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The Song of Megaptera (audio story): Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox | {{title dab away}} | ||
{{real world}} | |||
series= | {{Infobox Story SMW | ||
number= 1.07 | | |image = The Song of Megaptera cover.jpg | ||
doctor= | |adapted from = The Song of the Space Whale (unproduced TV story){{!}}The Song of the Space Whale | ||
companions= [[Peri]] | | |range = The Lost Stories | ||
enemy= [[Greeg| | |series in range = Series 1 (TLS) | ||
|series number in range = 1 | |||
writer= | |number in series = 7 | ||
director= [[John Ainsworth]] | | |series = [[The Lost Stories]] | ||
producer | |number = 1.07 | ||
|doctor = Sixth Doctor | |||
|companions = [[Peri Brown|Peri]] | |||
format= | |enemy = [[Greeg (The Song of Megaptera)|Greeg]] | ||
|setting = [[SS Orcus|SS ''Orcus'']] and [[Megaptera]], [[far future]] | |||
next | |writer = Pat Mills | ||
''' | |director = [[John Ainsworth]] | ||
|producer = [[David Richardson]] | |||
|music = [[Daniel Brett]] | |||
|sound = Daniel Brett | |||
|cover = [[Alex Mallinson]] | |||
|publisher = Big Finish Productions | |||
|release date = May 2010 | |||
|format = 2 CDs<br/>Download | |||
|production code = [[List of production codes|6Y/AG]] | |||
|isbn = ISBN 978-1-84435-450-4 | |||
|prev = Point of Entry (audio story) | |||
|next = The Macros (audio story) | |||
|soundcloudtrailer = soundcloud.com/big-finish/doctor-who-the-lost-stories-the-song-of-megaptera-trailer | |||
|epcount = 4 | |||
}} | |||
{{spotify|album=6QCag9lGDCSwZsRxRS9tNw|height=350}} | |||
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the seventh story in the [[Series 1 (TLS)|first series]] of ''[[The Lost Stories]]'', produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was adapted by [[Pat Mills]], from his original script, and featured [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Nicola Bryant]] as [[Peri Brown]]. | |||
==Publisher's summary== | == Publisher's summary == | ||
Deep space in the distant future, and Captain Greeg and his crew are hunting mile-long Space | [[Deep space]] in the [[far future|distant future]], and [[Greeg (The Song of Megaptera)|Captain Greeg]] and his crew are hunting mile-long [[Space Whale]]s on a [[SS Orcus|vast harvesting ship]]. By pure accident, they also capture [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. | ||
The Doctor and Peri must use all their wits to survive. But what is the creature running loose in the ship's bowels? And can the Doctor save Megaptera before its song is extinguished forever? | [[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] and [[Peri Brown|Peri]] must use all their wits to survive. But what is [[Caller (The Song of Megaptera)|the creature]] running loose in the ship's bowels? And can the Doctor save [[Megaptera]] before its [[song]] is extinguished forever? | ||
== | == Plot == | ||
=== Part one === | |||
Answering a [[distress call]], [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] materialises in [[deep space]] and [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Peri Brown|Peri]] see a [[whale]]-like [[Galeen]] which seems to have come to answer the call. However, they find that the distress call is a trick emitted by a [[factory ship]] which uses a [[tractor beam]] to capture the Galeen. The Doctor manages to free the Galeen by breaking the beam, causing the TARDIS to be captured despite reversing the [[temporal motor]]s and subjected to the production line intended to process Galeens. | |||
At long last, the Doctor is able to dematerialise the TARDIS and rematerialise at the end of the termination bay, leaving Peri inside whilst he goes to examine the damage. He is taken to [[Greeg (The Song of Megaptera)|Captain Greeg]] by [[security guard]]s [[Carl (The Song of Megaptera)|Carl]] and [[Dave (The Song of Megaptera)|Dave]] and claims to be an [[inspector]] with the Wild Interstellar Life Federation come to inspect the methods by which [[SS Orcus|SS ''Orcus'']] kills Galeens. Peri escapes the security guards when they find her outside the TARDIS and falls down a [[pipe]] where she finds [[Manus (The Song of Megaptera)|Manus]]'s [[fungus]]-covered body and is attacked as [[Volan|Chief Engineer Volan]] listens over the [[radio]]. | |||
'' | |||
The ship detects the Galeen once more as, despite appearing healthy, it has not used its [[time core]] to deep dive through [[time]] and escape the area. Captain Greeg orders the ship to fire, but [[ship's computer (The Song of Megaptera)|the computer]], infected with a [[computer virus|virus]] by the Doctor, refuses to do so as it now wishes to protect the Galeens. Angry, Captain Greeg shoots the Doctor and tells him that he is [[extinction|extinct]]. | |||
== | === Part two === | ||
Peri tries to use Manus's [[gun]] on her fungoid attacker, a [[Touthon]], before spraying it in the [[eye]]s with a [[spray can]]. Leaving the hatch with a scratched arm, she is taken to the [[medbay]] by Carl and Dave and diagnosed by the [[Auto-Doc]] with fungal contamination. The Doctor, returning to consciousness after being stunned by Captain Greeg to be dumped on a [[desert planet]], visits her whilst [[Stennar]] removes his virus from the computer and uses [[the Doctor's sonic lance|his sonic lance]] to cure her through [[selective cell modification]], [[regeneration|regenerating]] her. | |||
Volan explains that Touthons are whale-hunters which were once used to track Galeens and drives out the one aboard, a [[Caller (The Song of Megaptera)|Caller]], by filling the pipes with scalding [[steam]]. Before it can be killed, Stennar points out that company [[policy]] dictates that it be kept alive so that its [[DNA]] might be exploited for profit and Captain Greeg instead has it imprisoned. The Doctor, detained with Peri, deduces that the Galeen was captured because the TARDIS's interference with its signals has prevented it from being deep diving. | |||
The Doctor uses the sonic lance to incapacitate Carl and Dave and he and Peri escape to the TARDIS, which Captain Greeg has impounded. As the ''Orcus'' and its crew prepare to kill the Galeen with [[neural torpedo]]es, the Doctor dematerialises in space, unable to [[time travel]] because of the Galeen's interference with the [[time sensory amplification field]], and tells Peri that they will have to rematerialise inside the Galeen so that he can align its time core and allow it to escape. | |||
== | === Part three === | ||
Materialising between the ''Orcus'' and the Galeen, the Doctor taunts Captain Greeg about the desk job he is being given on-[[planet]] into hitting the TARDIS with a neural torpedo, cutting out the time amplification field and allowing the Galeen to dive to safety. He pilots the TARDIS to the Galeen's [[pearl]]-like time core and he and Peri meet [[Stafel]], [[Axel (The Song of Megaptera)|Axel]] and [[Chanel (The Song of Megaptera)|Chanel]], members of a [[framily]] of castaways who have been inside the Galeen, whom they call [[Megaptera]], for thousands of years thanks to the time core. | |||
Captain Greeg decides to use the Caller, restrained by [[electro-shackles]], to track down Megaptera and has the computer supply the Caller with everything he needs. The Caller tracks it through [[tachyon]]s and Captain Greeg releases [[dark matter]] [[depth charge]]s to force it to surface from the [[Time Vortex]]. | |||
The framily take the Doctor and Peri to their [[shanty town]] built from spacewreck debris and it is immediately apparent that they are suffering from [[time narcosis]]. They decide that the travellers will not fit in and prepare to expose them to the full power of the time core to kill them just as they have done to a group of [[Sontaran]]s and others who did not believe in the divinity of Megaptera. When Megaptera dives deeper to avoid the depth charges, the Doctor and Peri start to disappear. | |||
[[Category: | |||
[[Category: | === Part four === | ||
[[Category: | The Doctor and Peri reappear as Megaptera is forced to the surface, unsure as to the long-term effects that their exposure to [[time radiation]] may have. The stunned Megaptera is captured by the ''Orcus'' and they contact Captain Greeg from the TARDIS to tell him about the castaways, but he is unconcerned and is willing to begin the termination process until Stennar discloses that he has contacted the company for directions. The Caller enters Megaptera through its [[air hole]] and kills Stafel before going after the time core, only for Axel to kill him with a [[meson gun]]. | ||
Axel leads the Doctor, Peri and the other castaways outside of Megaptera through its air hole. Greeg charges the group with [[trespass]] and threatens the Doctor with a [[chain harpoon gun]], but Greeg begins to lose control of the situation when the Doctor accuses him of releasing the Caller to steal the time core and take it back with him to [[Ziphius]] to attract other Galeens, thereby keeping them away from the company and damaging the company's business as [[revenge]]. Volan kills Greeg when he attempts to shoot the Doctor and Peri and Megaptera begins to stir. | |||
The Doctor gets Volan to release Megaptera, but not before the ''Orcus'' is badly damaged. Peri helps get everybody into [[life pod]]s, she and the Doctor convincing Axel that she and the castaways can build a new framily by choice rather than necessity, and then goes back inside Megaptera with the Doctor to recover the TARDIS. They materialise outside of Megaptera and watch as it joins a thousand other Galeens, wandering through space and time together. | |||
== Cast == | |||
* [[Sixth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Colin Baker]] | |||
* [[Peri Brown]] - [[Nicola Bryant]] | |||
* [[Greeg (The Song of Megaptera)|Captain Greeg]] - [[John Benfield]] | |||
* [[Manus (The Song of Megaptera)|Manus]] / [[Stennar]] - [[Neville Watchurst]] | |||
* [[The Caller]] / [[Ship's computer (The Song of Megaptera)|Ship's Computer]] - [[John Banks]] | |||
* [[Volan|Chief Engineer]] / [[Chanel (The Song of Megaptera)|Chanel]] - [[Susan Brown]] | |||
* [[Stafel]] / [[Dave (The Song of Megaptera)|1st Security Guard]] - [[Toby Longworth]] | |||
* [[Axel (The Song of Megaptera)|Axel]] / [[Carl (The Song of Megaptera)|2nd Security Guard]] - [[Alex Lowe]] | |||
== Worldbuilding == | |||
* The Doctor is unable to synchronise the TARDIS's [[time sensory amplification field]]. | |||
* "[[Dark matter]]" as a term is used for the unknown. | |||
* The [[Galeen]] have [[solar scale]]s which absorb energy from [[star|suns]]. | |||
* The Doctor nearly lost the TARDIS playing a [[card game]] with [[leprechaun]]s. | |||
* The Doctor reverses the TARDIS's [[temporal motor]]s. | |||
* Peri promises to eat [[Brussels sprout|sprout]]s for the rest of her life if she survives the production line. | |||
* Peri says that the production line has put her off [[roller coaster]]s. | |||
* [[Glyceride]]s smell. | |||
* The TARDIS has a blue [[transdimensional finish]]. | |||
* The ''[[Star Guardian]]'' is a [[newspaper]]. | |||
* Stennar is [[production controller]]. | |||
* The [[security guard]]s are Dave and Carl. Dave has the deeper voice. | |||
* The [[Auto-Doc]] fills Peri with [[anti-fungoid]]s and [[painkiller]]s. | |||
* The [[Touthon]]s come from [[Ziphius]]. | |||
* The Doctor claims that [[chivalry]] died during the [[Hundred Years' War]] in the [[14th century]]. | |||
* Peri is wearing [[sneakers]]. | |||
* The Doctor once met [[Jonah (mythology)|Jonah]]. | |||
* The Doctor says that he graduated from the [[University of Gallifrey]]. | |||
* The [[temporal buffer]]s create a soothing environment to help the Doctor and Peri with any [[Post TARDIS-Explosion Stress Disorder]]. | |||
* The Caller is put in [[electro-shackles]]. | |||
* [[Time narcosis]] is a sickness. | |||
* The castaways refer to themselves as a [[framily]]. | |||
* [[Sontaran]] weapons are used. | |||
* [[Peri Brown|Peri]] has a younger cousin called [[Pete (The Song of Megaptera)|Pete]]. | |||
* Volan is [[hyperstition|hyperstitious]]. | |||
* Volan makes an entry in her [[vidlog]]. | |||
* The Doctor refers to the [[dimensional adjudicator]] and the [[dimensional wall]]s of the TARDIS. | |||
== Notes == | |||
[[File:Song of the Mep interior CD art.jpg|thumb|Interior CD art illustrating events in the story.]] | |||
* This story was initially written for a [[Fourth Doctor]] story, then was reworked as a [[Fifth Doctor]] story, starring [[Tegan Jovanka]] and introducing [[Vislor Turlough]], written by [[Pat Mills]] and [[John Wagner]]. It was replaced with ''[[Mawdryn Undead (TV story)|Mawdryn Undead]]''. The introduction of Turlough was added at a late stage and he was to have been one of the travellers within the space whale.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/6f.html A Brief History Of Time (Travel): Mawdryn Undead]</ref> The final version was written under the name of ''Song of the Space Whale'' for [[Season 22 (Doctor Who 1963)|Season 22]]. | |||
* Much of the reprogrammed Ship's Computer language takes cues from leetspeak. A written dialect of English popularised in the computer gaming and hacking communities. The Computer's suggested strategy of a "zerg rush", adopted by Captain Greeg, originated in the real-time strategy video game, ''Starcraft''. | |||
* This audio drama was recorded on [[23 September (production)|23]] and [[24 September (production)|24 September]] [[2009 (production)|2009]] at [[the Moat Studios]]. | |||
* This story is set between ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'' and [[Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)|''The Trial of a Time Lord'']]. | |||
== Continuity == | |||
* The Doctor has [[Binary vascular system|two hearts]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'', et al.) | |||
* In her delirium, Peri accuses the Doctor of being an imposter. The Doctor reminds her that he has [[Regeneration|regenerated]] since they first met. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'', ''[[The Caves of Androzani (TV story)|The Caves of Androzani]]'') | |||
* Peri mentions [[Dalek]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'') | |||
* A [[space whale]] would appear later in [[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below (TV story)|The Beast Below]]''. | |||
* The Doctor claims that the TARDIS wanted to leave Gallifrey as much as he did. The TARDIS herself will later confirm this in [[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]''. | |||
== External links == | |||
{{bigfinish|releases/v/the-song-of-megaptera-427}} | |||
{{dwrefguide|loststories07.htm|The Song of Megaptera}} | |||
== Footnotes == | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
{{BFA LostStories}} | |||
{{TitleSort}} | |||
[[Category:Series 1 (TLS) audio stories]] | |||
[[Category:2010 audio stories]] | |||
[[Category:Star whale stories]] | |||
