The Barbarians and the Samurai (audio story)

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The Barbarians and the Samurai was the second and final story in the audio anthology The First Doctor Adventures: Volume Two, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Andrew Smith and featured David Bradley as the First Doctor, Claudia Grant as Susan Foreman, Jamie Glover as Ian Chesterton and Jemma Powell as Barbara Wright.

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

In 19th century Japan, Westerners are forbidden. So when the TARDIS arrives near Lord Mamoru's castle, the daimyo's Samurai are soon on their trail.

Uncovering secrets at court and treachery in the ranks, the Doctor and his friends are drawn into intrigue. And, as a battle begins, they are caught in the middle.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Forbidden Land (1)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Following their previous adventure, the TARDIS team lands in what it could be Earth again. As they rush towards a nearby stream, the TARDIS is found by some samurai, which see the foreign writing on the TARDIS door and conclude there are strangers around. As the travellers relax by the river, they suddenly see the samurai arrive, and hide. By listening to their conversation, and seeing her armour, Barbara concludes they landed in Japan towards the beginning of the 19th century: in this time, Japan is still under a policy of seclusion from the outside world, and foreigners are banned from it under penalty of death.

They try to get back to the TARDIS, only to be found by the samurai looking for them. The Doctor and Barbara are immediately captured by a group of them led by a mysterious warrior in a red armor (which everyone only knows as "the Red Samurai"), while Ian and Susan, while cornered, are saved by a local peasant, carrying a samurai sword. Susan wants to go and help, but Ian and the other man, Okada Shumei, insists they go and hide. Later, Shumei (a disgraced samurai, former servant of the local daimyo, Takagi Mamoru) goes about and discovers the Doctor and Barbara are alive and have been brought to the daimyo. He promises to help save them, even though he is aware that there is any chance Mamoru will kill them.

From some questions she asks the guards, Barbara gets confirmed that they arrived in the 1820s, a time where Japan is still isolated. Mamoru has the two "barbarians" been brought in front of him, but to the surprise of both, he welcomes them with open arms. It soon becomes apparent he was expecting some foreigners, friends of his "Red Samurai", with whom he has a deal of some sort. The Doctor tries to play along in order to gain time to get back to the TARDIS, but his ruse is quickly exposed by the Red Samurai - actually Casper Knox, a former British army officer. Enraged by the deception, Mamoru unsheathes his sword and moves to kill the Doctor and Barbara on the spot.

Barbarians Among Us (2)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Knox stops Mamoru and takes the Doctor and Barbara under his wing. He leads them to their apartment, as he tells them he deserted from the British army after Waterloo and came to Japan in search of a better employment as a mercenary; captured by Mamoru, he was forced to work with him if he didn't want to die. He asks the Doctor and Barbara whether they know someone by the name of Captain Hamilton, but they insist they are only travellers. Their exchange is interrupted by the arrival of Keiko, Lord Mamoru's daughter and his only familiar resident in the castle (Mamoru's wife and other sons are in Edo, hosts of the Shogun), who Knox suggests is a spy for her father.

Knox then confronts Mamoru, and tells him he believes the travellers' tale; to confirm it, though, he shall bring the Doctor with him to meet the British sailors they are expecting. Mamoru agrees, but insists Barbara stays with him. That same night, Shumei leads Ian and Susan to a hidden place nearby the castle, explaining to them on the way how many people in Japan long for new contacts with the outside world, after two centuries of isolation; they meet with Keiko, who is secretly in love with Shumei and promise to lead the Doctor and Barbara out to them with the same route she came from, an hour before dawn. Ian then urges Susan to come back to Shumei's hideout and wait for them here.

Keiko tries leading away the Doctor and Barbara, but their escape is interrupted by Eiji coming to announce the arrival of the British ship; according to what he and Mamoru established, Knox leaves bringing the Doctor with him. On the way, he explains him that Hamilton is bringing them modern weapons, and Mamoru will use those to try and persuade the Shogun to open trade with the British Empire. Shumei and Ian follow them in secret, while Mamoru declares to Barbara that she is going to be her consort: his wife, he says, should not be a problem for long.

Once they reach the ship, the Doctor and Knox go on board and meet with Hamilton: he does not recognize the Doctor, thus confirming his story in Knox's eyes. He shows them the cargo, but insists only one casket to be delivered to Mamoru, while the rest will be traded as he has assurance the Shogun agreed to the trade. As they bring the weapons on shore, Knox kills Hamilton and orders the samurai to attack and kill the sailors; in the following battle, Shumei and Ian manage to reach the Doctor and take him away. Unfortunately, by the same time Eiji finds out and catches Susan, bringing her to the castle together with the TARDIS.

Power Play (3)[[edit] | [edit source]]

When Shumei, the Doctor and Ian find the hideout empty, Shumei has Ian wear his old samurai armor, so he can sneak into the castle and bring Susan out. Meanwhile, at the castle, Lord Mamoru is intrigued by the TARDIS; however, since it proves impossible to open, he eventually orders it'd be thrown into the sea. Barbara actually upholds his decision, in order to prevent either Mamoru or his servants to find out anything about it, and confident about the TARDIS's resistance against water. Keiko entertains the two Western women in a tea ceremony, where she admits her unhappiness and the pressure she feels from his father. Barbara and Susan persuade her to help them escape, the first one also by hinting at what Mamoru told her about his actual wife's destiny.

Mamoru dispatches messengers to the nearby daimyos, requesting their support for a rebellion against the Shogun, for which he intends to use the weapons he purchased from the British. As the Doctor waits by the entrance of the secret passage into the castle, he sees Eiji come to it and questions him about it: by all accounts, the existence of such a passage should be a secret, so what is Eiji doing there? The two fight, and Eiji is eventually overcome when Susan and Barbara arrive. At the same time, Ian and Shumei are taken by surprise by Knox, who captures Shumei and eventually all of them; Keiko's offer to marry him if she lets them go falls on deaf ears.

Eiji confesses to Lord Mamoru of having informed the Shogun of his attempted ribellion before trying to kill himself (he is instead killed by Mamoru). A few moments later, troops sent by the Shogun arrive to the castle, and show Mamoru the bodies of their messengers, giving him an ultimatum: surrender or die.

Fall of the Samurai (4)[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor proposes to help Mamoru get some time to mount a defense, by blowing up the bridges leading to the castle; to cover the operation, he offers to make smoke bombs for the daimyo, and enlistens Ian to help him. Mamoru and Knox accept, but give the Doctor only an hour to achieve its purpose, and pretend to have a demostration. The Doctor also asks for more gunpowder than he needs, so that he and Ian can prepare some other bombs for Barbara and Susan, to use against the walls to escape. The demonstration is successful, but also leads Knox to order the Doctor to add sulphur to the smoke, thus making it poison gas. The Doctor feigns to accept, but then stages a fight with Ian, so that he is brought to the cells and bring Barbara and Susan the additional bombs.

In the meantime, Knox starts training Mamoru's men with the rifles, and intends to punish the Doctor by using Ian and Shumei as shooting targets. Luckily, the attack of the Shogun's army begins before they can start shooting, allowing all the travellers a chance to escape in the confusion. A resigned Mamoru sits and asks the Doctor who he really is; he answers by revealing something of his past travels and even of the future: in twenty years, he and Barbara tell Mamoru, Japan will open once again to the world and will start modernizing and developing. A now peaceful Mamoru allows them to go, and reconcile with Keiko, now free to live her life with her beloved Shumei.

Knox faces Shumei and Ian, but eventually lets them go and goes back fighting, out of true loyalty for Mamoru and love for Japan and its culture. He dies in battle, in front of his daimyo, who then commits seppuku (the ritual act of suicide) so that some of his men could at least be saved. Susan retrieves the TARDIS from the ocean and the travellers depart, after saying goodbye to Keiko and Shumei. They land somewhere, but the instruments are not working: the only thing to do to determine where and when they are is to go outside.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Alternate cover.
  • This story is a "pure historical" featuring no science fiction elements apart from the presence of the Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara and the TARDIS.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

v • e
The First Doctor Adventures
Starring
David Bradley
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Starring
Stephen Noonan
The Outlaws
The Demon Song
Fugitive of the Daleks
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