The Adolescence of Time (audio story)
The Adolescence of Time was the forty-second Bernice Summerfield audio story released by Big Finish Productions. It was the second story of the ninth season.
Publisher's summary
Earth is still suffering the after-effects of the asteroid (or something) which collided with the planet many years ago: the dust cloud which blots out the sun shows no sign of settling and the dinosaurs are doomed. Above the cloud, colonies of winged reptiles – more intelligent than any we know of – are fighting to survive. A strange creature calling itself Summerfield appears in their midst: is it destined to save them?
Plot
The pterodactyl Padra Tektekachuan repairs a Time Ring, inside of which the Wyrm now lives, and sends it sixty-five million years into the future to find and bring back its former mistress, Benny. It instead travels to Peter and pulls him back in time, but he is able to fight it enough to deviate from the course and he is instead found by Madra Celethua, who summons the diplomat Ixotta to help given his initial distress. Peter suspects that he was pulled back by a malevolent will which is now blocking the ring from taking him back to the 27th century.
The pterodactyl colony is on a rock floating in the Earth's sky, held above the poisonous Cloud by the Wildfields, psychic forces released from the Earth when it was hit by an object. Celethua and Ixotta privately discuss the possibility that Peter has been brought back by the Wyrmcallers as a sacrifice to the Wyrm or as part of a revenge plot and Celethua believes that he could be their saviour. Peter, overhearing them, agrees to help and Ixotta takes him on a mulo after giving him one of her people's telepathic pendants to wear on his head as they do. During the flight, Ixotta warns Peter not to use words that the pterodactyls cannot understand as it hurts them and confuses the mulo.
Ixotta takes Peter to her home of Kahathli, a sky colony in the Farm Belt, and introduces him to Padra Tchochulum, whom Peter cannot understand due to him having been born before the Cloud's formation and thus unaffected by the Wildfields.
to be completed
Cast
- Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
- Peter Summerfield - Thomas Grant
- Celethua - Lois Baxter
- Tektekachuan - Tim Block
- Ixotta - Emily Pithon
Crew
- Cover Art - Adrian Salmon
- Director - Lisa Bowerman
- Music - Martin Johnson
- Producers - Eddie Robson and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Sound Design - Thea Cochrane
- Writer - Lawrence Miles
Worldbuilding
- Chocullum has his wings torn off.
- Peter claims that rapid eye learning is too slow for him.
- The Wyrm was released from within Earth by the asteroid impact that drove the dinosaurs extinct.
- The pterodactyls are cousins to the Silurians and Sea Devils, who are still living below the Cloud.
- The pterodactyls use mulos to transport cargo.
- Peter likens the pterodactyls' telepathy pendants to wearing an infolink.
Notes
- The story was recorded on 1 December 2007.
Continuity
- Peter speaks of when the time ring found him as a child. (AUDIO: The Grel Escape)
- The Wyrm's effect on the winged reptiles is similar to the transformation of humans into Primords when exposed to Stahlman's ooze. (TV: Inferno)
- A portal to the Spiral Yssgaroth is at the centre of the Earth. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two)
Footnotes
External links
- The Adolescence of Time at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Official The Adolescence of Time page at bigfinish.com
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