Mission to Magnus (audio story)

This story was originally intended to be the second story of the original Season 23, but was cancelled along with other planned stories when Doctor Who went on a production hiatus.

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

The Doctor and Peri face enemies at every turn on the planet Magnus. There's the Time Lord bully Anzor, who made the Doctor's life hell during his time at the Academy. There's also Rana Zandusia, the matriarchal ruler of the planet, who seeks to prise the secret of time travel from these alien visitors.

Also on Magnus is the slug-like Sil, still bitter from his defeat on the planet Varos and seeking to make his fortune from the most potentially destructive ends. And, deep within the planet, there is something else. Another old enemy of the Doctor's. And the future is looking decidedly colder...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

The TARDIS is pulled through time by Anzor, who threatens the Doctor with his galvaniser stick into activating trans-replicator mode so that he and his TARDIS can escape a force field. The Doctor and Peri are trapped in his place, but the spaceship creating the force field transfers energy down to Magnus and the Doctor uses the opportunity to relocate the TARDIS beneath the ground there. They are greeted by the Magnii, a group of young boys who believe that they have called the two of them into being, and learn that the males on Magnus are kept underground and die if they enter the sunlight. The Doctor covers for them when matrons Tace and Soma come looking for the boys, but they stun him as they suspect he is an invader from Salvak.

Anzor visits Rana Zandusia of the Seven Sisterhoods of Magnus, as well as his old business acquaintance Sil, and rejects her request that the Time Lord Council permit the use of time travel to remove the threat of Salvak. The Rana has Jarmaya freeze him and Ulema try to use her psychic powers to extract the secrets of time travel from his mind, but he knows little about TARDIS mechanics and Ulema instead connects with the Doctor's mind when he is brought to her. The Doctor writes out a formula for time travel and the Rana forces Anzor to open his now-programmed TARDIS, only for him to draw a photon blaster and dematerialise, sent back to the beginning of time by the Doctor's formula to keep his TARDIS out of the Rana's reach.

The Rana appeals to the Doctor to allow her access to his TARDIS to stop the Salvakians from continuing to affect Magnus's climate by melting the ice caps in a way that avoids war, but he refuses because of the Laws of Time and Sil suggests that a search begins for Peri. The TARDIS is soon located and the Doctor manages to flee with his key when Peri and an armed Vion return, the three of them heading to the ice cap to investigate. They find a nuclear detonator for a bomb capable of destroying the entire planet and are attacked by an Ice Warrior, making the Doctor realise that the ship above belongs to the Grand Marshall; the Ice Warrior, Jarga, knocks the Doctor out and kidnaps Peri.

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

Jarga takes Peri to Commander Vedikael, whom she convinces that she can be of use operating machinery because of her fingers. Whilst Jarga goes to investigate the nuclear detonator after the Doctor disarms it, Peri is taken to the Ice Warriors captives from a Salvakian ship that they crashed and meets Ishka and Hussa, who explain that the Ice Warriors want to destroy the planet. She starts a rebellion against the Ice Warriors when the Doctor and Vion arrive and manages to get away with them, Ishka and Hussa. After spying on Vedikael as he prepares for an accelerated nuclear blast, the Doctor sends Peri, Vion, Ishka and Hussa to cause damage to the control centre systems.

The Doctor confronts Vedikael, learning that the explosions are part of a plan to make Magnus habitable for the Ice Warriors by altering its orbit, but the attempt to damage the systems achieves very little and he flees. He returns with Vion's force stick and again escapes when he is unable to stop the explosions, heading back to the TARDIS and finding that Sil, the Rana and Jarmaya have managed to get inside it and been transported to the future thanks to a time safety jump. When the TARDIS returns, the Ice Warriors capture the Doctor, Peri and Sil, who reveals that he has come to assist the Ice Warriors, but the Doctor uses a sonic burner to frighten them away and Sil switches sides.

The Doctor sets off the Ice Warriors' second load of explosives to put Magnus back into its original orbit and he, Peri, Sil, Vion, the Rana, Ishka and Hussa are to be executed. The Ice Warriors are killed by the sunlight, however, and Ishka offers to marry the Rana and help rebuild Magnus so long as men are given an antidote to the atmospheric virus which kills them and given a place in society. Sil offers the Doctor and Peri the opportunity to enter into business with him on Magnus, but they return to the TARDIS and flee when Anzor returns in his own, shouting at them for sending him back in time.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor – Colin Baker
Peri Brown – Nicola Bryant
Sil – Nabil Shaban
Anzor – Malcolm Rennie
Madamme Rana Zandusia – Maggie Steed
Jarmaya / Tace – Susan Franklyn
Ulema / Soma – Tina Jones
Vion – William Townsend
Asam – Callum Witney Mills
Brorg / Vedikael / Grand Marshall / Ishka – Nicholas Briggs
Skaarg / Jarga / Hussa – James George

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover Art - Alex Mallinson
Director - Lisa Bowerman
Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music and Sound Design - Simon Robinson
Producer & Script Editor - David Richardson
Writer - Philip Martin
Ice Warriors created by Brian Hayles

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Anzor's TARDIS is a Type 60.
Trans-replication disables the Hostile Action Displacement System.
Sil works for Amorb.
Rana Zandusia is the elected leader of the Seven Sisterhoods of Magnus.
Anzor has a photon blaster.
Rodan and Dabasir are killed.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

CD sleeve illustration of the events of this story.

This audio play is an adaptation of an unproduced story from 1986 that was already novelised by Target Books.
This story features Sil, who, at the time of writing, had recently appeared in TV: Vengeance on Varos and would later appear in TV: Mindwarp. However, in the latter story Sil implies that it was the first time that he has seen the Doctor and Peri since their encounter on Varos.
This audio drama was recorded on 18 and 19 February 2009 at the Moat Studios.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Upon meeting an older version of Peri in Los Angeles in 2009 who possessed no memory of their travels together beyond their first encounter on Lanzarote in May 1984, (TV: Planet of Fire) the Doctor mentions Sil and the Ice Warriors in an attempt to jog her memory. (AUDIO: Peri and the Piscon Paradox)
The Doctor recalls his encounters with the Ice Warriors on Earth during his second incarnation (TV: The Ice Warriors, TV: The Seeds of Death) and on Peladon during his third incarnation (TV: The Curse of Peladon, TV: The Monster of Peladon).
During his fifth incarnation, the Doctor and Peri encountered the Ice Warriors on their native Mars in both the 2000s (AUDIO: Red Dawn) and, in the company of Erimem, on Peladon in the 41st century. (AUDIO: The Bride of Peladon)
Sil mentions Lord Kiv. (TV: Mindwarp)

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Official Mission to Magnus page at bigfinish.com
Mission to Magnus at the Doctor Who Reference Guide