 |
The Gathering
(Joseph Lidster) |
|
 Following
the release of "The
Reaping", the second of
September 2006’s 'Cyber-duology', is "The
Gathering" - also written by Joseph Lidster. It
is directed by Gary Russell and was recorded on the 29th
and 30th June 2006.
"The
Gathering" shares a number of thematic links with
its predecessor, ultimately developing the plot into
a sustained and thoughtful examination of bereavement
and the need to move on from the past "The Gathering" also
sees the Fifth
Doctor reunited with an old friend who
might not be all that pleased to see him. Joining Peter
Davison, as the Fifth Doctor, is Janet Fielding, who
returns to the role of Tegan for the first time in over
twenty years. But is it a happy reunion?
Janet
Fielding agreed to return to the role of companion Tegan,
just for the recording of "The Gathering".
And so this occasion marked the first in-character reunion
with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor since Janet left the
television series in 1984. The longest-serving of Peter
Davison’s companions her return is clearly an event
that Joseph Lidster and Big Finish Productions were keen
to make the most of.
Big
Finish producer Gary Russell has revealed that working
with Janet Fielding has been a long-held ambition. "When
Big Finish started, I always said I had three ticks I
wanted to make: Paul McGann. Bonnie Langford and Janet
Fielding. For some time now, Janet has always said no
to returning to Tegan – I believe a phrase involving
the worlds 'hell' and 'freezes over' might have been
uttered."
But according to Gary Russell she volunteered to do "Just
the one". And so one it will be.
 |
| Peter Davison |
|
Also
starring are: Dait Abuchi, Janie Booth, Nicholas Briggs,
Richard Grieve, Jef Higgins, Belinda Hoare, Zehra Naqvi
and Jane Perry.
The Doctor,
while temporarily travelling alone as his two companions Peri and Erimeem are
off on an adventure of there own, materialises the TARDIS in
Brisbane, Australia in 2006. He has an urgent need to visit an emotionally scarred
Doctor Katherine
Chambers, a teenage friend of Peri’s in 1984 Baltimore who has since become
the head of a pharmaceuticals company.
However,
things don’t go as planned especially as the day he visits just happens
to be when Katherine Chambers is due to attend the 46th birthday of one of her
patients – a person who The Doctor knows very well even though they parted
company over twenty years previously.
 |
| Tegan |
|
It’s
the morning of 22 September 2006 and Tegan wakes up expecting
to spend the day relaxing at home and then, that evening,
tolerate a party thrown to celebrate her 46th birthday – during
which she meets The Doctor. They have a lot of catching
up to do and very little time to do so – especially
as Tegan it seems is ill and others have plans to prove
correct Tegan’s perception that trouble always
follows The Doctor wherever or whenever he travels to.
So
it is no surprise when, in the middle of her party, Tegan
is kidnapped by Katherine and it is then that things
go from bad to worse for both Tegan and The Doctor who
is in hot pursuit. But neither of them are prepared for
what awaits them at Katherine’s office – especially
when they discover what Katherine is up to and the dead
start to walk again all so that her part Cyberman brother
can survive. And so Tegan discovers that you can never
really escape the past - or The Doctor - or his enemies.
Desperate for her brother to survive the Cyberman implants
Katherine Chambers makes a decision that could change
all their lives and also threaten to alter the whole
future of humanity.
More
frighteningly, Katherine Chambers and her shady acquaintance
James have plans to surrender Tegan to the mercy of the
pilfered Cyber-technology. Unable to move on from the
events of 1984, Katherine has become a tragic figure,
emotionally trapped in her own past, fearful of The Doctor
and willing to sacrifice millions to assuage her own
conscience.
Will
Tegan survive Katherine’s plans for her or will
The Doctor come to her rescue and so prevent the Cybermen
from taking control again? What will happen if The Doctor
learns about his future association with Katherine and
the Cybermen and what will the outcome be if Katherine
uses The Doctor’s ability to regenerate? Will she
be able to use him to bring the dead back to life or
will The Doctor be able to warn his future self and so
thwart Katherine’s plans? Or will Tegan come to
The Doctor’s rescue and do the job for him?
Knowing
that her brain tumour may be the result of all the blows
to her head and alien possessions, she endured during
her travels with The Doctor, will Tegan accept The Doctor’s
offer to find a cure to her illness or will she manage
to persuade The Doctor, who is keen to make amends, to
leave without her - again…
|
| |
|
Notes:
- Featuring the Fifth
Doctor and Tegan.
- Serial Number: 6QJ
- Number of Episodes: 2
- Cover Length: 108 minutes
- Episode Lengths: 1 = 51'41", 2 = 57'38"
- Total Story Length: 109'19"
- This story takes place between "Planet
of Fire" and "The
Caves of Androzani" and
follows on from "The
Kingmaker".
- Early Title: "Summer in the City".
- Cover Illustration: Lee Binding
- Recorded: 29th and 30th June 2006
- Recording Location: The Moat Studios
- Released: September 2006
- ISBN: 1-84435-195-5
|
|
On the Back Cover:
On the morning of 22 September 2006, Tegan
woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing
at home and, that evening, tolerate a party thrown to
celebrate her 46th birthday.
But things don't always go as expected
- it's been over twenty years since she chose to
leave The Doctor. She's got a job, mates... a life.
Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, makes
a decision that could change all their lives, and Tegan
discovers that you can never really escape the past. |
| |
|
On the Inside Cover:
I’d just started
work on The Reaping when Gary Russell called me to
say that Janet Fielding had agreed to return to Doctor
Who. Tegan would be coming back and would I like
to write it? Well, yeah!
I’m a big fan of
programmes like 24 and Lost. I love how their stories
develop through the choices a large cast of characters
make. Every decision has a repercussion meaning you
get big, epic adventures that are ruled by the characters.
When I found out that The Reaping and The Gathering would be coming out at the same time, I realised I
could try to tell a similar type of story. Especially
If I linked them into Dan Abnett’s 2004 audio
story, The Harvest...
Writing for Tegan was
a challenge, though. I didn’t want her to be
a parody, constantly exclaiming ‘Rabbits!’ or ‘it’s
an entry coder!’ She’s often accused of
being a whiny air stewardess who just wants to go home
but to see Tegan as that overlooks the many positive
elements to her character. She’s got a wicked
sense of humour and a great deal of compassion but
she isn’t some whiter-than-white hero. I always
got the impression that her travelling companions weren’t
the type of people she’d usually hang around
with so the chance to explore her home life was something
I really enjoyed.
What would you do if
you’d had this mad experience of travelling through
time and space and then had to adjust to life back
on Earth? I’d probably curl up and die but Tegan
Jovanka’s made of much stronger stuff. She chose
to leave The Doctor. She chose to end that part of
her life. She thought it was all over. But, with The Doctor, is that ever really the case?
|
Joseph Lidster,
May 2006 |
Joseph Lidster
has written 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... |
| |
|
Who's Who?
The Fifth Doctor
First television appearance: "Castrovalva"
First chronological Big Finish audio appearance: "Land
of the Dead"
He
has been exploring the universe for hundreds of years.
He fights injustice. He defeats evil. He helps people.
Always accompanied by travelling companions, The Doctor
has lately found his TARDIS shared by Peri and Erimem,
two lively young girls from different points in Earth’s
history. They are currently in Monte Carlo 1966 – in
search of the Veiled Leopard diamond – allowing
The Doctor some time to himself. He’s always
meant to explore the Ice Caves of Shabadabadon…
Tegan Jovanka
First television appearance: "Logopolis"
First chronological Big Finish audio appearance: "The
Gathering"
Tegan
Jovanka was an air hostess when she met The Doctor.
Wandering into the TARDIS as it sat incongruously on
the Barnet bypass, she was soon involved in a trip
to the planet Logopolis, an adventure that led to The Doctor changing his appearance. She travelled with
him for a long time - always hoping to get back to
Heathrow, 1981, but usually ending up aboard spaceships
or on alien worlds. They also often visited Earth:
London in the 1660s, modern-day Amsterdam, the bottom
of the ocean in the twenty-first century and many other
times and places. However, the wake of their adventures
- the hurt, the harm and the deaths - took its toll
and, after defeating the Daleks in 1984, Tegan decided
to stay on Earth... |
| |
|
The Cast Gallery:
|
| |
|
Full Cast List:
| The Doctor |
Peter Davison |
| Tegan |
Janet Fielding |
| Michael Tanaka |
Dait Abuchi |
| Eve Morris |
Janie Booth |
| Alan Fitzgerald |
Nicholas Briggs |
| James Clarke |
Richard Grieve |
| Waiter |
Jef Higgins |
| Rosemary Stark |
Belinda Hoare |
| Jodi Boyd |
Zehra Naqvi |
| Katherine Chambers |
Jane Perry |
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 |
|
|
|
|
