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 The
final story in this season of audio adventures is a special
two-part feature length story called "Neverland" and again
stars Paul McGann, as the Eighth
Doctor, and India Fisher, as companion Charley
Pollard. This story is written by Alan Barnes and
is directed by Gary Russell. It was recorded on the 24th
and 25th January 2001.
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Neverland
(Alan Barnes) |
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Joining Paul and India is Lalla Ward whose debut
Big Finish audio story was in "The Apocalypse
Element". Once again she will be playing the part of 2nd
Romana who is Lord
President of the High Council of Time Lords. Also starring are: Jonathan Rigby,
Dot Smith, Ian Hallard, Anthony Keetch, Peter Trapani, Holly King, Alistair
Lock, Lee Moone, Mark McDonnell, Nicola Boyce and Don Warrington.
There has been
considerable anticipation since early in 2001, when this season of 6 Eighth
Doctor stories was first announced, as to how "Neverland" might resolve
Charley's paradoxical existence which occurred at the end of "Storm Warning". If
you recall in this story poor tragic Charlotte Pollard's life should have been
snuffed out before it had begun in the crash of the R101 - if it had not been
for the intervention of The Doctor.
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| Eighth Doctor |
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"Neverland"
sits as the climax to the second Big Finish Paul McGann
season and after the long build-up finally reveals the
true implications of Charley's survival of the R101 in
a most unexpected fashion. Her survival has paved the
way for the Web of Time's collapse and it seems the only
means to survive lies in a universe time forgot.
The
Doctor, who is now aware that his companion Charley is
at the eye of a storm damaging the Web of Time, finds
that a formation of battle-TARDISes is trying to pin them
down. At the head off his search-and-intercept mission
from Gallifrey are none other than President Romanadvoratrelundar
and Co-ordinator Vansell. But it soon becomes clear to
The Doctor that and they're intentions are not friendly
especially when he detects Time Torpedoes heading towards
the TARDIS.
Why
are the Time Lords so keen to track The Doctor down? Exactly
what lengths will the Celestial Intervention Agency go
to in their efforts to retrieve something important from
within his TARDIS?
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| India Fisher |
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Once under their control, The Doctor realises that
his main concern is to protect Charley from harm. But Charley has a vital
function: Romana and Vansell need her in order to reach a dimension that,
officially, does not exist. In theory, this is the world of Anti-Time - but in
light of the beings that they encounter there, it might as well be called
'Neverland'…
What connection is there between Charley and this mysterious
dimension and why do the Time Lords need her so desperately? Why is the Matrix
itself at risk? What is Vansell's real agenda? Who is the mythological
destroyer Zagreus and is he to be feared in reality? What has caused
Imperiatrix Romanadvoratrelundar to declare war on the rest of creation? Who
was The Doctor talking to at "Seasons of Fear"? And how does the Oubliette of
Etemity figure in Gallifrey's clandestine past?
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| Romana |
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To find out, The Doctor seeks the answers deep
within an entirely new universe and must face up to the actions not only of
himself but the hundreds and thousands of Time Lords who have gone before.
With
the help of Charley The Doctor has to join forces with those on the Time
Station and finds himself boldly going where no Gallifreyan has gone before.
Officially, that is…
There they find a Xero Cabinet which could contain
Rassilon but the Time Station holds a far greater secret - one which when
exposed highlights a tragic era of the Time Lord's history and Co-ordinator
Vansell's true reason for wanting to reach 'Neverland'. But worse is still to
come and "Neverland" not only ends this run of adventures for the Eighth Doctor
on an explosive high but it is true to say that nothing will ever be the same
again!
As much as this story is designed to resolve the events that
have occurred in the previous Eighth Doctor audios it poses new questions and
its cliffhanger sets events in motion for a new and different direction. As we
will not hear McGann again as the Eighth Doctor until Big Finish Production's
40th Anniversary story in November 2003, it will be a long wait until what
happens next is revealed.
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| Free Doctor Who for Subscribers |
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The
Maltese Penguin
(Robert Shearman) |
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Free with this story, to subscribers to the Big
Finish Productions Doctor Who audio range, was a special story titled "The
Maltese Penguin".
It stars Colin Baker, as the Sixth
Doctor, and
Robert Jezek, reprising his role as Frobisher the shape changing Whifferdill,
facing up to their old enemy, Dogbolter from The Doctor Who Magazine Comic
Strips.
It has been written by Robert Shearman, who wrote Frobisher's
debut Doctor Who audio adventure "The Holy Terror"
and was sent to subscribers with the release of "Neverland".
Click
here for more details of this special story.
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Notes:
- Featuring the Eighth
Doctor, Charley
Pollard and 2nd
Romana.
- Serial Number: 8L
- Number of Episodes: 2
- Cover Length: 150 minutes
- Episode Lengths: 1 = 72'08", 2 = 71'42"
- This story takes place after "Doctor
Who: The Movie".
- Cover Illustration: Clayton Hickman
- Recorded: 24th and 25th January 2001
- Recording Location: Christchurch Studios
- Released: July 2002
- ISBN: 1-903654-62-9
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On the
Back Cover:
The Web of Time is stretched to breaking. History
is leaking like a sieve. In the Citadel of Gallifrey, the Time Lords fear the
end of everything that is, everything that was… everything that will
be.
The Doctor holds the Time Lords' only hope - but exactly what
lengths will the Celestial Intervention Agency go to in their efforts to
retrieve something important from within his TARDIS? What has caused the
Imperiatrix Romanadvoratrelundar to declare war on the rest of creation? And
can an old nursery rhyme about a monster called Zagreus really be coming true?
The answers can only be found outside the bounds of the
universe itself, in a place that history forgot. In the wastegrounds of
eternity. In the Neverland. |
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On the
Inside Cover:
The fairy
appeared in a lamplight moonbeam. The crocodile snapped, the pirates shivered
their timbers, and the Captain waned his hook. The children gasped, and
goggled, and gasped, and goggled; cheered for Peter, and hissed the baddies.
And clapped their hands, because they all believed in fairies.
All too soon,
the adventure was over. The boy who could fly became a lady called Miss
Forbes-Robertson, who stepped forward, politely, to take her applause. The
curtain seemed to sigh as it fell.
Outside the
Palladium, the evening air was filled with the smell of burning chestnuts.
Somewhere down the way, a newspaper vendor shouted out about a man who'd died,
a man called Lenin. A twelve year-old girl, small for her age, tagged at her
Nanny's sleeve and pointed up at a twinkling in the
sky.
'Is that it, there?' she asked. 'Is that the star
they went by?'
'You can't tell your right from your left,
young lady,' said Nanny, by way of reply. 'Now come
along.'
'I'm sure that's the one,' insisted the girl.
'That's the one that Peter and Wendy went by.'
Nanny paid her
no attention, and flapped her arm to hail a carriage. The girl screwed up her
eyes, tight, and made a wish.
'I never, ever, want to
grow up,' said Charlotte Pollard.
When she
opened her eyes, the star had gone out. |
Alan Barnes,
April
2002 |
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Full Cast
List:
| Part One |
| The Doctor |
Paul McGann |
| Charley Pollard |
India Fisher |
| Romana |
Lalla Ward |
| Matrix Voices |
Jonathan Rigby, Dot Smith
and Ian Hallard |
| Co-ordinator Vansell |
Anthony Keetch |
| Kurst |
Peter Trapani |
| Levith |
Holly King |
| Emporer |
Alistair Lock |
| Under-Cardinal |
Lee Moone |
| Rorvan |
Mark McDonnell |
| Taris |
Nicola Boyce |
| The Observer |
Don Warrington |
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| Part Two |
| The Doctor |
Paul McGann |
| Charley Pollard |
India Fisher |
| Romana |
Lalla Ward |
| Rorvan |
Mark McDonnell |
| Co-ordinator Vansell |
Anthony Keetch |
| Levith |
Holly King |
| Taris |
Nicola Boyce |
| Under-Cardinal |
Lee Moone |
| Matrix Voices |
Jonathan Rigby, Dot Smith
and Ian Hallard |
| The Observer |
Don Warrington |
The
Production Team:
| Writer |
Alan Barnes |
| Director |
Gary Russell |
| Sound/Music |
Nicholas Briggs |
| Theme Music |
David Arnold |
| Producers |
Gary Russell and
Jason
Haigh-Ellery |
| Executive Producer for the BBC
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Jaqueline Rayner |
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