Wave of Destruction (audio story)

Wave of Destruction
Doctor:	Fourth Doctor
Companion(s):	Romana II, K9 Mark II
Main enemy:	Vardans
Main setting:	London, June 1964
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Justin Richards
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Music:	Alistair Lock
Sound:	Alistair Lock
Cover by:	Anthony Lamb
Release details
Release number:	5.01
Release date:	12 January 2016
Format:	2 parts, 1 CD
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-727-4
Official trailer
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Fourth Doctor Adventures
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Wave of Destruction was the first story in the fifth series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Justin Richards and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana II and John Leeson as K9.

Publisher's summary

A modulated frequency wave cancellation signal isn't something that the Doctor and Romana expect to detect in 1960s London. But then they don't expect to find Professor Lanchester, the man who invented it, lying unconscious. Or MI5 investigating.

With the help of MI5 Agent Miller, Lanchester's daughter Jill, and his nephew a pirate radio DJ called Mark, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 investigate. They soon discover that there is more at risk than they imagined, and an alien invasion is about to begin.

Can the Doctor identify and defeat the aliens in time? Will Romana manage to find a recombinant transducer before it's too late? And how will K-9 cope with his new job?

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Tom Baker
• Romana - Lalla Ward
• K9 - John Leeson
• Mark Lanchaster - Karl Theobald
• Barnaby Miller - Phil Mulryne
• Jill - Alix Wilton Regan
• Derek Fretus - John Banks

References

• Romana mistakenly believes that she and the Doctor are in the 1930s rather than 1964.
• The Doctor does the crossword in The Times and checks tomorrow's paper for the answers.
• Romana and the Doctor wait while K9 takes the TARDIS to 112 different locations and temporal periods to distract the Black Guardian. The Doctor doesn't think much his parking.
• Miller asks the Doctor and Romana for P-17 identity papers.
• Radio Frantic and other pirate radios make money from advertising.
• Romana doesn't get headaches.
• The Vardans use pulsed-energy weapons.
• A small task force of Vardans are trying to establish a bridgehead on Earth for the main invasion force of millions, which will kill and enslave humanity.
• Vardans can read thoughts from a distance. It's easier to read human minds rather than Time Lord minds; Jill can read the surface of Romana's mind, not her deeper thoughts, but can still track her by her thoughts.
• Romana disappears into Sparky's TV and Wireless. The various waveforms and broadcast signals keep Jill from finding Romana.
• Mark uses the pun "Ray Dio" as his DJ name.
• Derek claims the Vardans can infiltrate any mind and are invincible.
• K9 tracks Derek by his wavetrace signal, a distinctive waveform signature.
• Mark refers to the New Music Express, the NME.
• The modulated frequency wave cancellation signal generator requires the recombinant transducer to function and generate a cancellation wave, using the radio frequency of Radio Frantic as a transmitter.
• The detector beam is to be incorporated into the early warning systems for NATO.
• Miller mentions the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 as the "Cuban scare."
• Vardans can use any broadcast frequency provided they can access the waveform. As waveforms can pass through physical barriers, so can they.
• Radio Frantic's jingle has a built-in hypnotic harmonic, ensuring anyone who hears it is compelled to listen. It is engineered as the perfect carrier wave to transmit along accurately and efficiently, allowing the Vardans to materialise anywhere it plays. Simply turning off the radio isn't enough to stop them, however; all external communications must be cut.
• K9 records all incoming data.
• Romana travels in a helicopter.
• The Vardans consider Earth to be "rich," referencing different forms of wave broadcasts including radio, television, radar, and natural resonances like quartz emissions.
• The seagulls circle around Radio Frantic's ship.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• K9 previously piloted the TARDIS to lead the Black Guardian on another wild goose chase across the universe. (AUDIO: The Auntie Matter)
• The Doctor still has his etheric beam locator. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks, The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
• Romana still has her sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
• The Doctor and K9 have previously encountered the Vardans. (AUDIO: The First Wave, The Locked Room, The British Invasion; TV: The Invasion of Time)
• The Magpie Deluxe is on sale. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern, The Runaway Bride, The Sound of Drums; AUDIO: Hunters of Earth)
• The Doctor reverses the polarity. (TV: The Five Doctors)
• The Doctor offers to let the Vardans go if they leave Earth alone. (TV: The Christmas Invasion et all)
• Miller says that he has never heard of UNIT, but the Doctor says he will. (TV: The Web of Fear, The Invasion)
• The Tenth Doctor would later visit another 1960s pirate radio station. (AUDIO: Dead Air)

External links

• Official Wave of Destruction page at bigfinish.com