The Final Beginning (audio story)

The Final Beginning was the first story in the audio anthology Beyond War Games, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Mark Wright and Nicholas Briggs and featured Michael Troughton as the Second Doctor and Emma Noakes as Raven.

Publisher's summary
Believing he has escaped exile - and a change to his appearance - by the Time Lords, the Doctor finds himself lost on a snowy, alien world. He is not alone – prospectors Catrona and Silas are stranded on this nightmare planet, but without his TARDIS, the Doctor is powerless to help them.

Seeking answers – and freedom – the Doctor's hopes and suspicions are aroused when a crashed TARDIS is discovered in the snow. Are Catrona and Silas as innocent as they seem? And who is Raven, the young woman who watches from afar?

Long buried secrets are about to be revealed in this icy wasteland, and the Doctor discovers that every end has a terrifying new beginning...

Part one
The Doctor, protesting as the Time Lords order his regeneration and exile, unexpectedly finds himself on a snowy world and assumes that the Time Lords fumbled in enacting his punishment. When he wishes that he had his fur coat, it appears and he gives it to Raven when he finds her in the cold. He sees his next self and the Brigadier in the storm and agrees to rest when Raven says that it is due to delayed trauma.

Silas and Catrona track a signal across the planet and find and break into a powerless TARDIS. They begin to feel unwell and hallucinate their extermination by a Dalek.

Awakening from his dreams about his next self's adventures, the Doctor is suspicious of Raven's knowledge and resources but goes with her when it seems that she might have seen his TARDIS. The snow moves in synchronised funnels and the Doctor hears the voices of the Daleks and their Emperor. They find the powerless TARDIS with its dimensions seeping out and enter, but Raven suddenly disappears and Catrona fires her weapon at the Doctor.

Part two
The Doctor is unharmed thanks to the scrambled internal dimensions of the TARDIS and asks Silas and Catrona about Raven, but they claim that he came in alone and take him to their ship/habitat module, unaware that Raven is watching them. The Doctor learns that the couple are scientists and that they are prospectors who were dragged down to this planet when it unexpectedly appeared in their path a week ago.

Planning on repairing the damaged TARDIS to get them off of this planet, the Doctor, Silas and Catrona head out in the morning and a snow funnel causes Catrona's hand to age at a molecular level. They flee from the snow funnels to a ridge and, looking out, see the broken and frozen city of the Daleks. The Doctor realises that the Time Lords have sent him to Skaro and demands answers, but the snow funnels turn into Daleks.

Part three
to be added

Part four
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Michael Troughton
 * Raven - Emma Noakes
 * Silas / The Doctor - Tim Treloar
 * Catrona - Anna-Maria Nabirye
 * Celestine / The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Jon Culshaw

Continuity

 * In a delirious state, the Doctor mutters, "They'll forget me won't they?", which he had asked Socra earlier on after Jamie and Zoe were sent back to their own times. (TV: The War Games)
 * The Doctor's dreams include scenes from Spearhead from Space, The Ambassadors of Death and Terror of the Autons.