The Sandman (audio story)
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Sandmanfor other, similarly-named pages.
The Sandman was the thirty-seventh story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Simon A. Forward and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Maggie Stables as Evelyn Smythe.
This story introduced the Clutch and the Galyari to the Doctor Who universe. Among the guest cast is Anneke Wills, best known for being companion Polly Wright from 1966-1967, playing Director Nrosha.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Clutch is a fleet in constant motion, ships jostling for position, in an endless migration between the stars. For the Galyari, forbidden by an ancient curse from settling on a world ever again, the Clutch is home. But the curse travels with them...
The Sandman, a figure of myth and folk-lore, preys on the young and old alike. He lurks in the shadows and it is death to look upon him.
All too soon after the TARDIS arrives, it is evident that the Doctor and the Galyari share a dark history, and Evelyn is shocked to discover that, on the Clutch, it is her friend who is the monster.
The Sandman, according to the tales, also goes by the name of the Doctor...
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Part 1[[edit] | [edit source]]
A foster shushes the children in her care, warning them that the Sandman will come if they don't settle. Despite her pleas, the Sandman does come for the children.
Nrosha says the warrens are infested, and is trying to find a quicker path through them to the nurseries, knowing her children have growth sickness so the Sandman will be coming for them, but Shol tells her that there isn't a quicker path. He knows there's nothing anyone can do against the Sandman - against the Doctor. Nrosha arrives, but too late - her children are dead.
Shol talks to Mordecan en route to the Clutch, and then the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe arrive on his ship. Mordecan's partner Nintaru talks to Mordecan over intercom, and Mordecan reassures him. The Doctor says that he's overdue for this visit: he has to go to the Clutch, where to the Galyari people, he is a bad memory. Shol and commander Brel talk about what to do about Mordecan. The Doctor tells Evelyn about the Clutch - a fleet of different species clustering together for protection. Shol contacts the ship, allowing Mordecan to dock.
Mr. Mordecan is there to trade with the Galyari, having grown up with them in the Clutch. Shol comes to tell Nrosha her that she must learn to respect authority, and she says that she thinks they should attack the Doctor. Mordecan and the Doctor part, the latter and Evelyn heading to the leader of the Clutch. Shol tells Nrosha to liaise with Brel about Mordecan. Mordecan and Nintaru go over their plan to smuggle something illegal into the Clutch. The Doctor and Evelyn arrive at Shol's office, breaking in. The Doctor explains that the Orchestrator, Shol, carefully governs the traffic of the Clutch. Shol leaves Nrosha, arriving to see the Doctor, who suddenly acts very commanding. Shol insists that looking at the Sandman would kill him, and the Doctor admits his monstrosity.
Part 2[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor says that the curse is what the Galyari deserve, and that the Clutch is heavily involved in the arms trade. He orders this to stop, but makes no promises as to stopping preying upon the Galyari, even if these demands are met. Meanwhile, Mordecan meets Nrosha, showing her a sunbird. He's brought her a flock of the birds - considered holy by some Lanfans - in exchange for weapons so some of the Lanfans can overthrow the others. When Mordecan tries to ask about the Sandman, Nrosha attacks him, and then releases him. He realises that the man he met was the same Doctor, the same Sandman, and tells Nrosha everything.
The Doctor makes Shol explain to Evelyn the Galyari's great shame: when they returned home to Galyar, their cities were destroyed and their home overrun. General Voshkar led the campaign to take back their home, but they were ambushed, and many Galyari were killed. The Doctor - calling himself the Sandman - confronted Voshkar, having taken the skins of his soldiers as trophies, and ordered the Galyari to leave this planet. Instead, Voshkar told his council that they simply need to kill the Sandman, and so he returned to the planet with a massive army to do just that.
The army moved into the city to take the "Shushkubra", the memory egg of the species, but the Doctor is there, and it is death to look upon him. He makes Voshkar bow before him, telling him that this world belongs to the Kuscaru now, and that the Galyari must never set foot on a planet again. The Doctor destroys the race-memory, the Shushkubra. This imprints himself on the race subconscious.
In the present, Mordecan is leaving, and Nrosha goes to tell Brel the new information she learned from him about the Doctor. Shol begs the Doctor to end the unnatural deaths, and the Doctor doesn't know what he means. Word of more deaths in the nursery reach Brel and Nrosha, and Shol tells the Doctor that the first of the deaths was the previous Orchestrator. Mordecan was the last to see him alive. Those in the growth sickness - during the period where the Galyari shed their skins - have been taken, as well as others, but Shol explains that unlike how the Doctor acted before, in the recent spate of killings, Galyari skins have been taken before they have shed. Nrosha and Brel plan their attack on the Doctor while Mordecan directs Nintaru over comms, not having left the Clutch as he said he would. Nrosha and Brel arrive, shooting at the Doctor.
Part 3[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor and Evelyn run, and the Doctor finds a Galyari surveillance drone which he hopes will have information on Mordecan. Nrosha tells Shol to give the patrols orders to only report their sightings of the Doctor, not to detain him, while Brel hunts him. The Doctor and Evelyn are separated, with the Doctor on a ship that's temporarily leaving the Clutch. As Mordecan and Nintaru continue to communicate, Evelyn finds Mordecan in the bar. The Doctor arrives back in the Clutch. Shol suggests that he might kill Brel if he fails, to appease the Doctor. If he succeeds, he'll be a hero. Mordecan leaves Evelyn, and Nintaru is being attacked by birds when the Doctor finds him and helps scare them off.
Evelyn follows Mordecan, and he tells her that he introduced the previous Orchestrator to Nintaru, but the orchestrator didn't want what he offered. Nintaru tells the Doctor that the Clutch has been on it's way back to his home world - the world once called Galyar. Nintaru explains that he brought the remains of the Shushkubra to the Clutch as a peace offering, but now Mordecan has convinced him to take his deal underground, and Nintaru is on his way now to take the remains to this underground deal. The Doctor decides to come along. Sub-Orchestrator Korshal fails to report in to Shol. Evelyn and Mordecan arrive at the underground meeting.
The Doctor explains that when he destroyed the Shushkubra, the neural energy released permeated every Galyari present, and that if any remains of the Shushkubra came into contact with those energies, it could cause a catastrophic mutation. Mordecan and Evelyn meet his contact, who has changed physically more and more each time Mordecan sees him. Brel contacts Shol, telling him that he is still following the Doctor. The Doctor and Nintaru reach Mordecan, Evelyn, and the client, but the Doctor reveals that he stole the package from Nintaru. The client recognises the Doctor.
Part 4[[edit] | [edit source]]
Nintaru is attacked by the client, and Brel arrives. Mordecan takes Brel's gun, shooting the client, revealing that it is hollow: only a skin. Sampling the goods (the Shushkubra dust) did this to him. Brel wants to shoot the Doctor, so the Doctor removes his coat and waistcoat, allowing Brel to look at him. It was the intensely coloured coat that hurt sensitive Galyari eyes. The Doctor points out that he alone understands what's happened here, so Brel shouldn't shoot him. Nintaru is still alive, and the Doctor asks Brel calls a medical team for him.
Shol continues trying to contact Korshal. Someone makes an announcement: the Clutch has a new Orchestrator. The announcer is claiming to be the Sandman, saying he will now send out his patrols, his "sandmen", and that the Doctor must be captured. Brel allows the Doctor to contact Shol, telling him that the announcer is the murderer. Shol's predecessor was a descendent of Voshkar. Shol agrees to meet the Doctor in the cultivation chamber. Nrosha takes a patrol out to find Korshal, to prove that the Doctor is the enemy. The Doctor explains that Shol's predecessor came into contact with the Shushkubra, causing him to mutate, and that they will need organic material like the bird feathers from the aviaries to defeat him - the predecessor is the announcer calling himself the Sandman.
100,000 years ago, a guide amongst the Kuscaru showed the Doctor how their people were rising from the borrows, and how the Galyari left one structure untouched. The Galyari returned, which is when the Doctor stripped dead Galyari of their skins to interface with the artifact (the Shushkabra) inside the structure. He told Voshkar to leave, but he didn't listen. The Doctor was able to telepathically trigger the Shushkabra explode.
In the present day, the Doctor and co arrive at the cultivation chamber to grow a new memory egg, with ingredients including bird feathers and the Doctor's blood. Voshkar's men were imprinted with neural radiation from the Shushkabra, passing this down genetically, and this was activated when Voshkar's descendent came into contact with the same energies in the Shushkabra dust. This means he has the seeds for a new Shushkabra, and this is what has been taking skins to power itself, with Mordecan's new supplies of dust continuing to rejuvenate it. And Nrosha has gone to face it.
Nrosha battles with the Sandman, dying in the process. Shol and Evelyn head back to command, Brel gets his officers to gather Galyari into the garrison ships and seal them in, and Mordecan delivers the Doctor to the Sandman. He is unravelling, becoming more like his ancestors. He's been harvesting skins to graft onto himself over the years, and now each of his sandmen is one of them. He wants to colonise worlds once again. The Doctor and the Sandman fight, and Evelyn and Shol carry out their part of the plan, opening all doors except the ones to the garrison ships and command. Birds fly through the air, destroying the Sandmen. Mordecan and the Doctor leave as the birds the Doctor is telepathically controlling (the psychic link cemented by his blood) destroy the Sandman.
Nintaru is healing well, and will not be charged for his part in this. Mordecan as well. The Shushkabra ashes will be kept on what was once Galyar. Change is beginning on the Clutch, and for the Galyari. The Doctor and Evelyn leave in the TARDIS.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Evelyn Smythe - Maggie Stables
- Director Nrosha - Anneke Wills
- General Voshkar - Ian Hogg
- Mr Mordecan - Robin Bowerman
- Nintaru - Stephanie Colburn
- Orchestrator Shol - Mark Donovan
- Commander Brel - Mark Wharton
Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Cover Art - Lee Binding
- Director - Gary Russell
- Executive Producer - Jacqueline Rayner
- Music - Russell Stone
- Producers - Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Sound Design - Gareth Jenkins
- Writer - Simon A Forward
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Galyari find birds appealing.
- The Shushkubra is a memory egg that lies at the heart of every Galyari world, holding the race memory of the Galyari.
- Most Galyari worlds are called 'Galyar'.
- The Kuscaru were once animal burrowers on Galyar, the Shushkubra holding back their development, but they became intelligent by the time the Galyari returned to their world.
Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]
Original CD cover
Art by Martin Geraghty featured in DWM 323
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor narrates some parts of the story.
- The Doctor mentions Daphne Du Maurier.
- This audio story was recorded on 4 and 5 March 2002 at the Moat Studios.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- AUDIO: The Bone of Contention takes place on the Clutch prior to the events of this story. The Galyari and Mordecan appear in both stories.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official The Sandman page at bigfinish.com; note that it is out of print and is available as download only.
- The Sandman at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for The Sandman at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
