More actions
Zaltys was the two hundred and twenty-third story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written Matthew Elliott and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka.
Publisher's summary
In the Vortex, the TARDIS comes under a form of psychic attack — resulting in the abductions of first Adric, then Tegan. Following their trail, the Doctor and Nyssa arrive under the lurid skies of the planet Zaltys, whose entire population has vanished in strange circumstances. Soon, they discover that Zaltys is now the target of treasure seekers, come to scavenge this so-called Planet of the Dead...
Meanwhile, deep below the planet's surface, Adric learns the earth-shattering reason why the people of Zaltys disappeared... and why they were wise to do so. And Tegan is, quite literally, in the dark – enduring interrogation by the mysterious Clarimonde. Any friend of the Doctor's is Clarimonde's enemy... because theirs is a blood feud!
Plot
Part one
Tegan interrupts Adric whilst he is reading Dracula in his bedroom and, given the Doctor's lack of success, gets him to try flying the TARDIS to Heathrow. However, the Doctor and Nyssa have been doing repairs which involved disabling the chrono-compensator, causing Adric to disappear after hearing a voice mention Zaltys. The Doctor uses the telepathic circuits to track him down, with Tegan disappearing as well on the way.
When the Doctor and Nyssa arrive on Zaltys, they meet Sable, who accuses them of being after the planet's treasures and insists that they accompany her. She explains that Zaltys has been under quarantine since communication from the planet suddenly ceased seven months ago and points out a possible entrance to their underground city. Sable's partner, Siobhan, attempts to give her a warning and proceeds to abandon her, flying away in their spaceship once she removes her helmet and breathes the air.
Adric appears in a corridor whilst Tegan appears in a locked room. Using an ion bonder from the TARDIS, Tegan escapes the room and is watched by Clarimonde, who tells her that her people are enemies of the Doctor and encountered him when he was travelling with Jo Grant. Clarimonde gets her to open a hatch containing the body of a woman, after which a creature approaches her and she tells it to get back.
Part two
to be added
Part three
to be added
Part four
to be added
Cast
References
- Adric mentions that he has read every book on mathematics in the TARDIS library.
- Adric speaks Alzarian.
- The Doctor would like the time to read the works of Christopher Marlowe and P. G. Wodehouse.
- The Doctor disables the chrono-compensator.
- Clarimonde mistakes Tegan for Jo Grant as she accompanied the Doctor when he first encountered her people, the Necrobiologicals, a race of vampires, on Sekhmet during his third incarnation.
Notes
- In Lithuanian mythology, Žaltys (literally, a grass snake) is a household spirit guarding one's home.
- Gevaudan is named after the Beast of Gévaudan, a man-eating wolf which terrorised the French province of Gévaudan in the 1760s.
- This story was recorded on 16th and 17th June 2016 at the Moat Studios.
Continuity
- Adric is reading Dracula as he wants to be prepared in case they met any more vampires. (TV: State of Decay)
- Tegan refers to the fact that Adric piloted the TARDIS to Castrovalva while he was under the Tremas Master's control. (TV: Castrovalva)
- Adric has piloted the TARDIS in numerous simulations. (AUDIO: The Star Men)
- Tegan is under the impression that the Master is dead. (TV: Castrovalva) She would later learn that he was still alive when they encountered him on Earth in 140,000,000 BC. (TV: Time-Flight)
- Adric attempts to materialise the TARDIS at Heathrow Airport in 1981, as the Doctor had failed to do on numerous previous occasions. (TV: Four to Doomsday, Kinda, The Visitation; AUDIO: Psychodrome, Iterations of I, The Star Men, The Contingency Club, Smoke and Mirrors)
- The Doctor tells Nyssa that he took the TARDIS from Gallifrey. (TV: An Unearthly Child, Logopolis, The Name of the Doctor; AUDIO: The Beginning)
- Nyssa refers to the destruction of the Zero Room. (TV: Castrovalva)
- Tegan refers to Adric's badge for mathematical excellence. (TV: Full Circle)
- Adric mentions that Tegan's aunt Vanessa was killed by the Master. (TV: Logopolis)
- Adric reminds Tegan that his elder brother Varsh was killed by the Marshmen in the Starliner on Alzarius. (TV: Full Circle)
- Adric refers to the destruction of Traken. (TV: Logopolis)
- The Doctor compares the colourful beaches and skies of Zaltys to those of Thoros-Beta, a planet which he has avoided visiting due to its "garish" colour scheme. He would eventually visit Thoros-Beta in 2379 during his sixth incarnation. (TV: Mindwarp)
- Tegan refers to the Terrible Zodin. (TV: The Five Doctors, Attack of the Cybermen; AUDIO: Requiem for the Rocket Men, Power Play)
- The Doctor mentions that he has visited Draconia. (TV: Frontier in Space)
- Adric refers to the Fourth Doctor's regeneration. (TV: Logopolis)
- Nyssa recalls her visit to Monarch's ship in 1981. (TV: Four to Doomsday)
- The Doctor compares the people of Zaltys placing themselves in cryogenic stasis to the similar actions taken by the Cybermen on Telos in the 25th century (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) and the Silurians. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians)
- Tegan compares Monarch to a "talking frog". (TV: Four to Doomsday)
- The Doctor comments that Nyssa is not gifted in telebiogenesis. (TV: Castrovalva)
- Gevaudan detects Nyssa's psychic abilities. (TV: Time-Flight)
- The Doctor tells Gevaudan that Nyssa has not known him for very long. (TV: The Keeper of Traken)
External links
- Official Zaltys page at bigfinish.com