The Sirens of Time (audio story)
The Sirens of Time is the first in the series of Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions. Written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, the four-part story features the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, with Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy each reprising their roles from the original television series.
Publisher's summary
Gallifrey is in crisis, facing destruction at the hands of an overwhelming enemy. The Doctor is involved in three different incarnations — each caught in a deadly adventure, scattered across time and space. The web of time is threatened — and someone wants the Doctor dead!
The three incarnations of the Doctor must join to set time back on the right track — but in doing so, will they unleash a still greater threat?
Plot
Part 1
A TARDIS arrives on Gallifrey, flown by Coordinator Vansell. He claims the planet is in terrible danger and the Lord President learns he is right. Their planet is under siege by an unknown species. In the Seventh Doctor's TARDIS, he is having trouble. The ship is pulled towards a planet because of a gravitational pull. A Time Lord tries to communicate with the Doctor, but cannot and the signal is cut off.
Leaving the TARDIS, the Doctor hears a distant voice. A girl called Elenya is trapped in quicksand. He tells her not to struggle as he hacks his way through the undergrowth with his umbrella. A mysterious woman appears and laughs at the Doctor. He goes in aid of the trapped girl. Using his umbrella, he pulls the girl out of the bog and onto a safe patch of land.
Sancroff, who is a prisoner of Ruthley in her home, is waiting for her return. She tells him that she hates her job, which is to keep him there. She reluctantly helps him into his bed. Speaking through a communicator with guards hovering above the planet, she lies that there are no visitors on the surface. The Doctor finds himself locked out of his TARDIS. Elenya explains about her arrival. She is a geologist and all of her crew have been killed. A ship suddenly comes through the planet's atmosphere and crashes to the surface.
The Doctor and Elenya are walking across the surface to find civilisation. The Doctor searches the area and finds a light through a window. Another ship comes crashing down. One ship comes towards them and they run away. On the communicator, the assassins have arrived to kill Sancroff. Ships are arriving all around the Doctor and Elenya. They investigate the ship's wreckage and find the remains of the crew. The Doctor deciphers that the creatures were actually being born. Ruthley asks for the Doctor and Elenya to be killed, but the assassins refuse.
The Doctor and Elenya meet up with the creatures. They begin a mind scan, which is extremely painful. When they awake, Sancroff is with them. He explains that the creatures are Drudgers. Elenya finally wakes up and wonders who the man is. He introduces himself. Suddenly, another creature arrives and destroys the Drudgers. Ruthley explains that they had come to kill them all. She has done a deal with them. They are called assassins.
The Drudgers return fire, but nothing seems to be working. The assassins are converging on the main building. The Doctor, Elenya and Sancroff enter Ruthley's room. The Doctor begins to ask questions. They find a film of Ruthley speaking to the assassins. They didn't listen to her, and shot her because she was a witness. The Doctor tries to create a barrier, but the creatures find them though. They learn that Sancroff is a war criminal, and is now sentenced to execution.
Part 2
Inside a German U-Boat, Captain Walther Schwieger and his second in command can see a merchant ship approaching. They decide whether or not to send a torpedo at it.
On the merchant ship, the TARDIS arrives and the Fifth Doctor emerges. He's searching for a signal of some kind. It finally locks on and the Time Lords try to contact him. The message is unclear, but they apparently want him to re-enter the TARDIS because time is running out. The Doctor tries the lock, but the ship won't open, he calls for Turlough and Tegan Jovanka, but they don't open the door. A woman by the name of Helen appears. She asks what he is doing on board the ship. Suddenly, there's a large explosion as a gun from the U-Boat hits the side.
Aboard the U-Boat, the Captain sees two survivors, they bring them board. The Captain is surprised that the Doctor can speak German. They are both placed inside a cell. Helen is worried whether the Doctor is maybe a Hun spy. The Doctor is even more worried about his message from the Time Lords. He tries calling to the Germans to free him.
British destroyers are gathering on the surface and so the German Captain decides it is time to escape the area. The Doctor wishes to speak with him. He tries to persuade him that he is actually a German spy and has found secret documents aboard the ship, which is now reduced to wreckage. The Captain does not believe him. He orders Schmidt to return him to his cell.
Back in the cell, Helen watches as Schimdt suddenly become possessed by some force and tries to kill the Doctor, who deduces that it is the Time Lords who are trying to kill him for some strange reason. The Captain arrives and orders Schimdt to be tied to his bunk.
The Time Lord President is unsure of Vansell's actions to try and stop the Doctor. Using someone by time distortion wasn't the best idea. Vansell disagrees and counters that the Doctor must be stopped for the sake of time.
The German commandant can see smoke on the horizon, claiming it is British ships approaching.
In his cell, the Doctor is wondering why the Time Lords want to kill him. He tells Helen that he needs to return to his TARDIS. Helen can sense that it's important to him somehow.
Schmidt is now awake and can hear voices in his head. It is the voice of Vansell and he is telling him to grab a weapon and to kill the Doctor.
The Germans discover that the ship is large and is coming towards them at a speed that they wouldn't be able to match, let alone outrun.
Schmidt has now entered the cell with a gun pointed at the Doctor. The Doctor tries to reassure him that they do not know each other and reasons why he should kill him. The Lord President is still trying to stop Vansell, realising that the Doctor knows what he must do. There's a shot, which the Germans in the control room can hear. The Captain goes to see what has happened.
Helen has managed to take the gun, but Schmidt collapses, a side effect of the time distortion. The Captain and crew arrive, but Helen has them at gunpoint. The Doctor is hoping to discover his ship again.
The Doctor navigates the U-Boat to the position of the TARDIS. He escapes the ship and jumps into the water. The British ships are closing and the U-Boat goes back under.
The Doctor reaches his ship, but has no luck in opening the doors. He is trapped, floating at sea.
more to be added
Part 3
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Davison
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
- Commander Raldeth / Schmidt - Andrew Fettes
- Coordinator Vansell - Anthony Keetch
- The President - Michael Wade
- Elenya / Helen / Ellie / Knight Commander Lyena - Sarah Mowat
- Ruthley - Maggie Stables
- Sancroff - Colin McIntyre
- Commandant / Lt Zentner / Pilot Azimendah / Sub-Commander Solanec - John Wadmore
- Captain Walther Schwieger / Edifice Captain / Knight 2 - Mark Gatiss
- The Temperon - Nicholas Briggs
- Delegate - Nicholas Pegg
References
Astronomical objects
- Calfadoria
- The Kurgon Wonder was created as a result of the Knights of Velyshaa attempting to capture the Temperon.
The Doctor
- The fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations of the Doctor make telepathic contact with one another to apprise all of them of the situation. They trigger it with the spoken command "Contact."
Individuals
- Tegan Jovanka and Turlough are trapped in the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS when it materialises on the U-20.
- The Sixth Doctor mentions that he knows Hadene Lestrade.
Organisations
- Coordinator Vansell is a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency.
- The Galactic Wonders Commission decides which objects are Wonders of the Universe.
Species
- The Knights of Velyshaa appear.
- The Temperon is a legendary time beast. It is a 'cousin' of the Chronovores.
TARDIS
- TARDISes have time cores.
- Cloister Bell
Theories and concepts
- The Laws of Time (supposedly) stop the Doctor's incarnations from meeting.
Timeline
Sirens' altered timeline
- The Fifth Doctor accidentally prevents the U-20 from sinking the RMS Lusitania in the Atlantic Ocean on 7 May 1915. This allowed Eric Charles Vincent to kill Alexander Fleming in a botched robbery attempt in December 1927 before the biologist discovered penicillin. Without the protection offered by penicillin, Earth fell prey to new strains of meningitis and pneumonia in 1956 and the survivors never developed a space programme. Consequently, the Knights of Velyshaa were not defeated by the Earth Alliance in 3562 as they otherwise would have been.
Notes
- This is the first appearance of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors together.
- Several references to the Audio Visuals audio dramas are made during this story including:
- The appearance of Drudgers, originally robotic servants of Conglomerate who appeared in Conglomerate, The Destructor Contract and Subterfuge.
- The appearance of the Temperons, which first appeared in The Time Ravagers.
- Mention of the Calfedorian Tri-Planetary Alliance, which first appeared in Maenad before being mentioned several times in future stories.
- In episode 3, Helen and the U-boat crew are unable to understand each other, despite the usual application of the Doctor/TARDIS' translation circuit.
- In his synopsis for The Sirens of Time, Nicholas Briggs gave each episode a title: The Knight of Velyshaa, Ship of Destiny, Death of Wonder and Nexus Point/Curse of the Temperon. The overall title was inspired by the book Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.
- The Sirens of Time was originally released on cassette and CD.
- Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy would all later appear together in AUDIO: Zagreus and AUDIO: The Four Doctors, both of which also feature Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Furthermore, Baker and McCoy appear in AUDIO: Project: Lazarus, AUDIO: The Wormery and AUDIO: Thicker than Water together.
- This audio drama was recorded on 6 and 7 March 1999.
Continuity
- The Fifth and Seventh Doctors previously met each other in PROSE: Cold Fusion and would later do so again prior to the events of AUDIO: The Veiled Leopard. The latter is not actually depicted but is witnessed by the former's companions Peri Brown and Erimem. Peri describes the Seventh Doctor as being "a kooky little guy in a weird pullover." She would later meet him more formally in PROSE: Bad Therapy.
- The Sixth Doctor recalls climbing the Himalayas in 1289 during his first incarnation. (TV: Marco Polo)
- The Knights of Velyshaa are mentioned and a Knight appears in AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks.
- Vansell reappears in AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element and AUDIO: Neverland. Following his death in the latter story, alternative versions of Vansell appear in NOTDWU: He Jests at Scars..., AUDIO: Reborn, AUDIO: Disassembled and AUDIO: Forever.
- According to PROSE: Instruments of Darkness, Evelyn Smythe was in the TARDIS while the Sixth Doctor was at the Kurgon Wonder.
- The method by which the Doctors telepathically contact one other ("Contact") was first seen in TV: The Three Doctors.
- Sancroff is mentioned by Kalendorf in AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Four.
External links
- Official The Sirens of Time page at bigfinish.com
- The Sirens of Time at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for The Sirens of Time at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
