The Five Companions (audio story)

The Five Companions
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Ian, Steven, Sara, Polly, Nyssa
Main enemy:	Silver Daleks, Grex
Main setting:	Disused alternate section of Death Zone, Gallifrey
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Eddie Robson
Director:	Ken Bentley
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Howard Carter
Sound:	Howard Carter
Cover by:	Alex Mallinson
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	X
Release date:	11 December 2011
Format:	1 CD Download 58 minutes
Production code:	6K/A
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-691-8 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78178-692-5 (digital) ISBN 978-1-80240-682-5 (Promo digital)
Official trailer
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Bonus Releases
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Classic Series - Special Releases
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The Five Companions was the ninth Doctor Who bonus story released on 11 December 2011 by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Eddie Robson and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, William Russell as Ian Chesterton, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom and Anneke Wills as Polly Wright.

It was one of only two bonus releases which weren't available for general purchase and could only be obtained by a subscription including a main range release - in this case, Army of Death - the other being The Four Doctors. However, on 23 November 2024, the story was made available as a free download in celebration of the the 61st anniversary of Doctor Who.

Essentially, this audio acts as an extension of the events of The Five Doctors, with the Fifth Doctor encountering more past companions and Daleks, as well as the Sontarans, in the Death Zone.

Publisher's summary

Inside a cluster of fused-together derelict spaceships, four of the Doctor's oldest friends — and one of his newest ones — are lost and confused. They don't know how they got there or what they're meant to be doing — but as the place is infested with Daleks, Sontarans and dinosaurs, their first priority is staying alive.

To their collective relief, the Doctor turns up and has a reasonable idea of what's going on. If the six of them work together, they can escape this place and get home. But, unexpectedly, others may be working together to ensure they all die here...

Plot

A long time after leaving the First Doctor, Steven finds that he has been transported to a place made of fused spacecraft and is taken prisoner by a Dalek, but he is saved when the Dalek falls down a shaft disguised with a sheet of metal by a similarly perplexed Ian. They flee when the Dalek flies back upwards and take refuge in an airlock, utilising the system's magnetic force against the Dalek when it breaks in and leaving it vulnerable.

Polly, transported away whilst on her way to a restaurant, hides in a hatch from a dinosaur and pulls Sara inside to save her. The dinosaur is attacked by Daleks and both sides seemingly kill one another, after which Polly and Sara emerge and find that one Dalek is still alive. Sara soon kills it with a pipe, takes its gun and leads Polly away in search of a way to escape; she destroys a group of Daleks and rescues Nyssa, whom the Daleks have been forcing to assist them in their mission to get away from the pocket dimension they have all arrived in.

Instead of being transported from the Death Zone to the Capitol as he had intended, the Fifth Doctor finds himself with Skarl of the Sontaran Sixth Column and is taken prisoner. A Dalek argues with Skarl over the Doctor and Steven knocks the Sontaran out by hitting his probic vent, after which the Dalek reveals himself to be Ian inside a travel machine. They are joined by Nyssa, Polly and Sara, the last of whom brushes away her survival as "a long story", and the Doctor realises that they have all been dragged into an inescapable alternative environment of the Death Zone.

Nyssa adapts a ground radar and she and Ian use it as a weapon to herd the dinosaurs away and prevent the Daleks from retreating. Steven and Sara are captured by Marshal Grex, Skarl and Varsh as they make their way to steal the Daleks' equipment and tell them about the gateway that Nyssa has been helping the Daleks develop, a device which the Sontarans intend to use and destroy. Although Skarl is ordered to guard Steven and Sara, he leaves them to hunt down the Doctor to restore his honour. He chases the Doctor and is killed when Polly pierces him in the probic vent with her stiletto.

The Sontarans fight the Daleks and capture the gateway, which does not function, but the Daleks reveal that they knew of their objective and have sealed them inside their base. When Grex proposes that the two forces work together to boost the power of the gateway and destroy the dimension that they are in to kill the Doctor, the Daleks agree, only for an argument to break out and Grex to begin a fight in which he is killed. Ian and Nyssa disconnect the power cables attached to the gateway too late and the dimension begins to collapse, so the Doctor has Steven fly Skarl's ship, made of dwarf star alloy, to open a path to the gateway.

Using the Sontaran ship's tractor beam, Steven and Nyssa protect the Doctor with a bulkhead, but Nyssa refuses to let him work alone and takes over from him. Ian, Steven, Sara and Polly link arms to reach the Doctor and prevent him from falling when the floor breaks apart and Nyssa succeeds in shutting the gateway down. The Doctor is then able to make contact with the Capitol and says goodbye to his companions, promising to visit them and warning that their memories might be affected before transmatting away. His former companions doubt that he will ever visit them, however, as he has better things to do.

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• Ian Chesterton - William Russell
• Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
• Sara Kingdom - Jean Marsh
• Polly Wright - Anneke Wills
• Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
• The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
• The Sontarans - Dan Starkey

Worldbuilding

Culture

• The Doctor mentions to Polly that he is attempting to get into contact with the Capitol.

Species

• Steven encountered the Sontarans when one of their scout ships crashed on the Elders' planet several years earlier in his personal timeline. This experience taught him that a Sontaran could be incapacitated by striking their probic vent.
• A Tyrannosaurus rex is transported to the alternative Death Zone, where it kills several Daleks before it is exterminated.

Technology

• The Sontaran ship is provided with dwarf star alloy and a tractor beam.

Notes

• The Fifth Doctor is the only character to appear in both this story and the television story The Five Doctors.
• This marks the first time that Peter Purves and Anneke Wills have reprised their roles as Steven Taylor and Polly Wright respectively for Big Finish outside of The Companion Chronicles range. Similarly, it is the first time that William Russell has reprised his role as Ian Chesterton in a full cast Big Finish audio drama.
• This was a special release given away to Big Finish subscribers who had the audio story Army of Death as part of their subscription. On 23 November 2024, it was made available as a free download in celebration of the 61st anniversary of Doctor Who.
• The cover for this story was revealed on 9 May 2011.
• This story was recorded at the Moat Studios, and at least partly recorded on 12 May 2011.
• The opening credits use Peter Howell's rendition of the Doctor Who theme, while the end credits use Delia Derbyshire's original rendition.
• This audio takes place during the events of The Five Doctors. The Fifth Doctor is diverted to an alternate section of the Death Zone that is disused after using the Tremas Master's transmat recall device, and discovers that some of his other companions have ended up there as well.
• The Doctor tells Ian that he had intended to visit him several months earlier. This is a reference to the original plans for Mawdryn Undead, which had envisaged Ian taking the part ultimately allocated to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

Continuity

• Ian and Steven previously met in the Mechonoid City on Mechanus. (TV: The Chase)
• Ian sets a trap for a Dalek by placing a sheet of metal on the floor in the hopes of disrupting the static electricity supply by which they are powered and subsequently disguises himself as a Dalek. He did both of these in his first encounter with them on Skaro. (TV: The Daleks)
• Ian, (TV: The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Chase) Steven, (AUDIO: Across the Darkened City, The Dalek Occupation of Winter, TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) Sara, (AUDIO: The Destroyers, TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) Polly (TV: The Power of the Daleks) and Nyssa (AUDIO: The Mutant Phase, Renaissance of the Daleks, Plague of the Daleks, Dalek Soul, The Elite) have all previously encountered the Daleks.
• The Sontarans have records of all the Doctor's incarnations. They recognise the Fifth Doctor from their encounter with him on Samur. (AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar)
• The Doctor initially believes that he and his former companions are trapped in an artificial construct which has been created by the Master. (TV: The Five Doctors)
• Nyssa would later encounter the Fifth Doctor in her mind shortly before his regeneration into the Sixth Doctor. (AUDIO: Winter) Later still in her personal timeline, she would meet the Fourth Doctor in 3488 (PROSE: Asylum) and subsequently rejoin the Fifth Doctor as one of his companions. (AUDIO: Cobwebs) From the Doctor's perspective, the latter two events have already happened.
• This is the Doctor's first encounter with each of his first incarnation's companions since they left the TARDIS. (TV: The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Savages, The Faceless Ones) None of them know that the Doctor is a Time Lord nor are they familiar with the concept of regeneration. Even Polly, who witnessed the Doctor's regeneration into his second incarnation, remains uncertain of the process. (TV: The Tenth Planet) With reference to Ian Chesterton, this will be contradicted in COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone, where the Eleventh Doctor meets a younger version of the science teacher and attends his wedding.
• Polly claims sarcastically that making coffee was usually her main contribution to the proceedings. (TV: The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase, AUDIO: The Selachian Gambit)
• The Doctor refers to Polly challenging the Mondasian Cyber-Leader Krail in the Snowcap in December 1986 (TV: The Tenth Planet) and destroying a squadron of Cybermen on the Moonbase in 2070. (TV: The Moonbase)
• Marshal Grecks refers to the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
• The fact that Ian is an elderly man would seem to disprove the rumour (as related by Sarah Jane to her friends Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra in 2010) that he and Barbara have not aged since the 1960s. (TV: Death of the Doctor)
• Martha would later refer to how pompous the name "Time Lord" sounds quite, (TV Smith and Jones) as would a future version of the Master. (TV: The Timeless Children) The Twelfth Doctor would soon get unwarranted treatment when he revealed to Danny Pink that he's a Time Lord. (TV: The Caretaker)

External links

• Official The Five Companions (subscription exclusive) page at bigfinish.com
• Official The Five Companions (promo) page at bigfinish.com