Smoke and Mirrors (audio story): Difference between revisions

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{{title dab away}}
{{title dab away}}
{{real world}}
{{real world}}
{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image          = Smokeandmirrors cover large.jpg
|image          = Smokeandmirrors cover large.jpg
|range          = Destiny of the Doctor
|range          = Destiny of the Doctor
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|enemy          = {{Ainley|c}}
|enemy          = {{Ainley|c}}
|setting        = [[England]], late [[1920s]]
|setting        = [[England]], late [[1920s]]
|writer          = [[Steve Lyons]]
|writer          = Steve Lyons
|director        = [[John Ainsworth]]
|director        = [[John Ainsworth]]
|producer        = [[John Ainsworth]]
|producer        = [[John Ainsworth]]
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|music          = [[Steve Foxon]]
|music          = [[Steve Foxon]]
|sound          = [[Steve Foxon]]
|sound          = [[Steve Foxon]]
|cover          = [[Paul Hocking]]
|publisher      = Big Finish Productions
|publisher      = Big Finish Productions
|publisher2      = AudioGO
|publisher2      = AudioGO
|release date    = {{il|[[1 May (releases)|1 May]] 2013 (download)|[[2 May (releases)|2 May]] 2013 (CD)}}
|release date    = 1 May 2013 (download) , 2 May 2013 (CD)
|format          = 1 CD<br/>Download<br/>5th of 11 stories
|format          = 1 CD<br/>Download<br/>5th of 11 stories
|production code =  
|production code =  
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Instead of travelling to [[Heathrow Airport|Heathrow]], [[Fifth Doctor|the Doctor]] follows a [[psionic beam]] to an [[England|English]] [[funfair]] in the late [[1920s]] and introduces [[Adric]], [[Nyssa]] and [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] to [[Harry Houdini]], who wants his help to debunk the inexplicable abilities of a [[medium]]. The Doctor has his [[companion]]s stand guard whilst he and Houdini inspect the medium's booth and find her [[crystal ball]], which is actually an [[Ovid Sphere]] capable of reflecting [[thought]]s and [[memory|memories]]. He uses the sphere and is told by the [[Eleventh Doctor]] that he has to return it to the Ovids.
Instead of travelling to [[Heathrow Airport|Heathrow]], [[Fifth Doctor|the Doctor]] follows a [[psionic beam]] to an [[England|English]] [[funfair]] in the late [[1920s]] and introduces [[Adric]], [[Nyssa]] and [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] to [[Harry Houdini]], who wants his help to debunk the inexplicable abilities of a [[medium]]. The Doctor has his [[companion]]s stand guard whilst he and Houdini inspect the medium's booth and find her [[crystal ball]], which is actually an [[Ovid Sphere]] capable of reflecting [[thought]]s and [[memory|memories]]. He uses the sphere and is told by the [[Eleventh Doctor]] that he has to return it to the Ovids.


The three companions accidentally wander into the [[menagerie]] and are confronted with a [[tiger]] which Adric runs from in the hope of buying time for Nyssa and Tegan to escape, but they are chased by a [[leopard]] and separated. Nyssa encounters a [[ghost]]ly [[Tremas Master|Master]] in a [[theatre]] and calls out for the Doctor before she is [[hypnosis|hypnotised]] to capture Tegan, whom she finds shortly after Adric is captured by the hypnotised fairground workers and performers. Having heard Nyssa's call, the Doctor goes after her, but Houdini hits him over the head and traps him inside of a [[crate]] at the [[pier]], having been told by the Master that the Doctor is untrustworthy and has been keeping important information about his life and death from him.
The three companions accidentally wander into the [[menagerie]] and are confronted with a [[tiger]] which Adric runs from in the hope of buying time for Nyssa and Tegan to escape, but they are chased by a [[leopard]] and separated. Nyssa encounters a [[ghost]]ly [[Tremas Master|Master]] in a [[theatre]] and calls out for the Doctor before she is [[hypnosis|hypnotised]] to capture Tegan, whom she finds shortly after Adric is captured by the hypnotised fairground workers and performers. Having heard Nyssa's call, the Doctor goes after her, but Houdini hits him over the head and pushes him off of the [[pier]] in a [[crate]], having been told by the Master that the Doctor is untrustworthy and has been keeping important information about his life and death from him.


On the theatre's stage, Adric is seized by the Master, but he cannot see him. In the struggle, he sees a mirror propped up on the stage, and realises that the Master is visible in the mirror, and their reflections are struggling. It defies science, but there's little time to think about it, as he struggles to break free. Tegan intervenes, and sees the situation, and starts to throw a chair to break the mirror; Adric shouts at her to stop, not knowing what effect it may have on him. Instead, she throws the chair at the spotlight that is trained on the mirror, creating the reflections; it breaks, and the Master vanishes.
Nyssa is pained when Tegan makes her think about what the Master did to [[Tremas|her father]], as are the fairground workers, and Adric realises that the Master is an illusion. Tegan smashes a [[lamp]] beneath the stage which is focused onto a [[mirror]] and the Master loses his grip on Adric before ordering his slaves to kill the two of them, but Nyssa breaks free from her control and saves them. They are joined by the Doctor and Houdini, who despaired at how the Master got him to try to kill his old friend and helped him get back onto land.


All is not saved, though. Enraged, the Master starts to use the Ovid sphere to release massive amounts of electricity through the fairground, setting things on fire and destroying buildings. Houdini catches up with the companions as they try to escape, but they are cut off. Suddenly the Doctor returns, and reveals that he picked Harry's pockets for his lockpicking kit, using that—and his Time Lord ability to bypass respiration—to escape the trap. He had suspected Harry was not himself all along. They make their way back to the fortune teller's booth, the Doctor explaining that the Master was never corporeally there at all; he seems to be still trapped in the collapsing dimension where they last saw him. Instead he was using the sphere to exert his will remotely, and even project himself. He locates the sphere, and is tempted to destroy it—just as promised—but instead, he makes contact with it to try to soothe it and end the energy discharge. It isn't enough, however, and Tegan joins the link, adding her own thoughts to bring the crisis to an end.
The Doctor recovers the Ovid Sphere and deduces that the Master has used another one to project himself to Earth from [[Castrovalva|a collapsing dimension]], but he remembers what the Eleventh Doctor said about destroying it and instead, with Tegan's help, soothes the energy with calming thoughts. The hypnotised workers lose their memory and Houdini easily persuades them that they were test subjects in a new act of his. The Doctor tells Houdini that he knew about his intentions all along and escaped from the crate using his methods and returns to the TARDIS with the Ovid Sphere, which he plans to return to the [[Ovid (species)|Ovids]] in a future [[incarnation]].
 
As the smoke clears, the fairground workers awaken from their trance, having no memory of the last twelve hours. Houdini convinces them they have been unwitting participants in an experimental new act, which seems to satisfy them. He again attempts to persuade the Doctor to let him see inside the TARDIS, but is gently rebuffed, and admits that it's better to make his future than to know it. As the Doctor and companions leave, Tegan again asks to be taken to Heathrow, but the Doctor tells her they must first make a stop: to return the sphere to the Ovids.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
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* [[Harry Houdini]] - [[Tim Beckmann]]
* [[Harry Houdini]] - [[Tim Beckmann]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
* Nyssa and Adric consider the fairground carousel to be rather frivolous and silly.
* Nyssa and Adric consider the fairground carousel to be rather frivolous and silly.
* [[Harry Houdini]] has met the Doctor on several previous occasions and is aware of [[regeneration]]. As he once met [[Jo Grant]], one of these encounters took place during his [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]]. He learned of the existence of the [[Bay City Rollers]] from Jo.
* [[Harry Houdini]] has met the Doctor on several previous occasions and is aware of [[regeneration]]. As he once met [[Jo Grant]], one of these encounters took place during his [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]]. He learned of the existence of the [[Bay City Rollers]] from Jo.
* The [[Ovid (species)|Ovid]]s are beings of pure thought who travel from world to world in crystal spheres. Four of them became trapped in [[New York City]] in the [[1890s]]. They can give form to dreams and nightmares. Houdini helped the [[First Doctor]], [[Ben Jackson]] and [[Polly Wright]] free the Ovids.
* The [[Ovid (species)|Ovids]] are beings of pure thought who travel from world to world in crystal spheres. Four of them became trapped in [[New York City]] in the [[1890s]]. They can give form to dreams and nightmares. Houdini helped the [[First Doctor]], [[Ben Jackson]] and [[Polly Wright]] free the Ovids.
* There were no [[zoo]]s on [[Traken]].
* There were no [[zoo]]s on [[Traken]].
* There is a [[tiger]] and a [[leopard]] in the fairground menagerie.
* There is a [[tiger]] and a [[leopard]] in the fairground menagerie.
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{{Tremas Master stories}}
{{Tremas Master stories}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Destiny of the Doctor audio stories]]
[[Category:Destiny of the Doctor audio stories]]
[[Category:Fifth Doctor audio stories]]
[[Category:Fifth Doctor audio stories]]

Latest revision as of 11:07, 12 May 2024

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Smoke and Mirrors was the fifth release of the Destiny of the Doctor audio series, produced by Big Finish Productions for AudioGO.

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

The Doctor answers a psionic distress call being sent from England in the 1920s. There, in the environs of a fairground, he is reunited with an old friend: Harry Houdini. To Adric and Nyssa the name means very little, but to the Doctor's companion Tegan he is a legend. Escape artist extraordinaire, Houdini's reputation will last for decades.

But how come Harry knows so much about Tegan herself? Is it really just guesswork, as he says? Is Harry right to be concerned about the fairground's fortune teller, who claims to have supernatural skills? Both he and the Doctor suspect an alien influence they know of old.

What neither the Doctor nor his friends realise is that, somewhere in the shadows, a far more sinister and familiar presence is lying in wait for them...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Instead of travelling to Heathrow, the Doctor follows a psionic beam to an English funfair in the late 1920s and introduces Adric, Nyssa and Tegan to Harry Houdini, who wants his help to debunk the inexplicable abilities of a medium. The Doctor has his companions stand guard whilst he and Houdini inspect the medium's booth and find her crystal ball, which is actually an Ovid Sphere capable of reflecting thoughts and memories. He uses the sphere and is told by the Eleventh Doctor that he has to return it to the Ovids.

The three companions accidentally wander into the menagerie and are confronted with a tiger which Adric runs from in the hope of buying time for Nyssa and Tegan to escape, but they are chased by a leopard and separated. Nyssa encounters a ghostly Master in a theatre and calls out for the Doctor before she is hypnotised to capture Tegan, whom she finds shortly after Adric is captured by the hypnotised fairground workers and performers. Having heard Nyssa's call, the Doctor goes after her, but Houdini hits him over the head and pushes him off of the pier in a crate, having been told by the Master that the Doctor is untrustworthy and has been keeping important information about his life and death from him.

Nyssa is pained when Tegan makes her think about what the Master did to her father, as are the fairground workers, and Adric realises that the Master is an illusion. Tegan smashes a lamp beneath the stage which is focused onto a mirror and the Master loses his grip on Adric before ordering his slaves to kill the two of them, but Nyssa breaks free from her control and saves them. They are joined by the Doctor and Houdini, who despaired at how the Master got him to try to kill his old friend and helped him get back onto land.

The Doctor recovers the Ovid Sphere and deduces that the Master has used another one to project himself to Earth from a collapsing dimension, but he remembers what the Eleventh Doctor said about destroying it and instead, with Tegan's help, soothes the energy with calming thoughts. The hypnotised workers lose their memory and Houdini easily persuades them that they were test subjects in a new act of his. The Doctor tells Houdini that he knew about his intentions all along and escaped from the crate using his methods and returns to the TARDIS with the Ovid Sphere, which he plans to return to the Ovids in a future incarnation.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

v • e
Destiny of the Doctor
v • e
Tremas Master stories
Television
Audio
Prose
Comics
Video games
Considered
not part
of the DWU
Substantial appearances only; see a full list of appearances here
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