Prisoners of Fate (audio story)

Prisoners of Fate
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough
Main enemy:	Sibor, The Doctor's first TARDIS
Main setting:	Valderon, 3556 Zarat, 3531
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Jonathan Morris
Director:	Ken Bentley
Music:	Fool Circle Productions
Sound:	Fool Circle Productions
Release details
Release number:	174
Release date:	11 June 2013
Format:	2 CDs, 4 Parts
Production code:	6H/L
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-074-9
Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories
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Next →	Persuasion

Prisoners of Fate was the third story in the 2013 Fifth Doctor audio trilogy.

Publisher's summary

Twenty-five years ago, with Richter's Syndrome running rampant throughout the galaxy, the brilliant biochemist Nyssa, formerly of Traken, bade a painful farewell to her young family... and set off into the space, in search of a cure for this deadly disease.

She never returned.

Now, her grown-up son continues her work on the penal colony of Valderon, still desperate to make the breakthrough that eluded his presumed-dead mother.

So when the TARDIS lands on Valderon, bringing the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa to its fortress prison, the scene is set for a painful reunion... but not only for Nyssa. The Doctor's past is about to catch up with him too...

Plot

Part One

to be added

Part Two

to be added

Part Three

to be added

Part Four

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
• Turlough - Mark Strickson
• Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
• Sibor - Sarah Douglas
• Galen/First Watchman - Alastair Mackenzie
• Mahandra/Maxis/Computer - Anjella Mackintosh
• Kartis/Lasarti/Second Watchman/Patient - Jez Fielder

References

• Nyssa's son is named after her fellow traveller Adric.
• The Doctor's first TARDIS shows him his future incarnations and calls them the rhetorician, the schemer and the idealist.
• The Doctor's first TARDIS became attached to him to the point of escaping Gallifrey on it's own to look for him, this damaged several vital components from it.
• The Doctor is able to speak directly to his Type 50 when it possesses Tegan and Turlough and later when it uses its chameleon circuit to take on the form of Mahandra.

Notes

• This story was recorded on 9 and 10 January 2013.
• Clips from numerous previous audio dramas are heard in Part Four, including Bloodtide, The Crimes of Thomas Brewster, Flip-Flop, Protect and Survive, The Cannibalists, The Resurrection of Mars and Army of Death.
• The title is taken from a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Men are not prisoners of fate but only prisoners of their own minds."
• Subscribers whose subscriptions included this story also received the audio short story Crystal Ball.

Continuity

• Adric mentions his mother having talked to him about Omega (TV: Arc of Infinity), the Cybermen and his namesake (TV: Earthshock) and her visit to the 17th century. (TV: The Visitation)
• Adric mentions his mother meeting Turlough on Earth, at Brendon Public School, with a Brigadier, and a creature called Mawdryn. (TV: Mawdryn Undead)
• Turlough refers to Purity (AUDIO: The Whispering Forest), Vektris (AUDIO: Kiss of Death) and the Sontarans. (AUDIO: Heroes of Sontar)
• Turlough refers to Nyssa being rejuvenated by Hermogenite. (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger)
• When the Doctor is discussing time-sensitive races who could possibly see into the future, he refers to the Tharils (TV: Warriors' Gate), the Jagaroth (TV: City of Death), the Xeraphin (TV: Time-Flight) and the Time Lords (TV: The Deadly Assassin).
• Nyssa tells the Doctor that she met him at a later point in his personal timeline while he was regenerating into his sixth incarnation. (AUDIO: Winter)
• The Richter's Syndrome story arc that began in AUDIO: Cobwebs concludes in this story.
• The Doctor would later speak directly to his Type 40 through an avatar during his eleventh incarnation. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)

External links

• Official Prisoners of Fate page at bigfinish.com