Frozen Time (audio story)

Frozen Time
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Main enemy:	Arakssor, Ice Warriors
Main setting:	Antarctica, 2012
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Nicholas Briggs
Director:	Barnaby Edwards
Producer:	Sharon Gosling
Music:	Steve Foxon
Sound:	Steve Foxon
Cover by:	Alex Mallinson
Release details
Number of parts:	4
Release number:	98
Release date:	August 2007
Format:	2 CDs Download
Production code:	7Z/B
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-285-2 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78575-386-2 (digital)
Music suite
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Main Range
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Next →	Son of the Dragon
Production order
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Next →	The Wishing Beast

Frozen Time was the ninety-eighth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and features Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. The story is notable for being one of the stories with the most direct ties to the fan produced Audio Visuals range, as the story is essentially a complete sequel to 1990's Endurance.

This was the second solo Seventh Doctor story, and the first time that the Seventh Doctor and Ice Warriors have appeared in an audio together, although not the first time chronologically for the Seventh Doctor to encounter them in an audio drama, that classification belonging to Thin Ice.

Publisher's summary

In 1929, Lord Barset's expedition to the Antarctic is lost without trace. Or so it seems...

Nearly a century later, his grandson funds a much-publicised return to the icy wastes. His mission: to discover what happened to the original expedition. But what he finds instead is an enigma — a battered London police box frozen in ice millennia old.

But something else lies in wait in this awful place, something from an era before humankind set foot on the continent's cold soil. A menace frozen in time.

Until now.

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• Lord Barset - Anthony Calf
• Genevieve - Maryam d'Abo
• Professor McIntyre / Bailey / Geldar - Tony Millan
• Harman / Commander - Gwynn Beech
• Ben / Driver / Ssrongar - Gregg Newton
• Arakssor / Kelly / Pilot / First Officer - Nicholas Briggs

Crew

• Cover Art - Alex Mallinson
• Director - Barnaby Edwards
• Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
• Music & Sound Design - Steve Foxon
• Producer - Sharon Gosling
• Script Editor - Alan Barnes
• Writer - Nicholas Briggs
• Ice Warriors created by Brian Hayles

Worldbuilding

The Doctor

• The Doctor mutters the names of his previous companions Mel, Ace and Hex while his memory recovers.

Species

• Lord Barset is searching for "lizard men".

Locations

• The Antarctic holds a Martian prison facility for war criminals.

Clothes

• The Doctor's attire degrades over his time in the ice.

Illustrated preview by Martin Geraghty published in DWM 385.

Notes

• Frozen Time acts as a partial sequel to the events of the Audio Visuals audio drama Endurance, also written by and starring Briggs. It featured the exploits of the original 1929 Antarctic expedition, ranging from the Rochester crew's investigation of the missing expedition's base camp to the discovery and destruction of an advanced Silurian metropolis nestled beneath the ice. The obliteration of the city in the original story would seem to be the main reason Lord Barset was unable to uncover any trace of his grandfather's lost working party.
• As such, the Ice Warriors' appearance in this story was kept a secret to subvert audience speculations and expectations of the Silurians appearing, as according to Briggs "it worked so well not telling people in advance" for the Master's appearance in Dust Breeding. He elaborates that "heavy hints" were made that Frozen Time was "based on an old Audio Visuals story" & pre-publicity for it "made it clear" that it "was set in the Antarctic, features someone called 'Lord Barset' and was about an expedition that discovers something."
• Briggs asked his performance as Arraksor to be pitched down one semi-tone to make it that "slightly more deep" after hearing it.
• A preview of this story was shown in DWM 385 with an illustration by Martin Geraghty.
• This audio drama was recorded on 24 and 25 April 2007 at the Moat Studios.
• Part 1 has a pre-titles sequence.
• This story is set between Survival and the 1996 TV Movie.
• This release comes with a Music Suite and Behind the Scenes Interviews extras. Both are split in half across the two CDs, while in the Big Finish app they are unabridged.

Continuity

• The Doctor previously visited Antarctica close to the end of the life of his first incarnation in December 1986, (TV: The Tenth Planet) in the 1970s in his fourth incarnation (TV: The Seeds of Doom) and, earlier in his seventh incarnation, in 2006 (PROSE: Iceberg) and 2045. (AUDIO: The Word Lord)
• On 12 April 1929, The Daily Telegraph reported that Lord Barset's expedition to Antarctica was lost following their claim to have found a lost city of intelligent reptiles. A similar city was uncovered by Dr. Martyn and Townsend during an archaeological dig in Egypt. (COMIC: City of Devils)
• The TARDIS would later be frozen in a similar manner in PROSE: Time Zero.
• With this story taken into account, at least six incarnations of the Doctor have visited 2012: the Sixth Doctor and/or one of his first five incarnations, (AUDIO: The Raincloud Man) the Seventh Doctor on this occasion, the Eighth Doctor in Wiltshire, (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon) the Ninth Doctor in Utah, (TV: Dalek) the Tenth Doctor in London (TV: Fear Her) and the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: Good as Gold) Both the Ninth and Tenth Doctors were accompanied by Rose Tyler.
• The Sixth Doctor previously flew a helicopter in AUDIO: Blue Forgotten Planet.
• The 2012 Olympic Games are mentioned. In his tenth incarnation, the Doctor would attend the games in the company of Rose Tyler (TV: Fear Her) and would later do so once again in his eleventh incarnation in the company of Amy Pond. (TV: Good as Gold) In the far future, radio and television broadcasts concerning the 2012 Olympic Games could be accessed via the Gogglebox inside the Moon. (AUDIO: The Reaping, The Gathering)

External links

• Official Frozen Time page at bigfinish.com
• Frozen Time at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for Frozen Time at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide