Spare Parts (audio story)
Spare Parts was released in July 2002. It saw a return to Mondas for Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor and his companion Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton. This story was the inspiration for two 2006 Doctor Who television episodes; it received a note in the credits of both DW: The Age of Steel and DW: Rise of the Cybermen.
Publisher's summary
"I'm not even sure they are people by the end. They’re just so many tinned left-overs..."
On a dark frozen planet where no planet should be, in a doomed city with a sky of stone, the last denizens of Earth's long-lost twin will pay any price to survive, even if the laser scalpels cost them their love and hate and humanity.
And in the Mat-infested streets, round about tea-time, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa unearth a black market in secondhand body parts and run the gauntlet of augmented police and their augmented horses.
And just between the tramstop and the picturehouse, the Doctor's worst suspicions are finally confirmed: the Cybermen have only just begun, and the Doctor will be, just as he always has been, their saviour...
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Davison
- Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
- Yvonne Hartley - Kathryn Guck
- Dad - Paul Copley
- Thomas Dodd - Derren Nesbitt
- Sisterman Constant - Pamela Binns
- Frank Hartley - Jim Hartley
- Mrs Ginsberg - Ann Jenkins
- Doctorman Allan - Sally Knyvette
- Cybermen / Cyber-Commander Zheng - Nicholas Briggs
References
- Yvonne has a Cybermat as a pet.
- The Doctor tries to fight off a Cyberman with gold, but it has no effect.
- This story marks the first chronological appearance of a Cyber-Planner. It originates in a union of the brightest minds of the Mondasian Council.
Notes
- Tom MacRae, who wrote DW: The Age of Steel and Rise of the Cybermen, drew inspiration from this story and gave Marc Platt a story credit as acknowledgment.
- This story has similarities to the unproduced story Genesis of the Cybermen. Both looked into the past of the Cybermen and featured the Fifth Doctor. (REF: Doctor Who: Cybermen)
- Paul Copley (Mr Hartley) would later play Clem McDonald in Series 3 of Torchwood.
- Derren Nesbitt (Thomas Dodd) previously played Tegana in DW: Marco Polo and would later play Ordinal-General Quences, the Doctor's great-great-uncle, in BFDWU: Auld Mortality.
- This audio drama was recorded on 26 and 27 March 2002.
Continuity
- This story takes place at the beginning of the Cybermen's creation. Many of its events lead into those of DW: The Tenth Planet.
- Cyber-Commander Zheng would later return for a cameo appearance in BFA: The Reaping. That story depicted him as still being operational in September 1984. It is therefore logical to assume that he was on Mondas during the events of DW: The Tenth Planet, which took place in December 1986, and perished when the planet was destroyed.
- The Doctor's desire to eliminate the Cybermen from history is rather incoherent, since having no Cybermen means not only that Adric might not die (DW: Earthshock), but also that Zoe Heriot may never start travelling with the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon (DW: The Wheel in Space) and it would alter the circumstances of his first regeneration (DW: The Tenth Planet). Furthermore, it would have numerous other serious implications on the Web of Time.
Timeline
For the the Fifth Doctor
- Spare Parts occurs after ST: The Eternity Contract
- Spare Parts occurs before ST: Confabula
For the Cybermen
- Spare Parts occurs before DW: The Tenth Planet
External links
- Official Spare Parts page at bigfinish.com
- Spare Parts at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Spare Parts at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
