The Resurrection of Mars (audio story)
The Resurrection of Mars was the sixth story in the fourth series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Jonathan Morris and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Niky Wardley as Tamsin Drew and Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller.
Publisher's summary
Deimos, moon of Mars — where Lord Slaadek's plans to revive the ancient Ice Warrior civilisation hang by a thread. Only the Doctor can stop him... but an old enemy, hiding in the catacombs, has an alternative plan, one that will test the Doctor's heroism to its limits. Just how far will the Doctor go to prevent the destruction and resurrection of Mars — on a day when his friends become enemies, and his enemies have right on their side?
Plot
The Monk throws Lucie Miller out of his TARDIS. Although she expected him to leave her in Blackpool, he instead abandons her in the Deimos moonbase.
The Doctor and Professor Boston Schooner sabotaged the atmospheric re-ioniser prior to the passenger rocket's departure from Mars. However, the Doctor was uncertain that his plan was going to work, telling Temperance Finch that he had his fingers crossed.
The Monk travels to the passenger rocket in order to recruit Tamsin as his new companion. He tells her that he was impressed with her during their encounter in the Abbey of Kells in Ireland in 1006 and that he was "injudicious in [his] choice of companion." He takes Tamsin to Halcyon, a planet located 90 light-years from Earth, in the 33rd century. While there, he uses an "S.E.P filter" (a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a concept similar to the Perception filter) to disguise himself and Tamsin to the Halcyon.
The Monk claims that Halcyon has a population of 20 billion, yet their entire population has all that they could want. On their return to his TARDIS, the Monk takes them one year forward in time, at which time the Ice Warriors have destroyed all life on the planet to their attempt to create a second Mars. The Monk blames this on the Doctor's interference with the Ice Warriors' plans on the Deimos moonbase a thousand years earlier. The Doctor later describes it as one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the universe but is powerless to prevent it as doing so would have major ramifications on the Web of Time.
The Doctor repairs the re-ioniser, which allows the Ice Warriors to destroy the passenger rocket and kill all 600 people aboard.
During the Monk and Lucie's travels together, they subsequently visited a planet called Questes which was ruled by a dictator, who according to Lucie was "like Genghis Khan but with two beards." In order to prevent him from being born, the Monk arranged for his parents (as well as dozens of other innocent people) to be killed in an avalanche. After Lucie objected to this since she viewed it as being murder, the Monk materialised his TARDIS on Deimos and threw her out. He knew that Lucie's presence would prevent the Doctor from destroying the moonbase.
The Monk tells the Doctor that he altered the settings on the Ice Warriors' suspended animation chambers to ensure that they awoke in the 23rd century, several centuries earlier than in the original timeline.
The Doctor detonates the explosive device placed in the moonbase by Grenville, leading to the facility's destruction. This results in the moon being converted into a miniature sun, which provides the necessary heat to power the atmospheric re-ioniser. He then uses the re-ioniser to terraform Mars so that its atmosphere is composed of 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. Consequently, the planet is made habitable for humans as was the intention of the scientists and engineers who designed the re-ioniser prior to the Great Recession. The Doctor claims that doing so was consistent with recorded history and therefore did not damage the Web of Time.
Cast
- The Doctor - Paul McGann
- Tamsin Drew - Niky Wardley
- Lucie Miller - Sheridan Smith
- The Monk - Graeme Garden
- Margaret - Susan Brown
- Temperance Finch - Tracy Ann Oberman
- Harold - Nick Wilton
- The Ice Warriors - Nicholas Briggs
- Pilot - Jack Brown
References
The Doctor
- After overhearing Lord Slaadek tell the Doctor that he would have detonated the explosive device if it existed, Lucie refers to the Ice Lord as "Touché Turtle."
- The Doctor tells Lucie that he loves dinosaurs.
The Monk
- Lucie refers to the Monk as "a bleedin' homicidal maniac." The Monk fires her as he begins to sense "professional friction" in their relationship.
- During his travels, the Monk has collected a sculpture of Michelangelo, several Fabergé eggs, two paintings by Vincent van Gogh, a Blu-ray copy of Something's Got to Give and footage of the Beatles' appearance on Juke Box Jury, all of which were lost to history. The Monk says they were "rescued for posterity."
- The Monk is still wearing the robes which he used while posing as Abbot Thelonious in the Abbey of Kells.
- The Monk calls his TARDIS his pride and joy.
The Monk's TARDIS
- There are scorch marks on the central console of the Monk's TARDIS due to his attempt to install what he believed was the new directional unit into the TARDIS. The Monk simply says a dab of polish will have it looking like new.
- After materialising on Halcyon, the Monk's TARDIS, which has an operational chameleon circuit, disguises itself as a Punch and Judy stall. It also features a perception filter, which the Monk refers to an S.E.P filter to stop the people of Halcyon from paying him or Tamsin much attention.
- The Monk reflects that the Mark IV has a smooth materialisation action compared to the Doctor's TARDIS.
- The Monk's TARDIS has a space/time visualiser, which he uses to show Tamsin the Doctor repairing the Re-Ionsiser.
Mars
- Harold and Margaret have at least one child and several grandchildren, all of whom live on Mars.
Other planets
- Halcyon is the planet that the Ice Warriors destroy in order to turn it into their new homeworld.
- The Doctor asks Lucie if she wants to visit the glass deserts of Marinus.
Historical figures
- Lucie mentions that she encountered the Roman Emperor Caligula (whom she describes as "well bonkers") during her travels with the Monk.
Species
- Lucie mentions that she encountered the Sensorites (who were "not as much of a laugh") during her travels with the Monk.
Media
- Lucie mentions that she attended the final of Thordon's Got Talent which was won by a singing Slithergee during her travels with the Monk.
Notes
- To keep Lucie Miller's appearance in this audio drama secret, Big Finish released a fake cover on their website.
- Tracy Ann Oberman (Temperance Finch) previously played Yvonne Hartman in TV: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday.
- The story was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 14 January 2013.
Continuity
- The Doctor mentions that he has not seen Lucie since 25 December 2009. However, he believes that it may have been 2006. (AUDIO: Death in Blackpool)
- Tamsin asks the Monk if he is "fed up of skulking around monasteries, trying to pilfer illuminated manuscripts." (AUDIO: The Book of Kells)
- The Monk tells Tamsin that he was the time traveller who organised the companion auditions in London in 2010. (AUDIO: Situation Vacant)
- The Monk's TARDIS is damaged after the Doctor stole its directional unit. (AUDIO: The Book of Kells)
- This is not the first time that the Monk has used the Ice Warriors in his plans. (COMIC: 4-Dimensional Vistas)
- The Doctor discovers that Lucie was the Monk's accomplice "Brother Lucianus" at the Abbey of Kells while Lucie learns that the Doctor was the apothecary who was assisting "Sister Maria." (AUDIO: The Book of Kells)
- During their travels together, Lucie and the Monk met the Sensorites. During his first incarnation, the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright encountered them in their native Sense Sphere in the 28th century. (TV: The Sensorites)
- The Doctor tells Lucie that he used to be "the man with a master plan" who arranged the destruction of his enemies and the toppling of dictatorships in order to serve the greater good to the point where he began to countenance sacrificing the lives of the few to save the many. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, et. al) He eventually began travelling on his own as he was no longer willing to risk the lives of his companions after an incident which he does not want to discuss. Following his regeneration into his eighth incarnation in San Francisco on 30 December 1999, the Doctor abandoned these tendencies and vowed that he would never travel alone again as he did not want to forget how precious life is. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The Monk tells Tamsin that he intends to forge an alliance with "old friends" (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) who also have a few scores to settle with the Doctor (AUDIO: Lucie Miller / To the Death).
- Lucie refers to the death of her aunt Patricia Ryder. (AUDIO: Death in Blackpool) Given that his presence ruined her last Christmas, the Doctor decides to make it up to her by giving her the perfect Christmas. (AUDIO: Relative Dimensions)
- The Doctor tells Tamsin that he was present for the burning of the Library of Alexandria in the 5th century but was unable to prevent it from happening due to the Web of Time. (AUDIO: The Library of Alexandria)
External links
- Official The Resurrection of Mars page at bigfinish.com
- The Resurrection of Mars at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for The Resurrection of Mars at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
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