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The Entropy Composition was the second story in the audio anthology, The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories, which comprised the one hundred and forty-second release in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Rick Briggs and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa.
It was notable for being a rare example of a Big Finish audio which had been commissioned as a result of an open invitation for scripts. Briggs won out over about a thousand other submissions.
Publisher's summary
A lost prog rock symphony is unearthed from the vaults — with catastrophic consequences for the entire cosmos.
Plot
The Doctor and Nyssa arrive in Concordum as the Doctor reveals he has brought Nyssa, who has been thinking about Traken lately and has made her feel sad, to try to cheer her up by letting her hear a Traken song. However, they speak with Naloom about the unfortunate history of progressive rock musician Geoff Cooper which puzzles the Doctor. They open one of the chambers and hear a horrible noise emanating from it. After he realizes something has gone wrong, he takes a confused Nyssa back in time to 1968 to Geoff Cooper's estate.
They arrive and meet Mrs. Moloney who explains to them Geoff's strange behaviour since he came under the influence of a girl he was attratced to and who has been staying with him, named Erisi. She makes them tea then takes them to his recording studio in the basement where the Doctor realises too late that Erisi is an Entropy Siren who kills Mrs. Moloney. The Doctor and Nyssa escape and he explains to her that the music he heard back on Concordum was the same sound they just heard from Erisi and he put two-and-two together. They make it back to the TARDIS and with a comment Nyssa made earlier, the Doctor realises is how they can stop the siren.
They arrive back on Concordum to deal with what they had earlier unleashed. They manage to stop the siren whose plan it turns out was to have have Geoff construct the song "White Waves Soft Haze" and once stored in the vaults of Concordum she would project herself to that time in order to feast (the Doctor explains that Time Sirens needed to feast off entropy after they could not find more food at the creation of the universe). They manage to stop her and trap her but a portion of the collection is lost. The Doctor, however, reminds Naloom that the music is more important and he goes off to find the lost pieces and hear them once again. Meanwhile, Nyssa and the Doctor prepare to leave when they hear a laughter echo through the halls, reminiscent of the Time Siren...
Cast
Crew
- Cover Art - Simon Holub
- Director - Ken Bentley
- Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Music and Sound Design - Richard Fox and Lauren Yason @ FoxYason Studios
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - Alan Barnes
- Writer - Rick Briggs
Worldbuilding
- The Doctor mentions mp3 players.
- The Composer to the Inaugural Console of the Traken Union created a piece of music that Nyssa's father used to love and would play for her stepmother when she felt down.
- The Doctor claims lutes are "not his thing" but later changes his mind. It is possible he is lying when he claims to like them, or may have been lying the whole time.
- Mrs Moloney points out the Doctor is wearing celery.
- Quantum sounds and Nucleosynthesis are key aspects from the creation of the universe.
- "White Waves Soft Haze" was the final song by Geoff Cooper before he died.
- The Doctor explains that putting cheese in one's ears can block out sound.
- Benny Goodman is mentioned as a musician the Doctor enjoys.
Species
- Entropy Sirens are an ancient race, existing just after the creation of the universe.
Events
- The Terileptis Event Horizon Fold is, according to the Doctor, the most magnificent sunrise in the area of space-time he and Nyssa are in.
Notes
- Other such "open submission" scripts can be found on Short Trips - Volume I and its successors.
- Nyssa refers to "The Entropy Composition" as the "music of the spheres", a name used by the Doctor to describe a different phenomenon in the mini-episode of that name.
Continuity
- Mrs Moloney queries whether the Doctor is wearing a vegetable, to which he replies, "It's decorative" — thereby echoing the Tenth Doctor's assessment of the his fifth incarnation's celery. (TV: Time Crash)
- Nyssa is still thinking about her happy childhood on Traken. (AUDIO: The Demons of Red Lodge)