Judoon in Chains (audio story)

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Judoon in Chains was the second story in Classic Doctors, New Monsters: Volume One, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

It was added for free to the podcast Into the TARDIS as part of Big Finish's 25th anniversary of creating Doctor Who audio stories. It was released in two parts on 27 April and 4 May 2024 and hosted by Sixth Doctor actor Colin Baker.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sixth Doctor is no stranger to courtroom drama, but faces a very different challenge when he prepares to defend a most unusual Judoon.

After an environmental clearance mission goes wrong, Captain Kybo of the Nineteenth Judoon Interplanetary Force is stranded in Victorian England, bound in chains, an exhibit in a circus show. But he has allies: Eliza Jenkins — known to audiences as "Thomasina Thumb" — and the larger-than-life "clown" in the colourful coat.

Uncovering a trail of injustice and corruption, the Doctor and Kybo soon find themselves on trial for their lives...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In an English courtroom in 1884, Justice Burrows goes to hear a court case about a soldier deserting his post. The jury inside are worried when rain and thunder is heard outside, but it passes quickly. The defendant in the court's first hearing of the day is a large rhinoceros man- a Judoon. Captain Kybo, with a defense council of other armed Judoon enter the courtroom, scaring the human jury. The Doctor walks in, and explains that Kybo is not an animal and is an actual defendant. The Doctor says he is defending Kybo. Burrows goes to dismiss the court, but the Doctor stops him, and explains that the Judoon will be working with the court.

The commander assimilates English in his translator device, and the Doctor explains that the Judoon have moved the courtroom to another planet, Kybo saying it was moved to Mars. The Doctor says he looks forward to the legal battle considering the reputation of the Judoon in legal systems. Justice Burrows complains that the Doctor looks distracted, looking at a fob watch. The Judoon commander lays out the charges against Kybo- stealing a ship and deserting his post, and that Kybo was captured on Earth after being chased by other Judoon. The commander tries to enter Kybo's plea as guilty, but the Doctor interrupts so he and Kybo can enact local due process for the court and Kybo can defend himself. The Doctor calls Kybo to the witness stand and suggests that Kybo tell his side of the story, mentioning to the jury that he will be in the story.

Kybo explains that his team had been hired by the Genesis corporation to help terraform the planet Aetius. GenesisCorp employee Gedge talks to President Beel, a company shareholder, about the terraforming process of Aetius. Beel is having the planet terraformed as a gift for her daughter's 16th birthday, and this will be performed with molecular disruption units that clear life from selected planets.The commander communicates with Kybo, who is on the planet Aetius. Kybo insists on installing the final MDU unit himself, but then hears a presence and is compelled to visit a nearby lake. The Judoon unit recognises that Kybo has not detonated his clearing technology, and then that Kybo has stolen a ship. The Judoon all set to pursue Kybo, none working on the terraforming until they catch him.

The TARDIS lands on a Judoon scout ship, having recieved a psychic signal like a distress call. He wonders if he arrived at the wrong time, but then hears the ship being fired at. The Doctor finds the ship computer, and says "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", a sentence that uses all 26 letters of the English alphabet, hoping that it will be enough information for Kybo's translator to assimilate and translate. The ship's computer can't detect what species is firing on it. The Doctor opens a door to a room with a hull breach, but activates the blast screen before he is sucked out into space. Kybo thanks the Doctor for coming to his rescue, and the Doctor is surprised that a Judoon would ever show politeness. The Doctor helps Kybo walk, Kybo saying he never sent out a distress call. The Doctor offers to take Kybo in the TARDIS, but he refuses as it would violate Judoon protocol. Kybo enters an escape pod and the Doctor tries to follow it. The Doctor tracks Kybo's escape pod, and the psychic signature heading to 19th century England.

A crowd of humans are kicking and jeering at Kybo when he lands on Earth, his translator broken. A man comes up and tells the crowd off for harassing Kybo, saying that Kybo is a human man with a deformity. He introduces himself as Jonathan Jaggers, a showman who owns a circus. Jaggers is impressed by the way Kybo was uninjured by the crowd's attacks, and brings him back to his circus. The Doctor lands on Earth, seeing the collateral damage from the crashed escape pod, empty. The Doctor asks a local person if he'd seen a rhinoceros man, and the man says yes, he paid to wrestle him at Jaggers' circus, and that Kybo never fought back.

Presenting at Jaggers' circus, circus performer Thomasina Thumb with Jaggers announce Kybo to a crowd. He offers people in the crowd to push Kybo over a white line on the ground in exchange for a prize of a hat, if contestants pay to particpate. The Doctor shows up, and Jaggers makes fun of his multi-colored clothes, calling him a court jester. The Doctor says he can challenge Kybo, and outside of the crowd's hearing chastises the humans around for harassing Kybo, and pretends to use mesmerism when talking to Kybo in Judoonese. Kybo agrees to move easily so the Doctor can win the challenge. Jaggers refuses to pay the Doctor the challenge prise, but the Doctor offers to take Kybo's freedom instead. They go to Jaggers' caravan, and he offers the Doctor a spot in his circus as Kybo's translator, but when the Doctor refuses, Jaggers has his circus perfomer Herculania knock the Doctor out.

When he wakes up, the Doctor talks to performer Eliza, known as "Thomasina Thumb". Eliza tells the Doctor about how when Kybo was shackled with chains to be taken to the circus, he never fought back and that he seemed like a gentle giant. Eliza also says that Kybo will return to the cage next to the Doctor's, where the Doctor has been locked in. When Kybo is put back in his cage, the Doctor tells Kybo about the cage next to him, and Kybo laughs. The Doctor is struck by how oddly Kybo behaves, being polite and clean- nothing like a Judoon. Eliza chats to Kybo, saying it was unfortunate he was born "stupid and ugly", but then Kybo starts speaking in English, saying "Help me". Eliza notes that the Doctor was whispering to his fob watch, and the Doctor grabs a hairpin from Eliza's hair without her noticing. She tells him about how Kybo began speaking English and asked for help. Horses outside start neighing worriedly, and the Doctor identifies floating blue lights as a Judoon probe. He uses the hairpin to undo the lock and leaves his cage.

Eliza spots far-off Judoon ships in the sky, and the Doctor grabs the Judoon probe and disables it, to buy time to prevent Kybo from being hunted by the Judoon ships. The Doctor says he needs time to meditate, and later returns to circus cage. Captain Kybo speaks to the Doctor and Eliza, as he tries to pick up English. The Doctor notes that this is happening much faster for Kybo than for other Judoon. Eliza gives Kybo a book to read and he appreciates the thoughtful gesture, spending his captive time reading books and poetry, which include Frankenstein, Moby Dick, and Great Expectations. Eliza feels guilty that she called Kybo stupid, and Kybo writes and reads some of his own original poetry. The three of them then hear circus horses neighing in distress, and the landing of Judoon scout ships. The Doctor tells Eliza to keep other people from interfering, as fighting the Judoon will only make things worse. Jaggers confronts the Judoon landing party, saying Kybo is his property and tells the Judoon ship to leave. The Judoon commander charges Jaggers with assault after hitting him, and kills him. The Judoon set out to search for Kybo on the circus grounds.

The Doctor tells the Judoon squadron that they must enter the hall of mirrors, pretending it is the circus entrance. To uphold what they think is local law, the Judoon follow the signs through the circus. The Judoon stampede out of the Hall of Mirrors, terrified by something. The Judoon leave, but only in time to regroup. The Doctor and Eliza get Kybo out of his chains, and discuss the Judoon squadron's likely next move- moving the circus to a non-Earth location where they would have jurisdiction by default. The Doctor encourages Eliza and all the other circus performers in the freak show to shut down the circus and do new things with their lives. The Doctor takes Kybo to the Hall of Mirrors.

The Doctor puts together that Kybo started behaving strangely after working on Aetius. He tells Kybo to look into the mirror, and in his mind, Kybo sees a face in his mind. Kybo remembers before his desertion, and tells the Doctor that when he was working on the land clearing on Aetius, he heard a voice and felt a breeze that led him to a lake, and then was able to appreciate the beauty of nature. He cried watching the double sunset, having his perspective on the universe changed utterly. Kybo can now see the illusion from the lake in the mirror, and the Doctor explains that this is a noncorporeal sentience. The Aetius say they live in nature and can only be seen in one-dimensional planes such as lakes, mirrors and the Doctor's fobwatch. The Aetius had shown the Judoon squadron their greatest fears, and had activated the distress signal. The Aetius used Kybo as a "whistleblower", activating Kybo's creativity and appreciation of beauty so he would not destroy the Aetius' habitat.

The Doctor suggests that him and Kybo go to the local courthouse and "fight lawyer with lawyer", the Doctor offering to represent him in court against the Judoon squadron. The story catches up to the present, and the Doctor says the case is actually about the crime against the Aetius. He points out that Kybo's ship was attacked heading to galactic court, and he was not being attacked by Judoon ships nor attack ships. The Doctor concludes that the Judoon's employer GenesisCorp attacked Kybo's ship when he reported there was life on Aetius, trying to stop him from informing the galactic authorities, and then tells the court that the building has not actually been transported to Mars, but Katura, the home of GenesisCorp. The Judoon squadron realise the Doctor's deception about where the court teleported and intend to destroy the court to prevent the spread of the Aetius changed mindset in the Judoon, but they stop when the Doctor boosts the Aetius influence in their ability to appreciate beauty and they refuse to destroy the court with MDUs.

Gedge asks why there is an old Earth court building in the parking lot at GenesisCorp, and his coworkers have no answer. He answers a call from the Commander, and the Commander tells him Gedge's presence is required in court. A Katuran warbird orbits over the court, and Kybo suggests to the Commander to use a DNA scoop to bring Gedge to court to discuss their case. The Doctor asks Gedge how his company's terraforming works, and Gedge explains how GenesisCorp alters existing dead planets to what a customer desires, willing to kill off small species with no defenses in the process. The Doctor asks if GenesisCorp knew about the Aetius and Gedge says yes, their surveyors started acting weird upon finding them. Gedge defends the company's willingness to commit genocide, saying he had a responsibility to shareholders. He threatens to have the court destroyed, so he can get back to business. The Doctor tells Gedge that the court is currently acting as a branch of the galactic court, and he just incriminated himself. President Beel denounces Gedge as an employee, and the judge moves to find Kybo as not guilty, dismissing the case.

The court is sent back to Earth with an H2O scoop, and Kybo admires the sunrise. Kybo and the Judoon squadron agree to live on Aetius or one of its' moons to avoid "poetry spreading among our kind", and the Doctor describes this as a "Judoon commune on the moon." Kybo reads the opening lines to a long poem he wrote in Judoonese, and the Doctor tells him his poem isn't long enough so he has time to get away to not hear the whole poem.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Gedge had wanted to hire the Ogrons.

Languages[[edit] | [edit source]]

Literature[[edit] | [edit source]]

Judoon[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Judge Burrows believed that Captain Kybo was "a rhinoceros in a kilt".
  • The Judoon use an H₂O scoop to transport the whole of the courtroom and its inhabitants to another planet. They also use a DNA scoop to transport Gedge to the courtroom against his will.
  • Although the Judoon mainly work for the Shadow Proclamation, the Captain explains that they also perform nonessential side missions on the side, such as terraforming planets for investors who wish to buy them.
  • The Doctor states that the Judoon brain could fit onto a teaspoon.
  • The Aetius describe the Judoon as "such unimaginative creatures".
  • The TARDIS translation circuit cannot translate Judoonese due to its simplicity.

Planets[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor says, "I am not an animal, I am a Time Lord!" This is a reference to the line, "I am not an animal! I am a human being!" from The Elephant Man starring John Hurt as the title character John Merrick.
  • The Doctor plans to visit Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Porlock. The Person from Porlock was an unwelcome visitor to Coleridge's home in 1797 who interrupted him while he was composing his poem Kubla Khan, which came to him in a dream. The interruption caused him to forget the remaining lines and the poem was never completed.
  • A vinyl version was released at selective Asda stores on 25 September 2020.
  • This story was released on BBC Sounds on 15 November 2023 as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who, under the banner title of Doctor Who: The Audio Adventures.[1]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gsxqqd
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