Making Myths (audio story)

Making Myths
Main character(s):	Benny
Featuring:	Keri
Main setting:	Lost Mud Fields of Agravarne, 2590s
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Jacqueline Rayner
Director:	Jason Haigh-Ellery
Producer:	Gary Russell
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Part of:	Buried Treasures
Release date:	August 1999
Format:	1 CD 1st of 2 stories
Bernice Summerfield
← Previous	Just War
Next →	Closure

Making Myths was a 1999 story in the Bernice Summerfield series, released as part of the Buried Treasures subscriber-only anthology. These two stories were the first original Bernice Summerfield stories recorded by Big Finish Productions.

Publisher's summary

Professor Bernice Summerfield: 26th century archaeology professor, and tutor at St Oscar's University on the planet Dellah. Prone to getting involved in adventures, scrapes and general derring-do armed only with her wits, cunning and a flask of brandy! Aged about 35ish, but frequently says she's younger. Odd that...

Keri the Pakhar: An investigative journalist famous for getting herself into the darkest, most dangerous corners of the galaxy to bring her stories to her audience. Brave, dedicated and frequently putting her own life at risk, she found time to be Maid of Honour at Benny's wedding and how has her own radio show onto which she can invite whosoever she pleases...

Plot

Benny and Keri make a live radio broadcast from the Lost Mud Fields of Agravarne on Shangri-La, which Benny intends to write about in her sequel to Down Among the Dead Men. She explains that Agravarne was believed to have been an island which sank below the sea, not unlike Atlantis on Earth or the Island of Ham's Star on Pakha, and the people are said to have attempted to rebuild the island by displacing soil to the site, but it all became mud and they starved to death. The two of them get lost and fall into an underground tunnel as they argue.

In the tunnel, Benny and Keri find cave paintings depicting the movement of soil to rebuild Agravarne, which Benny is sure is a myth, and a huge carts. They swing across a chasm and manage to slightly open a door, confirming that it leads outside. Benny then has Keri run like a hamster in one of the cart's wheels to exert extra leverage in a shovel and open the door completely, finding that they are back at the shuttle they arrived in. Returning to it, Keri finds that she has received a number of messages from Pakhars who want to experience the joy of running in a wheel on Shangri-La. She thanks Benny for appearing on her show and they play fight when Keri jokes about her on air.

Cast

• Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
• Keri Pakhar - Sarah Mowat

Worldbuilding

• Keri once saw Benny beat Jason Kane at arm wrestling, but Benny admits that she was distracting Jason with her other hand.

Notes

• This story marked the directorial debut of Jason Haigh-Ellery.
• This story, whose original release in Buried Treasures has long been out of print, cannot be rereleased commercially for contractual reasons.
• It was rereleased for free as part of The Big Finish Podcast on 28 January 2010.
• The character of Keri comes from Gary Russell's novel Legacy. She later appeared, under her full name Ker'a'nol, in the sixth season Bernice Summerfield story The Goddess Quandary, but was voiced by another actor.
• This audio drama was recorded on 9 January 1999 in Gary Gillatt and Ed Salt's flat.

Continuity

• Ker'a'nol is introduced as Bernice Summerfield's best friend. However, she has only met Bernice a few times before and neither appearance was in the 26th century. The reason for this discrepancy is picked up on in AUDIO: The End of the World.
• Benny is supposed to be writing a sequel to Down Among the Dead Men. (PROSE: Oh No It Isn't!)
• Benny mentions the Law of Consonantal Shift. (TV: State of Decay)
• Keri mentions Benny and Jason Kane's divorce. (PROSE: Eternity Weeps)

External links

• Archived Buried Treasures page at the defunct website www.bernicesummerfield.com (1.04.2003)
• Buried Treasures at the Doctor Who Reference Guide