Immortal Beloved (audio story): Difference between revisions

Because Blood of the Daleks was released in two parts, it was the fourth release of the series. It was co-produced with BBC 7. This was the first audio story in which Jake McGann (Paul McGann's son) appeared.

The story was released along with the other stories in Series 1 in the collection The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller on 3 October 2023.

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

"Theosophy? Ha! Surely you mean theophany? Because we're not talking about real gods here, are we? We're talking about the appearance of gods. Your heavenly powers are a little too mechanical for my liking. And, if I may be so bold, Lord Zeus, your demeanour is not very godlike."

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor and Lucie Miller land the TARDIS next to a cliff in what appears to be ancient Greece. Two star-crossed lovers, Kalkin and Sararti, have been preparing to kill themselves nearby, but the Doctor and Lucie prevent this, and soon anachronistic helicopters surround them all. One of the soldiers who disembark, General Ares, is gravely injured in the ensuing struggle. The Doctor just about saves his life and he, Lucie, Sararti and Kalkin are taken back to a grand palace, where to their horror they witness the ailing Ares' mind being transferred into the body of another man, one of the soldiers, who has expected this and is entirely willing to so sacrifice himself to his "destiny". The Doctor confronts Zeus, the autocratic ruler of this strange society where guns are labelled as magic wands and the hi-tech mind-transfer device is an "incarnation chamber". Zeus admits that he is not really a god, and reveals that they are on a lost Earth colony planet in Lucie's distant future.

Generations ago, he and his wife Hera, along with many others, some now long gone, landed here and he has gone on to create a society based upon Greek myth. He explains that he was the pilot of the original colony ship, and Kalkin is not his son, but his next-in-line clone, who has rebelled against his fate. (The next clone after that, Ganymede, is by contrast committed to his cruel destiny, but is too young for a transfer.) The ruling class, the remains of the original crew — the "gods" — use their machine, which the Doctor insists has long been outlawed as an abomination – to transfer their minds periodically into their clones, giving them practical immortality. Zeus has appeared welcoming, but lusts after Lucie despite insisting that he and Hera have a thousand-year-old love. He reveals himself to be a madman, and demands that the Doctor use the TARDIS to fetch parts to repair the immortality machine, as it has become worn out and they are now without space-travel capabilities. The Doctor very reluctantly agrees after Zeus threatens to hurt Lucie – even to clone her repeatedly and torture each Lucie to death for all eternity. When Hera suffers a heart attack, her mind transfer into the unwilling Sararti fails, leaving Sararti in control of her body. Pretending all is well, she suddenly stabs Zeus, so that he requires an immediate transfer into Kalkin's body. The Doctor appears to go along with this under pressure from Ares and the loyal soldiers, but ensures that it fails. Though Lucie and Sararti at first fail to appreciate this ruse, the Doctor and the new Zeus — Kalkin, of course — convince them that the lovers can secretly take on his and Hera's roles. They insist that they will stop using the machine as the Doctor and Lucie take their leave. Lucie is optimistic, but the Doctor reminds her that these two are essentially younger versions of the tyrannical pair they have helped to overthrow...

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover Art - Alex Mallinson
Director - Jason Haigh-Ellery
Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
Music - Andy Hardwick
Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Sharon Gosling
Script Editor - Alan Barnes
Sound Design - Gareth Jenkins
Writer - Jonathan Clements
Associate Producer - Barnaby Edwards

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Helicopters and walkie-talkies still exist.
Remote synaptical kinesis, performed with RSK machines, is illegal across the civilised universe.
The Doctor compares Kalkin to Prince Charming.
Lucie jokes that the Doctor does a Miss Marple routine.
Zeus says to the Doctor "what big words you have", and the Doctor replies "all the better to understand you with", riffing from a famous line from the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Zeus assumes the Doctor has taken the Hippocratic Oath.
Lucie sings a line from 'When I'm 64', a song by The Beatles.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

This audio drama was recorded on 23 August 2006 at the Moat Studios.
This story had a running time of approximately 60 minutes.
This story was originally planned to be the continuation of WC: Scream of the Shalka. However, only a few concepts and ideas actually made it into Immortal Beloved.
This story was originally released on CD and download. It is also available to stream on Spotify.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Lucie asks if the Doctor's got closer to her own time than 1974, in which year he had landed in the previous story, AUDIO: Horror of Glam Rock ^[+]Loading...["Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)"].
Lucie refers to herself as "Lucie of the M62." She and the Doctor had landed at Nadir Motorway Service Station off the M62 in AUDIO: Horror of Glam Rock ^[+]Loading...["Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)"].
Lucie mentions that the Doctor is unable to take her to Blackpool.
The Doctor mentions his granddaughter, Susan Foreman, who debuted in TV: An Unearthly Child ^[+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"], with whom he and Lucie would later share adventures from AUDIO: Relative Dimensions ^[+]Loading...["Relative Dimensions (audio story)"] until AUDIO: To the Death ^[+]Loading...["To the Death (audio story)"].

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

Official Immortal Beloved page at bigfinish.com

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{title dab away}}
 {{real world}}
-{{title|''{{PAGENAME}}''}}
+{{Infobox Story SMW
-{{Infobox CD|
+|image           = Mcg04 immortalbeloved big.jpg
-cd name= Immortal Beloved|
+|range           = Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)
-image=[[File:Mcg04_immortalbeloved_big.jpg|250px]] Cover Art - [[Alex Mallinson]]|
+|series in range = Series 1 (8DA)
-series= [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories#The New Eighth Doctor Adventures|The New Eighth Doctor Adventures]]|
+|series number in range = 1
-number= 1.4|
+|number in series = 4
-doctor= [[Eighth Doctor]]|
+|number          = 1.4
-companions= [[Lucie Miller]] |
+|doctor          = Eighth Doctor
-enemy= |
+|companions      = [[Lucie Miller|Lucie]]
-writer= [[Jonathan Clements]]|
+|enemy           = [[Zeus (Immortal Beloved)|Zeus]]
-director= [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]] |
+|writer          = Jonathan Clements
-year= Unidentified planet, c. [[34th century]]|
+|setting         = [[Planet (Immortal Beloved)|Unnamed planet]]
-producer=  |
+|director        = [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
-publisher= [[Big Finish Productions]]|
+|producer        = [[Nicholas Briggs]], [[Sharon Gosling]]
-release date= [[April]] [[2007]]|
+|music           = [[Andy Hardwick]]
-format= 1 CD |
+|sound           = [[Gareth Jenkins (sound designer)|Gareth Jenkins]]
-production code= BFPDWCDMG004 |
+|cover           = [[Alex Mallinson]]
-isbn= ISBN 978-1-84435-258-6 |
+|publisher       = Big Finish Productions
-previous story=[[Horror of Glam Rock]]|
+|epcount         = 1
-next story=[[Phobos (audio story)|Phobos]]|
+|broadcast date  = 21 January 2007
-}}{{audio stub}}'''Immortal Beloved''' was the fourth release of the first series of ''[[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories#The New Eighth Doctor Adventures|The New Eighth Doctor Adventures]]''.
+|release date    = April 2007
+|format          = 1 CD<br/>Download
+|production code = BFPDWCDMG004
+|isbn            = ISBN 978-1-84435-258-6 (physical)<br/>ISBN 978-1-78178-479-2 (digital)
+|series          = ''[[Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)|Eighth Doctor Adventures]]''
+|prev            = Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)
+|next            = Phobos (audio story)
+|made prev       = Phobos (audio story)
+|made next       = No More Lies (audio story)
+}}
+{{spotify|album=4B76uvepHsJYCYWctIjEpQ|height=350}}
+'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the third story in the [[Series 1 (8DA)|first series]] of the ''[[The Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)|Eighth Doctor Adventures]],'' produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[Jonathan Clements]] and featured [[Paul McGann]] as the [[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Sheridan Smith]] as [[Lucie Miller]].
+Because ''[[Blood of the Daleks]]'' was released in two parts, it was the fourth release of the series. It was co-produced with [[BBC Radio 4 Extra|BBC 7]]. This was the first audio story in which [[Sonny McGann|Jake McGann]] (Paul McGann's son) appeared.
+The story was released along with the other stories in Series 1 in the collection ''[[The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller (audio series)|The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller]]'' on [[3 October (releases)|3 October]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]].
 == Publisher's summary ==
-'Theosophy? Ha! Surely you mean theophany? Because we're not talking about real gods here, are we? We're talking about the appearance of gods. Your heavenly powers are a little too mechanical for my liking. And, if I may be so bold, Lord Zeus, your demeanour is not very godlike.'
+"[[Theosophy]]? Ha! Surely you mean [[theophany]]? Because we're not talking about real gods here, are we? We're talking about the appearance of [[god]]s. Your heavenly powers are a little too mechanical for my liking. And, if I may be so bold, Lord [[Zeus]], your demeanour is not very godlike."
+== Plot ==
+The Doctor and Lucie Miller land the TARDIS next to a cliff in what appears to be ancient Greece. Two star-crossed lovers, Kalkin and Sararti, have been preparing to kill themselves nearby, but the Doctor and Lucie prevent this, and soon anachronistic helicopters surround them all. One of the soldiers who disembark, General [[Ares (Immortal Beloved)|Ares]], is gravely injured in the ensuing struggle. The Doctor just about saves his life and he, Lucie, Sararti and Kalkin are taken back to a grand palace, where to their horror they witness the ailing Ares' mind being transferred into the body of another man, one of the soldiers, who has expected this and is entirely willing to so sacrifice himself to his "destiny". The Doctor confronts Zeus, the autocratic ruler of this strange society where guns are labelled as magic wands and the hi-tech mind-transfer device is an "incarnation chamber". Zeus admits that he is not really a god, and reveals that they are on a lost Earth colony planet in Lucie's distant future.
+Generations ago, he and his wife Hera, along with many others, some now long gone, landed here and he has gone on to create a society based upon Greek myth. He explains that he was the pilot of the original colony ship, and Kalkin is not his son, but his next-in-line clone, who has rebelled against his fate. (The next clone after that, Ganymede, is by contrast committed to his cruel destiny, but is too young for a transfer.) The ruling class, the remains of the original crew — the "gods" — use their machine, which the Doctor insists has long been outlawed as an abomination – to transfer their minds periodically into their clones, giving them practical immortality. Zeus has appeared welcoming, but lusts after Lucie despite insisting that he and Hera have a thousand-year-old love. He reveals himself to be a madman, and demands that the Doctor use the TARDIS to fetch parts to repair the immortality machine, as it has become worn out and they are now without space-travel capabilities. The Doctor very reluctantly agrees after Zeus threatens to hurt Lucie – even to clone her repeatedly and torture each Lucie to death for all eternity. When Hera suffers a heart attack, her mind transfer into the unwilling Sararti fails, leaving Sararti in control of her body. Pretending all is well, she suddenly stabs Zeus, so that he requires an immediate transfer into Kalkin's body. The Doctor appears to go along with this under pressure from Ares and the loyal soldiers, but ensures that it fails. Though Lucie and Sararti at first fail to appreciate this ruse, the Doctor and the new Zeus — Kalkin, of course — convince them that the lovers can secretly take on his and Hera's roles. They insist that they will stop using the machine as the Doctor and Lucie take their leave. Lucie is optimistic, but the Doctor reminds her that these two are essentially younger versions of the tyrannical pair they have helped to overthrow...
 == Cast ==
@@ Line 29: / Line 50: @@
 * [[Lucie Miller]] - [[Sheridan Smith]]
 * [[Zeus (Immortal Beloved)|Zeus]] - [[Ian McNeice]]
-* [[Hera]] - [[Elspet Gray]]
+* [[Hera (Immortal Beloved)|Hera]] - [[Elspet Gray]]
 * [[Sararti]] - [[Jennifer Higham]]
 * [[Kalkin]] - [[Anthony Spargo]]
-* [[Tayden]]/[[Ares]] - [[David Dobson]]
+* [[Tayden]]/[[Ares (Immortal Beloved)|Ares]] - [[David Dobson]]
-* [[Ganymede]] - [[Jake McGann]]
+* [[Ganymede (Immortal Beloved)|Ganymede]] - [[Sonny McGann|Jake McGann]]
+== Crew ==
+* Cover Art - [[Alex Mallinson]]
+* Director - [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]]
+* Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and [[Nicholas Briggs]]
+* Music - [[Andy Hardwick]]
+* Producers - Nicholas Briggs and [[Sharon Gosling]]
+* Script Editor - [[Alan Barnes]]
+* Sound Design - [[Gareth Jenkins (sound designer)|Gareth Jenkins]]
+* Writer - [[Jonathan Clements]]
+* Associate Producer - [[Barnaby Edwards]]
-== References ==
+== Worldbuilding ==
-''to be added''
+* [[Helicopter]]s and [[walkie-talkie]]s still exist.
+* [[Remote synaptical kinesis]], performed with [[RSK machine]]s, is illegal across the civilised universe.
+* The Doctor compares [[Kalkin]] to [[Charming|Prince Charming]].
+* Lucie jokes that the Doctor does a [[Jane Marple|Miss Marple]] routine.
+* Zeus says to the Doctor "what big words you have", and the Doctor replies "all the better to understand you with", riffing from a famous line from the story of [[Little Red Riding Hood]].
+* Zeus assumes the Doctor has taken the [[Hippocratic Oath]].
+* Lucie sings a line from 'When I'm 64', a song by [[The Beatles]].
 == Notes ==
-* Elspet Gray appeared as [[Thalia]] in [[DW]]: ''[[Arc of Infinity (TV story)|Arc of Infinity]]''.
+* This audio drama was recorded on [[23 August (production)|23 August]] 2006 at [[the Moat Studios]].
-* [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Ian_McNeice Ian McNeice] appeared as [[Winston Churchill ]]in [[Victory of the Daleks|DW: Victory of the Daleks]].
+* This story had a running time of approximately 60 minutes.
-* This audio drama was recorded on [[23 August]] [[2006]].
+* This story was originally planned to be the continuation of [[WC]]: ''[[Scream of the Shalka (webcast)|Scream of the Shalka]]''. However, only a few concepts and ideas actually made it into ''Immortal Beloved''.
+* This story was originally released on CD and download. It is also available to stream on [[Spotify]].
 == Continuity ==
-* Lucie, at the story's outset, asks if the Doctor's got closer than [[1974]], [[Horror of Glam Rock]]'s setting.
+* Lucie asks if the Doctor's got closer to her own time than [[1974]], in which year he had landed in the previous story, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)}}.
-* Although no specific dating is given to the story, it is set approximately a thousand years after the original [[human]]s colonised the planet the story takes place on. In that time, technology hasn't advanced that much as helicopters and walkie-talkies still exist. It is reasonable to assume that these were among the first humans to leave [[Earth]] in the [[24th century]]. This means this story takes place circa [[34th century]].
+* Lucie refers to herself as "Lucie of the [[M62]]." She and the Doctor had landed at [[Nadir Motorway Service Station]] off the M62 in [[AUDIO]]: {{Cs|Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)}}''.''
+* Lucie mentions that the Doctor is unable to take her to [[Blackpool]].
+* The Doctor mentions his granddaughter, [[Susan Foreman]], who debuted in [[TV]]: {{cs|An Unearthly Child (TV story)}}, with whom he and Lucie would later share adventures from [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Relative Dimensions (audio story)}} until [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|To the Death (audio story)}}.
-== [[Eighth Doctor - Timeline|Timeline]] ==
+== External links ==
-* ''Immortal Beloved'' occurs after [[BFA]]/[[BBCR]]: ''[[Horror of Glam Rock]]''
+{{bigfinish|releases/v/immortal-beloved-518|Immortal Beloved}}
-* ''Immortal Beloved'' occurs before [[BFA]]/[[BBCR]]: ''[[Phobos (audio story)|Phobos]]''
-== External links ==
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150309054716/http://www.chakoteya.net/8Doctor/104.html Immortal Beloved Transcript]
-* {{bigfinish|14-Doctor-Who-Immortal-Beloved|Immortal Beloved}}
+{{dwrefguide|bbc7_03.htm|Immortal Beloved}}
-* {{dwrefguide|bbc7_03.htm|Immortal Beloved}}
+* {{whoniverse|bf8d01_03|Immortal Beloved}}
+{{tetrap|8/immortalbeloved.html|Immortal Beloved}}
+{{BF EDA}}
+{{TitleSort}}
 [[fr:Immortal Beloved]]
-{{TitleSort}}
-{{New 8DA}}
-[[Category:Eighth Doctor Adventures audio stories]]
+[[Category:Series 1 (8DA) audio stories]]
-[[Category:2007 audio stories]]
-[[Category:Stories set in the 34th century]]