The Juggernauts (audio story)

 was the sixty-fifth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Scott Alan Woodard and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

It was the first appearance of the Mechonoids in a performed story since TV: The Chase in 1965. This was Bonnie Langford's second audio story with Colin Baker, the first being AUDIO: The One Doctor.

Publisher's summary
In a small mining colony on the dark and distant planet of Lethe, strange events are occurring — the results of which could dramatically affect things on a universal scale. For within the dingy corridors of the artificial biosphere, the lone survivor of a devastating crash has expertly wormed his way into the lives of the colony's personnel.

A scientist known as Davros.

Separated from one another across space and time, the Doctor and Mel find themselves in very different predicaments: Mel has been employed on Lethe, while the Doctor has been imprisoned aboard an alien spacecraft. Both situations are inexorably linked, however, and at the apex of the two sits Davros and the terrifying possibility of a new threat even more powerful than the Daleks!

Rescuing Mel and stopping Davros should be the Doctor's primary goals, but could it be that this time, Mel does not wish to be rescued? And might Davros actually be working on something for the benefit of the civilised galaxies...?

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
 * Davros - Terry Molloy
 * Sonali - Bindya Solanki
 * Geoffrey Gatlin - Klaus White
 * Kryson - Peter Forbes
 * Brauer - Paul Grunert
 * Loewen - Julia Houghton
 * The Daleks / The Mechonoids / Computer - Nicholas Briggs

Uncredited cast

 * Computer / Announcer - Gary Russell

The Doctor

 * The Doctor has met Melvin Schwartz, the co-discover of the muon neutrino.
 * According to Mel, the Doctor is approximately 900 years old. She tells Geoff that he does not look a day older than 45.
 * The Doctor tells Mel that even he doubts himself "once a lifetime."
 * He describes Davros as being "as mad as a hatter."

Individuals

 * The Doctor and Mel were trapped on a medical frigate when it was attacked by an mysterious enemy (which would later be revealed as the Daleks)
 * Mel was sent via an escape pod to the nearest habitable planet, Lethe.
 * Mel has been on Lethe for 92 days.
 * Due to her programming skills, Mel became employed by the Outreach association, which was working on the upgrading of a number of ancient service robots under a scientist named Professor Vasso, whom she describes as "very sweet."
 * Geoff has feelings for Mel. He was previously attracted to Sonali but she rejected his advances.
 * Prior to her arrival on Lethe, the only computer languages at which Mel was adept were BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN.
 * Professor Vasso is, in actuality, Davros.
 * The ship carrying Davros to Skaro was attacked in the Beta Orianus system and was presumed to have destroyed with all hands. However, the Daleks later discovered that it crashed on Lethe and Davros survived. After adopting the identity of Professor Vasso, Davros claimed that his physical status as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
 * Geoff has a cousin who lives in Australia. She is married with two children.
 * Davros has brainwashed Mel and everyone else on Lethe into perceiving him as Professor Vasso, a handsome old man with a pleasant smile in an ordinary wheelchair.
 * Davros salvaged the remnants of the base of one of the Daleks which he created on Necros to repair his life support chariot.
 * Davros describes Loewen as "a strong-willed woman with a none too agreeable disposition."

The Daleks

 * A Supreme Dalek is in charge of the Daleks who inform the Doctor of Davros' presence.
 * Mel has never heard of either the Daleks or Davros.
 * Davros now has a white and gold life support system in this story.

The Mechonoids

 * The Mechonoids are entirely self-sufficient, self-repairing and potentially self-replicating. Davros refers to them as the Juggernauts, which he has copyrighted, and has reprogrammed them to perform rudimentary tasks as well as to be the ultimate anti-Dalek weapon.

The TARDIS

 * Shortly before the TARDIS dematerialised, it was ensnared by a Dalek Time Scoop.

Planets

 * The atmosphere on Lethe was presumed to be poisonous to the Daleks, though harmless to humanoids.
 * The Doctor has never previously visited Lethe.

Cultural references

 * Mel refers to George Orwell and quotes "Big Brother is Watching You" from his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
 * The Doctor refers to the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
 * Mel refers to the Doctor as Fred Astaire while the Doctor refers to Mel as Ginger Rogers.
 * The Juggernaut prototypes are named Sooty, Sweep and Soo, after children's TV puppet characters.



Continuity

 * After regaining consciousness, the Doctor calls out for Evelyn Smythe before remembering that she has departed the TARDIS to marry Justice Rossiter on Világ. (AUDIO: Thicker Than Water)
 * The Mechonoids were considered ancient when unearthed on the mining colony Lethe. (TV: The Chase)
 * The ship transporting Davros and the surviving Daleks, belonging to both the Imperial and Renegade factions, from Tranquil Repose on Necros crashed on Lethe during their return voyage to Skaro 716 days earlier. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
 * This is Davros' fifth of five known encounters with the Sixth Doctor. The others took place on Skaro (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!), an unnamed planet at some point after the 38th century (AUDIO: Davros), on Necros (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) and in Waterloo, Belgium in June 1815 (AUDIO: The Curse of Davros).
 * It is difficult to reconcile Davros' near obliteration in this story with his subsequent appearance in COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks where both he and his life support chariot remain undamaged during his later trial on Skaro. Disregarding this account detailing his rise to Emperor, it appears that Mel is responsible for his subsequent emaciation in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks after sending the Juggernauts to murder Davros.
 * The Doctor mentions the Thal attack on the Kaled Dome which left Davros crippled. (AUDIO: Davros, Corruption)
 * Davros has built a mechanical right hand for himself after his original one was destroyed by Bostock on Necros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks, The Stolen Earth / Journey's End)
 * Davros refers to the various times that the Daleks betrayed him and attempted to exterminate him, only to later seek his assistance. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor tells Davros that he previously encountered the Mechonoids on their native planet Mechanus during his first incarnation. (TV: The Chase)
 * The Doctor reminds Davros that their previous attempt to work together was a disaster. (AUDIO: Davros)
 * Davros refers to the Doctor's refusal to avert the creation of the Daleks due to moral considerations. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
 * Mel's address in Pease Pottage is 36 Downview Crescent. (PROSE: Business Unusual; AUDIO: The Wrong Doctors)
 * The Doctor refers to Davros' attempt to create a new race of Daleks from humans on Necros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor refers to his last encounter with Davros as being the events on Necros; this disregards their encounter during the Battle of Waterloo (AUDIO: The Curse of Davros), but this may be attributed to the Doctor recognising that the current events take place chronologically shortly after the confrontation on Necros, and therefore dates the Waterloo confrontation as being in Davros's future even if it occurred in the Doctor's past.