Food Fight (audio story)
Food Fight was the third story in the audio anthology Ravagers, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, Camilla Beeput as Nova and Jayne McKenna as Audrey.
Publisher's summary
The TARDIS is starting to get a little crowded! Audrey finds herself haunted by a ghostly Doctor.
Plot
Inside the TARDIS, the Ninth Doctor and Nova discuss how to find the drones that attacked Nova and reprogram them to wipe out the time particles as the Doctor works on the lead one. He explains that the TARDIS can reverse-navigate by detecting a time eddy that includes Nova's DNA, but as they arrive, the Doctor is instead forced to dodge a laser blast from the robot warrior that Lieutenant Farraday had been made to fight. Theorising that they followed the wrong DNA, the Doctor is surprised to find Farraday and brings him into the safety of the TARDIS before taking off. As the Doctor introduces Nova and Farraday to each other and Farraday recovers from the ordeal, the Doctor realises that Audrey Mohinson was right in saying that they do not have enough time to fix everything person by person.
On Tarlishia, an evacuation ship carries off members of the public to be placed in hibernation. Audrey encounters another vision of the Doctor, five years on from the last time he spoke. She describes how she is trying to make a new weapon from the Gallifreyan node to stop the Ravagers, but it is too late for her planet with its president dead. Understanding that the Doctor is from her future, she explains that her plan is to slow down the Ravagers using a certain pheromone, but the Doctor simply disappears as she talks.
The TARDIS attempts to follow the correct DNA again, this time landing back in 1959 London as Captain Halloran and Marcus Aurelius Gallius battle, materialising over both of them with the Doctor disarming Marcus. He attempts to explain the situation to the confused group but quickly leaves the questions to Nova so he can work. Meanwhile, Audrey receives another vision of the Doctor as she activates the Sphere of Freedom, now with a much less kind personality after another ten years of waiting. He asks why she wants to use time eddies to place people inside her immersive reality games, but she explains that their experiences are real and are fed back into the games to make them addictive, in turn creating profit for further research and development. The Doctor just leaves again, much to her frustration.
In the TARDIS, Marcus attempts to attack the rest of the group, forcing everyone else to restrain him with difficulty as the Doctor flies the TARDIS. With Marcus trying to escape, the Doctor lets him out of the doors into the middle of the Time Vortex, held safe by the TARDIS forcefields, which eventually convinces him to join their side. The TARDIS successfully lands on the planet Nova was taken to, immediately after the Doctor left with her, and releases the prime drone, which he has now nicknamed "Cynthia", to join its fellows to reprogram them. He then visits the Sphere of Freedom directly after the TARDIS was first captured by Audrey and shows her the drone fleet and his new acquaintances. With the drones not yet activating, Audrey calls her guards back to imprison them, but Marcus incites a mass brawl as the Doctor tries to get his friends to safety.
Cast
- The Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
- Nova - Camilla Beeput
- Ravager - Clare Corbett
- Farraday - Ben Lee
- Drones - Anjella MacKintosh
- Audrey - Jayne McKenna
- Halloran — Jamie Parker
- Marcus Aurelius Gallius — Dan Starkey
References
- The Doctor realises that Farraday is "a few years early" to know about DNA.
- The Doctor explains how in Farraday's time, space travel extended only as far as "an orbital dog".
- Farraday likely encountered robot gladiators from Brengross Five which were outlawed in 3052.
- Nova has never heard of tea.
- 2D vids have taught Nova about Hercules.
- The Doctor laughs at Nova when he deems her a "sci-fi nerd".
- Nova is a huge fan of Professor X, having watched all 861 episodes, which is the same amount of Doctor Who TV episodes when the story was recorded.
Notes
- This story was recorded remotely during 2020.
- The CD and download version presented the story a one-part story, whilst the vinyl version presented the story as a two-parter.[1]
Continuity
to be added
External links
- Official Food Fight page at bigfinish.com
