Singularity (audio story)

Singularity
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Turlough
Main enemy:	Somnus Foundation
Main setting:	Moscow, 21st century; Ember, far future
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	James Swallow
Director:	Gary Russell
Producer:	Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	Steve Foxon
Sound:	Steve Foxon
Cover by:	Lee Binding
Release details
Number of parts:	4
Release number:	76
Release date:	November 2005
Format:	2 CDs Download
Production code:	6P/C
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-173-2 (physical); ISBN 978-1-78178-981-0 (digital)
Music suite
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Main Range
← Previous	Scaredy Cat
Next →	Other Lives
Production order
← Previous	Thicker Than Water
Next →	Pier Pressure

Singularity was the seventy-sixth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by James Swallow and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

It was the third audio story to feature the Fifth Doctor and Vislor Turlough. It was released in November 2005, four years after Strickson had appeared in the audio story Loups-Garoux.

It was the last story to feature only the Doctor and Turlough together until The Memory Bank was released in 2016. However, there were many stories released within the 11 year gap which featured the Doctor travelling with Turlough, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka.

Publisher's summary

Russia, the near future.

The Somnus Foundation knows the fate of mankind; they promise a tomorrow where humanity will evolve into a godlike form of infinite power. They will lead us there, to a destiny that spans the stars. This is how the future will unfold.

The Doctor knows the fate of mankind; the human race is destined to fight and struggle for their very existence, to survive disaster and war and carve an empire from an unforgiving universe. He has seen it with his own eyes. This is how the future will unfold.

Beneath the towering headquarters of the Somnus, in the streets of Moscow, a dark power is building, and a conspiracy that stretches across eternity is nearing completion.

Time is fracturing and the Doctor and Turlough are at the heart of the chaos. History is about to change and the galaxy will burn in its wake...

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• Turlough - Mark Strickson
• Qel - Eve Polycarpou
• Seo - Maitland Chandler
• Cord - Michael Cuckson
• Lena Korolev - Natasha Radski
• Alexi Korolev - Oleg Mirochnikov
• Pavel Fedorin - Max Bollinger
• Natalia Pushkin - Dominika Boon
• Tev - Billy Miller
• Xen - Marq English

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor tells Turlough that he is not welcome in the Kremlin.
• There is an Earth Empire colony on Rigel Seven in 2620.
• World War V took place in the 49th century.
• Somnus predicts an invasion of Earth in the mid-22nd century by machine monsters. The Doctor can't recall if the machine monsters in question are the Daleks or the Cybermen.
• Humanity will not achieve psychic transubstantiation for billions of years.
• "Entropy Tuesday" is the name given to the day that the universe ends.
• The Doctor says that a Type 70 TARDIS could pass through a temporal distortion grid, whereas his Type 40 cannot.
• A time fracture is the formation of a branch point where history diverges, rippling out into the time stream and reordering galactic events, having consequences on an inter-galactic scale.
• The Doctor and Turlough experience temporal diversion, where the timeline splits, making them see two of everything.
• The Doctor refers to a chronometric particle discharge.
• The Doctor has heard of Ember, located in what was once the Orion arm in the Spinward Deeps. There is only stone and corroded metal left, with an observatory outpost towards the galaxies beyond.
• The last decedents of humans, the "Sleepers" or "Somnus," have been on Ember for millennia, their bodies made of rusted iron and meat. They can tap into their psyche to use an energy sting as a weapon.
• The last sun is kept alive by force, all others having collapsed to barren drown dwarfs.
• The Somnus are aware of the Doctor's multiple incarnations.
• Alexi spends weeks on Ember.
• The Time Lords opened a gate to another universe and escaped with all life they deemed worthy, which didn't include humanity.
• Lena killed her mother as an act of mercy during the storm 11 years ago, on Tuesday November 30.
• The Doctor uses a dermal regenerator.
• Schumann resonances, "mind spore," "phase array," and psionic phase displacement are mentioned.
• There are 50 million Moscowites.
• The Somnus Foundation uses the "key to" and "power of the vortex" at the heart of the TARDIS, which is near-infinite power. They keep the ship caught in an event horizon as they bleed the energy, siphoning off the flux from the central column.
• The Somnus travel back using the Psy-Gate conduit.
• The Somnus plan to eradicate Gallifrey and the whole constellation of Kasterborous.
• "Endurance" is said to be what Russians do best.
• The Doctor claims there are dozens of non-terrestrials on mid-21st century Earth.
• Seo is the last human being at the end of the universe.

Notes

• The phrases "instrumentality of mankind" and "death and rebirth," as well as the goal of the Somnus Foundation, appear to be references to the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and the Human Instrumentality Project from that series.
• The Instrumentality of Mankind was also a concept used in the works of Cordwainer Smith.
• This was the final audio drama released in the main range featuring Turlough until Cobwebs in July 2010. However, he appeared in Freakshow in March 2010.
• This audio drama was recorded on 9 and 10 August 2005 at the Moat Studios.
• This story is set between Resurrection of the Daleks and Planet of Fire.
• In co-operation with Big Finish, Tenth Planet released this audio in a limited edition with a different cover, designed by Stuart Manning, during the Dimensions convention in early November. They also sold the limited edition CD on their website.
• The Doctor alludes to time being in flux when he explains to Turlough why he bothers to "stop and get involved" when fate is cast is stone.

Only the broad strokes have been laid down. It's in the moments between the ticks of the clock where life truly thrives, where we can make a difference.The Fifth Doctor

Cover gallery

• 

  Big Finish cover

• 

  "Tenth Planet" cover

Continuity

• Turlough suspects that another time corridor, such as the one which linked London in 1984 to the Prison Station at some point in the future, may be at work. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
• Pavel's conspiracy theory files include a photograph of a Yeti (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Web of Fear) and Tartokovsky's theory on N-Space. (AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space)
• Tired of Russia's climate, Turlough wishes to visit "somewhere tropical; sunny beaches and pretty girls". (TV: Planet of Fire)
• Lena comments Turlough has something of the Wolf about him. He says she's more right than she knows. (AUDIO: Loups-Garoux)
• Attempts by time travelling humans from the far future to kill their ancestors also occurred in London in the 1890s (AUDIO: The Spirit Trap) and all over Earth in the 2000s. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
• The Doctor uses his Molenski Univarius to create a jamming field. (AUDIO: The Axis of Insanity)
• The Doctor encounters birds that have been used to attack him. (AUDIO: Plague of the Daleks)
• The Doctor uses the expression "safe as houses". (AUDIO: The Lure of the Nomad, Caerdroia)

External links

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