The Exxilons (audio story)
- You may wish to consult
Exxilon (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
The Exxilons was the first story in the fourth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as K9 Mark I.
It was also the first performed appearance of the Exxilons since their debut in Death to the Daleks in 1974. This story is a prequel to that story.
Publisher's summary
Planet E9874 supports a developing civilisation known as the Tarl. The peaceful, technologically advanced Locoyuns are helping the Tarl develop rudimentary technology. What could be more innocent than that?
When the Doctor, Leela and K9 arrive, they find the delicate balance in the relationship between the two cultures reaching an unexpected crisis point. The spears are flying and the threat of all-out war is in the air.
The Doctor must use all his guile to tread a careful path with Tarl leader Ergu, while Leela and K9 discover an ancient power of unimaginable strength which threatens to tear the minds out of its victims.
Plot
Part one
to be added
Part two
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Leela - Louise Jameson
- K9 Mark I - John Leeson
- Trexa - Daisy Dunlop
- Calura - Jacqueline King
- Gethal - Hugh Ross
- Ergu - Tim Treloar
Crew
- Cover Art - Anthony Lamb
- Writer & Director - Nicholas Briggs
- Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
- Music & Sound Design - Alistair Lock
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - John Dorney
- Exxilons created by Terry Nation
Worldbuilding
- K9 compares the Tarl to Tellurian Neanderthals.
Notes
- This is the first appearance of the Exxilons in an audio story.
- Nicholas Briggs, author and self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Death to the Daleks Fan", wanted this story to explore the history of the Exxilons and have the flavour of adventure movies like King Solomon's Mines. (VOR 72)
- David Richardson initially suggested the idea of a story in which the Fourth Doctor encounters the Exxilons to Briggs. Assuming script writing duties, Briggs decided to set it earlier in Exxilon history than was depicted in Death to the Daleks, during the period where the Exxilons were still an advanced civilisation travelling to other planets. He considered setting the story on Earth and possibly exploring Peruvian temples bearing the Exxilon symbols, but ultimately chose to create a new planet instead. (BFX: The Exxilons)
- The opening of this story pays direct homage to the opening of Death to the Daleks. Just as that story opens up with one space marine getting shot by an Exxilon arrow, The Exxilons open up with advanced space travellers getting impaled by primitive spears. Briggs decided to play with audience expectations by revealing later in the story that the Exxilons were the ones under attack. (BFX: The Exxilons)
- Louise Jameson was not aware the Exxilons had previously appeared in a Doctor Who story before recording for this one. (BFX: The Exxilons)
- This story was recorded on 28 August 2013 at Audio Sorcery.
- The Fourth Doctor, Leela, K9 and the Exxilons all later appeared in The Dalek Protocol in 2021, which serves as a sequel to Death to the Daleks while The Exxilons serves as a prequel. Briggs wrote and directed both stories.
Continuity
- The Third Doctor previously encountered the Exxilons on their home planet Exxilon during a Dalek incursion. (TV: Death to the Daleks) During his seventh incarnation, the Doctor would later encounter the psychevore Huitzilin, partially created through mutation from an Exxilon device. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)
- K9 uses the term "Tellurian" to refer to humans. (TV: Carnival of Monsters, The Sun Makers, The Two Doctors)
- Leela refers to the Tesh. (TV: The Face of Evil)
- The Doctor tells Ergu that the Great City of the Exxilons eventually destroyed its creators. (TV: Death to the Daleks)
- The Doctor notes that he saw the markings featured on the beacon in both a temple in Peru and the Great City. (TV: Death to the Daleks)
External links
- Official The Exxilons page at bigfinish.com
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