Mar 3, 2019
20 for 20 (Houndsite...)
I will be taking a regular look at 20 releases from 20m years of the Big Finish Doctor Who Monthly range.
ALL from the July release (ie The Birthday...)
they will be
1) THE SIRENS OF TIME RELEASED JULY 1999
2) 10. WINTER FOR THE ADEPT t RELEASED JULY 2000
3) 22. BLOODTIDE RELEASED JULY 2001
4) 33. NEVERLAND RELEASED JULY 2002
5) 46. FLIP FLOP RELEASED JULY 2003
6) 59. THE ROOF OF THE WORLD RELEASED JUNE 2004
7) 71. THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA RELEASED JULY 2005
8) 84. THE NOWHERE PLACE RELEASED JULY 2006
9) 97. THE WISHING BEAST RELEASED JULY 2007
10) 110. THE BOY THAT TIME FORGOT RELEASED JULY 2008
11) 123. THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS Four one-part stories:
12) 136. COBWEBS RELEASED JULY 2010
13) 149. ROBOPHOBIA RELEASED JULY 2011
14) 162. PROTECT AND SURVIVE RELEASED JULY 2012
15) 175. PERSUASION RELEASED JULY 2013
16) 188. BREAKING BUBBLES AND OTHER STORIES RELEASED
17) 201. WE ARE THE DALEKS RELEASED JULY 2015
18) 214. A LIFE OF CRIME RELEASED JULY 2016
19) 227. THE HIGH PRICE OF PARKING RELEASED JULY 2017
20) 240. HOUR OF THE CYBERMEN RELEASED JULY 2018
this time i talk about -
From Wikipedia....
The Sirens of TimeAlbum coverBig Finish Productions audio
dramaSeries Doctor WhoRelease no. 1Featuring Fifth DoctorSixth
DoctorSeventh DoctorWritten by Nicholas BriggsDirected by Nicholas
BriggsProduced by Gary Russell Jason Haigh-ElleryExecutive
producer(s) Stephen ColeProduction code 7ZLength 2 hrs 5
minsRelease date 19 July 1999Followed by PhantasmagoriaThe Sirens
of Time is the first Big Finish Productions audio drama based on
the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor
Who. The story was written by Nicholas Briggs and stars Peter
Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. It was recorded between
6–7 March 1999.
To coincide with the release of this new Doctor Who range, a CD was
given away free with Doctor Who Magazine #279. Titled Talking 'Bout
My Regeneration, this documentary considered the history of the
show in audio and featured behind the scenes interviews with the
cast and production crew.
Davison's and Baker's interpretation of their respective
regeneration of The Doctor was well received, with each having a
distinct voice and considerable character development.[1]
Contents1 Synopsis2 Plot3 Cast4 Continuity5 References6 External
linksSynopsisWhile Gallifrey is threatened by a fleet of hostile
warships outfitted with technology surpassing even that of the Time
Lords, the Doctor is dealing with a plot to destroy him in his
Fifth, Sixth and Seventh incarnations. Each Doctor faces his own
trial alone, before coming together in the final episode to
confront the Sirens of Time.
PlotVansell, a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency, arrives
on Gallifrey with an urgent message for the President of the Time
Lords – an invasion fleet threatens the planet and Time Lord
technology will not be able to repel them. History has somehow been
distorted, and the only clue is the artron energy of a Time Lord in
the distortion... the energy belongs to the Doctor.
The Seventh Doctor hears the cloister bell tolling within the
TARDIS and changes the coordinate setting. A message comes through
from the Time Lords but is too garbled for the Doctor to make out
its content. He then hears a mysterious sound coming from outside
the TARDIS, and exits to investigate. He hears a woman, Elenya,
drowning in quicksand and rushes to her rescue. He is waylaid by a
cackling hag who says both he and Elenya will die. Arriving at the
quicksand, the Doctor wonders why the hag had not tried to save
Elenya, and takes her back to the TARDIS.
The hag, Ruthley, returns to attend to a crippled old man named
Sancroft, her prisoner. Over a communicator, she reports to a
commandant who questions her over ion trails he has detected in her
sector but she denies knowledge of them. At the TARDIS, the Doctor
is not able to enter his ship. He asks Elenya how she arrived on
the world. Sensing some familiarity about her he asks if they have
met before. Elenya says that she crash landed on the planet. They
set out to search for the hag's residence, as another space craft
crash lands nearby.
Hearing the crash, Sancroft asks Ruthley if the planet's shields
are failing, but she then taunts him that no one is coming to his
rescue. The Doctor and Elenya see a ship that somehow makes it
through the shields. Ruthley is heard communicating with an alien
voice on the ship, which informs her that bio-assassin cultures
will activate on landing. The Doctor and Elenya desperately dive
for cover as a further ship makes a landing nearby. They arrive at
its crash site as something alive emerges. Elenya thinks she is
looking at a dying creature, but the Doctor believes the opposite –
it is something being born.
Ruthley speaks to a planetary security robot, a Drudger, and
commands it to eliminate the Doctor and Elenya, but it tells her
that that procedure is not permitted. Ruthley, talking to herself,
says that does not matter because all will be dead soon. The Doctor
and Elenya come across the robot which commences to do a mind scan
which knocks them out. The Doctor awakes to find himself with
Sancroft, but Elenya is still unconscious. He is surprised that the
Doctor is not afraid of him.
The Drudger reports to Ruthley that it has found bio-engineered
life forms emerging from the wreck. The robot confronts the life
form and commands it to surrender; its reply is to open fire.
Ruthley comes to the cell and tells them they cannot escape, as in
the distance they hear the Drudgers being destroyed. Ruthley
cackles and tells them that "they" will kill all of them. The
Doctor asks if there is anywhere in the house they can all hide,
and Sancroft suggests Ruthley's bedroom.
Thinking she has done a deal with them, Ruthley approaches the
bio-assassins and tells them that infamous Sancroft, First Knight
of Velyshaa, is there for ready them to kill. However, the
bio-assassins eliminate her so there will be no witnesses. The
bio-assassin plays a recorded message – Sancroft has been sentenced
to death for war crimes against the people of Calfadoria. When the
Doctor pleads with the assassin to spare their lives, it tells him
that it has no quarrel with anyone but Sancroft. However, there
must be no witnesses, and the assassin opens fire...
A submarine prepares to attack a British freighter as the TARDIS
materialises on board. The Fifth Doctor disembarks searching for
some sort of distortion. He hears a voice of Time Lord calling to
him to return to the TARDIS because of the "destruction of time".
However, he is unable to get back inside his craft. A woman arrives
and tells him that she will take him to her Captain, just as the
submarine starts its attack.
The submarine crew spot two survivors clinging to a box floating in
the debris of the remains of the ship. The Doctor and the woman,
Helen, are brought on board and a thrown in a cell. The craft
submerges as a British destroyer enters the area.
The Doctor demands to see Captain Schweiger with vital information
for the Kaiser. The Doctor pretends to be a German spy, telling him
that proof of his identity is in an airtight crate now floating in
the sea. The Captain is unwilling to retrieve the crate because of
the British ships in the area. When returned the cell, the Doctor
notices evidence of a time distortion. One of the crew, Schmidt,
begins to attack the Doctor and the voice of a Time Lord is heard
urging on the attack.
On Gallifrey, Vansell is reprimanded for his brutish plan by the
President. However, Vansell insists that the Doctor must be
stopped, whatever the cost. On the submarine, Helen tends to the
Doctor's wounds after his fight as the alarms on the craft go off.
A vessel, the Aquitania, the Lusitania or the Mauritania, has been
sighted, and the submarine prepares to attack it. Vansell
telepathically contacts Schmidt and again tells him to kill the
Doctor. He goes to the cell with a pistol, and the Doctor tries to
reason with him. The observing Time Lords argue over whether to
kill the Doctor but Vansell proceeds to give the order to Schmidt
to kill, who then shoots.
Schweiger hears the shot and rushes to investigate. The Doctor is
still alive, and Helen taking Schmidt's gun shoots and kills the
German. The Doctor takes the gun from her, he has only suffered a
shoulder wound. He threatens to shoot Schweiger unless he turns the
submarine around. Schweiger does not believe the Doctor could shoot
him, but Helen takes the gun and displays more determination.
Schweiger turns the submarine around and it heads towards the last
known position of the TARDIS. The Doctor however is still unable to
reunite with his companions inside the TARDIS and realises that the
Time Lords wish him to be dead...
On Gallifrey, Vansell discovers that a female presence exists
inhabiting the vortex at each of the nexus points at which the
Doctor has been observed. He has found a further incident involving
the Sixth Doctor and the legendary time beast, the Temperon, in the
Kurgon system. He pleads with the president for more power, but the
President announces that the transduction barriers have been
breached and the aliens have landed on Gallifrey. They call
themselves the Knights of Velyshaa and have demanded an
unconditional surrender...
The Sixth Doctor finds himself at some kind of conference on a
space ship where a waitress seems very familiar to him. The ship,
the Edifice, is investigating a spatial anomaly known as the Kurgon
Wonder. However, a particle field quickly surrounds the ship – the
Doctor identifies it as a shard of time distortion. He hears voice
saying "help me", but is unable to identify the source. With the
exception of the Doctor, a waitress named Elly and an android
pilot, everyone on board is aged to death by the disruption.
The Doctor tells Elly he believes the TARDIS has crashed into the
Kurgon Wonder. They are attacked by some kind of monster but the
pilot arrives and shoots it. Time distortion begins to make the
hull of the ship disintegrate. The Doctor realises that the ship is
still heading into the Wonder through momentum. Analysis of the
monsters reveals that they are created by accelerated evolution of
bacteria and viruses.
On Gallifrey, the Knights shoot dead the President, their
technology inhibiting any further regenerations. Vansell is also
shot but manages to send a final message through the pilot's
positronic brain: "do not free the Temperon."
Elly reveals that she is part of an organisation dedicated to
freeing a being they believe is trapped in the Kurgon Wonder. The
Doctor deduces from the presences of Temperon particles that the
Wonder is in fact the legendary Temperon trapped at the moment of
its death. As the pilot is about to relay the Time Lord's message
to the Doctor, Elly shoots it. Afterwards, the Doctor finds himself
back in the TARDIS at the centre of the Wonder. The Doctor attempts
to dematerialise which will also free the Temperon. The Temperon
tells the Doctor that he has released the Knights of Velyshaa. As
the Doctor is smothered by the Temperon it issues a final warning:
"Beware the Sirens of Time..."
The Temperon absorbs the Doctor into itself and continues its
warning about the Sirens of Time. Deposited on Gallifrey, he finds
himself in the Panopticon alongside his fifth and seventh
incarnations, also brought by the Temperon. They enter contact to
share their experiences. They realise the girl each of them
encountered was in fact the same person.
One of the Knights of Velyshaa welcomes Knight Commander Lyena to
Gallifrey in the name of Sancroff. They detect Time Lord life signs
and force the Doctors to flee. Escaping into the lower parts of
Capitol, they start to search for the Temperon.
The Sixth and Seventh Doctors observe a Knight out of its armour,
its flesh is rotted and diseased. Soon they find the restrained
Temperon, but are captured by the Knights. All three Doctors are
brought before Lyena who reveals that subjugated Time Lords are
being used to revitalise the Knights.
She proceeds to reveal what happened next at each of the nexus
points. The Seventh Doctor rerouted the planetary shields to repel
the bio-assassins and save Sancroff. The Knights one day found him
to inspire their plans of conquest. The Fifth Doctor's actions
prevented the sinking of the Lusitania. Although the outcome of the
First World War was not greatly affected, a common criminal on
board the ship who should have died went on to murder Alexander
Fleming. Penicillin was never discovered and in 1956 a plague
devastated the Earth. This in turn prevented future humans from
defeating the Knights of Velyshaa in battle. When the Sixth Doctor
freed the Temperon, its destruction allowed the Knights to gain the
powers of Time Travel.
However, Lyena pleads with the Doctor to return in time and reverse
all the changes. It seems that the destruction of the Temperon
caused a disease which affected all the Knights. The last remaining
TARDIS on Gallifrey is too damaged to allow them to use it. When
they suggest they should release the Temperon, Lyena immediately
refuses and orders the Doctors be arrested. The Temperon warns the
Doctors to beware the Sirens of Time, and to beware Lyena.
Grabbing a weapon from a Knight guard, they use it to release the
Temperon from its restraints. It tells the Doctors that Elenya,
Helen, Ellie and Lyena are all the same, manifestations of the
Sirens of Time – a race that feeds on the energies of chaos,
distortions and disruptions in time. Unable to disrupt directly,
they lure others to do so. If the Doctors obey the Sirens call more
than once, they will be forever trapped in their thrall, but Lyena
threatens to kill the Fifth Doctor if they disobey her. The
Temperon tells the Doctors if they free it, it will go back in time
and destroy the Sirens at the beginning of time. However, they
realise he cannot destroy the Sirens or he would have already done
so. The Temperon admits this, but he could contain them.
Renewing her threat to kill the Fifth Doctor, the Sixth Doctor uses
his pragmatism to see through the threat and releases the Temperon.
Sancroff is killed by a bio-assassin, the Lusitania is destroyed by
the German submarine. Vansell's TARDIS arrives on Gallifrey but
nothing is out of the ordinary, and he departs.
The Doctors arrive at the nexus point where the Seventh Doctor met
Elenya for the first time, but ignore her cries for help. They see
the hag Ruthley but tell her they were never there. The Doctors
then depart, each to try to find their own TARDISes...
CastThe Seventh Doctor (parts 1 & 4) – Sylvester McCoyThe Fifth
Doctor (parts 2 & 4) – Peter DavisonThe Sixth Doctor (parts 3 & 4)
– Colin BakerCommander Raldeth – Andrew FettesCoordinator Vansell –
Anthony KeetchThe President – Michael WadeElenya/Helen/Ellie/Knight
Commander Lyena – Sarah MowatRuthley – Maggie StablesSancroff –
Colin McIntyreCommandant – John WadmoreLt Zenther – John
WadmoreCaptain Schweiger – Mark GatissSchmidt – Andrew FettesThe
Temperon – Nicholas BriggsPilot Azimendah – John WadmoreCaptain –
Mark GatissDelegate – Nicholas PeggSub-commander – John
WadmoreKnight 2 – Mark GatissContinuityThe Sirens of Time feed off
changes in history in the same way as the Timewyrm who featured in
the Seventh Doctor novel range The Virgin New Adventures.The
Temperon may be related to the Chronovores first introduced in The
Time Monster.Co-ordinator Vansell returns in The Apocalypse
Element, Neverland and in the Doctor Who Unbound play, He Jests at
Scars.... He was also mentioned in the novel Divided Loyalties.The
Knights of Velyshaa and Drudgers return in Big Finish's Dalek
Empire audio series.The Doctors share a moment of telepathic
contact first seen in The Three Doctors, accompanied a sound effect
also introduced in that story.These three Doctors team up with the
Eighth Doctor to defeat the Daleks in The Four Doctors.These three
Doctors, the Eighth and Fourth Doctors, featured in the Big Finish
50th anniversary story, The Light at the End.References