Planet X (audio story)

Planet X was the second story in The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield box set The Unbound Universe.

Publisher's summary
Bernice and the Doctor land on a planet so dull no one ever bothered naming it. Finally something interesting is about to happen here.

Plot
The Doctor gives Benny the choice of which of the three planets that the TARDIS can reach. She chooses Planet X, a planet so boring that it was never given a proper name nor could either side of the Great War be bothered with it.

Girl 23,454,113 has missed the pass grade in the Excellence Exam by a small amount but Prime Minister 470 tells her that there will be no recount. The Prime Minister addresses those who passed and, as they are the ones most likely to innovate and threaten the status quo on Planet X, has them gassed. When the Doctor and Benny arrive, the Doctor is arrested for being too exciting whilst Benny, as an archaeologist, is not. She shouts and is warned by Girl 23,454,113 that the Blank Squad will kill her if she does not calm down.

The Doctor meets the Prime Minister and learns that Planet X strives to be as boring as possible, particularly since it kept them safe during the Great War. She has him gassed, but the gas has no effect on him and he breaks out of his chair and subdues Guard 476. He escapes to the Hall of Records and looks up recent legislation before checking the population, finding a dramatic drop since the beginning of Year 0. 66% of deaths are due to "processing".

Benny names Girl 23,454,113 "Millie", short for "millions, and runs with her from the Blank Squad when Millie starts panicking. They go to the Garden of Apathy to blend in and Millie tells Benny about how she will likely never see her friend Boy 21,367,549 again, as those who pass the Excellence Exam move to another part of the city. Benny wonders why this society would want to find excellence. The Blank Squad arrive, looking like shrink-wrapped people, and smother a man to death before the Prime Minister announces that Benny and Millie are undesirables.

The Doctor looks up current undesirables and learns of Man 15,236,327, also known as Ego, who is believed to run a rebel group. He meets with the rebels and finds Ego telling them to kill themselves to be free from the oppressive society of Planet X; in truth, he is an official manipulating them into suicide. The Doctor is furious with him and taken to the Prime Minister to be made an example of on live television, but survives each of her attempts to kill him, enraging her in front of everybody.

Benny and Millie go to the North Quarter where those who show excellence are supposedly taken and find it completely empty. They run from the Blank Squad and release gas and get into a bath in the hopes of slowing them down given their reliance on their sense of smell. When Benny rips off one of the squad's suits, Millie sees that it is Boy 21,367,549, indicating that those who pass the Excellence Exam are rendered brain-dead and made to work in the Blank Squad.

The Doctor exposes the Blank Squad for what they are and they kill the Prime Minister due to her heightened emotion after the Doctor removes the dampener protecting her. Ego is also killed, the Doctor having swapped his dampener for a business card earlier on. The Doctor tells the people of Planet X that life is for living and uses the Prime Minister's machine to give them a taste of how he has lived his life. Later, he is reunited with Benny and tells her that she was right about there being something interesting on Planet X: him.

Cast

 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * The Doctor - David Warner
 * Prime Minister 470 - Julie Graham
 * Millie - Sophie Wu
 * Ego - Damian Lynch

Crew

 * Cover Art - Tom Webster
 * Director - Scott Handcock
 * Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
 * Music - Jamie Robertson
 * Producer - James Goss
 * Sound Design - Richard Fox and Lauren Yason @ FoxYason Studios
 * Writer - Guy Adams

Worldbuilding

 * Corrigan is a planet near Planet X.
 * Prime Minister 470 makes references to the Great War.
 * Prime Minister 470 took over from Prime Minister 469.
 * Guard 476 guards the Doctor.
 * The Constitution of Planet X was written in Year 0 of the New Calendar.
 * Benny and Millie go to the Garden of Apathy. There is a white plastic tree there.
 * Boy 21,367,549 studied the Blank Squad as a hobby.
 * Ego is Man 15,236,327.
 * The Doctor has old copies of Vanity Fair.
 * The Doctor once used a Bandril hatchling to start a revolution.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions being susceptible to Praxis gas. (TV: The Caves of Androzani)
 * The TARDIS is still having problems travelling. (AUDIO: The Library in the Body)
 * Benny previously visited Raster and Zordin where knowing anything before year zero was also forbidden. (AUDIO: Year Zero)