Planet of the Drashigs (audio story)

When the TARDIS lands on an alien planet, the Doctor's intentions to show Ann Kelso an advanced future society are thrown into disarray. Because they have arrived on DrashigWorld - a park where every known species of the terrifying predators has been gathered together to entertain and thrill the public. The familiar wetland Drashigs, the albino burrowing Drashigs of the desert, and deadliest of all, the tiny Emerald Drashigs of the rainforests.

And it's not the best day to have arrived. The park has been shut down due to a visitor fatality. A Galactic Attractions inspector is on site meaning everyone is extremely tense and under pressure.

It's exactly the right circumstances in which someone might make a mistake. And on Drashigworld, mistakes are deadly.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor introduces the surprised Ann to the newly assembled K9 Mark II and attempts to take them to meet the Liddellians of Numenor Minor, but the TARDIS goes out of control and the Doctor instead lands on the wetlands of a planetoid. Although the Doctor orders K9 to remain inside due to perceived criticisms of his ability to pilot the TARDIS, Ann tells him to follow once they are at a distance. The wetlands are enclosed by an energy barrier which they follow until they find incomplete animal skeletons and hear the growl of a Drashig, whereupon they quickly march away. K9 shoots at the Drashig when it nears the Doctor and Ann, at the cost of depleting his new energy cell, and is left behind whilst his companions use a teleport pad.

Lord Braye and Trencher, the owner and gamekeeper of DrashigWorld, check the facilities around the park ahead of the arrival of inspector Titus Wayland, who is visiting because of the recent death of a visitor who turned off their personal energy shield. When Wayland arrives, engineer Vanessa Seaborne sends Trencher to investigate human movement that she has detected whilst Lord Braye occupies Wayland and denies covering up other incidents as he had attempted to do by paying off the deceased's family. They are interrupted when the Doctor and Ann arrive by teleport and Vanessa realises that the Emerald Drashig enclosure at the research lab is open, but she is dissociating and collapses before she can do anything about it. The Doctor and Lord Braye go to investigate.

Trencher finds K9 conserving energy at the teleport pad and takes him to the centre to power him up, meeting Ann just after the Doctor and Lord Braye leave. The Doctor and Lord Braye close the enclosure and see to the unwell Vanessa, who says that she can hear the Drashigs and that they are always hungry. The five Emerald Drashigs, smaller and deadlier than their larger cousins, have been freed from their captivity and advance upon the Doctor, Lord Braye and Vanessa. The Doctor tries to keep them back.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to activate and ignite a gas tap and frighten the Emerald Drashigs away with fire, allowing him to escape with Lord Braye and Vanessa and fuse the controls of a Romalian alloy door behind them. He contacts and updates the centre, where K9 is charging his power cell using the park's catalytic fusion reactor, before pressing Lord Braye and Vanessa about the electro-encephalogram he saw in the lab; they explain that Vanessa has been connecting to the Emerald Drashigs' brains to find a way to allow tourists to experience what they do when they hunt. Because of these experiments, she has a connection to them and can sense that they are in the teleport pad room where they find them using the device.

K9 assimilates a map of the park and reaches 77% capacity. Ann has to disconnect him and hide with him, Trencher and Wayland, however, when the Emerald Drashigs arrive via the teleport pad. K9 blasts the roof with his laser to bury them in rubble and leads the group along the atmospheric distribution tunnels to the armoury. Trencher informs the Doctor of their destination using her communicator and the Doctor, having realised that the connection between Vanessa and the Emerald Drashigs goes both ways, warns her that the Drashigs will be on their way there. The Emerald Drashigs dent the tunnel from the outside to trap the group and Wayland tries to get away, but the Emerald Drashigs get through and kill him. Ann, K9 and Trencher manage to squeeze through the dent and reach the armoury.

The Doctor accesses the lab's security cameras and proves his theory by showing Vanessa releasing the Emerald Drashigs from their enclosure. He sends Lord Braye to the armoury with a message to meet him at the back entrance and heads to the central power generator with Vanessa, who senses the Emerald Drashigs' alpha being killed after breaking into the armoury and tries to become their new alpha. They reject her, however, and she gives her life to allow the Doctor to reroute DrashigWorld's power to the neuro-headpiece and use it to amplify their thoughts and broadcast them back to them. He then meets up with Ann, K9, Trencher and Lord Braye and takes them to the TARDIS to leave DrashigWorld, which will now be left to the Drashigs.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Drashigs / Computer - Dan Starkey

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

DrashigWorld is a planetoid or dwarf planet, one of the 700 Wonders of the Galactic Hub. It is divided into four quadrants separated by energy barriers, with telepads for transportation.
The TARDIS arrives in the wetland.
There are dozens of Drashigs on the planet, and they are fed on goats.
Vanessa designed a catalytic fusion reactor that powers the park.
Emerald Drashigs are the smallest and deadliest, more vicious than any predator in the known universe. They travel in packs of five, with the alpha having a white marking.
Wayland claims Braye paid the family of the victim 1000 credits not to talk.
The door to Vanessa's lab is double-plated romalian alloy, the only metal Drashigs can't bite through.
Vanessa's project involved a remote electroencephalograph and a neural oscillation detector, which allows the user to connect to the Drashig's neural oscillations, their higher and lower beta waves. The user can then experience the co-ordination and thrill of the Drashigs hunting.
Drashigs are non-sentient, the Doctor explaining that they don't have a consciousness or imagination.
K9 assimilates the 3D map schematic of the park.
Trencher uses a grenade to kill an alpha emerald, and the others mourn it.
Trencher had a dog once, but a Manussian ligrid tore her to pieces.
A single Emerald wiped out a group of soldiers in the jungles of Hydroxus 3.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story marks the Drashigs' first appearance in an audio, and is reminiscent of Jurassic Park. Behind-the-scenes material makes this connection explicit. Nicholas Briggs also compares the Emerald Drashigs to the velociraptors of that film and franchise. (BFX: Planet of the Drashigs) There is also a cheeky reference within the script: the Doctor notes that Lord Braye had "no expense spared" in DrashigWorld's lab, echoing a recurring line from the film.
While the Doctor's use of air vents to escape is a running joke, in this story characters use "atmospheric distribution tunnels."

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor previously encountered Drashigs and using his sonic screwdriver ignited the gas produced by the marsh to defend himself by scaring the Drashigs away. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)
The Doctor finishes building K9 Mark II. (TV: The Invasion of Time, AUDIO: The Sinestran Kill)
The Doctor quotes to beware "Greeks bearing gifts," and says "I warned them but they wouldn't listen." (TV: The Myth Makers)
Vanessa becomes connected with the Drashigs. The Drashigs evolved from posthumans. (PROSE: Daring Initiation)
Trencher mentions her dog was ripped apart by a Manussian ligrid. The Doctor would later visit the planet Manussa in his fifth incarnation. (TV: Snakedance)

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

Textless cover
Alternate cover

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

Official Planet of the Drashigs page at bigfinish.com