor Cell]]'', ''[[The Shadows of Avalon (novel)|The Shadows of Avalon]]'', ''[[Sometime Never... (novel)|Sometime Never...]],'' [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Absolution (BFM audio story)|Absolution]]'', ''[[To the Death (audio story)|To the Death]]'', ''[[Eye of Darkness (audio story)|Eye of Darkness]]'')
* The Valeyard claims that the final incarnation of the Doctor had a picture of [[Stockbridge]] on the wall of his lab. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Stockbridge Horror (comic story)|The Stockbridge Horror]]'')
* The Valeyard claims that the final incarnation of the Doctor had a picture of [[Stockbridge]] on the wall of his lab. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Stockbridge Horror (comic story)|The Stockbridge Horror]]'')
* The Doctor recognises [[Space Station Zenobia]] from his trial. ([[TV]]: ''[[Season 23|The Trial of a Time Lord]]'')
* The Doctor recognises [[Space Station Zenobia]] from [[The Doctor's trial (The Mysterious Planet)|his own trial]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)|The Trial of a Time Lord]]'')
* The Doctor mentions how the Master was able to survive past his final incarnation and also theorises that the Valeyard is a [[The Watcher|Watcher]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Keeper of Traken (TV story)|The Keeper of Traken]]'', ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'')
* The Doctor mentions how the Master was able to survive past his final incarnation ([[TV]]: ''[[The Keeper of Traken (TV story)|The Keeper of Traken]]'') and also theorises that the Valeyard is a [[Watcher (Logopolis)|Watcher]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'')
* The Doctor's "final incarnation" mutters incoherently about [[Totter's Yard]] ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]''), [[Polly Wright]], and [[fish people]], "not as stupid as it sounds." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Underwater Menace (TV story)|The Underwater Menace]]'')
* The Doctor's "final incarnation" mutters incoherently about [[Totter's Yard]], ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'') [[Polly Wright]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The War Machines (TV story)|The War Machines]]'') and [[fish people]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Underwater Menace (TV story)|The Underwater Menace]]'')
* The Sixth Doctor asks the Valeyard to "try and keep up". The [[Tenth Doctor]] would later ask the [[War Doctor]] to do the same thing during [[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]''.
* The Valeyard recalls how the [[Fifth Doctor]] ran away when offered to be [[Lord President]] of the [[Time Lord]]s, as in [[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]] and'' [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Time in Office (audio story)|Time in Office]]''.
* The Valeyard states that twelve regenerations is a set limit, and that there should be no reason a Time Lord couldn't regenerate unlimitedly. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') The Time Lords have offered to extend a Time Lord's [[regeneration cycle]] beyond twelve before in [[TV]]: [[The Five Doctors (TV story)|''The Five Doctors'']] and ''[[Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)|The Trial of a Time Lord]]''.
* The Doctor would eventually receive a new [[regeneration cycle]] in [[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'', as would the Master in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Day of the Master (audio story)|Day of the Master]]'', aided by the Matrix print of [[Artron]], a Gallifreyan scientist with ideas about perpetuating regeneration.


== External links ==
== External links ==
*{{bigfinish|releases/v/trial-of-the-valeyard-929|Trial of the Valeyard}}
{{bigfinish|releases/v/trial-of-the-valeyard-929}}


{{BFA monthly}}
{{BFA monthly}}
{{Valeyard stories}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Sixth Doctor audio stories]]
 
[[Category:The Sixth Doctor Adventures audio stories]]
[[Category:2013 audio stories]]
[[Category:2013 audio stories]]
[[Category:The Valeyard stories]]
[[Category:The Valeyard audio stories]]
[[Category:The Trial of a Time Lord arc]]
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[[Category:Audio stories that use the Dominic Glynn theme]]
[[Category:Bonus Releases audio stories]]
[[Category:Sixth Doctor audio stories]]
[[Category:One part audio stories]]

Latest revision as of 15:14, 4 October 2024

RealWorld.png

Trial of the Valeyard was the twelfth Doctor Who bonus story released by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alan Barnes and Mike Maddox and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Lynda Bellingham as the Inquisitor and Michael Jayston as the Valeyard.

It acted as a sequel to the events of The Trial of a Time Lord with a karmic reversal of who was on trial, and featured Jayston's latest return to the role of the Valeyard since his last appearance in the 2003 audio release He Jests at Scars... (which featured an alternate version of the character). The audio also offered a potential explanation regarding the unknown origins of the Valeyard, but did not confirm any statements in the account given about his past as undeniably true.

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

There is some evil in all of us — even the Doctor. Transported aboard the Time Lords' orbiting courtroom, the Doctor once again encounters the Valeyard, an amalgamation of the darker sides of his nature. This time, however, the Doctor isn't in the dock. This time, the Valeyard is the defendant, accused of a crime so terrible that the presiding Inquisitor is forbidden to reveal it even to the court, nor even to his counsel for the defence... the Doctor.

If the Valeyard is found guilty, he'll be executed. Execute the Valeyard, and the secret of his origins dies with him. A secret that the Doctor is desperate to know... and which the Time Lords will stop at nothing to protect.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor is abducted by the Time Lords into a space station above the gas giant Etarho, where a court will be called in session. The Doctor initially refuses to take part in the proceedings, but in finding out that the defendant is the Valeyard, and being told by the Inquisitor that Valeyard has named him as his solicitor, he stays to defend the Valeyard in his trial due to curiosity. The Doctor is at first determined to find the Valeyard guilty, but the situation becomes even more complex as history is rewritten and information becomes classified as the court session goes on. After counselling the defendant, the Doctor agrees to defend the Valeyard due to the Valeyard "being clever".

The crime of which the Valeyard is accused, trivial hacking on to the Matrix, bewilders the Doctor. In response, the Valeyard tells about his past, explaining that when he was a mere twenty years old, he was found on the mud-moon orbiting Etarho by prospectors, who, upon finding out he was a Time Lord, took him to Gallifrey. When examined there, his biodata was apparently found to be the same as the Doctor's, and he was therefore considered a temporal abnormality by Time Lord society and placed in a Shadow House. In the Shadow House the Valeyard met a Time Lord who had been damaged due to temporal interventions by his future self and therefore had his regeneration permanently stuck in a paradox. The man told the Valeyard to study the science of regeneration, in order to gain revenge on the Time Lords for what they had done to every member of the Shadow House. The Valeyard decided to follow the advice, and claims to have made many interesting discoveries during his studies and even voices the heresy that Rassilon himself imposed the fatality in the thirteenth regeneration to keep the Time Lords in check.

The Valeyard then claims that he was the result of illegal experiments made by the Doctor's thirteenth self on the mud-moon. Evidence of the experiments, the Doctor's Black Scrolls, were apparently in a container still on the planet. The moon is translocated by the Time Lords in order to erase the evidence presented. After some commotion, the Valeyard is found guilty by the Inquisitor and sentenced to termination, which is to be carried out immediately. The Valeyard gloats one last time as he is executed in front of the Doctor, claiming that by witnessing this event the Doctor is now irrevocably on the path to eventually become him. Deeply disturbed, the Doctor leaves the court.

The Doctor tracks the displaced timeline containing the mud-moon and finds the supposed thirteenth, mad incarnation of himself, in a shack like the one the Valeyard described. He tries to get some answers from the rambling lunatic, but he is interrupted as several military TARDIS arrives, and he realises that the Inquisitor accompanied a squad of guards has followed him to the moon. The Thirteenth Doctor is startled by their arrival, and runs out into the mud as the forces close in, but gets stuck in a mud hole and starts sinking down, and despite the Doctor's attempt to save him, he goes under.

The Inquisitor explains to the that the Time Lords ransacked the supposed laboratory some time ago and came across a mysterious container, which they believe contains the Black Scrolls. They found that only the Doctor's biodata could open it, and therefore they went to the Valeyard first, but he refused to help them opening it, and the Inquisitor now begs the Doctor to open the container for them. The Doctor deduces that the actual reason the Valeyard was put on trial was because he refused to reveal the supposed secret of immortality in those scrolls. He then deduces that the container does not actually contain the scrolls, but a bomb set as a trap by the Valeyard and that the Thirteenth Doctor is actually the Valeyard in disguise. The Valeyard then emerges from the mud, and reveals that he faked his execution by placing a Matrix door under the dock, and that he cooked up the whole scheme with the fake Black Scrolls in an attempt to get to get revenge on the Doctor and the Inquisitor. He then activates the countdown on the bomb before escaping through a Matrix door hidden in the mud. The guards flee, and the Doctor and the Inquisitor escape aboard his TARDIS before the bomb explodes.

The Doctor returns the Inquisitor to the courtroom. There they discuss the Valeyard's scheme, and the Doctor warns the Inquisitor that the Valeyard will likely attempt to extract revenge on them again, and that he probably had help from someone inside the Time Lord council, pointing out that it would have been nearly impossible for him to sneak a Matrix door into the court on his own. The Inquisitor wonders what could have motivated someone to help the Valeyard, and the Doctor notices that while he believes that most of the Valeyard's claims about his discoveries in the study of regeneration were fiction, he thinks that can still have been a grain of truth to them, and even a fleeting promise of immortality can have been enough to tempt a powerful Time Lord with unfulfilled ambitions and the end of their regeneration cycle closing in. The Inquisitor promises to launch a full juridical inquiry into the matter, and the Doctor says he would expect nothing less from her, before taking his leave.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Textless cover art.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

v • e
Big Finish Main Range
 
Fifth Doctor
Adric, Nyssa, Tegan
Nyssa
Nyssa, Brewster
Nyssa, Hannah
Nyssa, Tegan
Nyssa, Tegan, Marc
Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough
Tegan, Turlough, Kamelion
Tegan, Leela
Turlough
Peri
Peri, Erimem
Amy
Vicki, Steven
Solo travels
 
Sixth Doctor
Peri
Evelyn
Evelyn, Brewster
Frobisher
Charley
"Jamie"
Flip
Constance
Constance, Flip
Mel
Jamie, Zoe
Solo travels
 
Seventh Doctor
Mel
Ace
Ace, Hex
Ace, Benny
Sally
Ace, Hex, Lysandra, Sally
Ace, Hex, Sally
Ace, Mel
Mags
Klein
Klein, Will
Jo
Solo travels
 
Eighth Doctor
Mary Shelley
Charley
Charley, C'rizz
Solo & other travels
All stories from Big Finish Productions' main monthly range from 1999 to 2021 are included in this navigation box, including the "subscriber exclusive" stories which were part of the subscription service for this range.
v • e
The Valeyard stories
Television
Audio
Prose
Complete list of appearances
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