Terror Firma (audio story)

Terror Firma
Doctor:	Eighth Doctor
Companion(s):	Charley, C'rizz
Featuring:	Samson, Gemma
Main enemy:	Davros
Main setting:	Folkestone, England
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Joseph Lidster
Director:	Gary Russell
Producer:	Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	Steve Foxon
Sound:	Steve Foxon
Cover by:	Lee Binding
Release details
Number of parts:	4
Release number:	72
Release date:	18 August 2005
Format:	2 CDs Download
Production code:	8W
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-137-4 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78178-973-5 (digital)
Music suite
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Main Range
← Previous	The Council of Nicaea
Next →	Thicker Than Water
Production order
← Previous	The Council of Nicaea
Next →	Scaredy Cat

Terror Firma was the seventy-second story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Joseph Lidster and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard, Conrad Westmaas as C'rizz and Terry Molloy as Davros.

Continuing from the cliffhanger at the end of The Next Life, this story is the first Eighth Doctor story of 2005 and the first story to be set in the normal universe after eight previous stories set in the Divergent Universe. Furthermore, this is the first story to depict the Eighth Doctor's travels prior to the events of Big Finish's first Eighth Doctor audio drama Storm Warning and goes some way to explain why the Doctor was travelling alone in that story.

Publisher's summary

"Welcome back, Doctor..."

Centuries ago, on the war-torn planet Skaro, a great scientist created the most evil creatures the Universe would ever know... Daleks.

It was at their genesis that the scientist Davros first met and was defeated by the Doctor.

Over the years and throughout space, they fought.

It was a fight that ended with the Doctor's destruction of Skaro and the Daleks. Except...

Davros survived. Alone. In the dark. With only thoughts of revenge keeping him alive.

The Doctor is back. Davros is waiting.

Their destiny is 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 - Paul McGann
• Charley Pollard - India Fisher
• C'rizz - Conrad Westmaas
• Davros - Terry Molloy
• Harriet Griffin - Julia Deakin
• Samson Griffin - Lee Ingleby
• Gemma Griffin - Lizzie Hopley
• The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Crew

• Cover Art - Lee Binding
• Director - Gary Russell
• Music and Sound Design - Steve Foxon
• Producers - Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Writer - Joseph Lidster
• Daleks and Davros created by Terry Nation

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• The Doctor claims that Agatha Christie once travelled with him.
• The Eighth Doctor had numerous adventures with Samson and Gemma before meeting Charley aboard the British airship R101 on 5 October 1930.

Species

• Davros was brought aboard a Nekkistani time ship and was able to control Gemma and Samson and thus gain access to the TARDIS.

Planets

• The Doctor, Samson and Gemma once visited Valuensis, Porteus and Murgatroyd.

Locations

• The Doctor, Samson and Gemma visited the Ice Caves of Shabadabadon, prehistoric Earth, the court of Queen Elizabeth I and Studio 54 during their travels together.

Songs

• Harriet leads a round of the "Hokey Cokey" at her party.

Notes

• Big Finish stated that Davros does not become the Dalek Emperor seen in The Parting of the Ways. The Stolen Earth and Journey's End later firmly established the two were not the same individual.
• This was the first audio drama to feature Paul McGann as a former Doctor.
• This would be the final Big Finish audio drama released in the main range to feature Davros until The Curse of Davros in January 2012.
• This audio drama was recorded on 25 April and 11 May 2005 at The Moat Studios.
• The story was reissued in 2007 as part of The Complete Davros Collection DVD boxset.
• When the Doctor tries to remember Samson and Gemma, clips from the previous Eighth Doctor audio stories The Creed of the Kromon, Storm Warning, The Next Life, The Last, Neverland, Invaders from Mars, The Stones of Venice, and The Chimes of Midnight are heard.

Continuity

• For Davros, this story is virtually a direct sequel to TV: Remembrance of the Daleks. There are two stories which could be so considered, the other being PROSE: War of the Daleks (see further down for discussion of the continuity of Terror Firma with War of the Daleks).
• AUDIO: The Next Life's last scene runs straight into this story.
• Davros makes reference to the virus conversation that he had with the Fourth Doctor (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) and the Seventh Doctor's destruction of Skaro. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• Davros is becoming the Dalek Emperor, his casing having the top half of his Imperial Dalek dome during the Shoreditch Incident (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) combined with the lower head section of the Dalek Emperor fought by the Second Doctor. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
• Charley and the Doctor encountered the Daleks. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks) While travelling with the Sixth Doctor, Charley would encounter the Daleks again. (AUDIO: Brotherhood of the Daleks, Patient Zero)
• This audio does not actually retcon PROSE: War of the Daleks. Instead, it completely ignores its plot developments.
• Valuensis was previously mentioned in PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows.
• The Doctor mentions that he, Samson and Gemma visited the Ice Caves of Shabadabadon. While in his fifth incarnation, the Doctor had intended to visit them but the TARDIS materialised in the Gogglebox inside the Moon instead. (AUDIO: The Gathering) The Sixth Doctor later intended to bring his companion Peri Brown to see the Ice Caves. Following a brief (and accidental) return to the Gogglebox, they instead travelled to Peri's home town of Fell's Point, Baltimore, Maryland, USA in September 1984 after Peri learned of the murder of Anthony Chambers, the father of her best friend Katherine Chambers. (AUDIO: The Reaping)
• In the midst of his travels with Samson and Gemma, the Doctor also travelled with the 19th century British author Mary Shelley "for years." The fact that he mentioned she was one of his companions in numerous earlier stories such as AUDIO: Storm Warning and AUDIO: Shada would suggest that Davros did not deem it necessary to remove the Doctor's memories of her as her travels with him seemingly did not overlap with those of Samson and Gemma. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)
• Although she encountered the Daleks in the 2050s, Charley had never previously heard of Davros. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks)
• Charley realises that Samson is acquainted with the Doctor when he mentions everlasting matches. (AUDIO: Caerdroia, The Next Life)
• The Doctor recalls when he and Davros "worked together" during his sixth incarnation and Davros' subsequent failure to change his ways. (AUDIO: Davros)
• The Doctor, Samson and Gemma visited the court of Elizabeth I in their travels together, as the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe had previously done. (AUDIO: Thicker Than Water) During his tenth incarnation, the Doctor would encounter Queen Elizabeth I twice (TV: The Shakespeare Code, The End of Time) and married her on the latter occasion. (TV: The Beast Below, Amy's Choice, The Day of the Doctor)
• The Eighth Doctor uses the Third Doctor's oft-used phrase, "While there's life, there's hope." (TV: The D­æmons, Planet of the Spiders)
• The Doctor finds his copy of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd with the last page missing, lamenting that he'll never know "who did it". The Eleventh Doctor would prefer to rip out the last pages of books so they didn't have to end as he hated endings. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

External links

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