The Pointed Hand (audio story)
The Pointed Hand was the third release in the The Minister of Chance series. It served as a prequel to the main story, and as thus is set before The Broken World [+]Loading...["The Broken World (audio story)"].
Publisher's summary
A strange new world... Ambassador Durian of Sezuan (Paul McGann) is dispatched to the primitive island nation of Tanto. However, his offers of friendship to the belligerent King (Mark Lewis) fall on deaf ears, and things take a turn for the very, very sinister.
Plot
It is another peaceful day on the island nation of Tanto. Professor Cantha and Kitty are walking along the marketplace, seeing a rocket ship in the distant sky. Kitty voices her concern on whether they are good or bad. Cantha, sharing her concern, replies that this depends on the pilot.
On board the rocket ship, Ambassador Durian is attempting to land the ship, while his friend Menin on the radio communication tries to plea with Durian to drop his plans, telling Durian about how they’re "animals" without elections and that the king killed his predecessor, asking that he’d at least take an escort with him or arm himself. Durian brushes him off, wanting to concentrate on his descend.
Having landed in front of the Palace, he is met with an army of guards. The King's right-hand-man approaches and greets the stranger, wondering where his master is, or an entourage at least. Durian says he is unfortunately alone.
On his way to the throne room, the man instructs Durian in the correct procedures for his audience with the king, running into a little girl. Wondering who she is, Durian is presented to Her Majesty Princess Didi, who ask why does not have two faces, having been told by her mummy that a two-faced man would appear in a rocket ship. Durian and the king's officer laugh at that. Durian explains to her that he did come in a rocket ship but seem to have lost the key, noticing something behind her ear. Reaching down to touch, the armed guards immediately draw their weapons at him, exclaiming that it is forbidden to touch the Princess. Durian apoligizes and bids farewell to Didi.
Meeting with the King, Durian is met with extreme contempt and anger from the King. The King expresses his annoyance at having to meet with Durian telling him to get on with his business before the King slays him. Durian reminds him that he is unarmed and alone, then explains that due to the threat of an invasion from the nation Jura, he is offering to strike an alliance with Tanto, however the King protests this, continously insisting that they are neutral and at peace. Durian explains that the Jurans may not see it that way. Continuing to brush him off, the King threatens Durian with killing him, saying they will take the chance.
Durian then says that the Sezians will not, then threatens the King with dropping a plague upon Tanto if they decline to help, secretly having planted a concentrated cloud of poison upon the King, explaining that it would kill all life after a week and the week after that, the Sezians would land safely on Tanto. Durian calls Menin, telling him to prepare the troops, as the King succumbs to the poisoned air. Didi shows up to see her father dying, to Durian's delight. He sees the key to the rocket ship behind her ear, then takes it, Didi exclaiming that he cannot touch her. Durian chuckles.
Cast
- Professor Cantha - Jenny Agutter
- Kitty - Lauren Crace
- Menin - Lloyd Hutchinson
- Durian - Paul McGann
- Princess Didi - Isobel Collingwood
- The King - Mark Lewis
Uncredited cast
- TBA - Fish stall vendor
- TBA - The King's Right-Hand-Man
Crew
- Digital - Bruce Collingwood
- Marketing and PR - Kate Cornish
- Executive Producer - Clare Eden
- Writer - Dan Freeman
- Producer - Dan Freeman
- Director - Dan Freeman
- Studio - Chris Mock
- Graphic Designer - Thomas Moulton
- Sound Editor - Eloise Whitmore
- Production Assistants - Violet Lavinia Brown, Simon Dixon, Keelan Gumbley, Dan Hunt, Athene Hyde, Margrethe Nandrup-Pettersen
With thanks to Karl Philips
Worldbuilding
- The island nation of Tanto lies between the nations of Sezuan and Jura.
- Tanto was a peaceful nation, neutral to the warring between the Sezuans and Jurans, until the Sezuan invasion of Tanto following a failed attempt by Ambassador Durian to impress the king of Tanto.
- Tanto has a monarch regime, with a King, a Queen and a Princess.
- Menin claims that the people of Tanto are animals, with the King having killed his predecessor.
- The people of Tanto does not bear firearms, only wielding close-proximity weapons. The people of Jura has guns.
Notes
- This story was recorded and released after the second story of the series The Forest Shakes [+]Loading...["The Forest Shakes (audio story)"], but acted as a prequel to the series itself, thus taking place before the first story The Broken World [+]Loading...["The Broken World (audio story)"].
- This story is the only release to exclude the character central to the series, the Minister of Chance, depicting events that happened before his arrival, thus playing a similar role to the Doctor Who TV story Mission to the Unknown [+]Loading...["Mission to the Unknown (TV story)"], itself excluding the main character of the Doctor.
External Links
- The Pointed Hand on Fourble
- The Minister of Chance Episode 1 on The Minister of Chance website (via the Wayback Machine)
Footnotes
Notes
References
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