Terror Firma (audio story)

 was the seventy-second monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. Continuing from the cliffhanger at the end of The Next Life this story is the first Eighth Doctor story of 2005 and the first story to be set in the normal universe after eight previous stories set in the Divergent Universe. Furthermore, this is the first story to depict the Eighth Doctor's travels prior to the events of Big Finish's first Eighth Doctor audio drama Storm Warning and goes some way to explain why the Doctor was travelling alone in that story.

Publisher's summary
‘Welcome back, Doctor...’

Centuries ago, on the war-torn planet Skaro, a great scientist created the most evil creatures the Universe would ever know... Daleks.

It was at their genesis that the scientist Davros first met and was defeated by the Doctor.

Over the years and throughout space, they fought.

It was a fight that ended with the Doctor's destruction of Skaro and the Daleks. Except...

Davros survived. Alone. In the dark. With only thoughts of revenge keeping him alive.

The Doctor is back. Davros is waiting.

Their destiny is now.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Charley Pollard - India Fisher
 * C'rizz - Conrad Westmaas
 * Davros - Terry Molloy
 * Harriet Griffin - Julia Deakin
 * Samson Griffin - Lee Ingleby
 * Gemma Griffin - Lizzie Hopley
 * The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Individuals

 * The Doctor claims Agatha Christie once travelled with him.
 * The Eighth Doctor had numerous adventures with Samson and Gemma before meeting Charley aboard the British airship R101 on 5 October 1930.

Species

 * Davros was brought aboard a Nekkistani time ship and was able to control Gemma and Samson and thus gain access to the TARDIS.

Timeline

 * It is not known when Earth is conquered and transformed, though it is at a time when the Channel Tunnel is still in use.

Planets

 * The Doctor, Samson and Gemma once visited Valuensis, Porteus and Murgatroyd.

Locations

 * The Ice Caves of Shabadabadon.

Continuity

 * For Davros, this story is virtually a direct sequel to TV: Remembrance of the Daleks. There are two stories which could be so considered, the other being PROSE: War of the Daleks (see further down for discussion of the continuity of Terror Firma with War of the Daleks).
 * AUDIO: The Next Life's last scene runs straight into this story.
 * Davros makes reference to the conversation he had with the Fourth Doctor in TV: Genesis of the Daleks and the Seventh Doctor's destruction of Skaro in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks.
 * Charley and the Doctor last encountered the Daleks in AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks. While travelling with the Sixth Doctor, Charley would encounter the Daleks again in AUDIO: Brotherhood of the Daleks and in AUDIO: Patient Zero.
 * This audio does not actually retcon PROSE: War of the Daleks. Instead, it completely ignores its plot developments. However, it is possible to work both into a single continuity:
 * If you do, then it would appear that Terror Firma takes place first, as the Doctor and Davros both believe that Skaro has been destroyed (or at least, they do not say that it has not), and make no mention of the Dalek Prime's claim that a decoy world called Antalin was destroyed. Presumably at some point after Terror Firma, the Davros personality reasserts itself and Davros somehow ends up in another escape pod in another field of debris in space.


 * Valuensis was previously mentioned in PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows.
 * The Doctor mentions that he, Samson and Gemma visited the Ice Caves of Shabadabadon. While in his fifth incarnation, the Doctor had intended to visit them but the TARDIS materialised in the Gogglebox inside the Moon instead. (AUDIO: The Gathering) The Sixth Doctor later intended to bring his companion Peri Brown to see the Ice Caves. Following a brief (and accidental) return to the Gogglebox, they instead travelled to Peri's home town of Fell's Point, Baltimore, Maryland, USA in September 1984 after Peri learned of the murder of Anthony Chambers, the father of her best friend Katherine Chambers. (AUDIO: The Reaping)
 * In the midst of his travels with Samson and Gemma, the Doctor also travelled with the 19th century British author Mary Shelley "for years." The fact that he mentioned she was one of his companions in numerous earlier stories such as AUDIO: Storm Warning and AUDIO: Shada would suggest that Davros did not deem it necessary to remove the Doctor's memories of her as her travels with him seemingly did not overlap with those of Samson and Gemma. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)
 * Although she encountered the Daleks in the 2050s (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks), Charley had never previously heard of Davros.
 * Charley realises that Samson is acquainted with the Doctor when he mentions everlasting matches. (AUDIO: Caerdroia, AUDIO: The Next Life)
 * The Doctor recalls when he and Davros "worked together" during his sixth incarnation and Davros' subsequent failure to change his ways. (AUDIO: Davros)
 * The Doctor, Samson and Gemma visited the court of Elizabeth I in their travels together, as the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe had previously done. (AUDIO: Thicker than Water) During his tenth incarnation, the Doctor would encounter Queen Elizabeth I twice (TV: The Shakespeare Code, TV: The End of Time) and married her on the latter occasion (TV: The Beast Below, TV: Amy's Choice).