The Revolution Game (audio story)

The Revolution Game was the second story in The Eighth Doctor: The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller: Volume One, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alice Cavender and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller.

Publisher's summary
It's Lucie's birthday, and her birthday treat awaits. But whatever she's expecting, it's not what she’s getting on the colony world of Castus Sigma in the year 3025: ringside seats for the interplanetary Retro Roller Derby – sponsored by Heliacorp, "turning sunlight into gold"!

It's more than just a game, though. For the competitors, it's a matter of life or death – a New Life with Heliacorp, or a living death on Castus Sigma.

Or, on this fateful day, a very actual death. Because there are strange creatures living out on the plain, beyond the colony. Creatures with every reason to want to sabotage the games. Creatures with a grudge.

Plot
Lucie, who calculates that it is long past her birthday, asks the Doctor for a birthday surprise. Setting the TARDIS to arrive somewhere at random, they arrive in a desert on Castus Sigma at a time when the area should be an oasis. They pick up a transmission advertising the Retro Roller Derby, exciting Lucie and prompting her to reverse her decision to leave.

The Doctor and Lucie meet Sash and George, the latter of whom has been injured. Lucie goes with Sash and George to the medicentre on an automatic buggy whilst the Doctor lags behind on foot, soon encountering the buggy's irritated owner, Clegg, and catches a lift with him. On the way, George mentions Specimen 34 and Lucie learns that he and Sash are racing to win a lifetime pass for Sash's sister. She receives a free wristband from Heliacorp for her help in rescuing George from what they claim was a hyenoid attack.

The Doctor reaches the medicentre and sneaks into the lab with Lucie and Sash using George's pass. They find Specimen 34, a giant desiccated bug called Spartacus which they revive by soaking it in water. When Sash heads off to practice with George's pass, the Doctor goes after her and Lucie and Spartacus are forced to flee to avoid detection by a drone. Lucie sees the dam that Heliacorp have put up, keeping the Jengu from their water, and learns that the Jengu intend to attack the humans. Spartacus supports the attack, but flies off to warn the Doctor due to his life debt.

The Doctor is captured by Clegg's drones and communicates with a camouflaged Spartacus, who warns him that he must get to higher ground to avoid the oncoming flood. Lucie returns to the arena and decides to take Sash's place in the derby so that Sash can get George's glasses from the medicentre, having realised that they can detect the Jengu when they are camouflaged. Sash collects the glasses and meets Tallulah, a young Jengu and a fan of the derby, and learns that they have been working with George to organise a peaceful protest against the humans.

Sash begins a speech about making peace with the Jengu, but Clegg has her stopped and orders his drones to attack Tallulah and the other young Jengu. Spartacus kidnaps Lucie, believing her to be an important rollerskater, but she manages to escape onto the Doctor's flier and Clegg shoots Spartacus through the thorax. Clegg offers the Doctor and Lucie jobs at Heliacorp in return for their silence; they refuse his offer and, upon confirming that the arena has been evacuated, the Doctor detonates Spartacus's explosives to awaken the Jengu beneath.

The Doctor and Lucie say farewell to Sash and George and leave in the TARDIS, once again setting the coordinates to random.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Lucie Miller - Sheridan Smith
 * Clegg - Jonathan Keeble
 * Sash - Madeline Duggan
 * George / Spartacus - Tom Alexander
 * Tallulah - Alicia Ambrose-Bayly

Crew

 * Director - Nicholas Briggs
 * Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
 * Music - Jamie Robertson
 * Producer - Scott Handcock
 * Script Editor - Alan Barnes
 * Sound Design - Iain Meadows
 * Writer - Alice Cavender

Worldbuilding

 * Lucie comments that her mother, Mary Miller, was once "Queen of the Golden Wheels Roller Disco at the Palatine Blackpool".
 * Lucie states that her mother got her a pair of rollerblades for her 13th birthday, after which Susie Dugdale challenged her to race a milk float down Waterloo Road.
 * Lucie has increased strength and agility due to the lower gravity on Castus Sigma, causing her to say that she feels like the Bionic Woman.
 * Clegg mentions hyenoids.
 * George is a biochemist.
 * George and Sash come from Castus Delta.
 * The Doctor quotes "A Better Resurrection" by Christina Rossetti.
 * The camps outside the colonies had "movie nights". Movies shown included Spartacus and Rain Man.
 * Lucie mentions Lois Lane and Superman.

Continuity
to be added