The Wrong Doctors (audio story)

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Revision as of 14:50, 28 October 2019 by 79.72.20.41 (talk) (→‎Part one)
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The Wrong Doctors was the one hundred and sixty-ninth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

Publisher's summary

With Evelyn gone, the Doctor sets course for his destiny... in the form of his first meeting with Miss Melanie Bush, a computer programmer from the village of Pease Pottage, currently busy rehearsing with the local Amateur Dramatic Society — and blissfully unaware that her future is on its way, in his TARDIS.

Make that two TARDISes. Because at that very moment, a slightly younger Doctor is flying into Pease Pottage, too — returning his future companion Melanie Bush to her rightful place and time, after they were flung together during the course of his Time Lord trial.

Time travel is a complicated business — the iguanadon terrorising Pease Pottage being a case in point. But how much more complicated could things possibly become, if the wrong Doctor were to bump into the wrong Mel?

Part one audio

Plot

Part one

The Doctor finishes the last piece of chocolate cake that Evelyn Smythe baked, noting that there won't be any more. Lonely, he thinks its time for Melanie Bush to enter his life. Meanwhile, Mel is auditioning with Mr. Petherbridge, who goes outside to deal with a driver, telling him he should have followed the detour signs as Pease Pottage is closed for heritage matters. The driver refuses to turn around and is attacked by a territorial iguanodon.

The TARDIS arrives in the village: the Doctor is dropping Mel off in her correct time and place, following her relocation to Space Station Zenobia during his trial. After he leaves, Mel notices a cat similar to one she recalls from prior to her travels with the Doctor, and realises that they are one and the same: the Doctor has brought her to the wrong time. The future Doctor arrives at her house, and is surprised to find out Mel already knows him. She explains how the younger Doctor dropped her off after the events of the time lord trial. They both work out that this Doctor is older than the one that dropped off Mel, but younger than the Doctor Mel knows. The older Doctor quickly leaves the house, telling Mel to forget that she ever saw him.

Meanwhile, the younger Doctor is on his way back to his TARDIS when he notices smoke. He also notices that it is a bright, warm day but no one is outside. He follows the smoke and finds the crushed vehicle with the driver still inside. He notices the claw marks on the vehicle and recognises that they belong to an iguanodon. He is stopped by the younger Mel, who accidentally hits him with her bike. He finds out that this younger Mel works at the radar station but doesn’t know about computers, which the older Mel knew lots about. After the younger Mel leaves, the younger Doctor is stopped by Mrs. Wilberforce. Both the younger Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce fail to notice the fatal crash which has happened right in front of them, which immediately disappears right after the younger Doctor mentions it to Mrs. Wilberforce.

The younger Mel arrives at the radar station interrupting Petherbridge contacting someone: she fails to notice this. Just after, Jedediah Thurwell knocks on the door. The younger Mel asks Petherbridge not to answer it: she and Thurwell had a fall out and now she refuses to talk to him. Petherbridge goes outside to speak to Thurwell, who apologises for not turning up to the auditions. Petherbridge instructs Therwell to hold up a carriage, which Thurwell agrees to. The younger Doctor overhears their conversation and, using the information the younger Mel gave him, assumes that Petherbridge is one of these men after Thurwell calls him ‘Mr. P’. He also notices that Thurwell is wearing clothes not from the current time period. Once Petherbridge and Thurwell have gone, the younger Doctor sneaks into the radar station, where the younger Mel is cleaning. Against the younger Mel’s protests, the younger Doctor interferes with the equipment and discovers that the radar station is contacting a spaceship in the woods a few miles away. These were the people Petherbridge was talking to. Suddenly, a time explosion goes off, but the younger Mel says it’s nothing to worry about and that Petherbridge told her what it was. The younger Doctor begins to suspect Petherbridge. He leaves to investigate, telling the younger Mel to stay.

On the spaceship, Captain Ksllak contacts Vaneesh. He explains how his troops are ready and asks if her presentation is ready. She explains how it is but there’s a lot of slides. Ksllak reveals that their mission was originally a training flight but they had to change it.

The younger Doctor is looking around for where the explosion could have come from and sees the older Doctor, who falls into a trap hidden in the middle of the street. The younger Doctor runs up to him and asks if he’s the Doctor or not. He answers his question by contacting him telepathically.

Meanwhile, the older Mel is sitting in her house when Mrs. Wilberforce comes in. The older Mel is confused: she’s never met Mrs. Wilberforce in her entire life. She explains that she’s looking after Mel while her parents are on a cruise. Mrs. Wilberforce notices that Mel looks older and before she can explain, Mrs. Wilberforce finds out that the older Mel is from the future. Mrs. Wilberforce tells the older Mel her life story and that she died in 1964 at the age of 80. Mrs. Wilberforce suggests to the older Mel that they ask Petherbridge about there being two Mels.

The older Doctor, now rescued, escorts the younger Doctor back to where he parked the TARDIS, telling him that the longer he stays, the more Mel’s future is at risk. They return to where both of their TARDISes were parked to find them both gone.

The older Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce step out onto the street to find the iguanodon chewing plants and a barryonix, which is carnivorous. The barryonix sees the older Mel and Mrs. Wilberforce and chases them down the street.

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

References

Notes

  • This marks the first appearance of Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush in a Big Finish audio drama since The Vanity Box in July 2007, while also, technically, being as the first chronological story of the character in the DWU.
  • This audio drama was recorded on 1 and 2 May 2012
  • This story has some resemblance to the second serial of Sapphire and Steel, where an entity makes deals with deceased people and manipulates time.
  • Big Finish released the first episode of the story as a podcast prior to release.
  • The cover for this story features a new version of the Doctor Who logo, which appears in a motif similar to the title sequence from the William Hartnell era, and was also used for other Doctor Who related merchandise.

Continuity

External links