Dominion (audio story)
Dominion was a full cast audio story released on 23 October 2012 by Big Finish Productions as part of the UNIT audio series. It featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Beth Chalmers as Raine Creevy, Tracey Childs as Elizabeth Klein, Sophie Aldred as Ace and introduced Alex Macqueen as the Reborn Master.
This story is the debut story for another incarnation of the Master, played by MacQueen, who masquerades (and is credited) as "the Other Doctor", a supposed future incarnation, and for the first 3 parts of the story he is "the Doctor" of the story, filling the role that the Doctor would normally fill in a story of this style. It was the first time Big Finish had invented a unique incarnation of the Master, as opposed to reusing an incarnation from the television series.
According to Nicholas Briggs on the behind the scenes CD, this story was much about doing another UNIT series featuring the Doctor, unlike the previous series which barely mentioned him. At four 60 minute parts, this is the single longest story to feature the Seventh Doctor, having a running time of four hours, double the length of most stories featuring him.
Publisher's summary
The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis — and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it.
Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions.
At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart.
Plot
Part one
Dr Elizabeth Klein, UNIT's scientific advisor, makes a recording in which she says that she is being stalked, in real life and in her dreams, by the Doctor, whom she calls the "Umbrella Man". Whilst she can go months or even years without seeing him, he always returns to watch her from the shadows.
The Doctor and Raine Creevy are about to drink tea when the TARDIS receives a distress call from another dimension, which the Doctor says never happens. They then receive a message from Gallifrey in which Ace tries to pass on a message from the Time Lords before she seemingly loses signal. The TARDIS is dragged off-course and through the dimensional divide by the distress call.
In a tent in Central London, Klein analyses a twelve-foot carbuncle of living stone which is buried too deep in the ground to be removed. She takes a sliver of the stone and begins to analyse it further at the laboratory, but she is interrupted by the materialisation of a TARDIS. A bald man without an umbrella steps out and identifies himself as the Doctor.
In another dimension, the Doctor and Raine are visited by the Other Doctor who warns them not to help the Tolians. He then leaves to continue helping UNIT in Nevada, leaving the Doctor and Raine to examine a strange, fleshy rock which is drawing energy out of this world. They meet Arunzell and other the Tolians, who sent the distress call to get help as their planet is withering away because of the energy drain. Raine reminds the Doctor that the Other Doctor said not to trust them, but the Doctor is dismissive.
After being awoken by his wife, Sylvie, Sergeant Pete Wilson arrives late at UNIT HQ and is sent by Colonel Lafayette to guard the growing carbuncle in London with Private Phillips and Private Maynard. The Other Doctor tells Lafayette that he has come for a spare Naridian pulse lobe from the store cupboard, to which Lafayette agrees to give him access in return for assisting Klein with the carbuncle. The Other Doctor identifies it as an energy node, which is confirmed when power shortages are reported across the city. He says that he could shrink it down and stop it using a Naridian pulse lobe.
The Doctor uses a Naridian pulse lobe to shrink the rock down to its original snooker ball size and tells Raine that it is an energy node, a relic of the legendary Dimensioneers. The Tolians' energy does not return, however, and they continue to die. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and locates a hidden room with a node activator which could save the Tolians by drawing power from other dimensions.
Klein confronts the Other Doctor about haunting her as the Umbrella Man after visiting her once at UNIT, which he admits is strange behaviour but says that he cannot recall. He then shrinks down the carbuncle. When Phillips reports that the people at Manix Insurance in the Excalibur Building have begun to act strangely, Lafayette has it evacuated and prepares to investigate. Klein forces the Other Doctor to hand over the node for her to inspect later and takes him to investigate the Excalibur Building, stopping a departing ambulance on the way to look over a patient. The patient's eyes are completely white and her mind is eroded.
Phillips goes to the Excalbur Building but is affected by the phenomenon, so Wilson and Maynard head upstairs in gas masks to find him despite Lafayette's orders. Maynard is mentally attacked by a creature, causing him to forget how to shoot, and Wilson finds Phillips repeating his name and unable to walk. The Other Doctor bursts in and tells Wilson and Phillips to leave, Maynard having thrown himself down the stairs to get away, whilst he gets a look at the creatures, which he names mind leeches. He hypnotises five soldiers to protect their minds, allowing them to shoot and kill the creatures.
The Doctor activates the node to restore energy to the Tolians and their planet. Arunzell demands that the Doctor increases the energy and throws Raine from a height when he refuses to open the door any wider. However, Raine lands in the interdimensional corridor created by the node and the Doctor jumps in too. He says that other dimensions will now be dying and that creatures will flock to safe ones, resulting in total dimensional chaos.
Whilst Lafayette goes to brief the Ministry of Defence and give news interviews, the Other Doctor scans the area and finds that the mind leeches came from another dimension. Klein believes that the leeches must be connected to the node and demands that she and the Other Doctor study it together, refusing to allow him to take it out of her sight. Suddenly, Wilson alerts them to what seem to be the giant head of a child flying over London.
Part two
Lafayette orders Wilson to transport Klein and the Other Doctor from the Excalibur Building to Camden Lock and tells the Other Doctor, who says that analysing the node is more important, that his TARDIS has been moved to a secure facility and will not be returned to him until the situation is over. Before heading to the roof to leave by helicopter, the Other Doctor and Klein tell Wilson that Maynard is in hospital and Phillips will likely live the rest of his life in a vegatative state.
The Doctor realises that the node is feeding on his and Raine's energy and that, as they cannot return to the Tolian dimension, they will have to move forwards through the interdimensional corridor. They see Ace, projected to them with the help of the Time Lords, and she tries to give them a warning, mentioning Tersurus and the Dimensioneers before disappearing. The Doctor and Raine use the same mental power to open a door before the corridor collapses.
Liz Morrison reports on the Skyhead and goes live to John Starr beneath it in Camden Lock. Starr says that it is unlikely to be a hoax and is as close to a formal alien visitation that the world has seen.
According to Wilson, about twenty Skyheads have appeared around the planet, making Klein suspect that an invasion is imminent. The Other Doctor tries to persuade Lafayette not to attempt to communicate with the Skyhead, but he does not listen. The Skyhead tells him that their home is dying and that they need a new one, killing Lafayette with a gust of wind from its mouth when he says that Earth cannot be their new home. The Other Doctor has the helicopter flown close to the Skyhead to talk to it, but it blows the helicopter into the canal.
Major Wyland-Jones takes over from Lafayette and has UNIT open fire on the Skyhead, killing it and covering the streets in blood. The Other Doctor pulls Klein from the water, asking if she still has the node in her pocket, and Wilson washes up on the other side. Wyland-Jones gives the briefest of comments to Starr on Lafayette's death and is introduced to the Other Doctor and Klein, telling them that he has been preparing to replace Lafayette for several weeks due to his incompetence. Wilson informs them that the Skyheads around the world are now heading to London.
The Other Doctor tells Klein that he needs to analyse the node, but Wilson informs them that the Other Doctor needs to brief people in Ukraine on hypnosis over the telephone and that Klein has to go to Schwartzwald to deal with another alien incursion. Klein decides to take the node with her. The Other Doctor looks at the Skyhead's remains and confirms that it came from another dimension, but demands that Wyland-Jones return Klein and the TARDIS to him so that he can analyse the node. Wyland-Jones refuses.
Arriving on a volcanic planet, the Doctor and Raine flee from a Lava Spider and hide inside a cave where they find another interdimensional door. They follow other spiders through an interdimensional corridor.
On the way to Germany, Wilson talks to Sylvie, who is coming to the end of her pregnancy and worries about him. Klein cuts the call short and asks Wilson to get a call through to UNIT's surveillance people. They arrive in Baden-Württemberg and meet UNIT contact Hauptmann Jonas Beyer, who tells them about the attacking Lava Spiders and supplies Klein with a tissue sample. As they drive to a lab to test it, the car is attacked by a Lava Spider and they crash.
The Other Doctor and Wyland-Jones take the remains of the Skyhead out of London to a hangar, reasoning that the other Skyheads will follow it. When the Skyheads arrive, three of them blow the hangar away due to a suspicion of the enclosed space. The Other Doctor assures them that the death of their friend was a mistake.
Klein, Wilson and Maynard find themselves tied up in webs and see that Beyer has been killed. The spiders inject lava into the webs to cook the humans, but the Other Doctor arrives astride a Skyhead and has it blow the spiders and some of the webs away. Klein, Wilson and Maynard climb aboard the Skyheads and go to investigate a shimmer in the forest which the Other Doctor believes could be a door to another dimension. The Skyheads blow the spiders back through the door towards the Doctor and Raine.
Part three
Klein notices two people through the doorway and the Other Doctor, recognising the Doctor, goes in on his Skyhead and saves them. He is surprised that the Doctor and Raine recognise him, learning that they have met him already in his personal future, and with the Doctor's help is able to persuade Klein to hand over the node to close the doorway. Back in London, Klein shows the node to Wyland-Jones and admits that, like him, she does not trust either of the Doctors.
Wilson confines the two Doctors and Raine to a laboratory on Wyland-Jones's orders. The Other Doctor deduces that the Doctor caused the dimensional instability by using the node activator and attempting to distribute energy equally and, after the Doctor relays his history with Klein, says that the instability makes it all the more important that Klein does not learn of her past. Were she to be reminded of her life as a Nazi in another life, her reinvented life could be undone in her mind. It is for this reason that the Doctor has been keeping an eye on her over the years.
Two separate alien incursions are occurring on Earth: one in Las Vegas and another in Tokyo. Colonel Hank Tennison informs Wyland-Jones of a series of cubes firing energy beams and self-destructing. Klein and Tennison both tell Wyland-Jones that they need the help of the Doctor; he agrees and sends Klein to brief both of them whilst he gets in contact with General Nakatomi. She checks with Wilson to see if they have heard from surveillance yet, which they have not, and brings the Doctors to Wyland-Jones, permitting Raine to join them but giving her a stern warning.
An alien cephalopod which the Other Doctor recognises as a Nexus has attached itself to most of Shibuya and will soon cause the buildings to disintegrate. An alarm sounds and another doorway opens in UNIT HQ through which a dying creature attempts to emerge before the Other Doctor uses the node to close it. The Doctors believe that they can resolve the situation by travelling to the Tolian dimension, but Wyland-Jones refuses to give them access to the Other Doctor's TARDIS. He divides the team into two; Wyland-Jones, the Doctor and Klein will go to Las Vegas whilst Wilson, the Other Doctor and Raine go to Tokyo, transported by the Skyheads.
In Tokyo, Wilson asks Raine about her distrust of the Other Doctor, whom she deems a "cocky smartarse". The Other Doctor communicates with the Nexus and learns that only three of its multiple personalities remain, at least three having died of shock during the interdimensional crossing. The three remaining, unfortunately, are in a bad mood, but the Other Doctor somehow manages to persuade them to relocate to the Philippine Sea to await transport back to their own dimension.
In Las Vegas, the Doctor wonders why the cubes self-destruct given that they are escaping from their dying universe. Klein examines the remains of one and they find that the cubes come from a freezing cold universe and that Nevada is too hot for them, causing them to explode. When a doorway opens, Klein advises Tennison to create a firestorm using flamethrowers and the breath of the Skyheads to destroy them. The plan is apparently successful and Klein contacts the Other Doctor to close the door with the node, but the remaining cubes combine into one and prepare to explode in order to blast the door wide open.
When the Other Doctor, Raine and Wilson arrive, Klein refuses to hand over the node until the Other Doctor disembarks his Skyhead. The Other Doctor will not close the door, however, until Wyland-Jones has UNIT HQ release the TARDIS and Klein hands over the node. Whilst Wyland-Jones gives in, Klein refuses to and the Other Doctor flies away, returning moments later in his TARDIS. Klein gives him the node, but he immediately retreats back into the TARDIS, shot at by Wyland-Jones and followed in by the Doctor. The Other Doctor tells him that he picked his TARDIS up secondhand on Tersurus and, after extruding the Tolian interdimensional corridor, reveals that he is the Master.
Part four
The materialisation of a TARDIS with High Council privileges in the lower vaults of Tersurus is detected. When Tersurus Control contact the Castellan on Gallifrey, he tells them that the TARDIS is Goth's and is no doubt being used by the Master. They refuse to retroactively update the systems to keep the TARDIS out without presidential authority, however, and signal is soon lost. The Master arrives and uses his Tissue Compression Eliminator to kill two Time Lords to gain access to a vault containing Dimensioneer technology.
The Master tells the Doctor how he gained the Dimensioneers' knowledge from the vault but lacked a node activator, which could only be found in a Type 40; as a result, he had to involve the Doctor in his plans, joining forces with the Tolians to manipulate him by sending out the distress call. The Master takes him into the interdimensional corridor and tells him that both nodes are in the activator and that he intends to slave the Doctor's mind to the machine and use him to have control over the dimensions.
Raine is detained by UNIT and brought dinner by Wilson who, despite being told not to talk to her, tells her that Sylvie is long overdue to give birth and that neither of the Doctors have been seen since Las Vegas. Klein, listening in on them, calls Wilson away and shows him CCTV from UNIT surveillance of the Master placing the node in London to grow, culminating in it coming to UNIT's attention. Klein, Wilson and Wyland-Jones go to speak with Raine, who tells them about what happened in the Tolian dimension.
The Master explains to the bound Doctor that the energy that the Doctor brought to the Tolians' planet has made the planet ripe for the creation of a master race. He tries to persuade the Doctor to give into the machine, but he declines. The Master uses a hologram to show the Doctor what he sees and returns to his TARDIS, showing him the Tolians going to Earth to massacre UNIT and kill Raine and Klein.
Wilson and the other soldiers fight the Tolians and Maynard is killed. Unable to escape by helicopter, Raine, Klein and Wyland-Jones, later joined by Wilson, go to the lab to use Klein's force field technology, based on dishes used by the Third Doctor during the business with Omega. As they set it up, a TARDIS materialises and the Master steps out, continuing the ruse and claiming that the Doctor is unwell. Wyland-Jones draws his gun and forces the Master to let them into his TARDIS for protection; the Master then orders the Tolians to destroy the human race beginning with the UK. Starr reports on the attack and is killed.
The Master prepares to kill the humans with his TCE, their guns disabled by his TARDIS, but Wyland-Jones and Wilson escape and he instead chooses to reveal the truth to Klein: that prior to her life being rewritten, she was part of the Third Reich. He then kicks her and Raine out of his TARDIS and they regroup with Wyland-Jones and Wilson, using the force field to protect themselves from an approaching Tolian.
The Doctor tells Arunzell that the Master planted the nodes on Earth and the Tolian planet and convinces him to set him free. When the Master returns, the Doctor and Arunzell confront him and reveal that they know that the dimensional energy will kill the Tolians after living only a tenth of their usual lifespan. The enraged Arunzell forces the Master to return the Doctor's TARDIS key and attempts to recall the Tolian forces, but the Master locked the interdimensional corridor to prevent them from returning from Earth without his saying so. The Doctor destroys one of the nodes.
Sylvie tries to get in touch with Wilson and UNIT without success and instead calls her mother, telling her that she thinks she is going into labour. She gives birth to her baby in front of a Tolian, who chooses not to attack her.
The Doctor returns to Raine, Klein, Wyland-Jones and Wilson in his TARDIS and uses the surviving node to open a doorway, allowing Arunzell's message to get to Earth and the Tolians to depart. Wyland-Jones tells the Doctor that he will draw up a report and asks for the node, considering it property of UNIT, but he is told that it is "quite exploded". The Doctor goes to speak to Klein alone and Wilson tells Raine that Sylvie has given birth to a son, Ben. He and Raine go for a coffee and discuss the uncertain fate of the Master.
In the Tolian dimension, the Tolians have lost their new strength, allowing the Master to get his TCE and kill Arunzell. He returns to his TARDIS to go back to Tersurus to try his plan again.
Finding a note telling him to play a tape recorder, the Doctor listens to Klein talk about her thoughts and feelings on having been followed by the Umbrella Man. She enters and the Doctor posits why he and the Master are different given that they had the same heritage and upbringing; whilst Klein does not have an answer, she believes that the Master enjoyed pretending to be the Doctor and envied him. Wilson bursts in, followed by Raine, and holds the Doctor at gunpoint. The Doctor realises that Wilson is hypnotised, just as the Nexus was to go into the Philippine Sea despite being unable to swim. When Wilson shoots, Klein takes the bullet to her arm.
Raine is able to break Wilson's conditioning by talking to him about Ben. He passes out and Wyland-Jones calls for the medical officer. Later, Klein walks with the Doctor and Raine to the TARDIS and is given a space-time telegraph. The Doctor has no intention of watching over Klein anymore, but will break his rule of "first come, first served" if she ever needs his help.
Cast
- The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
- The Other Doctor - Alex Macqueen
- Raine Creevy / Sylvie's Mum - Beth Chalmers
- Dr Elizabeth Klein - Tracey Childs
- Sergeant Wilson / Tolians - Bradley Gardner
- Colonel Lafayette - Julian Dutton
- Sylvie Wilson / Liz Morrison / Nexus / Time Lord - Miranda Keeling
- Private Maynard / Arunzell / Skyheads / Colonel Tennison / General Nakatomi - Alex Mallinson
- Private Phillips / John Starr / Tolians / Hauptmann Beyer / Medic / Nexus - Ben Porter
- Major Wyland-Jones / Trooper / Castellan - Sam Clemens
- UNIT Operator - Martin Johnson
- Time Lord - Nicholas Briggs
Uncredited
References
Culture
- Klein mentions the Financial Times.
- Wilson brings Raine tikka masala.
Individuals
- Klein met Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart briefly before his retirement. Major Wyland-Jones describes him as "a great man" and tells Klein that UNIT files indicate that he worked with three different incarnations, namely the second, third and fourth incarnations.
- Sylvie gives birth to a son, Ben. She and Wilson expected the baby to be a girl and had chosen the name "Chloe".
- Hauptmann Jonas Beyer has two sons: one is four and the other six.
Technology
- The Doctor hands Klein a space-time telegraph before he leaves.
- The Master uses his Tissue Compression Eliminator to kill two Time Lords on Tersurus.
- The Master compares the technology of the Dimensioneers to the Key to Time.
UNIT
- The password string for UNIT is "Yeti-Inferno-Kettlewell-Zygon-Krynoid-Kraal".
- Lafayette has been leading UNIT for three months.
Notes
- David Richardson suggested doing another series of UNIT. Given that Klein was established as working at UNIT in The Architects of History, it was decided that she would be the mainstay. (BFX: Dominion)
- Nicholas Briggs wrote "a vague storyline" for the story, but was advised by Richardson to pass it onto another writer due to his busy schedule. Briggs gave it to Jason Arnopp, who had recently written The Demons of Red Lodge. (BFX: Dominion)
- Arnopp's script originally included another alien incursion in South Africa, but Briggs deemed it to be one too many. (BFX: Dominion)
- The original script did not explain the origin of the node technology. Upon doing a rewrite of Arnopp's script, Briggs came up with the Dimensioneers. (BFX: Dominion)
- After Wyland-Jones takes over from Lafayette, Klein says "come back, Colonel. All is forgiven". This is a reference to the T-shirts that Anneke Wills and Michael Craze wore when Patrick Troughton took over as the Doctor, jokingly asking William Hartnell back.
- Nicholas Briggs has indicated that this story is set near the end of the Doctor's seventh incarnation. Raine Creevy is travelling with him (possibly a later trip) while Ace is on Gallifrey. The Master is in an unidentified incarnation. (BFX: Dominion)
- Recording was delayed due to Sylvester McCoy filming The Hobbit. (BFX: Dominion)
- This audio drama was recorded on 12, 13, 15 and 16 December 2011 at The Moat Studios.
- As part of the UNIT series, the CD spine was numbering as 2.1, 2.2 etc., with the first series having concluded seven years earlier with The Wasting.
- Due to creative differences with Andrew Cartmel over her appearance in this story, this marks Raine's last appearance in a Big Finish audio to date.[source needed]
- After the 2019 redesign of the Big Finish website, this release was added to The Seventh Doctor Adventures.
Covers
This story was released across 4 CDs each with its own cover. Each cover featured one of the four main characters of this story; the Seventh Doctor, Elizabeth Klein, Raine Creevy and the Master.
The TARDIS the Master uses as depicted on the cover for the first part is that of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor's, one of the rare instances where Big Finish was, at that time, allowed to incorporate elements from the post-2005 version of the show. This tied into the fakeout that Macqueen was a future Doctor.
Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four
Continuity
- The Other Doctor refers to Raine and Sergeant Wilson as his "faithful acolytes". He refers to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart as "a splendid fellow". (TV: The Five Doctors)
- The Other Doctor mentions General Adrienne Kramer being among the leaders of UNIT. (PROSE: Vampire Science)
- The Doctor states that in his old age he may forget the rules of time, or worse, think himself above them. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
- The Doctor is confused how his "future self" could cross dimensions, saying the Time Lords are unlikely to start allowing that. Raine says that maybe the Time Lords are gone in the "Other Doctor's" time. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell, TV: Rose, Rise of the Cybermen)
- The Other Doctor reminisces about the Axons, the Autons and the Sea Devils. (TV: The Claws of Axos, Terror of the Autons, The Sea Devils)
- When Klein meets Jonas Beyer, she says that she believes she once knew someone called Jonas. (AUDIO: Klein's Story)
- The Doctor tells Raine of his past with Klein, the fact that she was a Nazi in an alternative timeline and his ultimate re-writing of her history. (AUDIO: Colditz, The Architects of History)
- Klein mentions the "Omega business" while Major Wyland-Jones refers to a meeting with more than one Doctor at the same time. (TV: The Three Doctors)
- The Master still has Lord Chancellor Goth's TARDIS, which he stole after his death on Gallifrey. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
- The Master refers to the fact that the Doctor's TARDIS is the last remaining Type 40 TARDIS still in operation. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
- The Master tells the Doctor that he likes the sound of the phrase "Master Race." (TV: The End of Time)
- The Master mentions the Key to Time. (TV: The Ribos Operation)
- The Doctors says the distress calls he receives are "first come, first serve," saying "you'd go mad otherwise." (TV: Planet of Evil et al.)
- Ace is on Gallifrey. (AUDIO: Thin Ice, The Lights of Skaro)
- The Master claims the Doctor is filled with "the cancer of compassion". Davros would later tell the Twelfth Doctor that "[compassion] grows strong in [him] like a cancer". (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
- Before saying farewell, the Doctor gives to Klein a space-time telegraph in case she needed to contact him directly. He previously gave one to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, The Day of the Doctor et al)
External links
- Official Dominion page at bigfinish.com
- DisContinuity for UNIT: Dominion at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
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