Pantheon of Discord (audio story)

Pantheon of Discord
Doctor:	Fifteenth Doctor
Featuring:	The Vlinx
Main enemy:	Maestro
Main setting:	Royal Albert Hall The Doctor's TARDIS UNIT HQ, City of London
Key crew
Writer:	Russell T Davies
Release details
Premiere network:	BBC Radio 3
Release date:	26 August 2024
Format:	Mini-episode Audio story
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Pantheon of Discord was the title given in the programme brochures for a largely pre-recorded Doctor Who mini-episode that featured in Doctor Who at the Proms 2024. It starred Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro, reprising her role from TV: The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], and also featured Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Vlinx.

Although a full video cut has yet to be released to the public, an official audio recording was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Until such a time as a video release emerged, this audio version is considered the definitive form of the story by this Wiki.

Synopsis

The Fifteenth Doctor's visit to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall goes awry when Maestro, of the Pantheon of Discord, interrupts the performance, unwilling to let any other being enjoy good music. However, through quick thinking and symbolic logic, the Doctor figures out how to turn the concert venue into a tool to banish the amoral god once again.

Plot

The Vlinx, broadcasting from UNIT HQ, addresses the audience at the Royal Albert Hall, introducing itself before setting the stage for a "special guest" — none other than the Fifteenth Doctor. As his own live feed from the TARDIS comes through, the Doctor has barely begun to greet the audience, seeming almost daunted by the size of the crowd, when the Vlinx reports an emergency: the Vlinx is being "invaded" by the Pantheon of Discord, in the form of Maestro, the egotistical God of Music.

Declaring that music is theirs alone, Maestro explains that they intend to "feast" on the dissonance created in the audience's minds when they hear "bad music". Thus, they command the orchestra to play "the worst song ever", I've Got a Dog — which they soon put into practice. Partway through the song, however, the Vlinx comes through again with a curious instruction from the Doctor: the audience must start clapping, as loudly and enthusiastically as possible. Maestro is initially confused at this gambit, as they quite enjoy the applause ("Everyone should adore me!").

The Vlinx, however, explains that the Doctor is turning Maestro's own symbolic logic against them: applause only comes when the music is over, meaning that being surrounded by it cancels out the powers of the self-declared embodiment of music itself. Maestro's tune soon changes to raging and sniveling as their power is sapped out by the increasingly raucous applause, until their physical manifestation explodes altogether.

With "Operation Maestro" a "complete success", the Doctor addresses the audience again for just a few moments, assuring them that Maestro is "so wrong": music, in all its forms, should "belong to everyone". He ends his message by blowing a kiss to the entire human race.

Cast

• Fifteenth Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
• Maestro - Jinkx Monsoon
• The Vlinx - Nicholas Briggs

Crew

• Writer - Russell T Davies

Worldbuilding

• The Vlinx describes itself as more properly being designated the Vlinkstatic X-Form Robo-Neuro-Actoform Vlinkstatic X-Form Robo-Neuro-Actoform Designation Number 5576.
• Maestro describes the Royal Albert Hall (which the Vlinx describes as being located in "London, U.K., Planet Earth") as being "the world's finest auditorium".

Story notes

• Although most of the story's footage was prerecorded, the actual orchestra performance and the audience's participation, both of them woven into the story, were live.

Continuity

• The Vlinx was introduced in TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"], where its name was taken for granted. This story clarifies its proper designation as "Vlinkstatic X-Form Robo-Neuro-Actoform Vlinkstatic X-Form Robo-Neuro-Actoform Designation Number 5576", confirming it to be a specimen of a wider model of robots, while reaffirming that it prefers to be known as simply "the Vlinx".
• Maestro is referred to as a member of the "Pantheon of Discord", after which the overall skit is named. The name originated in TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith ^[+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"] as a name for the group to which the Trickster belonged, which would become conflated with "the Pantheon" mentioned in TV: The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"] in TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday ^[+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"] via Maestro and the Trickster being cited as part of the same litany of gods. This story marks the first source explicitly using both Maestro and the "Pantheon of Discord" terminology.
• Maestro debuted in TV: The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"]. They boast that the Doctor can't stop them "this time", alluding to their prior defeat opposite him, from whose events they borrow the song I've Got a Dog. The line "Music is mine!", delivered in a petulant bellow, is also quoted from that story.
• As when they emerge on the rooftop in TV: The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], Maestro's appearance is heralded by them laughing in the form of the Giggle from TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"].
• Maestro introduces themself as "the God of Music". This title was first explicitly given to them in-story by Harriet Arbinger in TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday ^[+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"].