Psychodrome (audio story)

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Psychodrome was the first story in the audio anthology The Fifth Doctor Box Set, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Jonathan Morris and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka.

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

Shortly after surviving the perils of Logopolis, Castrovalva and the machinations of the Master, the new Doctor and his new crew could be forgiven for wanting to take a breather from their tour of the galaxy. But when the TARDIS lands in a strange and unsettling environment, the urge to explore is irresistible... and trouble is only a few steps away.

The world they have found themselves in is populated by a wide variety of the strangest people imaginable - a crashed spacecraft here, a monastery there, even a regal court. And not everyone they meet has their best interests at heart.

With the TARDIS stolen and the very environment itself out to get them, the travellers face an extremely personal threat. They'll have to work as a team if they want to get out alive... but can you really trust someone you barely know?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Tegan is shown to her bedroom aboard the TARDIS by Adric, whom she does not like nor trust and who is disillusioned with life on the ship since losing his Doctor. Tegan and Nyssa discuss the death of Vanessa and the destruction of Traken before following the new Doctor and Adric outside, finding themselves on a world from which Nyssa gets a feeling of foreboding. The four of them head back to the TARDIS, but tribespeople are carrying the ship away and the Doctor and Adric follow, leaving Nyssa and Tegan behind.

Unhappy with this, Tegan removes her heels and she and Nyssa go after them, but soon get lost. Nyssa and Tegan meet adventurer Professor Rickett and his companions, Perditia and Magpie, who take them to their base camp. When the camp is attacked, Nyssa and Tegan run and head towards a citadel, but they are found by Prince Erdos and brought before his father, King Magus, and grandmother, Queen Antigone, who refuse to let them leave for their own safety.

The Doctor and Adric are noticed by the tribespeople and chased until they are saved by two scientists: Denyx and his daughter, Zaria. The scientists take them to their crashed colony ship, where the Doctor learns that Nyssa and Tegan have wandered off and that they will be in danger from savage creatures once night falls. Adric is given a tour of the ship and challenges Zaria to rebel against the strict lifestyle there by going with him outside of the ship without permission. The Doctor opens a sealed hatch to go after them, but Flight Coordinator Javon orders him at gunpoint to close it. In the caves, Adric and Zaria encounter giant spiders.

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

Professor Rickett, Perditia and Magpie escape the tribespeople into the colony ship and stop Javon. They join the Doctor in going after Adric and Zaria and are led to a monastery by Pyrrha, a sceptic whose associate, mathematician Calcula, saved the two of them from the spiders. Calcula takes the Doctor and Adric to the observatory where they realise that they are on an artificial body which has based its environs on the Terradonian starliner, the Traken court building, Logopolis and Gallifrey in addition to creating monsters and versions of the four travellers from their own memories and perceptions.

Denyx and Javon visit King Magus's court upon learning of its existence and meet Nyssa and Tegan, claiming that the Doctor is still at their ship and offering to lead them to him. Tegan recognises the similarities of the shifting cave system and the tribespeople to experiences from her childhood, namely when her mother took her to Arnhem Land and when they went to a corroboree. The caves separate them from Denyx and Javon and then from one another, with Nyssa being reunited with Professor Rickett, Perditia and Magpie. The three of them have fallen ill, apparently suffering with a virus which Nyssa finds herself unable to cure despite having treated similar afflictions on her homeworld. Perditia dies.

Zaria visits King Magus and tells him what she has learnt from the Doctor and Adric about the world and their place in it. As the presence of the Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan are keeping the four factions of this world in existence, King Magus declares that the TARDIS crew will be forbidden from leaving. He has Prince Erdos kill Zaria, declaring that the TARDIS crew will be captured and that he will conquer the other three factions of the world, which he will rule as its sole and singular master.

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

Magpie dies and Nyssa decides to help Professor Rickett to the colony ship for medical attention, but Denyx only permits Nyssa on board due to her showing no symptoms and asks her to see to Javon. Javon too is infected and Nyssa likens to the condition to accelerated entropy. Denyx blames her when she fails to save Javon's life and initiates takeoff despite the ship being damaged when the Doctor arrives, he and Adric having been reunited with Tegan and found Professor Rickett outside.

Denyx passes out with the controls locked and Adric trains in vain to solve the mathematical problem to unlock it. The ship is only stopped when Prince Erdos disconnects the warp drive. The Doctor, Adric and Nyssa are brought before King Magus, whom Nyssa realises is based on her impressions of the Doctor, the Monitor, her father and the Master, and, after Queen Antigone brings Tegan to him, he kills Professor Rickett and Denyx by shrinking. He tells the Doctor how much his companions resent him, making his fear of his companions losing faith in him a reality.

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan are imprisoned, but soon escape by picturing a hole in the wall. They find that King Magus is merging the three kingdoms and barricade themselves into the monastery, using their imagination to get rid of Prince Erdos's guards. The Doctor's companions see projections of King Magus, Queen Antigone and Prince Erdos, who blame the Doctor for the deaths of Tremas, Vanessa and Varsh as well as numerous others on his travels. The three of them deny it and inform the Doctor, who admits that he does hold some responsibility and that he has to stop running and confront King Magus. They insist on joining him.

Prince Erdos is destroyed when Adric refutes King Magus's claims by shouting that the Doctor is good and that he will sacrifice his own life before leaving him. Tegan gets rid of Queen Antigone by expressing her belief in the Doctor, after which the citadel starts to collapse and the four travellers run to the TARDIS, which was handed over to King Magus by the tribespeople. King Magus begs the Doctor to stay, but he refuses and dematerialises the ship. Tegan asks to be taken back to Heathrow Airport in 1981 and the Doctor sets the coordinates, asking her what could possibly go wrong.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Tegan lived on a cattle farm when she was young.
  • Tegan compares King Magus and Queen Antigone's Citadel to something out of Frankenstein.
  • The Doctor tells Tegan that he is afraid of the Daleks, the Cybermen and dentists.
  • Tegan compares Adric to the Artful Dodger.
  • Tegan's aunt Vanessa always used to say, "If you have nothing useful to say, keep your mouth shut". Adric says that she must have often said it to Tegan.
  • Adric describes the Fourth Doctor as "unpredictable, intimidating and enigmatic but brilliant".

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Textless covers forming a bigger image.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

v • e
The Fifth Doctor Adventures
Single releases
The Fifth Doctor Box Set
Wicked Sisters
The Lost Resort
and Other Stories
Forty: Volume 1
Forty: Volume 2
Conflicts of Interest
In the Night
The Dream Team
The Great Beyond
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