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{{title|''{{PAGENAME}}''}}
{{title dab away}}
{{Infobox CD|
{{real world}}
cd name= The Reaping |
{{Infobox Story SMW
image=[[Image:The_Reaping_cover.jpg|250px]] Cover Art - [[Lee Binding]] |
|image          = The Reaping cover.jpg
series=[[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories]] |
|range          = Main Range
number= 86 |
|number in range = 86
doctor= [[Sixth Doctor]]|
|series         = ''[[Main Range]]''
companions= [[Peri Brown]] |
|number         = 86
enemy= [[Cybermen]]|
|doctor         = Sixth Doctor
year= [[Earth]], [[USA]], [[Baltimore]], [[September]], 28th, [[1984]]|
|companions     = [[Peri Brown|Peri]]
writer= [[Joseph Lidster]] |
|featuring      = Katherine Chambers{{!}}Kathy
director= [[Gary Russell]] |
|featuring2      = Nathaniel Chambers{{!}}Nate
producer= [[David Darlington]]|
|featuring3      = Zheng
publisher= [[Big Finish Productions]] |
|enemy           = [[Cyber-Leader (The Reaping)|Cyber-Leader]]
release date= [[September]] [[2006]] |
|setting        = [[Fell's Point]], [[Baltimore]], [[24 September]] [[1984]]
format= 2 Episodes on 2 CDs |
|writer         = Joseph Lidster
production code= [[List of production codes|6Z/C]] |
|director       = [[Gary Russell]]
isbn= ISBN 1-84435-196-3 |
|producer       = Gary Russell, [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
previous story= [[Red]] |
|music          = [[David Darlington]]
next story= [[The Gathering]]}}
|sound          = [[David Darlington]]
'''''The Reaping''''' was a [[2006]] [[Big Finish Productions]] audio story featuring [[Colin Baker]] and [[Nicola Bryant]].
|cover          = [[Lee Binding]]
|publisher      = Big Finish Productions
|release date    = 18 September 2006
|format         = 2 CDs<br/>Download
|production code = [[List of production codes|6Z/C]]
|isbn           = ISBN 978-1-84435-196-1 (physical)<br/>ISBN 978-1-80240-237-7 (digital)
|prev            = Red (audio story)
|next            = The Gathering (audio story)
|made prev      = The Kingmaker (audio story)
|made next       = The Nowhere Place (audio story)
|epcount = 2
}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the eighty-sixth story in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[Joseph Lidster]] and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Nicola Bryant]] as [[Peri Brown]].


It was notable for featuring significant details about [[Peri]]'s life in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], and was, at least from the perspective of [[Janine Foster|Peri's mother]], a direct sequel to [[DW]]: ''[[Planet of Fire]]''. It also began a loose trilogy featuring a "future", time-traveling band of [[Mondasian]] [[Cybermen]] that had some commonality with the [[Cybermen (Pete's World)|Cybus Industries Cybermen]] that had recently been featured in the [[BBC Wales]] version of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.
It was the Sixth Doctor's entry in a loose trilogy of [[Cyberman]] stories, which began in the [[Seventh Doctor]] story ''[[The Harvest (audio story)|The Harvest]]'' and was concluded in the [[Fifth Doctor]] story ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]''.


==Publisher's summary==
It was notable for featuring significant details about Peri's life in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]. It was, from the perspective of Peri's mother [[Janine Foster]], a direct sequel to ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]''.
On the morning of [[9th May|9 May]] [[1984]], Peri woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in [[Lanzarote]] and, that evening, leave her mother and stepfather to go travelling with some guys she'd only just met.


But things don't always go as expected ­ as her friends and family discover when, four months later, she returns home having travelled further than anyone could have imagined.
== Publisher's summary ==
On the morning of [[9 May]] [[1984]], Peri woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in [[Lanzarote]] and, that evening, leave her [[Janine Foster|mother]] and [[Howard Foster|stepfather]] to go travelling with some guys she'd only just met.


Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, mourns her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other familiar faces.
But things don't always go as expected­ as her friends and family discover when, four months later, she returns home having travelled further than anyone could have imagined.


==Cast==
Meanwhile her friend, [[Katherine Chambers]], mourns [[Anthony Chambers|her father]] and Peri finds herself meeting some other [[Cyberman|familiar faces]].
*[[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Colin Baker]]
*[[Peri]] - [[Nicola Bryant]]
*[[Janine Foster]] - [[Claudia Christian]]
*[[Anthony Chambers]] - [[Stuart Milligan]]
*[[Katherine Chambers|Kathy Chambers]] - [[Jane Perry]]
*[[Nate Chambers]] - [[Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor]]
*[[Daniel Woods]] - [[Vincent Pirillo]]
*Lt. Doyle - [[John Schwab]]
*Mrs [[van Gysegham]] - [[Denise Bryer]]
*[[Natalie Hamilton]] - [[Allison Karaynes]]
*[[Cybermen]] - [[Nicholas Briggs]]


==References==
== Plot ==
*''[[Miami Vice]]'' is name-checked as a television show that was "new" to the Chambers family.
=== Part one ===
[[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] takes [[Peri Brown|Peri]] to [[the Gogglebox]] beneath the surface of [[the Moon]] where she chooses to view the [[news]] from [[1984]] [[United States of America|America]] to see what is going on. Unimpressed by her request, the Doctor goes to find an important [[book]] he vaguely remembers leaving at the Gogglebox whilst Peri is plugged into a booth by [[Alan-56]] and distressed to learn of the [[murder]] of [[Anthony Chambers]]. She gets [[Alan-32]] to take her to the Doctor and tearfully begs him to take her home to see [[Janine Foster|Janine]], her mother, and [[Katherine Chambers|Kathy]], her best friend and Mr Chambers's daughter, at the [[funeral]] in [[Baltimore]] in [[September]] 1984. The Doctor wanders off to give Peri the chance to reunite with her mother, but Janine is dismissive.


==Notes==
Pretending to have met [[Dominique Van Gysegham|Mrs Van Gysegham]] in [[Lanzarote]], the Doctor learns from her that the [[homeless]] man [[arrest]]ed for the murder, [[Daniel Woods]], denies responsibility and is too old to have overpowered Mr Chambers and snapped his neck. She gives him a lift to the wake, but he implies mid-journey that he is part of [[British Intelligence]] and has her drive him to the [[police station]] in [[Fell's Point]] where Woods is being held. [[Doyle (The Reaping)|Lt Doyle]] allows him to see Woods despite him being unable to prove his identity and Woods tells him that the [[police]] are being controlled; the Doctor manipulates Lt Doyle into letting him and Woods leave by exploiting his logical thinking.
* The phrase '86,87' may be a reference to the Big Finish number for this story (number 86) and that of [[The Gathering]] (number 87), both by Joseph Lidster.
* The cyber-leader is from a point in the distant future where the cybermen have gained time travel based on a combination of their own systems and time lord technology.
* [[8687| ]]The mondasion cybermen make a brief appearance, commander Zheng is mentioned ([[Spare Parts]]).


==Continuity==
Peri breaks down at Mr Chambers's [[grave]] and heads to the wake at [[256 East Lombard Street|her home]] where Janine tells her that she and [[Howard Foster|Howard]] separated after she accused him of being responsible for Peri's death, but Kathy denies that this was the case and catches her up on what their friends have been up to in her absence. Kathy finds herself inexplicably saying "8687" and Janine angrily asks Peri if she was intending on returning home in [[1986]] or [[1987|'87]]. Later, Peri overhears Janine and Kathy agree that things were better before her return and pretends not to be upset when they call her downstairs to watch a [[video cassette]] from Mr Chambers's fortieth [[birthday]] with them and [[Nathaniel Chambers|Nate]], Kathy's brother.
* This story is resolved by the solution to ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'' – the destruction of [[Mondas]]. The original Cybermen of that story are briefly used.
* [[Janine Foster]], Peri's mother, is both introduced and killed in this story. The young [[Katherine Chambers]] is also introduced here, who goes on to be the central guest character in ''[[The Gathering]]''.
*Peri departs the TARDIS for an unspecified period of time — but it's long enough to re-enroll in university. She rejoins the Doctor when her mother is murdered. There is no indication that she had any contact with the Doctor between leaving and rejoining him.
* The [[Gogglebox]] —a vast library system inside [[the Moon]] — was introduced here, later seen in ''[[The Gathering]]''.
* The virus the Cyberman intented to use had the ability to turn flesh into metal. A similar virus appears in [[VG]]:[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'', ''and [[Realtime]]''.''


[[File:The Reaping comic preview.png|thumb|left|300px|Comic preview from Doctor Who Magazine issue 373. Illustration by Martin Geraghty.]]
The Doctor takes Woods back to the graveyard where Mr Chambers was killed and learns that the murderer was a "silver [[ghost]]" who was no longer able to control Mr Chambers. After the murder, the ghost said "you will become like us", confirming the Doctor's suspicion that it was a [[Cyberman]]. Meanwhile, Lt Doyle is due to give an interview to [[Natalie Hamilton]] about the escaped Woods and forcibly puts a device in her ear which puts her under the Cybermen's control just as he is. They proceed to warn the public to remain in their homes to keep safe from the supposed fugitives Doctor and Woods.


==Timeline==
In the video, Mr Chambers tells his children to "keep playing", leading Peri to continue playing the video and find a message for Kathy and Nate; Mr Chambers somehow broke free from the Cybermen's control, although he is unable to say what he had been made to do, and tells them not to contact the police nor return to the graveyard. Peri takes Janine, Kathy and Nate to the graveyard to find the Doctor, but Kathy is distressed to meet Woods and runs away, screaming when she hears a scratching sound from her father's [[coffin]]. The coffin bursts open and a partially-[[cyber-conversion|converted]] Cyberman bursts out, saying "8687" before telling Nate that he is his father.
''The Reaping'' had a complicated timeline. Different characters experienced it in different ways.
*For Janine Foster (and Mrs. [[van Gysegham]]), it occured after [[DW]]: ''[[Planet of Fire]]'' and before ''[[The Gathering]]''.
*For the [[Sixth Doctor - Timeline|Sixth Doctor]], this story occurs after [[BFA]]: ''[[...ish]]'' and before [[MA]]: ''[[State of Change]]''.
*For Peri, it occurs ''before'' the [[Fifth Doctor]] adventure [[BFA]]: ''[[The Gathering]]'' and Peri's experiences in ''[[The Veiled Leopard]]'', two adventures that occurred simultaneously.
*From the Doctor and Peri's perspective, relative to adventures featuring the [[Cybermen]], it occurred after ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'' and ''[[The Tenth Planet]]'' —but for Earth's inhabitants, it occurred before.


==External links==
=== Part two ===
*{{bigfinish|86-Doctor-Who-The-Reaping|The Reaping}}
Mr Chambers is confused on account of being only partially-converted and the Doctor tells Peri to get Janine, Kathy, Nate and Woods to safety, but Lt Doyle and the police arrive and the group run to Mr Chambers's [[office]] when they fire. Peri helps the Doctor deduce that the Cybermen are from the future, that they are converting the dead and that they targeted Mr Chambers because he was an [[undertaker]], controlling him to place convertor units into the coffins. Whilst Kathy, Nate and Woods look for a room to fortify, the Doctor, Peri and Janine analyse the Cyber-technology and find that conversion of the dead is being achieved using only a small needle.
*{{dwrefguide|who_bf86.htm|The Reaping}}


[[Category:Sixth Doctor audio stories|Reaping]]
Hearing a disturbance despite the heavy [[rain]] outside, Peri finds that Mr Chambers has killed Woods and plays the video of his fortieth birthday party to remind him of his former identity. She and Kathy go to fetch the Doctor and Janine, but the Doctor has found a [[Dimensional transcendentalism|dimensionally transcendental]] pod he wishes to investigate and sends the two of them and Janine to lock themselves in the [[bathroom]] with Nate until the police leave, at which point Peri is to take everybody to [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. When the Doctor enters the pod, it travels into the [[Time Vortex]] and Peri, Janine and Kathy go to find Nate.
[[Category:Doctor Who monthly audio stories|Reaping]]
 
[[Category:2006 audio stories|Reaping]]
The Doctor finds a dying [[Cyber-Leader (The Reaping)|Cyber-Leader]] inside the pod who says "8687" and explains that he is one of the last of his kind, come back in time with salvaged [[Time Lord]] technology which he is now confined to thanks to his attempt to connect with it. Having access to the history of the Cybermen, he set a trap for the Doctor and lured him there with the murder of Mr Chambers and the supposed conversion of the dead, a ruse to make the Doctor believe that there were more Cybermen and to better manipulate him. The Cyber-Leader has Mr Chambers attack Nate and threatens to have him kill Peri, Janine and Kathy unless the Doctor goes back in time with him to [[Earth]]'s prehistory to convert the entirety of humanity with adapted Time Lord technology.
[[Category:Stories set in 1984|Reaping]]
 
[[Category:Cybermen audio stories]]
The Doctor claims to have converted eight early humans who have gone on to convert others and then takes the Cyber-Leader to 1984 where they encounter inferior Cybermen. The Cyber-Leader soon realises, however, that he is on [[Mondas]] and a Cyberman orders [[Zheng|Commander Zheng]] to take him for reprocessing. This results in Mr Chambers losing his connection to the Cyber-Leader and he stops trying to kill Peri and Janine, who have been looking after the severely-injured Nate whilst Kathy is locked in the bathroom. The Doctor rejoins them and gets Nate to the hospital, Lt Doyle and the police also having been freed from the Cyber-Leader's control. Janine and Peri have the cyber-technology, including the pod and the conversion device, hidden at Janine's house to keep out of harm's way.
[[Category:Stories set in the United States|Reaping, The]]
 
Feeling unable to leave her mother and Kathy again, Peri chooses to stay in [[Fell's Point]] and tearfully says goodbye to the Doctor, asking him to visit her in the future. Saddened, the Doctor travels back to the Gogglebox to see how Peri adapts to living back on Earth and swiftly returns for her because of what he has seen; Janine and Mrs Van Gysegham are killed when one half of the conversion device explodes because of unauthorised use. Kathy and Nate disappear and the Doctor comforts a tearful Peri, who feels that there is nothing left for her on Earth and returns with him to the TARDIS.
 
== Cast ==
* [[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Colin Baker]]
* [[Peri Brown]] - [[Nicola Bryant]]
* [[Cyberman|Cybermen]] - [[Nicholas Briggs]]
* [[Dominique Van Gysegham|Mrs Van Gysegham]] - [[Denise Bryer]]
* [[Janine Foster]] - [[Claudia Christian]]
* [[Natalie Hamilton]] - [[Allison Karayanes]]
* [[Nathaniel Chambers|Nate Chambers]] - [[Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor]]
* [[Anthony Chambers]] - [[Stuart Milligan]]
* [[Katherine Chambers|Kathy Chambers]] - [[Jane Perry]]
* [[Daniel Woods]] - [[Vincent Pirillo]]
* [[Doyle (The Reaping)|Lt Doyle]] - [[John Schwab]]
 
== Crew ==
 
* Cover Art - [[Lee Binding]]
* Director - [[Gary Russell]]
* Music and Sound Design - [[David Darlington]]
* Producers - Gary Russell and [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
* Script Editor - [[Alan Barnes]]
* Writer - [[Joseph Lidster]]
* Cybermen created by [[Kit Pedler]] and [[Gerry Davis]]
 
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Culture ===
* Through the [[Gogglebox]], the [[Sixth Doctor]] stated that you could see the first [[television]] performance of the ''[[Pussycat Dolls]]'', every ''[[Police Academy]]'' [[film]] and the film ''[[Battleship Potemkin]]''.
* When talking to the Cyber-Leader, the Sixth Doctor does an impression of the 1970s [[British]] comedian and [[magician]] [[Tommy Cooper]].
* When searching for identification, the Doctor finds tickets for the opening night of ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' in his pockets.
* The Doctor refers to [[George Orwell]]'s novel [[Nineteen Eighty-four|''1984'']].
 
=== Individuals ===
* [[Ethel Merman]] was an actress who died in 1984.
 
=== Politics ===
* At an indeterminate point in the far future, though not before the [[52nd century]], the [[British monarchy]] was abolished and the last monarch was executed. Footage of that event could be viewed via the Gogglebox.
 
=== Species ===
* The [[Cyberman|Mondasian Cybermen]] seem familiar with the [[Anno Domini]] [[Gregorian calendar]].
 
== Gallery ==
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true" widths="250">
The Reaping cover.jpg|Original cover art
The Reaping comic preview.jpg|Illustrated preview by [[Martin Geraghty]] from [[DWM 373]]
</gallery>
 
== Notes ==
* The phrase "86, 87" may be a reference to the Big Finish number for this story (number 86) and that of ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]'' (number 87), both by Joseph Lidster.
* An illustrated preview by [[Martin Geraghty]] featured in [[DWM 373]] for this story.
* This audio drama is part of a loose trilogy encompassing ''The Reaping'', ''[[The Gathering (TV story)|The Gathering]]'' and ''[[The Harvest (audio story)|The Harvest]]''.
** The trilogy can notably be listened to in three different orders; release order (''The Harvest'', ''The Reaping'', ''The Gathering''), in-universe chronological order (''The Reaping'', ''The Gathering'', ''The Harvest''), or in order from the Doctor's perspective (''The Gathering'', ''The Reaping'', ''The Harvest'').
* The Cyber-Leader is from a point in the distant future where the Cybermen have gained time travel based on a combination of their own systems and Time Lord technology.
* [[Zheng|Commander Zheng]], one of the earliest Mondasian Cybermen who was introduced in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Spare Parts (audio story)|Spare Parts]]'', returns for a brief cameo appearance towards the end of the story. He is depicted as still being operational in [[September]] [[1984]].
* Besides the Doctor, Kathy and Nathaniel Chambers are the only characters to appear in both this story and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]''.
* The cover-art and some of the dialogue in the story suggests that Peri is attired in the same outfit she would wear in ''[[Mindwarp (TV story)|Mindwarp]]''.
* The death of [[Janine Foster]] at the conclusion of this story may be the catalyst for the softening of the relationship between the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Peri Brown|Peri]], as seen in stories such as ''[[The Mysterious Planet (TV story)|The Mysterious Planet]]''.
* This audio drama was recorded on [[20 March (production)|20]] and [[21 March (production)|21 March]] [[2006 (production)|2006]] at [[the Moat Studios]].
* This story is set between ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'' and [[Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)|''The Trial of a Time Lord'']].
 
== Continuity ==
* Throughout the story, the Doctor wonders why people are saying "[[8687 (bar)|8687]]". As revealed in ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]'', this was his [[Fifth Doctor|fifth incarnation]] trying to jog his memory about his reunion with [[Tegan Jovanka]] at a bar called the 8687, so that he could do his best to save [[Nathaniel Chambers]]. Unfortunately, his plan did not work.
* The opening broadcasts refer to the launch of the British [[airship]] ''[[R101]]'' in [[October]] [[1930]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'') the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] on [[22 November]] [[1963]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Who Killed Kennedy (novel)|Who Killed Kennedy]]''; [[TV]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]''), the dawn of the year [[2000]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'') the first manned mission to [[Mars]] in the [[2000s]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Red Dawn (audio story)|Red Dawn]]'') [[St Gart's Bankside Hospital|St Gart's Hospital]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Harvest (audio story)|The Harvest]]'') the [[2012 Olympic Games]] in [[London]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Frozen Time (audio story)|Frozen Time]]''; [[TV]]: ''[[Fear Her (TV story)|Fear Her]]'', ''[[Good as Gold (TV story)|Good as Gold]]'') and the beginning of [[World War V]] in the [[49th century]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Singularity (audio story)|Singularity]]''; [[TV]]: ''[[The Unquiet Dead (TV story)|The Unquiet Dead]]'').
* Peri had previously requested that the Doctor take her home to Baltimore to let her family know that she was alright but the TARDIS accidentally materialised aboard the [[USS Eldridge|USS ''Eldridge'']] on [[26 October]] [[1943]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Macros (audio story)|The Macros]]'')
* The Doctor and Peri previously visited the [[Moon]] in [[1872]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The First Sontarans (audio story)|The First Sontarans]]'')
* Peri mentions almost [[drowning]] by [[Howard Foster]]'s hand the day that she left with the Doctor. This led to the collapse of Howard and [[Janine Foster]]'s [[marriage]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'')
* This story is resolved by the events of [[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet (TV story)|The Tenth Planet]]'', specifically the destruction of [[Mondas]] in [[December]] [[1986]]. The original [[Mondasian]]s of that story are briefly used.
* Janine and [[Dominique van Gysegham]] met and became friends while they were both visiting [[Lanzarote]] in [[May]] [[1984]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'')
* The Doctor intends to bring Peri to the [[Ice Caves of Shabadabadon]] but the TARDIS instead materialises in the [[Gogglebox]] inside the [[The Moon|Moon]] in the [[far future]]. His previous attempted to reach the Ice Caves had likewise resulted in the TARDIS materialising in the then newly opened Gogglebox. On that occasion, the Fifth Doctor met [[Alan-56]]'s progenitor [[Alan Fitzgerald]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]'') The [[Eighth Doctor]] would eventually visit the Ice Caves in the company of [[Samson Griffin|Samson]] and [[Gemma Griffin]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror Firma (audio story)|Terror Firma]]'')
* The Doctor comments that [[1984]] is "never as good as the book." His [[Eighth Doctor|eighth incarnation]] would later meet the novel's author [[George Orwell]] in [[Spain]] during its [[Spanish Civil War|civil war]] in [[1937]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[History 101 (novel)|History 101]]'')
* The fact that the Doctor cannot remember meeting Peri's [[stepfather]] Professor [[Howard Foster]] on Lanzarote on [[9 May]] [[1984]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'') may be designed to foreshadow his inability to remember meeting Kathy Chambers in [[Brisbane]], [[Australia]] in [[September]] [[2006]] earlier in his personal timeline. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]'')
* The [[White Rabbit (London)|White Rabbit]] pub on the Embankment, that Mrs Van Gysegham's late husband once owned, is possibly the same "White Rabbit" where the [[Seventh Doctor]]'s companion [[Hex]] would later have his 23rd birthday party on [[12 October]] [[2021]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Harvest (audio story)|The Harvest]]'') Furthermore, [[Ace]] would later meet [[Henry Noone]] in the White Rabbit on several occasions between [[May]] and [[August]] [[2027]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Death in the Family (audio story)|A Death in the Family]]'')
* Peri and Kathy reminisce about an embarrassing incident involving their high school classmate Candy which occurred at their senior prom. Peri had previously told her former travelling companion [[Erimem]] the same story. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Veiled Leopard (audio story)|The Veiled Leopard]]'')
* The virus that the Cyberman intended to use had the ability to turn flesh into metal. A similar virus appears in both [[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen (video game)|Blood of the Cybermen]]'' and [[WC]]: ''[[Real Time (webcast)|Real Time]]''.
* The television interview with Lt. Doyle, who is under the control of the Cybermen, in which he states that "the [[Daniel Woods|vagrant]] charged with the brutal murder of father of two [[Anthony Chambers]] has escaped. He is believed to be still in the Fell's Point neighbourhood and is on the run with an accomplice known only as 'the Doctor'" is picked up by the Fifth Doctor while he is investigating unusual energy signatures which appear throughout Earth's history. Based on this evidence, he determines that his future self is already in Baltimore in 1984 and therefore decides to travel to the location of the next energy spike, namely Brisbane, Australia in September 2006, where he is reunited with his former companion [[Tegan Jovanka]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]'')
* Peri refers to her first meeting with the Fifth Doctor and [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'') and the circumstances surrounding the Doctor's most recent [[regeneration]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caves of Androzani (TV story)|The Caves of Androzani]]'') The Sixth Doctor would later claim to have experienced problems with his memory since that regeneration, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Peri and the Piscon Paradox (audio story)|Peri and the Piscon Paradox]]'') which could account for the fact that he does not recognise Kathy on this occasion in spite of having met her future self earlier in his personal timeline. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Gathering (audio story)|The Gathering]]'')
* The Doctor mentions that he has visited Earth's [[Distant past|prehistory]] on several occasions. ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'', ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'', ''[[Time-Flight (TV story)|Time-Flight]]'')
 
== External links ==
{{bigfinish|releases/v/the-reaping-252|The Reaping}}
{{dwrefguide|who_bf86.htm|The Reaping}}
{{tetrap|6/reaping.html|The Reaping}}
{{BFA monthly}}
{{Cyberman stories}}
{{TitleSort}}
 
[[Category:Stories set in 1984]]
[[Category:Stories set on Mondas]]
[[Category:Audio stories set on the Moon]]
[[Category:Stories set in the far future]]
[[Category:Audio stories that use the Peter Howell theme]]
[[Category:Sixth Doctor Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:2006 Main Range audio stories]]
[[Category:Cyberman audio stories]]
[[Category:Audio stories set in the United States]]

Latest revision as of 23:13, 17 November 2024

RealWorld.png

The Reaping was the eighty-sixth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Joseph Lidster and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown.

It was the Sixth Doctor's entry in a loose trilogy of Cyberman stories, which began in the Seventh Doctor story The Harvest and was concluded in the Fifth Doctor story The Gathering.

It was notable for featuring significant details about Peri's life in Baltimore, Maryland. It was, from the perspective of Peri's mother Janine Foster, a direct sequel to Planet of Fire.

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

On the morning of 9 May 1984, Peri woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in Lanzarote and, that evening, leave her mother and stepfather to go travelling with some guys she'd only just met.

But things don't always go as expected­ as her friends and family discover when, four months later, she returns home having travelled further than anyone could have imagined.

Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, mourns her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other familiar faces.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

The Doctor takes Peri to the Gogglebox beneath the surface of the Moon where she chooses to view the news from 1984 America to see what is going on. Unimpressed by her request, the Doctor goes to find an important book he vaguely remembers leaving at the Gogglebox whilst Peri is plugged into a booth by Alan-56 and distressed to learn of the murder of Anthony Chambers. She gets Alan-32 to take her to the Doctor and tearfully begs him to take her home to see Janine, her mother, and Kathy, her best friend and Mr Chambers's daughter, at the funeral in Baltimore in September 1984. The Doctor wanders off to give Peri the chance to reunite with her mother, but Janine is dismissive.

Pretending to have met Mrs Van Gysegham in Lanzarote, the Doctor learns from her that the homeless man arrested for the murder, Daniel Woods, denies responsibility and is too old to have overpowered Mr Chambers and snapped his neck. She gives him a lift to the wake, but he implies mid-journey that he is part of British Intelligence and has her drive him to the police station in Fell's Point where Woods is being held. Lt Doyle allows him to see Woods despite him being unable to prove his identity and Woods tells him that the police are being controlled; the Doctor manipulates Lt Doyle into letting him and Woods leave by exploiting his logical thinking.

Peri breaks down at Mr Chambers's grave and heads to the wake at her home where Janine tells her that she and Howard separated after she accused him of being responsible for Peri's death, but Kathy denies that this was the case and catches her up on what their friends have been up to in her absence. Kathy finds herself inexplicably saying "8687" and Janine angrily asks Peri if she was intending on returning home in 1986 or '87. Later, Peri overhears Janine and Kathy agree that things were better before her return and pretends not to be upset when they call her downstairs to watch a video cassette from Mr Chambers's fortieth birthday with them and Nate, Kathy's brother.

The Doctor takes Woods back to the graveyard where Mr Chambers was killed and learns that the murderer was a "silver ghost" who was no longer able to control Mr Chambers. After the murder, the ghost said "you will become like us", confirming the Doctor's suspicion that it was a Cyberman. Meanwhile, Lt Doyle is due to give an interview to Natalie Hamilton about the escaped Woods and forcibly puts a device in her ear which puts her under the Cybermen's control just as he is. They proceed to warn the public to remain in their homes to keep safe from the supposed fugitives Doctor and Woods.

In the video, Mr Chambers tells his children to "keep playing", leading Peri to continue playing the video and find a message for Kathy and Nate; Mr Chambers somehow broke free from the Cybermen's control, although he is unable to say what he had been made to do, and tells them not to contact the police nor return to the graveyard. Peri takes Janine, Kathy and Nate to the graveyard to find the Doctor, but Kathy is distressed to meet Woods and runs away, screaming when she hears a scratching sound from her father's coffin. The coffin bursts open and a partially-converted Cyberman bursts out, saying "8687" before telling Nate that he is his father.

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

Mr Chambers is confused on account of being only partially-converted and the Doctor tells Peri to get Janine, Kathy, Nate and Woods to safety, but Lt Doyle and the police arrive and the group run to Mr Chambers's office when they fire. Peri helps the Doctor deduce that the Cybermen are from the future, that they are converting the dead and that they targeted Mr Chambers because he was an undertaker, controlling him to place convertor units into the coffins. Whilst Kathy, Nate and Woods look for a room to fortify, the Doctor, Peri and Janine analyse the Cyber-technology and find that conversion of the dead is being achieved using only a small needle.

Hearing a disturbance despite the heavy rain outside, Peri finds that Mr Chambers has killed Woods and plays the video of his fortieth birthday party to remind him of his former identity. She and Kathy go to fetch the Doctor and Janine, but the Doctor has found a dimensionally transcendental pod he wishes to investigate and sends the two of them and Janine to lock themselves in the bathroom with Nate until the police leave, at which point Peri is to take everybody to the TARDIS. When the Doctor enters the pod, it travels into the Time Vortex and Peri, Janine and Kathy go to find Nate.

The Doctor finds a dying Cyber-Leader inside the pod who says "8687" and explains that he is one of the last of his kind, come back in time with salvaged Time Lord technology which he is now confined to thanks to his attempt to connect with it. Having access to the history of the Cybermen, he set a trap for the Doctor and lured him there with the murder of Mr Chambers and the supposed conversion of the dead, a ruse to make the Doctor believe that there were more Cybermen and to better manipulate him. The Cyber-Leader has Mr Chambers attack Nate and threatens to have him kill Peri, Janine and Kathy unless the Doctor goes back in time with him to Earth's prehistory to convert the entirety of humanity with adapted Time Lord technology.

The Doctor claims to have converted eight early humans who have gone on to convert others and then takes the Cyber-Leader to 1984 where they encounter inferior Cybermen. The Cyber-Leader soon realises, however, that he is on Mondas and a Cyberman orders Commander Zheng to take him for reprocessing. This results in Mr Chambers losing his connection to the Cyber-Leader and he stops trying to kill Peri and Janine, who have been looking after the severely-injured Nate whilst Kathy is locked in the bathroom. The Doctor rejoins them and gets Nate to the hospital, Lt Doyle and the police also having been freed from the Cyber-Leader's control. Janine and Peri have the cyber-technology, including the pod and the conversion device, hidden at Janine's house to keep out of harm's way.

Feeling unable to leave her mother and Kathy again, Peri chooses to stay in Fell's Point and tearfully says goodbye to the Doctor, asking him to visit her in the future. Saddened, the Doctor travels back to the Gogglebox to see how Peri adapts to living back on Earth and swiftly returns for her because of what he has seen; Janine and Mrs Van Gysegham are killed when one half of the conversion device explodes because of unauthorised use. Kathy and Nate disappear and the Doctor comforts a tearful Peri, who feels that there is nothing left for her on Earth and returns with him to the TARDIS.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Culture[[edit] | [edit source]]

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

Politics[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • At an indeterminate point in the far future, though not before the 52nd century, the British monarchy was abolished and the last monarch was executed. Footage of that event could be viewed via the Gogglebox.

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The phrase "86, 87" may be a reference to the Big Finish number for this story (number 86) and that of The Gathering (number 87), both by Joseph Lidster.
  • An illustrated preview by Martin Geraghty featured in DWM 373 for this story.
  • This audio drama is part of a loose trilogy encompassing The Reaping, The Gathering and The Harvest.
    • The trilogy can notably be listened to in three different orders; release order (The Harvest, The Reaping, The Gathering), in-universe chronological order (The Reaping, The Gathering, The Harvest), or in order from the Doctor's perspective (The Gathering, The Reaping, The Harvest).
  • The Cyber-Leader is from a point in the distant future where the Cybermen have gained time travel based on a combination of their own systems and Time Lord technology.
  • Commander Zheng, one of the earliest Mondasian Cybermen who was introduced in AUDIO: Spare Parts, returns for a brief cameo appearance towards the end of the story. He is depicted as still being operational in September 1984.
  • Besides the Doctor, Kathy and Nathaniel Chambers are the only characters to appear in both this story and AUDIO: The Gathering.
  • The cover-art and some of the dialogue in the story suggests that Peri is attired in the same outfit she would wear in Mindwarp.
  • The death of Janine Foster at the conclusion of this story may be the catalyst for the softening of the relationship between the Sixth Doctor and Peri, as seen in stories such as The Mysterious Planet.
  • This audio drama was recorded on 20 and 21 March 2006 at the Moat Studios.
  • This story is set between Revelation of the Daleks and The Trial of a Time Lord.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

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