The Cold Equations (audio story)

The Cold Equations
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Steven, Oliver
Main setting:	Kallian satellite, Earth orbit, the far future
Key crew
Writer:	Simon Guerrier
Director:	Lisa Bowerman
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Richard Fox & Lauren Yason
Sound:	Richard Fox & Lauren Yason
Cover by:	Simon Holub
Release details
Number of parts:	2
Release number:	5.12
Release date:	2 June 2011
Format:	1 CD Download
Production code:	BFPDWCC44
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-510-5
The Companion Chronicles
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Next →	Tales from the Vault

The Cold Equations was the twelfth and final story of the fifth series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Guerrier and featured Peter Purves as the First Doctor and Steven Taylor and Tom Allen as Oliver Harper.

Publisher's summary

In the remnant of a shattered satellite, far above the ruined planet Earth, Steven Taylor and Oliver Harper are dying. As time runs out, they face their pasts... and a secret long kept is revealed.

The borrowed time is elapsing, and they realise they are facing an enemy that cannot be defeated. The cold, hard facts of science.

Plot

The Impassable Sky (1)

to be added

The Cold Equations (2)

to be added

Cast

• Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
• Oliver Harper - Tom Allen

Characters

• First Doctor
• Steven Taylor
• Oliver Harper
• Odgar
• Abaya

Crew

• Cover Art - Simon Holub
• Director - Lisa Bowerman
• Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Music and Sound Design - Richard Fox and Lauren Yason @ FoxYason Studios
• Producer - David Richardson
• Script Editor - Jacqueline Rayner
• Writer - Simon Guerrier

Worldbuilding

• This is Oliver's first trip in the TARDIS.
• Oliver refers to the 1960 film The Time Machine. He initially thought that the TARDIS, like the time machine in the film, would be able to move in time but not space. He was therefore expecting to see Shoreditch in the "time of the dinosaurs" or the 21st century.
• Oliver compares the experience of seeing the future to Dan Dare.
• Oliver learned trigonometry in school.
• Radio waves carry in space.
• Steven retrieves the TARDIS by thinking in 6 dimensional codes, like trying to "catch a ball."
• Periapsis refers to an object's orbit.

Textless cover art

Notes

• This audio drama was recorded on 13 September 2010 at the Moat Studios.
• In the special features, writer Simon Guerrier cites inspiration for Oliver's character and experience of homosexuality in the 1960s from the 1961 film Victim, about a homosexual man on the run from the law, and the television series Mad Men, which featured a gay character.
• This story is set between The Daleks' Master Plan and The Massacre.
• This story was originally released on CD and download on 2 June 2011.
• This story is told from Steven and Oliver's perspective.

Continuity

• Oliver Harper reveals to Steven that he was on the run from the law for engaging in homosexual practices. (AUDIO: The Perpetual Bond)
• The Sixth Doctor would visit Earth again during a technological dark age, by that time known as Ravalox. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) In addition, the Doctor and Steven's recently deceased friend Sara Kingdom had her mind copied by the House on Ely during one of their travels, and she would end up regaining her corporeality during a dark age on Earth as well. (AUDIO: Home Truths, The Drowned World, The Guardian of the Solar System)

External links

• Official The Cold Equations page at bigfinish.com
• The Cold Equations at the Doctor Who Reference Guide