State of Decay (audio story)
State of Decay was a direct-to-cassette version of the televised story of the same name. It was distinct from both the TV story and the Target print novelisation. With a runtime of a mere 60 minutes, and a more or less in-character reading by Tom Baker, it had a very different format to the other two versions of this story.
It was one of the very few pieces of Doctor Who merchandise that was released on ¼" audio cassette.
Deviations from the TV story[[edit] | [edit source]]
The main difference in the story on cassette is one of perspective. Almost all scenes are told from the Doctor and Romana's point of view. This shift leads to a reduction in Adric and K9's importance to the plot, removes a number of scenes with guest characters, and changes others such that the Doctor and Romana are said to have witnessed them from afar.
There are a number of specific differences with respect to the television story. Some of them are:
- The Law of Consonantal Shift is never mentioned — something that makes sense given Dicks' disdain of this Bidmeadism (DCOM: State of Decay)
- K9's role is reduced even to the point that he doesn't help the rebels with their attack
- Ivo has nothing to do with Habris' murder. In fact, Habris doesn't even die in this version.
- The Doctor's contact with the TARDIS is much more limited than on television. Thus, there is no scene in which he consults the Record of Rassilon or does a short hop mid-story.
Releases[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Pickwick version of State of Decay was first released on a single cassette by Pickwick themselves in 1981, about six months before the Target version hit stores. It was then re-released in 1985 by Ditto as a two-cassette pack. Other than the editing required to put the story on two cassettes, there is no narrative difference between the two versions.
There is, however, a small amount of music on the two-cassette version that's used as the intro and outro of each cassette. This music is fairly generic and has no connection to any Doctor Who soundtrack.
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