Rise and Fall (audio story)
Rise and Fall was a 2010 Big Finish audio short story, read by William Russell and featuring the First Doctor and Ian Chesterton. It was the only story on Short Trips: Volume 1 by an author who was not making their Big Finish debut. It was also by far the longest story on the anthology, being essentially the length of a televised episode from the Hartnell era.
Summary
Looking for a respite after their involvement in the French Revolution, the TARDIS crew materialize on a planet to which the Doctor's never been before. While the girls are enjoying themselves in the TARDIS wardrobe, Ian and the Doctor step out onto a verdant, but scarcely populated world.
There, they encounter an equine humanoid species, and, in a matter of moments, watch the civilization rise, flourish, and fall. The perspective of the planet's inhabitants is entirely different, however. For them, time is passing very slowly, and the Doctor, Ian and the TARDIS become an omnipresent part of their society. Generations speculate on the meaning of the blue box and the two aliens who are near it.
Ultimately, however, the extreme difference in the way time passes for both the observers and the observed makes communication between the two impossible. After witnessing the end of the planet's civilisation, the Doctor and Ian return to the TARDIS and dematerialize to a new adventure.
Characters
References
- Neither the natives of the planet, nor the planet itself, are ever named in the play.
- The rise and fall of the time rotor is an explicit metaphor for the rise and fall of civilisation.
- Susan tries on a dress from the 29th century and a Regency ball gown, indicating two unrecorded First Doctor adventures.
Notes
- This story was made available from the Big Finish podcast on the 29th December 2010.
- The plot of this story is quite similar to that of the Star Trek: Voyager Season Six episode "Blink of an Eye".
Continuity
- The TARDIS crew's recent involvement in French local politics is mentioned. (DW: The Reign of Terror)
- Ian thinks the Doctor's manipulation of the TARDIS console is apparently competent. This refers to the early doubts Ian and Barbara had about whether the Doctor actually knew how to fly the TARDIS — and, indeed, his own admission that he could not really control it. (DW: An Unearthly Child and others)
Timeline
Direct references to the TARDIS crew's recent trip to France indicates this story is set somewhere between DW: The Reign of Terror and Planet of Giants. Because both Ian and the Doctor seem to be looking for a rest from, as Ian puts it, "local politics", this adventure could even be the one that immediately follows Reign.
