The Ultimate Evil (audio story)
The Ultimate Evil was the second and final story in the fifth series of The Lost Stories, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was adapted by Wally K Daly, from his original script, and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown.
This story was originally intended to be the second story of the original Season 23, but was cancelled along with other planned stories when Doctor Who went on a production hiatus.
Publisher's summary
With the TARDIS working perfectly, the Doctor and Peri decide to take a holiday. But where? A long-forgotten piece of equipment in the TARDIS storage locker sends them to the peaceful and idyllic continent of Tranquela - home of the Doctor’s old friend Ravlos.
But the land where they emerge is far from peaceful. A hate ray is regularly sweeping Tranquela, turning its inhabitants into savage beasts, and there is only one place it can originate - the planet's other continent, home of Tranquela's old enemies, the Amelierans.
Or is that the only place? Because somewhere far above the planet events are watched by the slimy super-salesman, Mordant, who has his own unscrupulous plans.
Plot
Part one
The Doctor is aggrieved to find that the TARDIS is functioning perfectly as it means that he does not know what to do without having to make repairs, leading Peri to suggest a holiday. Initially resistant, he retrieves from the stowage locker a customised Salakan holiday ball gifted to him by Mordant in an unsuccessful attempt to bribe him into helping with his experiments and uses it to find the perfect holiday destination: the continent of Tranquela on Amaltron, homeland of the Doctor's scientist friend Ravlos.
Mordant, spying on the Doctor through the holiday ball, is irritated by the Doctor's imminent arrival on Tranquela as he has been targeting the continent with a hate ray for some time and does not want him interfering. He activates the hate ray when the he and Peri arrive on a beach and the surrounding Tranquelans attack, the Doctor managing to get back into the TARDIS and Peri being stuck outside. The Doctor loses his memory of his companion thanks to Mordant using the holiday ball and dematerialises the TARDIS, made angry and violent by Mordant's influence.
Peri learns from the now-docile Locas about the hate wave, which recently caused him to kill his girlfriend, Mariana, who resembled Peri, and which usually happens at set times. He was forgiven by the Court, although Escoval voted in favour of his death and is encouraging the belief that the Amelierans of the second continent, Ameliera, are responsible. Secretly, Escoval is in league with Mordant as part of a scheme to become Amaltron's ruler and smashes up the equipment in Ravlos's laboratory to stop his and his wife Koreelya's investigations into the hate ray.
Remembering that he intended to visit Ravlos, the Doctor materialises the TARDIS in his laboratory and hides when Ravlos and Koreelya enter and see the destroyed equipment. However, Mordant increases his aggression in the hopes of making him kill the couple and then does the same to Locas, who mistakes Peri for Mariana and tries to kill her atop the cliffs. She nears the edge as the Doctor attacks Ravlos.
Part two
Koreelya puts an experimental helmet on the Doctor which deflects the possible wavelengths being used by the hate ray, but he again becomes violent after Ravlos and Koreelya cautiously remove it. Tipped off by Mordant, Escovar uses a hypno-gun to control Shankel, a guard, and has him arrest the Doctor, whom Ravlos and Koreelya notice returns to normal once he is taken out of the laboratory. The Doctor knocks Escoval and Shankel out when he re-enters the laboratory and then puts the helmet back on, realising that he is being affected by the holiday ball.
Locas returns to normal and teleports himself and Peri to the home palace of his father and head of the First Family, Abatan, to introduce her to Shankel, but he is absent and they enter the forbidden Armoury in search of him. Abatan sees them and has them seized and locked up to await trial, which he expects which result in the two of them being left unchained when the hate ray takes effect so that they will kill each other.
to be completed
Cast
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Peri / Mariana - Nicola Bryant
- Mordant - Robin Sebastian
- Abatan - Kim Durham
- Escoval - Guy Burgess
- Locas - Jack Forsyth-Noble
- Ravlos - Paul Panting
- Koreelya - Issy Van Randwyck
- Shankel / Leader - Jack Myers
- The Bird - Wally K Daly
Crew
- Cover Art - Ryan Aplin
- Director - Helen Goldwyn
- Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
- Music and Sound Design - Nigel Fairs
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - John Dorney
- Writer - Wally K Daly
Worldbuilding
- Peri brings the Doctor coffee.
- The holiday ball was made on Salakan.
- A sucksos is a cross between a scone and a chocolate biscuit.
- Thought balloons can be used for teleportation.
- Mordant has hypno-guns.
- Escovar has an instant transponder.
Notes
- This story was recorded on 9 and 10 May 2019 at the Moat Studios.
- Wally K Daly had previously adapted this story as a novel in 1989.
- This story was originally considered for Season 23 before the eighteen-month hiatus cancelled the season's originally-planned stories. (DCOM: The Lost Season)
Continuity
- The Doctor and Peri have just been on holiday. (AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair)
External links
- Official The Ultimate Evil page at bigfinish.com
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
