The Prodigal Sun (short story)
The Prodigal Sun was the tenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: The History of Christmas. It was written by Matthew Griffiths. It featured the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
A boy named Calagundus follows his clan's druid, Cunovellasus, who is preparing for the winter solstice at the temple. Cunovellasus tells the boy about the clan's deity, a sun god, which was stolen by the Romans.
The Doctor and Leela arrive in the temple in the TARDIS, but the temple's main support collapses and the TARDIS is buried. As they exit the temple, the "sun" appears in the sky, even though it is still night, and a shadow army approaches, burning everything in their path. The Doctor explains that the army is searching for a relic that is inside his blue temple. Only Calagundus is small enough to climb through the debris of the temple to retrieve it. Once he does so, the "sun" and the army disappear.
Cunovellasus invites the Doctor and Leela to celebrate the solstice with their clan, and offers help in digging the TARDIS out of the rubble.
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor ties his scarf to Calagundus so he can crawl safely through the rubble.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Calagundus and Cunovellasus, the two named Britons in this story, share their names with two characters in The Legions of Death [+]Loading...["The Legions of Death (game)"], an earlier Doctor Who story also set around the Roman conquest of Britain. However, they do not appear to be intended to come across as the same characters, as the Legions of Death characters were chieftains of distinct tribes, and only two years apart in age. The reuse of the names may simply be intended to add a consistent texture to the DWU's depiction of Britonic culture.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Britons named Calagundus and Cunovellasus were previously shown to exist in 1st century Britain in GAME: The Legions of Death [+]Loading...["The Legions of Death (game)"].
