Metamorphosis (audio story)
Metamorphosis was the fifth story of the thirteenth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Lisa McMullin and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan, Eleanor Crooks as Naomi Cross and Geoffrey Beevers as the Master.
Publisher's summary
The people of the planet Jaxus are vanishing. When the Doctor and his friends land, Naomi is snatched away by a mysterious fog and taken to a prison run by a very old foe of the Doctor's. The Master is here and he has, as ever, a sinister scheme underway... but neither Naomi nor Harry know who he is... Can the Doctor stop his plans and rescue the prisoners? Or will his companions inadvertently aid his enemy's plans?
Plot
Part one
Instead of setting a course for Earth to return Harry and Naomi, the Doctor pilots the TARDIS elsewhere and finds that they have landed on Jaxus, a largely unremarkable planet. The trio agree to help Cahlo find her father, Padro, the latest of a number of people who have vanished before others' eyes after a purple fog falls. When the fog falls again, Naomi disappears and reappears in a pod from which she is led by the zombie-like Padro, who has gone through "rehabilitation", to meet with the governor of the abandoned prison. The Master, acting as governor, is surprised to smell that Naomi is human and has Padro take her to be rehabilitated as he was. Although she briefly manages to escape, she is recaptured and submerged in a thick blue liquid.
The Doctor, Harry and Cahlo go looking for Naomi, coming across Eosian grass capable of stimulating regeneration, and head towards the prison after spotting a light there. Harry too is taken by the fog on the way and the Master manipulates him by claiming to be stranded from the rest of the Time Lords and confirms his suspicion that Harry and Naomi, whom he claims not to have countered, arrived with the Doctor. Meanwhile, Naomi manages to escape the rehabilitation process using her Swiss Army knife and the Doctor, suspecting that people are being teleported away thanks to invisible transfield traps, is attacked by the sentient grass, as is Cahlo.
Part two
The Doctor and Cahlo apologise to the grass for not having asked permission before walking over it and are released. The grass clears a way for them, but the Doctor is soon caught in a transfield trap and transported into a pod which he escapes using his sonic screwdriver. He encounters the rehabilitated captives and recognises the voice of the Master giving them orders, a voice which Harry also hears but fails to identify as that of the Time Lord he has been nursing. Harry helps the Master get into a pod of the liquid which transforms him back to his old self and Naomi bumps into the Doctor, who realises that the Master is making a metempsychosis compound to make himself immortal without the need to regenerate.
Naomi takes the Doctor back to the processing plant from which they follow the pipes to the restoration room where the Master has the hypnotised Harry lock his servants in the immersion pods to become invulnerable soldiers. The Master has his servants hold guns to their heads and threatens to have them start shooting themselves or have Harry shoot Naomi unless the Doctor pulls the lever to release the metempsychosis compound. The Doctor does so, but he wrestles with the Master's control over his servants and gives Naomi the opportunity to shoot the pipe transporting the compound. The Doctor throws him a transfield trap which sends him to the Panopticon on Gallifrey and returns to the TARDIS with Harry and Naomi, finding the TARDIS horses on the loose inside.
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Naomi Cross - Eleanor Crooks
- Harry Sullivan - Christopher Naylor
- The Master - Geoffrey Beevers
- Cahlo - Lydia West
- Padro - Nicholas Briggs
Crew
to be added
Worldbuilding
- There is often a stable in the TARDIS kitchen's location on a Tuesday. It is populated by horses in February.
- The pollen of Eosian grass can stimulate regeneration.
- Naomi has a Swiss Army knife.
- The Doctor mentions the parting of the Red Sea.
- The Doctor jokes about the Master using a moisturiser.
- The Doctor and the Master drink Jaxan brandy.
Notes
to be added
Continuity
- The Doctor says that Harry missed his regeneration, which occurred in TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"].
External links
- Official Metamorphosis page at bigfinish.com
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