Requiem for the Rocket Men (audio story)

Requiem for the Rocket Men
Doctor:	Fourth Doctor
Companion(s):	Leela, K9 Mark I
Main enemy:	The Master, Rocket Men
Main setting:	The Asteroid
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	John Dorney
Director:	Nicholas Briggs
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Jamie Robertson
Sound:	Jamie Robertson
Cover by:	Anthony Lamb
Release details
Number of parts:	2
Release number:	4.03
Release date:	13 March 2015
Format:	1 CD Download Parts 1 and 2 of 4
Production code:	BFPTOMCD024
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-347-4 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78178-688-8 (digital)
The Fourth Doctor Adventures
← Previous	The Darkness of Glass
Next →	Death Match

Requiem for the Rocket Men was the third story in the fourth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by John Dorney and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Louise Jameson as Leela, John Leeson as K9 Mark I and Geoffrey Beevers as The Master.

It was the first of a two-part story, which concluded in Death Match.

Publisher's summary

The Asteroid — notorious hideaway of the piratical Rocket Men. Hewn out of rock, surrounded by force-fields and hidden in the depths of the Fairhead Cluster, their base is undetectable, unescapable and impregnable.

In need of allies, the Master has arranged to meet with Shandar, King of the Rocket Men. But the mercenaries have captured themselves a very special prisoner — his oldest enemy, the Doctor.

What cunning scheme is the Doctor planning? How does it connect with Shandar's new robotic pet? And just what has happened to Leela? The Master will have to work the answers out if he wants to leave the asteroid... alive...

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Tom Baker
• Leela - Louise Jameson
• K9 Mark I - John Leeson
• The Master - Geoffrey Beevers
• Shandar - Mark Frost
• Myrren - Olivia Poulet
• Marshall - Damian Lynch
• Oskin - Pat Ruins

Crew

• Cover Art - Anthony Lamb
• Director - Nicholas Briggs
• Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
• Music & Sound Design - Jamie Robertson
• Producer - David Richardson
• Writer & Script Editor - John Dorney

Worldbuilding

• The Master compares keeping the Doctor imprisoned to taking a Rutan onboard an escape pod.

Notes

Textless cover.

• This audio adventure was recorded on 1 and 2 July 2013 at Audio Sorcery.
• Originally, this story was intended only to set up the appearance of the Master to lead into Death Match. It was eventually decided that there was a lot of fun story potential to be found in teaming him up with the Rocket Men and so he became heavily involved in both. This led to Requiem and Death Match becoming more closely linked than was originally envisioned. John Dorney and Matt Fitton began a collaborative effort by discussing their ideas while writing their respective scripts, effectively becoming each others' script editors. (BFX: Death Match)
• Leela's departure scene, although it would inevitably have to be undone, was written by Dorney to give Leela the depature scene he felt she had never got. (BFX: Death Match)
• Dorney wanted to play around with the usual Master formula. Whereas normally, the Doctor discovers the Master is at work and has to figure out his plan, Dorney instead wrote much of the story from the Master's perspective as he tries to figure out the Doctor's plan. (VOR 72)
• Louise Jameson cried while reading the scripts. (BFX: Death Match)
• Leela comments that knowledge is only half the battle. The phrase "knowing is half the battle" was made popular by the American 1980s cartoon G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

Continuity

• K9 says that Shandar is the fifth most wanted person in the galaxy, the first three being the Master, (TV: Terror of the Autons) the Rani (TV: The Mark of the Rani) and the Terrible Zodin. (TV: The Five Doctors)
• Oskin mentions the loss of Ashman (AUDIO: The Rocket Men) and Van Cleef. (AUDIO: Return of the Rocket Men)
• After Van Cleef's death, the Rocket Men placed a bounty on the Doctor's head. (AUDIO: Return of the Rocket Men)
• The Master recognises Leela from their previous encounters in Dark Peak, Derbyshire in 1979, (AUDIO: Trail of the White Worm) on Oseidon (AUDIO: The Oseidon Adventure) and aboard the Moray Rose. (AUDIO: The Evil One)
• The Master refers to the Sevateem. (TV: The Face of Evil)
• The Master mentions that he has previously used disguises to conceal his true identity. (TV: Terror of the Autons, et. al)
• The Doctor disguises himself as a Rocket Man. His first incarnation's companion Steven Taylor previously did the same thing on Ulysses 519. (AUDIO: Return of the Rocket Men)
• The Doctor once again refers to Leela as "Savage". (TV: The Face of Evil, The Invasion of Time; AUDIO: The Wrath of the Iceni)
• The Master is arrested by Galactic Heritage. (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows; AUDIO: The Rocket Men, Return of the Rocket Men)
• Leela again refers to the Master as "the Evil One". (AUDIO: The Evil One, Death Match)
• The Doctor tells Leela not to use any more janis thorns. (TV: The Face of Evil)
• The Rocket Men installed a propulsion unit in K9 while he was in their possession. (AUDIO: Death Match)
• After he captured Leela, the Master brought her to the Quarry Station to serve as his champion in the Death Match. (AUDIO: Death Match)
• After the destruction of the Asteroid, the Rocket Men became a much weaker force. To make ends meet, they stole whatever ship they could get their hands on, and used it to transport grain across the galaxy. The Seventh Doctor described them as "late period Rocket Men". (AUDIO: The Two Masters)
• The Reborn Master would later describe the Rocket Men as "a pathetic ragtag group of no-hopers with delusions of power on a cosmic scale". (AUDIO: The Two Masters)

External links

• Official Requiem for the Rocket Men page at bigfinish.com