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Daughter of the Gods (audio story)

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Daughter of the Gods was the second and final story of the sixth series of The Early Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. The range's first multi-Doctor story, it was written by David K Barnes, narrated by Wendy Padbury and Peter Purves, and featured the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot teaming up with the First Doctor, Steven Taylor and Katarina to fight the Daleks.

Producer David Richardson credits Jason Haigh-Ellery with the initial idea of a multi-Doctor story featuring the First and Second Doctors in The Early Adventures to celebrate 20 years of Big Finish Doctor Who material. Richardson envisioned the story as a sort of "5 year anniversary special" which could plausibly have been made in 1968, albeit with slightly heavier emphasis on narrative continuity - many direct references are made to both The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"] and The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"].

The Daleks' Master Plan served as the basis for the plot and emotional core. Daughter of the Gods derived its title from a monologue delivered by the First Doctor in Master Plan in tribute to the short-lived companion Katarina. This story gives Katarina substantial development, effectively making her the central character and exploring her relationship with the Doctor. (BFX: Daughter of the Gods, VOR 128)

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

When Zoe reattaches an old piece of equipment to the TARDIS console, she, Jamie and the Doctor are very lucky to avoid a collision.

But the place they find themselves in may be even more dangerous - because there they encounter another Doctor, a space pilot named Steven...and a young woman called Katarina who really shouldn’t be there....

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part 1[[edit] | [edit source]]

While the TARDIS is in flight, Jamie notices a door in the corridor which he has never seen before. The Doctor tries to prompt him away but Jamie opens it, spilling its contents all over the floor. The Doctor explains the room is a cupboard, where he keep various "useful" knickknacks he had acquired in his travels that the chest in the console room has no space for.

As the Doctor and Jamie amuse themselves with a remote-controlled car, Zoe notices another strange device. The Doctor tells her it is a time path indicator which detects other vessels travelling through the Time Vortex but dismisses its importance, which baffles Zoe – more so after she examines the device in the console room just before the TARDIS collides with another police box.

Struggling to deal with the crash, the Doctor suddenly hears voices he recognises, including talk of the Place of Perfection. The Doctor tries to communicate with these voices but they dissipate and the TARDIS lands.

With the ship's dematerialisation circuit in need of repair, the trio venture out onto the planet where they are swept up in a chaotic evacuation effort in the midst of a destructive invasion, with buildings falling under fierce a bombardment. Jamie is separated from the Doctor and Zoe after fleeing from Captain Parlos. The Doctor and Zoe, meanwhile, unsuccessful in their attempts to learn where they are or who is invading, are boarded onto a spaceship. The pilot arrives to calm the passengers but the Doctor recognises the man as his old companion Steven Taylor, yet he has no memory of a previous visit to this planet. As the Doctor considers this, the face of his previous incarnation appears on all screens, warning the evacuees that the invaders are almost upon them.

Jamie arrives in an empty street, where he runs into Varx and Piril on a looting spree. They threaten him when a lost young woman arrives. Jamie protects her, knocking Piril out and causing Varx to flee. The woman then urges Jamie to follow her to her lord's Temple as another bombardment begins. To Jamie's surprise, he recognises the Temple as the TARDIS. The suspicious young woman informs him she has a key but does not wish to upset her lord. Jamie informs her that if they stay outside, they will both die. The woman declares that her name is Katarina and that she is already dead.

Part 2[[edit] | [edit source]]

On the bright summer morning prior to the invasion, Katarina is awoken by a nightmare depicting her death. Steven assures her everything is all right. As the Doctor digs in to his breakfast in their rented apartment, Steven comes in to complain that the Doctor's party with his scientific colleagues kept him up all night. Katarina's appearance breaks up their argument. The Doctor opines that she has made remarkable progress in her education since their arrival on Urbinia.

The Doctor heads for his next lecture at Kiria City's university with Katarina and they discuss their current situation and her recurring nightmares, which have plagued her since she first entered the TARDIS. After the TARDIS departed wartorn Troy, it collided with another ship in the Time Vortex, landing them on Urbinia, where the travellers have remained for three months while attempting to fix the burnt-out dematerialisation circuit. In that time, the Doctor has networked with the political leaders and scientific community while Steven found a simple job at the spaceport, which helps pay their rent. The Doctor considers it fortunate that they landed on such an advanced planet which allowed them to treat Steven's wounds received at Troy. It also allowed him to repair the dematerialisation circuit, which he can fit back into the TARDIS and they may soon continue their travels. Before he can continue his conversation with Katarina, Captain Parlos approaches him informing him his next lecture is cancelled. He has instead been summoned before Chancellor Atrias, on matters concerning the safety of the planet.

Steven continues his work when his co-worker Krell shows him some strange readings on the scanner. He has picked up a fleet of ships heading their way from the neighbouring planet Baralda, which is itself nowhere to be found on the readings. The planet has disappeared in a matter of hours.

In the meeting with Chancellor Atrias, the Doctor and Katarina are shown a distress transmission from Baralda. First Citizen Togrok appeals for aid against a sudden attack but before he can complete his message, he is aged to death and the planet with him. Atrias thought it only fitting to ask the Doctor for help in the matter and the Doctor agrees, considering that he knows just the kind of creatures so willing to destroy and with the ability to manipulate time to that end. At that moment, Atrias receives an incoming transmission from the inbound fleet. The Daleks demand his people surrender and submit to slavery or suffer the fate of Baralda. Atrias suffers a nervous breakdown and agrees to the Daleks' terms. He flees in cowardice, much to the Doctor and Parlos' disgust. The Doctor urges Parlos to begin an evacuation. He gives Katarina a TARDIS key and tells her to return there, while he plans to contact Steven and warn the rest of the population about the imminent Dalek invasion.

After warning Steven to ready the spaceport, the Doctor's message is broadcast throughout Kiria City. Steven and Krell ready any available ship but the crowds are swept into a panic and the Daleks begin to bombard the city. Parlos confronts three onlookers gawking at the crowds, unaware of what is going on.

Shortly after, Katarina is left on her own when her own guard escort, Tallin, panics and abandons her. Lost in the city, she tries to find her bearings before running into the looters and finally encountering Jamie.

In the Council Chamber, the Doctor demands to know why the Daleks are bombarding the city when Atrias has already surrendered. The Daleks claim it is a warning in response to the mass population movement, which is to be ended or the Time Destructor will be brought to bear on the planet. The Dalek saucers descend, heralding the beginning of the Harvesting of Urbinia.

Part 3[[edit] | [edit source]]

After the First Doctor's message is broadcast around the city once more, the Second Doctor tries to end his argument with Steven. When he learns that the Daleks are behind the attack, he urges Steven to take them to his Doctor. To avoid the suspicions of Captain Parlos, the Doctor offers himself and Zoe as volunteers to help with the evacuation, to which Parlos reluctantly agrees. The Doctor questions Steven as to the whereabouts of Vicki. Steven says she isn't travelling with them any more; they are travelling with Katarina. The Doctor remembers Vicki stayed in Troy, information which Steven realises only the Doctor could know. Katarina's presence, however, is noted by the Doctor.

At the First Doctor's TARDIS, Jamie and Katarina enter and find safety. They both realise that with the Doctor's ability to travel in time, the two Doctor's time streams must have overlapped, although Katarina's understanding of events is a mystery to Jamie. She still believes she is dead and is yet to pass into the Underworld, while the Doctor, her god, is doing battle against the Evil Ones who have come to claim her soul. Jamie at least does learn that the Daleks are responsible for the invasion, a discovery which prompts him into action and he leaves the TARDIS to warn his Doctor. He and Katarina meet Parlos and other security forces as a Dalek saucer lands nearby. Parlos tells the troops to take no prisoners. Several Silver Daleks descend from the saucer's boarding ramp and engage Parlos in battle. Jamie and Katarina make for the spaceport after witnessing the start of the firing. The pair seek refuge in an abandoned and looted bank as the Daleks begin to kill and capture civilians.

Back in the Council Chamber, the Doctor finishes contact with other cities and contacts Parlos. He is surprised to learn the Daleks have already landed but tells Parlos to not to engage them and risk the use of the Time Destructor. Instead, she must lure the Daleks away from the spaceport to buy more time for the evacuation. The Doctor is then contacted by Steven and Zoe, the latter of which warns that all ships should evacuate at the same time so the Daleks are given no opportunity to find out what is happening before everyone can escape. She has also already calculated the coordinates necessary to bypass the Dalek Fleet, much to the First Doctor's chagrin. Additionally, to assist the Doctor, Zoe has sent her friend, the Doctor, to help. With a knock and the door, the Second Doctor introduces himself and informs the First Doctor that he shouldn't be here.

Atrias is brought before the Dalek Supreme, having been captured after his own ship was stolen, foiling his escape attempt. Although the Daleks recognise him as the leader of the city who agreed to their terms of surrender, Atrias tells them the Doctor is in charge. The Dalek Supreme sends its subordinates to find the Doctor, and then disposes of Atrias.

The Second Doctor explains to his past self that the TARDIS collision threw them off their original course. The First Doctor, Steven and Katarina were meant to land on Kembel and defeat the Daleks before they could develop the Time Destructor; the landing on Urbinia was a mistake. When the First Doctor realises the Second Doctor was the cause of the collision which ultimately led to the invasion, the Second Doctor concedes and agrees that he must put things right. He does, however, inform the First Doctor that doing so will reset the timeline, meaning that the previous three months will never have happened, and, far worse, Katarina is destined to die on the mission to stop the Daleks. As the First Doctor struggles to digest the news, a Dalek arrives and demands the population be turned over to them.

At the spaceport, the evacuation is only half complete by Steven's estimation when the security forces clamp the hangar bay doors shut, citing a lack of time. Any one not in a ship is thought to be hiding at home or trying their luck outside the city. In addition to the worries afflicting the haphazard evacuation effort, the ships are already at capacity and food supplies are woefully insufficient. Steven finds Zoe tampering with compressed power cells called phason pods, one of which could power a starship for a whole day. Zoe continues to make them more volatile using a molecular bonder as part of an idea to meet the demands of one of their more immediate needs. At that point, Jamie and Katarina reach the spaceport and cry for the doors to be opened, while three Daleks catch up with them. "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!"

Part 4[[edit] | [edit source]]

Jamie agrees to surrender, knowing of the Daleks' orders to capture and enslave as many people as possible rather than kill them. One Dalek reckons it is a deception but decides to take them back to the ship. Another Dalek countermands the order. It has a better use for them.

In the confrontation in the Council Chambers, the Daleks discover that the two Doctors are one and the same man. They try to return them to the Dalek Supreme to investigate how this is possible. However, the Doctors are saved by the arrival of Parlos and other security officers, giving the Doctors time to escape.

At the spaceport, the Daleks use Jamie and Katarina as hostages to gain entry to the hangar bay. Steven and company open the doors but the Daleks run straight into an ambush. Zoe detonates the phason pods, igniting the fuel spread across the floor. The dazed and blinded Daleks fire randomly through the smoke into the resisting crowd before the three of them explode in succession. The crowd cheers at their success but the celebrations are short-lived once Steven finds Krell among the dead, killed by one of the stray Dalek shots. As he solemnly orders the doors closed again, Parlos and the Doctors run up to join them.

Yet as the travellers are all united, the First Doctor angrily warns his companions to stay away from his future self, lying that his motives are far from benevolent. The Second Doctor asks to speak with Katarina. The First Doctor objects but Katarina convinces him otherwise. Steven, Jamie and Zoe are all left in confusion.

The Second Doctor talks to Katarina in private about her dreams, in which she sees her future death but also the Second Doctor wishing to speak with her. The Doctor attributes this to a form of psycho-temporal feedback, "a collision of possibilities manifesting in a particularly receptive mind." He tells Katarina about the original timeline in which she died fighting the Daleks and tells her the decision to choose between that timeline and the present one is hers.

Torn by the dilemma, the First Doctor accuses Jamie and Zoe of knowing of Katarina's death; believing the Second Doctor to be a liar. Steven objects to the Doctor's irrational behaviour, causing the latter to storm off. The three companions still think there may be a way to stop the Daleks and save Katarina's life. As they think on this, Parlos meets the Doctor and informs him the Daleks have surrounded the area.

Katarina questions the Doctor: if he and her Doctor are the same being, why are they in such a heated conflict of interests? The Doctor puts it down to different experiences. The Second Doctor has already witnessed Katarina's death and had long felt the guilt of his inability to save her. The First Doctor, on the other hand, feels a fondness for Katarina and a guilt for the fate of her people; it was his idea, after all, to build the Trojan Horse which led to the Fall of Troy. That led to the deaths of many people all in order to save Vicki, and now the First Doctor is once against willing to risk the lives of millions at the hands of the Daleks in order to save Katarina. With a new understanding of her Doctor, Katarina realises that the Doctor is not an all-powerful god, but he is a friend. She is ready to make her decision.

The spaceport becomes more and more crowded as straggling civilians seek refuge. The Dalek Supreme contacts the First Doctor and gives him one last chance to surrender or the Time Destructor will be deployed. The Doctor reminds the Dalek Supreme about the other Daleks still on Urbinia, although the Dalek Supreme dismisses them as having failed. Parlos urges the Doctor to allow the ships to take off but the Doctor is reluctant to do so. Having already made contact with the other cities, he knows that their evacuation efforts were not so successful. Every ship which tried to leave the planet has been destroyed and the cities have surrendered. Only Kiria is left and even Zoe's coordinates are no longer of any use. The full Dalek arsenal is now concentrated on the Kiria evacuation as they prepare to destroy the planet to make an example to others.

The Second Doctor and Katarina assure the First Doctor and Parlos that they can stop the Dalek invasion from ever happening. The First Doctor relinquishes his fixed dematerialisation circuit so the Second Doctor may take off. Parlos and the security forces buy time by engaging the Dalek ground forces while the Second Doctor, Katarina, Jamie and Zoe make for the TARDIS. Parlos is killed in the engagement. The First Doctor and Steven also stay behind to protect the remaining Urbinians for as long as they can. Soon the Daleks force their way into the hangar bay, believing total victory is theirs. The Doctor simply retorts that "It's far from being all over!"

The Second Doctor's team struggle their way to the TARDIS as the Time Destructor is activated. Jamie, Zoe and Katarina begin to age rapidly but the Doctor pulls them into the TARDIS in time, shielding them from the effects. He replaces the broken circuit, turns off the temporal safeguards and uses the fast return switch to catapult the TARDIS back to the heart of the original collision. Zoe fears it would cause a temporal paradox but the Doctor claims he is well-versed in breaking the rules. The TARDIS crashes again, undoing the new timeline. At the eye of the temporal storm, the Doctor and Katarina are able to say some parting words. Katarina asks if the Doctor will remember her. Then they are separated.

With the TARDIS having departed Troy, the Doctor tells Katarina to look after an unconscious and wounded Steven. Katarina seems distant for a moment, feeling like she has lost something. The Doctor considers that he knows very little about his new companion and hopes to solve that problem later. The TARDIS lands in the jungles of Kembel, where the Daleks are waiting for them...

In the Second Doctor's TARDIS, the Doctor finds himself holding the time path indicator. Zoe reminds him he removed it because it was making an annoying noise. Zoe and Jamie go to further explore the items from the cupboard, and to play with the remote control car again. Left alone, the Doctor tries to concentrate on a word he remembers from somewhere: "Urbinia". All it reminds him of are "flickering shadows". He closes his eyes and then opens them, remembering Katarina. He smiles. "Of course I'll remember you. How could I ever forget?"

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Tallin - Ian Crowe (BFX: Daughter of the Gods)

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

 
Illustration of Daughter of the Gods by Jamie Lenman for DWM 546.
 
A pretend Radio Times article promoting Daughter of the Gods as the fifth anniversary of Doctor Who in 1968 for VOR 128.
  • This is the third story in The Early Adventures to feature the Daleks, after The Sontarans [+]Loading...["The Sontarans (audio story)"] (in a cameo appearance which also features the same Black Dalek) and The Dalek Occupation of Winter [+]Loading...["The Dalek Occupation of Winter (audio story)"], which writer David K Barnes also penned.
  • This was one of two releases by Big Finish in 2019 to intended to commemorate 20 years of producing their own Doctor Who material, the other being The Legacy of Time, released that July.
  • Part 1 was released as a preview on 1 November 2019.
  • Ajjaz Awad as Katarina is the third voice actor to take over a companion's role from their televised actor in The Early Adventures after Jemma Powell as Barbara Wright and Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson. Awad had previously voiced Katarina in Companion Piece [+]Loading...["Companion Piece (audio story)"] in Ravenous 3, which pre-dated the script for Daughter of the Gods. She was recommended for the role after her work on The Dollhouse [+]Loading...["The Dollhouse (audio story)"] and The Phoenicians [+]Loading...["The Phoenicians (audio story)"]. (VOR 128)
  • The story takes place in an alternate timeline in which the First Doctor never interfered with the events of The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"]. Although the timeline is undone, the Second Doctor is able to remember the events, at least partially.
  • Wendy Padbury provides the bulk of the story's narration but Peter Purves provides narration for Part 2, which details much of the same events of Part 1 from the perspective of the First Doctor and his companions, as well as the section of Part 4 after time has been corrected from the First Doctor's perspective. Purves is not credited as the Narrator on the Big Finish website but mentions the part on the CD Extras.
  • The Meddling Monk was among the characters originally to be included in the story. John Dorney and David Richardson comprised a list of characters they wanted to bring back and tasked Barnes with writing a story around them. While most of these characters made it in to the final work, the Monk was dropped. (VOR 128)
  • Barnes initially handed 80 pages of notes to John Dorney but struggled to come up with a storyline. Dorney helped simplify the existing ideas. Eventually, Katarina became the focal point of the story and the writing took shape around her role. (VOR 128)
  • Barnes wanted to redress an issue he had with The Three Doctors [+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"] and The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"] by making the First Doctor the less experienced Doctor on account of him being younger. (VOR 128)
  • The story was released the same day as the other Series 6 entry, The Home Guard [+]Loading...["The Home Guard (audio story)"]. When the upcoming releases were announced by Big Finish on 18 May 2019, Daughter of the Gods was stated to be the first story in Series 6 while The Home Guard was presented as the second.[2] Vortex magazine presented them in the same way upon publication of #125 on 1 July. However, neither their respective production codes nor the ultimate release order reflect this. Upon release, the Big Finish website listed The Home Guard above Daughter of the Gods while also numbering the former as 6.1 in the range and the latter as 6.2.
  • Some of the music from The Dalek Occupation of Winter [+]Loading...["The Dalek Occupation of Winter (audio story)"] is reused.
  • Due to the connections to The Daleks' Master Plan, brief extracts from the opening scenes of "The Nightmare Begins" are adapted and altered for the purposes of the narrative. Katarina's nightmares also contain the scene of her death from "The Traitors". The Companion Chronicles story The Perpetual Bond [+]Loading...["The Perpetual Bond (audio story)"] also did this while recapping the final scene of "The Destruction of Time".
  • The Doctor explains regeneration but not by name, instead referring to it as more vaguely as "rejuvenation". This is one element of the story emulating the 1960s era of the show, as "regeneration" was not named as such until Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"] in 1974.
  • The Second Doctor is directly referred to as "the second Doctor" by the narrator.
  • The Second Doctor berates the First for getting him into "another fine mess", referencing Laurel and Hardy.
  • This story was recorded on 12 and 13 March 2019 at the Moat Studios.
  • This is the last story to be released while David Richardson served as the producer of The Early Adventures. He was succeeded by Alfie Shaw, producer and script editor of the Short Trips range. (VOR 125) Richardson had already commissioned the scripts for After the Daleks [+]Loading...["After the Daleks (audio story)"] and The Secrets of Det-Sen [+]Loading...["The Secrets of Det-Sen (audio story)"] in Series 7, however, before Shaw assumed the role. (VOR 149) They were released on 21 August 2021.
  • Barnes compared writing for the Daleks on both The Dalek Occupation of Winter and Daughter of the Gods. In the former, he portrayed the Daleks as more complex, manipulative villains operating from the shadows. In the latter, they are an all-conquering threat at the height of their power. The more straightfoward portrayal of the Daleks in the latter allowed Barnes to better balance out their presence with the rest of the extended cast. (VOR 128)
  • The story is frequently treated as the "five-year anniversary special" of Doctor Who by Big Finish with some light humour. Vortex magazine #128 noted they were "51 years too late", jesting "that’s the thing about time travel, you see. These things happen but not necessarily in the right order...", and even included a pretend render of a Radio Times article promoting the milestone. In reality, Doctor Who turned five during the broadcast of The Invasion [+]Loading...["The Invasion (TV story)"]. The now-missing but reanimated Episode Four broadcast on 23 November 1968.
  • The next story in the range, After the Daleks [+]Loading...["After the Daleks (audio story)"] in Series 7, also featured the Daleks, though not the Doctor.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

The cover was designed by Tom Webster. Upon receiving the brief, Webster envisioned much of the final design, with the two TARDIS teams, the Daleks, the Time Destructor and a fusion of the two 1960s title sequences.

All images of the main characters were sourced from archive footage. The First Doctor's image was sourced from an episode of The Space Museum [+]Loading...["The Space Museum (TV story)"], with a hand superimposed to make him appear more brooding.

All three Daleks featured are the same Dalek, the prop of which was on display at the Doctor Who festival at This Planet Earth and photographed from different angles by Tom Saunders. Permission to use the photos was granted in return for a credit. The Supreme Dalek was recoloured black to resemble its appearance in The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"]. (VOR 128)

Uniquely for releases in The Early Adventures, it had two alternative black and white covers as opposed to one. The first uses the 1963-1967 logo to reflect the era of the First Doctor between Season 1 to early Season 4. The second uses the 1967-1969 logo to reflect the era of the Second Doctor between later Season 4 to Season 6.

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ No explicit date is given in the story but the plot branches off from developments in The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"], which takes place in 4000. Steven and Zoe discuss how, in the original timeline, the Daleks were defeated "in the past".
  2. ↑ Katarina returns. Big Finish (May 18th, 2019). Retrieved on May 10th, 2021.

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

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