The Conscript was the third story in the audio anthology The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume One, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Rakhee Thakrar as Bliss, Karina Fernandez as Captain Tamasan and Jacqueline Pearce as Cardinal Ollistra.
Publisher's summary
Cardinal War Ollistra has a new tactic to persuade the Doctor to join his people’s fight. With his friends locked away, he has been conscripted alongside fellow Gallifreyans to train for the front lines of battle.
Commandant Harlan has a reputation – his camp’s regime is harsh. He believes the Time Lords must adapt to win this war, but the Doctor is not easily intimidated.
Can there be any place for dissent when the Time War looms so close?
Plot
to be added
Cast
References
- Ollistra views recent events via the Matrix, retrieved through the Doctor's TARDIS.
- Tamasan has recently experienced her third regeneration.
- Ollistra traces Bliss's entire timeline via her biodata, finding her ancestry is from the South Asia subcontinent.
- "Rassilon's blood" and "what in Arcadia?" are Gallifreyan exclamations.
- The Doctor's squad, "red seven," builds staser cannons.
- The Doctor shouts to the conscripts "You are not Sontarans!"
- A Dalek hunter drone infiltrates, scans, and broadcasts back. It's the new hunter-class, with gunsticks.
- The Doctor mentions the Moonlight Bloom, a sign of peace, now a sign of cowardice.
- The Doctor describes the Time War as an "arms race."
- There are outer transduction fields and sky trenches protecting Tenacity.
- Transmat bracelets are used.
Notes
- This story was notable for referencing House Mirraflex, constituting a rare example of an explicit, concrete reference from a Time War-focused series to the War in Heaven mythos of Faction Paradox.
Continuity
- This story follows on directly from Echoes of War.
- There are rumours that the Doctor drove Borusa mad. (TV: The Five Doctors)
- The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to detonate explosives. (TV: The Sea Devils)
- The Doctor mentions the continent of Wild Endeavour and the mountains of Solace and Solitude. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
- The Doctor considered his sonic screwdriver to be a very old friend. (TV: The Visitation)
- The Doctor asks Veeda if she is from a noble family like Brightshore (PROSE: Divided Loyalties, AUDIO: Enemy Lines) or Mirraflex. (PROSE: The Book of the War, Of the City of the Saved..., Warlords of Utopia)
- Harlan mentions Arcadia and the sky trenches, as well as the War Council. (TV: Doomsday, The Last Day, The Day of the Doctor)
- The Doctor previously met a Time Lord who died from a regeneration inhibitor. (AUDIO: The Starship of Theseus)
- During a "sound off" by chapter as part of a marching chant the Gallifreyan soldiers reference the Prydonian Chapter, the Arcalian Chapter, the Scendeles Chapter and the Dromeian Chapter. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, PROSE: Lungbarrow, The Ancestor Cell)
External links
- Official The Conscript page at bigfinish.com