Cobwebs (audio story)

Released in2010, it began the first season of Fifth Doctor stories for that year. It was the first new story to feature Davison, Sutton, Fielding and Strickson together since the television storyTerminus in 1983, thus beginning a "series" of 15 audio dramas for that TARDIS team across five years, finally reaching a conclusion with the audio storyThe Entropy Plague in2015.

Publisher's summary[[edit] |[edit source]]

"You know whatcobwebs mean.Spiders..."

In search of a cure for a sickness that's so far claimed six billion lives, scientistNyssa arrives at an abandoned gene-tech facility on the toxicplanet Helheim. "Hellhole", more like.

Nyssa's not alone.The TARDIS has also been drawn to the Helheim base — and in its cobweb-coated corridors, she soon runs into the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough, her travelling companions of half a century past. But who, or what, has engineered this strange reunion? The Black Guardian, perhaps?

The answer's here, in the dark. With theCractids. In the cobwebs.

Plot[[edit] |[edit source]]

Part one[[edit] |[edit source]]

In3530,Nyssa lands onHelheim withLoki, arobot, to investigate the work of a research basequarantined forty years ago. The base is without contamination, but covered incobwebs made bymaintenance spiders as a protective sealant to combat leaking insulation. After activating the backupsolar stack and restoring power, Nyssa is attacked bycrustaceans which Loki is unable to see or detect and thus unable to neutralise.

Tegan argues withthe Doctor aboutTurlough's presence aboardthe TARDIS given his actions, but relents when Turlough visitsher bedroom and tells him that he does not have to return tohis planet on her account. The ship is dragged down atemporal spiral to Helheim where they are reunited with Nyssa, for whom it has been fifty years since she last saw them, and learn that the base was researchingRichter's Syndrome, a deadly strain of which has now killed six billion people and for which Nyssa hopes to find a cure. Whilst Tegan, Nyssa and Loki go to the control room and learn from thecomputer EDGAR that they will go back intime forty years, the other two explore the ruins below.

Turlough collapses afterhallucinating being shot and, when he comes to, he and the Doctor join the others. The Doctor deduces that Turlough and Nyssa have both experiencedtelepathic memory projection thanks to EDGAR, who then shows them a projection of themselves in the past before the Doctor stops him, not wanting to create afixed point. EDGAR tells them that the crew are in themedical bay where they find fourskeletons wrapped in cocoons, wearing the clothes of the Doctor and his companions.

Part two[[edit] |[edit source]]

Loki's scan, aspectographic examination and a test by cutting the lining of Turlough'sjacket seem to confirm that the skeletons are those of the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa. Loki begs to leave, saying that he knows that they will all die because of something in his head, but maintenance spiders sent by EDGAR destroy Nyssa's ship to ensure that nobody can leave. After Tegan experiences a memory projection of beingsuffocated, EDGAR asks them to go back in time to save the crew and activates the base'sself-destruct.

The Doctor and Nyssa fetch Loki from the control room and EDGAR wipes his own mind, but the self-destruct cannot be countermanded. They travel back in time to3490 with Tegan and Turlough, who elect to stay in the TARDIS, and convinceDirector Cardell,Enforcement Officer Bragg andBio Technician Valis that they have come to inspect their progress. They have been trying to replicate the antivirals of Cractids, who are uniquely immune to Richter's, without success and Nyssa suggests that they instead adapt theantigen to function as part of the humanimmune system. Cardell agrees and explains how the team have had theirmemories removed and will not be returned until the cure has been found.

Tegan and Turlough leave the TARDIS in an attempt to change history and are captured by Bragg, who has askedEchelon about the supposed inspection and shot Loki. He interprets Tegan and Turlough's warnings about the team's deaths as threats and straps the two of them, the Doctor and Nyssa to beds in themedical bay to beexecuted asspies by lethal injection. Nyssa reminds the Doctor of the four skeletons in the medical bay and, as Cardell prepares to inject them, the Doctor remarks that the future has caught up with them.

Part three[[edit] |[edit source]]

Valis stops the execution as the modified antivirals work and she wants to begin tests, starting with Nyssa, but EDGAR restores Cardell's memories and displays a recorded message from her addressing the base's true objective: to engineer a new strain of Richter's incurable by anybody butthe Company. Valis makes the new strain more transmissable, but does not want to be an accomplice tomurder nor have her memories back. Meanwhile, a scheme by Turlough leads Bragg to take the Doctor and Tegan to the ruins to show them patterned symbols which he has interpreted as the names of the team, making him believe that there is noworld other than this one.

Upon returning to the medical bay, Cardell takes the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough to be tested on and Bragg is given his memories back, making him realise that he actually belongs to theIndependent Biodevelopment Group and has been tasked with stealing a sample of the new strain and the antiviral solution. He makes EDGAR obey only him and shoots Valis, forcing Cardell to hand the samples over and then enter anisolation chamber with the Cractids. He soon releases her and has EDGAR upload her and Valis's memories of their near-death experiences to make it look as though they died, after which he takes Valis with him and leaves Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell locked in with the Cractids.

EDGAR knows that the crew supposedly die on this date as his future self came back in time inside Loki and is fighting for supremacy inside EDGAR's mind. Bragg has EDGAR erase all data on the antidote, destroys Valis's memories and fakes his death in the airlock before drawingfuel for a ship to escape and leaving Valis to die. The Doctor, separated from the others with Tegan, is able to get Turlough, Nyssa and Cardell out of the lab but is unable to close the door, giving the Cractids free rein of the base. Cardell goes to talk with EDGAR and the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa run to the medical bay and are sealed inside, apparently doomed to die there.

Part four[[edit] |[edit source]]

Nyssa gets Loki to sent maintenance spiders to cut the feed of power to Bragg's ship and to release asonic burst to stun the Cractids. Bragg has EDGAR erase Loki'spersonality and restore power to his ship, but Cardell knocks him out when the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa arrive and goes to the ship with Tegan and Nyssa to find the samples, ordering them to hand over thephials upon doing so. Tegan runs away with the cure, but Nyssa drops the phial containing the virus in a scuffle and it is released into the air. She warns the Doctor.

The Doctor, Turlough and Bragg meet Tegan in the medical bay, soon joined by Nyssa, and EDGAR locks the door of the control room behind them. Whilst everybody else takes the cure, Bragg refuses as he wants to take his infection back to the Independent Biodevelopment Group and takes Tegan hostage before activating EDGAR's self-destruct. He heads towards the ship with her, followed by the Doctor, but Cardell rigs the airlock and blasts a hole in thewall which sucks her and the Cractids out onto theplanet's surface. Bragg manages to escape, however, andcryogenically freezes himself aboard the ship. The Doctor and Tegan are unharmed, having put onspace suits, and Turlough and Nyssa get EDGAR to delay the self-destruct until they arrive in 3530.

Promising EDGAR that they will return, the Doctor shows hiscompanions on theTARDIS scanner how EDGAR has the maintenance spiders try to replicate the four of them, creating the skeletons that they found. The Doctor pulls his past self's TARDIS to Helheim in 3530 and agrees to try to get Nyssa to an infected world, although Tegan warns her that it could take some time. In3520, Bragg is awoken onGondol Prime byCompany Officer Hawks and realises that Hawks's crew are unwittingly spreading Richter's Syndrome across thestars.

Cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

Crew[[edit] |[edit source]]

Cover Art -Iain Robertson
Director -Barnaby Edwards
Executive Producers -Nicholas Briggs andJason Haigh-Ellery
Music and Sound Design -Steve Foxon
Producer -David Richardson
Script Editor -Alan Barnes
Writer -Jonathan Morris

Worldbuilding[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Notes[[edit] |[edit source]]

This is the first audio drama released in the main range to feature Turlough since the audio storySingularity in November 2005 and the first to feature Tegan sinceThe Gathering in September 2006. However, Turlough appeared inThe Companion Chronicles' audio storiesRingpullworld andFreakshow in the interim.
This audio drama was recorded on29 December 2009 and4 January 2010 atthe Moat Studios.
The story was broadcast onBBC Radio 4 Extra between16-19 May 2011, forming a radio season with the following two stories.
This story was originally released on CD and download on15 July 2010.^[1] It is now available as a download only.
This story is set betweenEnlightenment andThe King's Demons.

Continuity[[edit] |[edit source]]

Chronologically, this story takes place two days after the events ofTV:Enlightenment for the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough, while it is fifty years after the events ofTV:Terminus for Nyssa.
When the TARDIS goes wrong, Tegan asks if it is aBlack Guardian trap. (TV:Enlightenment)
Nyssa has curedLazar's disease. (TV:Terminus)
The Doctor claims to have metChristopher Columbus. (PROSE:Eye of Heaven,TV:The Two Doctors,AUDIO:Trouble in Paradise)
Nyssa refers to her experience withalternative timelines inStockbridge in2009. (AUDIO:The Eternal Summer)
Nyssa mentions encountering theDaleks inStockbridge in the45th century. (AUDIO:Plague of the Daleks)
The Doctor and Tegan argue over Turlough's loyalty, during which Tegan makes numerous references to his alliance with theBlack Guardian. (TV:Enlightenment;AUDIO:Freakshow)
Turlough wonders if the Doctor knew all along of his connection to the Black Guardian. This might be because the Doctor found Turlough'sGuardian crystal, (TV:Mawdryn Undead) which is similar in design to the oneMenlove Stokes had. (PROSE:The Well-Mannered War,AUDIO:The Well-Mannered War)
Tegan mentions spending time in ventilation shafts with Turlough (TV:Terminus)
Nyssa is aware of the circumstances of the Doctor'snext regeneration. (AUDIO:Winter)
Tegan mentions her auntVanessa (TV:Logopolis) andTerminus, (TV:Terminus) while Nyssa refers toBrendon Public School. (TV:Mawdryn Undead)
Nyssa asks the Doctor to take her home. However, it takes him many journeys until he can return her home, (AUDIO:Prisoners of Fate) similar to his attempts to return Tegan toHeathrow Airport in1981. (TV:Four to Doomsday,The Visitation,Time-Flight)
The Doctor says "We've seen the future; this is how it ends" when faced with a death that he has foreknowledge of and from which there seems to be no escape. TheEleventh Doctor would later say almost the same thing when faced with a similar situation on Trenzalore. (TV:The Time of the Doctor)

Footnotes[[edit] |[edit source]]

↑LATEST AND UPCOMING RELEASES - Archived on 23 July 2010

External links[[edit] |[edit source]]

OfficialCobwebs page atbigfinish.com
Cobwebs at theDoctor Who Reference Guide
DisContinuity forCobwebs atTetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide

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Cobwebs (audio story)

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