Legend of the Cybermen was the one hundred and thirty-fifth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. It was the third story in a series of three of a wholly original season for the Sixth Doctor in 2010. It featured the first joint appearance of Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury since TV: The Five Doctors in 1983 and the first appearance of Zoe Heriot in a full cast audio drama.
Publisher's summary
The Cybermen are on the march through the Hundred Realms, killing and converting as they go. Resistance is useless.
Trapped on the outermost fringes of the battle, the Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon are astonished to encounter an old friend: astrophysicist Zoe Heriot.
It's the happiest of reunions. But what hope is there of a happy ending against the unstoppable Cybermen?
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
- Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
- Artful Dodger / Little Lord Fauntleroy - Steven Kynman
- Alice Liddell - Abigail Hollick
- Count Dracula / Long John Silver - Ian Gelder
- Rob Roy MacGregor - Charlie Ross
- Captain Nemo - Alexander Siddig
- The Cybermen / The Karkus - Nicholas Briggs
Credits
- Recording by - Toby Hrycek-Robinson
- Sound Design, Music, and CD Mastering by - Jamie Robertson
- CD Extras Interviews by - David Richardson
- CD Extras Edited by - Jamie Griffiths
- Series Theme by - Ron Grainer
- Arranged by - Dominic Glynn
- Theme Remastered by - David Darlington
- BFP Administration - Miles Haigh-Ellery and Gary Atterton
- Producer's Assistants - Paul Spragg and Frances Welsh
- Cover Illustration - Simon Holub
- Booklet Design - Alex Mallinson
- Web Editor - Paul Wilson
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - Alan Barnes
- Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
References
Books
- Zoe creates fictionalised versions of her adventures with the Doctor including: Doctor Who and the Dominators and Doctor Who and the Krotons.
Cultural references from the real world
- The works of Charles Dickens play a part in the metafictional element of the Land of Fiction, as well as the works of other authors.
- Characters from authors such as Wagner, Carrol, Stoker, Verne, Melville and Arthur Conan Doyle appear. These characters include the Artful Dodger, Oliver Twist, Alice Liddell of Alice in Wonderland, Dracula and Captain Nemo.
- References are made to "the four colour kingdom" (comics), expanding the literary basis of the Land of Fiction into modern pop culture and superheroes (although by the time of the events the Doctor takes part in, the four colour kingdom has been devoured, and the last of the super-heroes are either dead or converted).
The Doctor
- The Doctor tells Jamie and Zoe of his trial by the Time Lords, his exile on Earth and his regeneration caused by spectrox toxaemia.
Individuals
- Zoe Heriot was able to break the locks placed on her memories by the Time Lords.
- Jamie asks the Doctor the question: "Why did you never come back for us?" The Doctor never came up with a valid explanation.
- Jamie repeatedly shouts, "Craig a tur!" as he fights the Cybermen.
Species
- A Cyber-Planner is present within the Land of Fiction.
- A Cyber Controller is mentioned as having been been destroyed.
- The Cybermen convert several fictional species into Cybermen including: mermaids, giants and ogres.
- The Cybermen also attempted to convert woodsmen who were in fact werewolves.
- Fairies, mermaids and trolls exist within the Land of Fiction.
- As Jamie regains his memories, he hears the sounds of Daleks' weapons firing, the fire/recharge cycle that Quarks go through and the Yeti sphere's.
- The Doctor is hostile to the Count, saying that his people and "that thing's" have a long history. Jamie compares it to a Highland blood feud.
Textless cover
Notes
- This story cleverly breaks the fourth wall several times, most notably a cameo by Nicholas Briggs (playing himself) and Zoe describing the Doctor's adventures as being "targeted at children, but loved by adults".
- Many musical cues appear to take inspiration from classic adventure and horror movies.
- This story marks the first appearance of the Land of Fiction in an audio drama.
- All of the pre-existing mythological or literary characters and creatures featured in this story are in the public domain.
- One of the fictional adventures that Zoe created for the Doctor is entitled Doctor Who and the Laird of McCrimmon. This is a reference to an unproduced Season 6 serial which would have been written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. The storyline would have involved a possessed Jamie piloting the TARDIS to 1746 Scotland, specifically his ancestral home, Castle McCrimmon. Once there, he finds the current laird, Sir James McCrimmon, on his deathbed. Robot Yeti appear and surround the castle where the local villagers fall under the influence of the Great Intelligence. The only person who seems to be immune is a girl named Fiona, with whom Jamie falls in love. The Great Intelligence wants to inhabit Jamie's body and become the laird once Sir James dies. However, the Great Intelligence is ultimately defeated by the Doctor. Jamie decides to leave the TARDIS and become the laird himself. A candidate for Frazer Hines' departure story, it was abandoned in August 1968.[1]
- This audio drama was recorded on 19 and 20 October 2009.
- Subscribers whose subscription included this story also received the audio short story The Switching.
Continuity
- The Karkus, previously seen in TV: The Mind Robber, reappears. He is the only denizen of the Land of Fiction to appear in both stories.
- The Doctor mentions his trial by the Time Lords (TV: The War Games), his waking up in a hospital on Earth (TV: Spearhead from Space) and his poisoning by spectrox toxaemia and subsequent regeneration (TV: The Caves of Androzani). Notably, the Doctor implies that his exile on Earth began on the same day (relatively speaking) as Jamie and Zoe were returned to their native eras by the Time Lords. This would seem to indicate that the Second Doctor's memories of his activities on behalf of his people during Season 6B were erased. This is consistent with the fact that the Sixth Doctor did not seem to remember his first visit to Space Station Camera in his second incarnation. (TV: The Two Doctors) To date, the only Big Finish audio drama to be set in Season 6B is AUDIO: Helicon Prime.
- Zoe mentions the events of TV: The Wheel in Space and refers to Leo Ryan by name.
- Zoe created fictionalised versions of her adventures with the Doctor including Doctor Who and the Dominators (TV: The Dominators) and Doctor Who and the Krotons (TV: The Krotons).
- The Doctor returns Zoe, her memories again locked by the Time Lords, to the Wheel at a point after the events of TV: The Wheel in Space.
- The Doctor refers to his encounter with Vlad the Impaler in 1462 as well as the nobleman's brief engagement to his former companion Erimem. (AUDIO: Son of the Dragon)
- Jamie recalls his encounter with the Zarbi on Vortis. (PROSE: Twilight of the Gods)
- During his seventh incarnation, the Doctor would visit the Land of Fiction on two subsequent occasions. (PROSE: Conundrum, PROSE: Head Games)
External links
- Official Legend of the Cybermen page at bigfinish.com
- Legend of the Cybermen at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Legend of the Cybermen at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
