The Cold Equations (audio story)

The Cold Equations was the twelfth and final story of the fifth series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Guerrier and featured Peter Purves as the First Doctor and Steven Taylor and Tom Allen as Oliver Harper.

Publisher's summary
In the remnant of a shattered satellite, far above the ruined planet Earth, Steven Taylor and Oliver Harper are dying. As time runs out, they face their pasts... and a secret long kept is revealed.

The borrowed time is elapsing, and they realise they are facing an enemy that cannot be defeated. The cold, hard facts of science.

The Impassable Sky (1)
to be added

The Cold Equations (2)
to be added

Cast

 * Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
 * Oliver Harper - Tom Allen

Characters

 * First Doctor
 * Steven Taylor
 * Oliver Harper
 * Odgar
 * Abaya

Crew

 * Cover Art - Simon Holub
 * Director - Lisa Bowerman
 * Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
 * Music and Sound Design - Richard Fox and Lauren Yason @ FoxYason Studios
 * Producer - David Richardson
 * Script Editor - Jacqueline Rayner
 * Writer - Simon Guerrier

Worldbuilding

 * This is Oliver's first trip in the TARDIS.
 * Oliver refers to the 1960 film The Time Machine. He initially thought that the TARDIS, like the time machine in the film, would be able to move in time but not space. He was therefore expecting to see Shoreditch in the "time of the dinosaurs" or the 21st century.
 * Oliver compares the experience of seeing the future to Dan Dare.
 * Oliver learned trigonometry in school.
 * Radio waves carry in space.
 * Steven retrieves the TARDIS by thinking in 6 dimensional codes, like trying to "catch a ball."
 * Periapsis refers to an object's orbit.



Continuity

 * Oliver Harper reveals to Steven that he was on the run from the law for engaging in homosexual practices. (AUDIO: The Perpetual Bond)
 * The Sixth Doctor would visit Earth again during a technological dark age, by that time known as Ravalox. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) In addition, the Doctor and Steven's recently deceased friend Sara Kingdom had her mind copied by the House on Ely during one of their travels, and she would end up regaining her corporeality during a dark age on Earth as well. (AUDIO: Home Truths, The Drowned World, The Guardian of the Solar System)