Excelis Dawns (audio story)

Excelis Dawns
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Iris Wildthyme
Main enemy:	Lord Grayvorn
Main setting:	Artaris
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Paul Magrs
Director:	Gary Russell
Producer:	Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	David Darlington
Sound:	David Darlington
Cover by:	Lee Binding
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	1
Release date:	11 February 2002
Format:	2 CDs Download
Production code:	BFPDWCDEX1
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-90365-463-7 (physical) ISBN 978-1-83868-788-5 (digital)
Excelis Saga
Next →	Excelis Rising

Excelis Dawns was the first audio story in the Excelis Saga.

It featured the first audio appearance of Iris Wildthyme, played by Katy Manning. She acted as the Fifth Doctor's companion.

Publisher's summary

That terrible old reprobate and transdimensional adventuress Iris Wildthyme has gone and locked herself up in a nunnery on the savage world of Artaris.

Here she is discovered by the Doctor and the reasonably brutal warlord Grayvorn. Together — with a peculiar nun they pick up en route — they must travel the forests and swamps of this ghastly world in Iris's double decker bus in order to tussle — to the death — with a horde of flesh-eating zombies for a mysterious and holy relic of unfathomable value and questionable pedigree.

But what is the Mother Superior's part in all this?

Plot

Sister Jolene and Mother Superior talk about something. Iris stalks The Doctor onto Artaris. The Doctor and Iris go to the Mother Superior's house, who tells them and Warlord Grayvorn to search for a relic. They ride on Iris' bus. On the journey, Iris and Grayvorn do not get on with each other, Grayvorn even threatens Iris with his sword. A couple of hours later, Iris' bus gets stuck in quicksand, and they are forced to dematerialise it. They go 1000 years into the future, where the world has been reduced to a desert. They return to the present and go into a forest, which is full of zombies. They somehow get the relic, which turns out to be Iris' handbag.

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• Iris Wildthyme - Katy Manning
• Warlord Grayvorn - Anthony Head
• Sister Jolene - Posy Miller
• Mother Superior - Patricia Leventon
• The Zombie King - Billy Miller

Crew

• Cover Art - Lee Binding
• Director - Gary Russell
• Executive Producer - Jacqueline Rayner
• Music and Sound Design - David Darlington
• Producers - Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Writer - Paul Magrs

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• The Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and "that shrill Australian woman" spent Christmas with Iris on one occasion.

Art by Roger Langridge from DWM 316

Notes

• This is the first part of the Excelis Saga.
• This story marks the first appearance of Iris Wildthyme in an audio drama. She is played by Katy Manning, known for playing the Third Doctor's companion Jo Grant. This incarnation is contradictorily as a unique incarnation or the same incarnation as the "Beryl Reid" Iris from story to story. This story seems to imply the latter.
• This audio drama was recorded on 21 November 2001 at the Moat Studios.
• This story is set during the final episode of Frontios.
• In an unusual format, this story is a single-episode spread across two discs with no theme music breaks.

Continuity

• This story takes place while the Doctor is attempting to return to Frontios after transporting the Gravis to Kolkokron with Tegan. Shortly after arriving on Artaris, Tegan and the Doctor get into an argument upon realising that they are in the wrong place, prompting the Doctor to send Tegan to wait in the TARDIS for the whole of this adventure. (TV: Frontios)
• Iris claims she helped the Doctor thwart the Sontarans' plan to invade Gallifrey, (TV: The Invasion of Time) and defeat Omega. (TV: The Three Doctors)
• The Doctor mentions Adric's death. (TV: Earthshock)
• The Doctor gives an alternate explanation of the appearance of his five incarnations in TV: The Five Doctors.
• Iris refers to the time when she and six of her other incarnations were brought to the Death Zone by Morbius. (PROSE: Bafflement and Devotion, Verdigris)
• Iris claims to have been present at the Great Fire of London in September 1666. (TV: The Visitation)
• Iris got her handbag on Hyspero, a planet she visited in PROSE: The Scarlet Empress.
• The Doctor would later return to Artaris 1,000 years later during his sixth incarnation (AUDIO: Excelis Rising) and 1,300 years later during his seventh incarnation. (AUDIO: Excelis Decays)
• Iris would also later return to Artaris with Bernice Summerfield. (AUDIO: The Plague Herds of Excelis)
• The last time Iris met the Doctor was on Marlion where they met the Daleks. (PROSE: Bafflement and Devotion)

External links

• Official Excelis Dawns page at bigfinish.com
• Excelis Dawns at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for Excelis Dawns at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide