The War To End All Wars (audio story)

The War To End All Wars was the tenth story of the eighth series in the The Companion Chronicles audio range. It was produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Guerrier and featured Steven Taylor.

Publisher's summary
Years after he gave up travelling in the TARDIS, Steven Taylor is the deposed king of a distant world.

From the confines of his cell, he shares his story with a young girl called Sida.

And one story in particular – a visit to a whole world at war, which will mark Steven for life...

The Good Soldier (1)
''Sida visits her grandfather, deposed king Steven, who has been reminiscing about his past in has home far from civilisation, with a book containing a transcript of a speech by the corrupted copy of the Doctor's mind. He has no interest in the copy, however, and finally agrees to tell Sida why he gave up the throne.''

Steven, the Doctor and Dodo arrive on Comfort and notice how everybody is uniformed and seem to be almost hypnotised. The door to the TARDIS is blocked and a crowd surrounds them, taking the Doctor away to be shot for acting subversively whilst Steven and Dodo are taken to the evaluation centre and made to partake in physical and mental exercise. Steven scores better than Dodo, who scored poorly for coordination, and they are told that they will be sent to separate places on the front of Comfort's war. They make a failed escape attempt and are split up without the chance to say farewell.

Steven becomes institutionalised and is shot in battle before being dragged to the field hospital by a medical robot. As he recovers, he realises that his entire unit died for nothing and, when he returns to the front, he goes onto the battlefield and enters the enemy's trenches. He discovers that the enemy are humans in uniform almost identical to his side's and, whilst exploring, he is held at gunpoint by Dodo.

The War To End All Wars (2)
Dodo hides Steven in a disused latrine and, whilst waiting for Dodo to complete her watch, he deduces that the only way to free Comfort from the state of perpetual war that it is deliberately being kept in is by standing for election. He gathers support from those in the trench, including from Dodo's senior officer, Ervine, and begins his political campaign. He proves to be popular and finds that none of the politicians that he meets is aware of the fact that they are at war with themselves nor do they believe him.

Late one night, Steven and Dodo are arrested for high treason after Dodo was recorded suggesting that Steven offer a surrender. She is taken to be shot, but Steven is released with his support eradicated and returned to the front. Before he and his men are sent out into the field, Dodo, in plain clothes, runs to him and hugs him as an announcement is made; the war is over as the Doctor, claiming to represent the enemy, offers surrender. When the travellers are reunited, the Doctor explains that he escaped his execution and learnt that Comfort was a penal colony coordinated by a Central Computer which could not understand surrender. As a result, the Doctor went outside the system and surrendered himself.

''Steven explains to Sida that he had wanted to help rebuild Comfort, but the Doctor had told him that it was not their fight and they had to do it themselves. Because of this, he remained on the world of the Elders and Savages to establish a meritocratic system, passing reforms which made the people realise that they did not need a king. Sida sees that he is right, but warns him that the copy of the Doctor wants to be king.''

Cast

 * Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
 * Sida - Alice Haig

Crew

 * Cover Art - Tom Webster
 * Director - Lisa Bowerman
 * Executive Producer - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
 * Music & Sound Design - Simon Robinson
 * Producer - David Richardson
 * Script Editor - Jacqueline Rayner
 * Writer - Simon Guerrier

Worldbuilding

 * Sida brings Steven a copy of Certain New Observations by the Society for Accounts and Measures.
 * Sida always makes Steven fish soup when she wants something.
 * Steven had three daughters: Sida's mother, Raleigh and Dodo, the latter of whom was his favourite.
 * Steven is made to use a treadmill.
 * Steven speaks with Kajuman, a soldier who first served at the age of thirteen.
 * Dravis Mortimer served six times with distinction.
 * Volta lost her leg in an airborne attack.
 * Ervine is Dodo's senior officer.
 * Comfort was a penal colony.

Continuity

 * Steven tells Sida that he and Dodo did not travel together for long. (TV: The Massacre - The Savages)
 * Steven refers to being held prisoner by the Mechonoids and meeting the Doctor on Mechanus. (TV: The Chase)
 * Steven recalls his encounters with the Daleks. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan)
 * Steven refers to the fact that the Elders tracked the Doctor's movements through time and space until he destroyed the device which allowed them to do so. (TV: The Savages)
 * Steven mentions that the Doctor, he and Dodo left the survivors of Earth too soon, and they were conquered by the Monoids. (TV: The Ark)
 * Steven recalls his encounter with the Rocket Men on Ulysses 519. (AUDIO: Return of the Rocket Men)
 * Steven tells Sida that he visited a monastery in Northumbria in 1066. (TV: The Time Meddler)
 * A copy of the Doctor's mind exists. (TV: The Savages)