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The Reaping
(Joseph Lidster) |
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 "The
Reaping" is the first of Joseph Lidster’s
two plays for September, in which the Sixth
Doctor discovers
that someone is making novel use of the recently dead.
This story has been directed by Gary Russell and was
recorded 20th and 21st March 2006.
Colin
Baker and Nicola Bryant are joined by former Babylon
5 actor, Claudia Christian as Janine Foster, Peri’s
mother. Also in the cast is Terra Hawks voice
artist, Denise Bryer. Also starring are: Nicholas Briggs,
Allison Karaynes, Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor, Stuart Milligan,
Jane Perry, Vincent Pirillo and John Schwab
The
TARDIS takes The Sixth Doctor and his companion to the
Goggle Box - the Human race’s greatest achievement
- deep inside the Moon. There Peri learns that the Goggle
Box allows you to experience every recorded media from
Earth’s history which Peri decides to take advantage
of so as to catch up with local news from the period
she left to start her travels with The Doctor. But what
she hears alarms her when a news report about the discovery
of a murdered person is found in a graveyard - a person
she new very well - Anthony - the father of her best
friend Kathy Chambers.
And
so The Doctor takes her to Baltimore in 1984 - where
she is reunited with her mother and Kathy who is mourning
for her father. But Peri’s return, four months
after she disappeared while on holiday in Lanzarote,
does not quite go as she planned especially as her mother
has finally accepted that her daughter is dead...
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| Sixth Doctor |
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While
Peri attends the funeral and wake she gets to re-acquaint
herself with her ‘lost’ family and friends.
Meanwhile The Doctor goes off to investigate on his own
and meets Mrs Van Gysegham - who seems to know a lot
about what is going on and fuels The Doctor’s suspicions
that there is more to what is going on then meets the
eye.
With a murder to solve, a wrongly accused murderer to
free from police custody, the discovery of the police
being controlled and a mysterious message left on a video
tape. A message “to keep playing” which,
when followed, results in a message from beyond the grave
which Peri realises needs to be investigated further.
As both
Peri and The Doctor start to expose more and more unusual
and suspicious activity especially with regards to the
strange sounds and things happening in the graveyard
they realise that there presence is very much required
in Baltimore if both of them and the remaining members
of Peri’s family and friends are to survive.
Could
there be an alien involved or maybe something even more
sinister? - A foe from The Doctor’s past. A foe
that has proved many times difficult to defeat. A foe
that is determined not to invade or destroy Earth but
to takeover the whole human race - to make humanity like
them. To convert the human race into Cybermen.
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Peri |
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Cybermen
who are converting the recently departed… Cybermen
who are more advanced then anything The Doctor has previously
encountered… Cybermen who are from the future…
While
The Doctor discovers the Cybermen’ plans Peri’s
mother, Janine, and friends, Kathy and Nate, realise
that Peri and The Doctor are their only hope to defeat
the silver monsters from the graveyard. But how does
Anthony fit in with the Cybermen’s presence on
Earth and how many Cybermen are there? Things are not
as they seem.
The Doctor and Peri have a huge task to defeat
these powerful, but dying, Cybermen from the future and
to thwart their plans to alter history and so become
all powerful. Will The Doctor be able to trick the future
Cyberleader and so manage to put things right and how
does a trip to Mondas, the Cybermen’s home planet,
fit in with The Doctor’s unique solution in defeating
the Cybermen?
More
importantly, now that Peri is back in her own time, will
The Doctor be leaving in his TARDIS alone or will the
Cybermen’s resourcefulness prevail and so prevent
Peri’s homecoming?
Some things never have a happy ending
- or beginning…
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| Big
Finish Magazine - Issue 8 (Autumn 2006) |
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Big
Finish Magazine
- Issue 8 |
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Issue
8 of the 'Big Finish Magazine', a series of behind-the-scenes
CDs given away free to subscribers, was also
sent out with this release.
On
this issue...
1. INTRODUCTION – John
Ainsworth introduces the latest issue of the
Big Finish Magazine.
2. I,
DAVROS – We despatched Joseph
Lidster to the recording of Big Finish’s
new mini-series, I Davros, where he caught
up with star Terry Molley.
3.
NICHOLAS BRIGGS –
The new executive producer of Big Finish’s
Doctor Who audio talks about his new role
and plans for the future.
4.
MARK STRICKSON –
We chat to Mark about his time as a companion
and also his work away from Doctor Who.
5. THE REAPING & THE
GATHERING – We
talk to the writer of September 2006’s
two Doctor Who audios, Joseph Lidster, and
hear from Janet Fielding, too.
Presented
by John Ainsworth. Sound design, post-production
and CD mastering by David Darlington. Sleeve
by Stuart Manning. Compiled by David Darlington.
Produced by John Ainsworth. Length 1 hour 13
minutes.
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Notes:
- Featuring the Sixth
Doctor and Peri.
- Serial Number: 6ZC
- Number of Episodes: 2
- Cover Length: 142 minutes
- Episode Lengths: 1 = 64'06", 2 = 67'05"
- Total Story Length: 131'11"
- This story takes place between "Revelation
of the Daleks" and "The
Trial of a Time Lord" and follows on from "...ish".
- Early Title: "Dead Men Walking".
- Cover Illustration: Lee Binding
- Recorded: 20th and 21st March 2006
- Recording Location: The Moat Studios
- Released: September 2006
- ISBN: 1-84435-196-3
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On the Back Cover:
On the morning of 9 May 1984, Peri woke up.
She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in Lanzarote
and, that evening, leave her mother and stepfather to
go travelling with some guys she’d only just met.
But things don’t always go as expected
- as her friends and family discover when, four months
later, she returns home having travelled further
than anyone could have imagined.
Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, mourns
her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other
familiar faces. |
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On the Inside Cover:
Six years ago, I pitched
my first idea to Big Finish. The Priory Experience saw the Sixth
Doctor and Peri fighting aliens who
wanted to take over the world with dance music. The
story would eventually be released as The Rapture featuring
the Seventh
Doctor and Ace but I always hoped that
one day I’d
get the chance to write for Colin and Nicola. I love
the Sixth Doctor and Peri. They’ve both got such
strong personalities and they argue and fight but,
deep down, they genuinely care for each other. Her
Doctor changed beyond all recognition by sacrificing
his life for her and she chose to stay with him. They’ve
got a bond that, in my mind, is possibly the strongest
and most interesting out of all The Doctors and companions.
When Gary Russell asked me
to think about ideas for a Sixth Doctor versus the
Cybermen story, I knew immediately that I wanted to
take Peri home. It was an idea that had been floating
around inside my head for years. We’d already
met her stepfather but what about her mum? What about
her friends? What about the life she has chosen to
leave behind?
This isn’t just
a story about the Sixth Doctor and Peri though. It’s
also about how the decisions we make have repercussions
on others. Which is why, when Gary called me to say
that Janet Fielding wanted to come back as Tegan, I
knew that in the next play, I could explore those repercussions
even further...
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Joseph Lidster,
May 2006 |
Joseph Lidster
has writen a large number of short stories and audio
dramas for Big Finish, across nearly all their other
ranges (Sapphire & Steel, The Tomorrow
People, Bernice
Summerfield) but it’s to Doctor Who that he always
returns. And he’s currently writing content for
the BBC’s Doctor Who websites, supporting each
and every new episode of Doctor Who on television - a
task which we like to think had something to do with
his work for Big Finish... |
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Who's Who?
The Sixth Doctor
First television appearance: "The
Twin Dilemma"
First chronological Big Finish audio appearance: "Davros"
He
has been exploring the universe for hundreds of years. He fights injustice. He
defeats evil. He helps people. The Doctor sacrificed his previous life on the
planet Androzani Minor to save his companion Peri from a toxic virus. After his
regeneration, he and Peri remained good, if somewhat argumentative, friends and
they are still travelling the cosmos together. The Doctor’s forthright,
often abrasive, nature frequently alarms Peri, especially as he can be blunt
to the point of rudeness in the face of great danger. However, he retains his
loyalty, integrity and ultimate belief that evil must be fought, and vanquished...
Peri Brown
First television appearance: "Planet
of Fire"
First chronological Big Finish audio appearance: "Red
Dawn"
Perpugilliam
Brown has travelled with two incarnations of The Doctor.
Their relationship used to be somewhat... fractious
- but these days, it is generally lighthearted and
friendly. A keen botanist, resourceful and compassionate,
Peri also has a edgy side - combining a wry sense of
humour that can infuriate her travelling companion.
She also possesses the useful ability to charm even
the most dangerous of opponents with her honesty and
apparent naivete that actually hides a quick-wit, a
resource learned from The Doctor which both she and
The Doctor exploit whenever necessary. |
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The Cast Gallery:
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Full Cast List:
| The Doctor |
Colin Baker |
| Peri |
Nicola Bryant |
| Cybermen |
Nicholas Briggs |
| Mrs Van Gysegham |
Denise Bryer |
| Janine Foster |
Claudia Christian |
| Natalie Hamilton |
Allison Karaynes |
| Nate Chambers |
Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor |
| Anthony Chambers |
Stuart Milligan |
| Kathy Chambers |
Jane Perry |
| Daniel Woods |
Vincent Pirillo |
| Lt Doyle |
John Schwab |
The Production Team:
| Writer |
Joseph Lidster |
| Director |
Gary Russell |
| Sound/Music |
David Darlington |
| Theme Music |
David Darlington |
| Story Editor |
Alan Barnes |
| Producers |
Gary Russell and
Jason Haigh-Ellery |
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