Masters of Earth (audio story)

Masters of Earth
Doctor:	Sixth Doctor
Companion(s):	Peri
Main enemy:	The Daleks
Main setting:	Scotland, Earth, 2163
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writers:	Mark Wright and Cavan Scott
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Music:	Nicholas Briggs
Sound:	Martin Montague
Cover by:	Anthony Lamb
Release details
Release number:	193
Release date:	11 November 2014
Format:	4 Parts, 2 CDs
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-333-7
Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories
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Next →	The Rani Elite

Masters of Earth was the one hundred and ninety-third story in Big Finish's monthly range.

Publisher's summary

The year is 2163. Ten years since the Daleks invaded the Earth. One year until the Doctor, in his first incarnation, will help bring the occupation to an end. But for now, their reign of terror goes on.

TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to Scotland – enslaved, like everywhere else on the planet. But there are rumours of Dalek-free islands off its coast. Places where resistors and refuseniks are coming together, gathering arms and armour, preparing to strike back against the enemy.

When the Doctor falls in with an unlikely group of freedom fighters making that dangerous journey to Orkney, he finds himself trapped – but not only by the Daleks, their robotised henchmen and their human collaborators.

By history.

Because history shows that for another year, resistance is useless...

The rebellion must fail – and as a Time Lord, the Doctor can do nothing to help.

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Colin Baker
• Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
• Moira Brody - Tracy Wiles
• Alan Weir - Brian McCardie
• Ross Nicolson - Sean Biggerstaff
• Kyle Inskip - Hugh Ross
• Curbishly - Damian Lynch
• The Daleks/Roboman - Nicholas Briggs

References

Cultural references to the real world

• The Doctor compares Moira to Rob Roy, about whom he says he could tell Peri stories.
• Peri likens the Robomen to Boris Karloff, who played Frankenstein's monster in Universal's 1930s film series.
• The Doctor says that his tricks are better than Houdini's.

Companions

• The Doctor mentions Jamie McCrimmon.

• The Doctor reminds Peri that she was born in Baltimore to Paul and Janine Brown.
• The Doctor recalls visiting Scrabster Harbour with Dodo in 1947, in which he assisted a weapons convoy when he encountered a Slavian scout ship.

The Daleks

• The Daleks are unfamiliar with the Doctor as the invasion takes place early in their history.
• The Daleks make use of transolar discs.
• The Doctor is interrogated by a Black Dalek, distinct from the Supreme Controller.

Earth

• There is a strong resistance movement in the Orkney islands, 100 miles from where the Doctor and Peri are. The Daleks have wiped out much of the Highlands.
• There have been resistance movements in Australia and China, but these were crushed by the Daleks within days.
• The Daleks have set-up plantations of Varga plants on Earth.
• Peri remembers Boston Harbour.

Concepts

• Peri refers to the web of time.

Textless cover art

Notes

• The story's title is often quoted by the Daleks:
  • "We are the Masters of Earth" in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
  • "Now the Daleks are the Masters of Earth" in The Stolen Earth
• Taking place in 2163, which is stated to be a year before the invasion ends, the story explicitly dates the Dalek invasion as happening between 2152 (when the meteorite bombardment began, as far as Kyle is able to recall, although his memory is a bit fuzzy) and 2164, based off the calendar the Doctor and Ian find in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. This is at odds with other stories including The Daleks' Master Plan, GodEngine, Lucifer Rising and The Mutant Phase, which date the invasion in the ten years between 2157 and 2167.

Continuity

• The First Doctor aided in ending the Dalek occupation of Earth in (presumably) 2164, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) after the Seventh Doctor later released a biological agent that would help some humans survive the Dalek plagues, enabling him to have assistance. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising) He says he said goodbye to someone "very precious" on that day.
• Varga plants first appeared on Kembel. (TV: Mission to the Unknown)
• Slythers also appear on Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
• Peri refers to her time on Krontep in the 24th century. (TV: Mindwarp; AUDIO: The Widow's Assassin)
• The Doctor refers to Susan Foreman's departure. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
• Peri mentions spending a long time apart from the Doctor. (AUDIO: The Widow's Assassin)
• Peri describes the Daleks on Earth as looking more primitive than the ones that she met on Necros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
• The Doctor tells Peri that he once had the opportunity to avert the creation of the Daleks. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)