Kaleidoscope was the story comprising the tenth release inThe Third Doctor Adventures, produced byBig Finish Productions. It was written byAlan Barnes and featuredTim Treloar as theThird Doctor,Sadie Miller asSarah Jane Smith,Jon Culshaw asBrigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,Christopher Naylor asHarry Sullivan andMark Elstob asSergeant Major Roach.

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

His name isKaleidoscope. He claims to have travelled halfway across the universe to warn allhumankind that it stands on the brink of extinction. And a certain tenacious young journalist has got an exclusive interview with this alien messiah...

But it's notSarah Jane Smith who's got the out-of-this-world scoop - it's her rival, the unscrupulousJenny Nettles. Sarah's busy helpingthe Doctor andUNIT work out if Kaleidoscope is for real or a fake whenRAFPhantoms scramble to intercept an unidentified something homing in ona top-secret missile base.

It seems like Kaleidoscope's apocalyptic predictions might all be about to come true.

Plot[[edit] |[edit source]]

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

OnAround and About,Jenny Nettles interviews supposed-alienKaleidoscope and asks him about his home planet. He places his fingers on her temples so that she can hear theMusic of the Cosmos and speaks to the viewers, claiming to have travelled halfway acrossthe universe to warn them thathumanity stands on the brink ofextinction and should follow him to change the future.

The Brigadier showsthe Doctor andSarah a recording of the interview and informs them that, following broadcast, hundreds of teenagers swarmed theTV studios on theSouth Bank and begged to be taken intospace. Whilst Sarah does not believe Kal, the Doctor wonders if he is connected to the hovering octagon found byUNIT atHampstead Heath three nights earlier. The Brigadier tells them that they have Kal in custody and leaves to discuss the matter with theHome Office.

Whilst the Doctor and the Brigadier interview Kal, Sarah and Jenny watch from the gallery and argue about their respectivenews pieces. Kal claims to have travelled toEarth through a space-time tunnel, but the interview is cut short when the Brigadier is informed thatAir Commodore Hurley atRAF Weatherton has sent outPhantoms to identify and intercept an unidentified flying object. The object seemingly disassembles itself before it is struck by amissile and the Brigadier, irritated by Hurley's lack of communication, quickly arranges a salvage mission.

The Doctor asks Sarah to continue to investigate Kal whilst he follows the Brigadier inhis new car. She witnesses Kal use histelekinetic powers to open the locked interview room door and put asoldier tosleep.

Using hissonic screwdriver, the Doctor finds that the debris is mildlyradioactive but will disableradio contact. Jenny takesphotographs of what looks like a silver man until the Brigadier orders her arrest and she runs to it. The Doctor determines that the silver man is not an alien butFlight Lieutenant Waxman, thepilot of one of the Phantoms, infected by whatever was in the flying object and now speaking strangely and unintelligibly. When the Doctor tells him that he has come to help, Waxman chokes him.

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

Waxman lets the Doctor go when Hurley, using amegaphone, orders him to. When Waxman reaches the RAF convoy, Hurley has themedics subdue him and put him on astretcher to be taken back to base, believing him to have been afflicted by aSoviet invention. He ignores the Brigadier, who promises to take his complaint of the RAF's involvement to the highest level. The Doctor takes samples of the debris and heads to RAF Weatherton with the Brigadier, accompanied by Jenny, whose photographs have been ruined by the Brigadier. On the way, the sample is fund to contain nothing.

Sarah helps Kal escape outside toher car and takes him to the UNIT site, but they are stopped by a barrier which Kal raises with his powers. When they arrive and find the place deserted, Sarah plans to head to apub to make a few calls and find out where Weatherton is, but Kal is able to point out its location on amap thanks to thevoices in his head.

Hurley arrives at Weatherton and hands Waxman over toFairford. Fairford observes that themetal parts that were attached to Waxman have apparently moved inside his body and is ordered to remove them.

The Brigadier arrives shortly before the Doctor and Jenny and is harrassed by the female protestors, one of whom,Daphne Green, he knew when he was acaptain. Her husband,Major Johnny Green, died as result of exposure to unsafe atomic tests, leading her to become a peace campaigner. Due to Hurley's no-fly zone, the letter that the Brigadier requires to get access to the base cannot arrive byhelicopter and he sendsSergeant Major Roach to collect it. Sarah arrives with Kal, who helps the Doctor confirm that the debris containing the essential matter is inside Waxman.

Kal uses his powers to open the gates and leads the protestors inside, after which the Brigadier alerts the security detail to a journalist taking photographs. This gives the Doctor the opportunity to sneak inside, followed by Jenny, and reach the medical centre where Fairford is preparing to operate on Waxman under duress. Thenanobots within Waxman emerge and swarm.

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

The Doctor asks the nanobots, known asthe Grid, to state their purpose, but they consider him to be beneath their concern and force their way into theventilation system. He speculates that the Grid deliberately caught the attention of the RAF so that they would be brought to Weatherton and could access the missiles of theMinerva Project. The Doctor and Jenny head there

The Brigadier places the airman under his command and has thehangars secured, but is forced to withdraw when Hurley orders him to stand down. Hurley orders his men to fire at the Grid to no avail as they take over the substructure of the base and enter the hangars and then sendsFlight Lieutenant Matterdale to obtain the codes to detonate the missiles remotely. The Doctor sends Jenny to warn everybody she sees to flee, including Sarah, and learns that the missiles will implode and suck everything within 2.5km into a microsingularity. The base is evacuated and, to stop Hurley from detonating the missiles, the Doctor triggers hisbriefcase's failsafe.

When Jenny tells Sarah that they have to leave, Sarah gives her her car keys and heads into the base with Kal to help. The Grid use one of the Phantoms to shoot at Kal, who causes the bullets to disappear. The Doctor gets him and Sarah to safety and communicates with the Grid whilst the Brigadier and Hurley get to thesprinkler system to render them inert. The Grid refuse to enter an ammunition box and go to theLightning Reefs of Galaxy Six, so the Doctor gives the Brigadier the go-ahead. Thewater forces the Grid to leave the missiles and take refuge inside of the Doctor.

The Doctor, controlled by the Grid, sets the missiles to launch using his sonic screwdriver. The Brigadier tells Sarah to run, but Kal steps forward and uses his powers to compel the Grid to leave the Doctor's body and enter the ammunition box. To keep Kal from having to continue to concentrate on the swarm, the Brigadier has one of his men bring anelectromagnet. Hurley arrests the Doctor forhigh treason, acrime for which thedeath penalty still applies.

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

On another episode ofAround and About, Jenny reports on the rival of alien messiah Kaleidoscope: the Doctor, aTime Lord andchief scientific advisor of UNIT of whom she has secret photographs and tape recordings at RAF Weatherton. The Brigadier is alerted to the content of the programme and has it taken off-air and replaced withmusic.

The Brigadier introduces Kal to the newmedical officer,Harry, who will test his powers underlaboratory conditions. Harry begins the tests, unsure of why there isa police box in the corner of the room, and attaches Kal to anelectroencephalograph. Kal moves a glassbeaker with his mind but, like Harry, is distracted when Sarah runs past.

The Brigadier has his men bring Jenny toUNIT HQ and claims ignorance when she complains about her show going off-air and her evidence mysteriously disappearing. He offers to protect her from Hurley and theMinistry of Defence in return for her publicly retracting her story on the Doctor, but she refuses and accepts his second offer of access to some of UNIT's activities. Sarah bursts in and tells the Brigadier that she has received a call from Daphne, telling her that the Doctor is to be moved in a convoy led by Hurley.

Hurley informs the Doctor that he ispersona non grata as far as UNIT is concerned and that he is to be transported toFortress Island. On the road, the Doctor and Hurley are attacked bymelt guns and alerted by Sarah, who was following in her car, to men shooting at them withlaser rifles. They flee but are caught by Daphne, aKGB agent, and knocked out with apalladium stun gun byColonel General Solokov.

Two days after the Doctor's disappearance, the Brigadier, Harry, Jenny and Kal take the box containing the Grid to UNIT's original headquarters inCentral London, now used as a secure storage facility. They go tothe Doctor's laboratory where the hovering octagonal prism which apparated on Hempstead Heath is stored. The Brigadier offers to hire Kal on a temporary basis and asks him to work out what the prism is; the voices in his head tell him to accept the offer.

The Doctor and Sarah wake up unguarded in a mansion and look outside, seeing a freezing cold waste. Sokolov enters holding aSoviet gun and welcomes the two of them toSiberia.

Part five[[edit] |[edit source]]

Kal's latest attempt to get into the mystery octagon is by using amaser beam, which is unsuccessful. The Brigadier arrives with Harry and asks Jenny if she has heard ofQuartz Chrysanthemum, arock band whose lead singer,Keeth Hazel, claims to have spent the past three years on theastral plane. Jenny visits Keeth for an interview but is caught out when Keeth sees Kal sneaking into the property onCCTV whilst she tries to keep him distracted. He reveals that he is going on a "world destruction tour" with hisdemon bandmates fromParallel Universe 667.

Sokolov tells the Doctor and Sarah that they are welcome to leave whenever they like, but they are in the middle of nowhere and would likely freeze to death or be eaten bywolves if they chose to leave. They have dinner with Sokolov and Daphne and learn about the mysteriousTájna, theTunguska Committee and their greatest asset: the perfect spy, codenamed Kaleidoscope. After dinner, Sokolov shows them a room where his staff transcribe everything that Kal sees and hears.

After saving Jenny by crashing through thewindow on amotorcycle, Kal banishes the demons as well as Keeth by reversing Keeth'sguitar riff. Harry checks on Kal's headache afterwards, finding that hiseardrums were not perforated by themusic, and is told by the Brigadier to use the EEC again when Kal starts wondering how he is seemingly capable of absorbing information. The Brigadier decides that things will be stricter and more regulated in UNIT, having Roach arrange a debriefing before the office of thehead editor of theMetropolitan calls for Sarah's "Uncle Alistair".

Daphne and Sokolov inform the Doctor that he will replace Tájna as the scientific advisor of a UNIT equivalent called theSSRG (or "United Socialist Soviet Intelligence Taskforce"). Reasoning that there is a quick route out of the building which Daphne must have used, the Doctor steals asnowmobile and is chased by guards, eventually stopping and returning with wolves on his trail after the guards blow up the vehicle'spetrol tank. Upon returning, he is ordered to test the uncatalogued items of the Tunguska Committee's collection on Sarah, who is chained to a wall. Daphne points a device at Sarah on Sokolov's orders and fires.

Part six[[edit] |[edit source]]

The device does nothing but prickle Sarah'sskin, meaning that it could be a scanning device rather than a weapon. The Doctor agrees to work for the SSRG so long as Sokolov promises that Sarah will be released after the first month. Sokolov shows them Tájna's collection in a 200-metrelead-linedbunker full of artefacts that need testing, but they will be unable to remove the melt guns, which were used to melt the prison van, Sarah's car and Hurley's corpse after he was shot.

Roach informs the Brigadier thatCaptain Asquith has been unable to locate Hurley or Daphne. With the Doctor and Sarah missing as well, Jenny drives to Sarah's house and retrieves acassette recorder which she has been using to record her phone calls as part of her investigative journalism. She presents it to Kal and plays a call that Sarah received from Daphne, after which the two of themkiss. Sokolov watches this happen through Kal's eyes and, with Daphne exposed, he gives Kal instructions to kill Jenny. Harry arrives as Kal shoots his maser gun wildly before falling unconscious.

The Doctor and Sarah find a photograph of the mysterious octagon found with Kal when he arrived inLeningrad twenty years ago, but it was considerably smaller and, according to the notes, can be opened like aflower to reveal the entrance to a space-time tunnel. This, they realise, is how Daphne has been able to move between the UK and Siberia so quickly. The Doctor is told to watch the last footage received from Kal before it cut out and determines that thepsychic link was severed when he was told to kill his sweetheart. Sokolov accepts that he has to abandon Kal and tells Daphne to trick the Brigadier into taking an implosive device into UNIT HQ.

After having to cut a call with Daphne short to find out what was happening to Kal, the Brigadier has Roach take him to her flat at Heath Hampstead. He gives herchrysanthemums and, after she references Quartz Chrysanthemum and he finds a gun in herhandbag, he holds her at gunpoint and reveals that he knows that she was behind her husband's death. She admits to being a Soviet spy and tells him that she drugged hisscotch, making him suggestible to her command to take an implosive device to UNIT HQ in a briefcase.

The Doctor tells Sokolov about the TARDIS and that it would be a mistake to blow it up, but Sokolov is only interested in the future. Daphne returns through the space-time tunnel followed by the Brigadier, who reveals that he never drinks on duty and had poured the scotch into a plant pot. Sokolov threatens to shoot Sarah with aninversion gun but does not listen to the Doctor's warning that he was holding it backwards; he fires and kills himself. WhenLieutenant Kuznetsova comes running, the Brigadier orders her to evacuate the building before he detonates the implosive device. Daphne refuses to return toEngland or leave the building and remains there to die.

Kal activates the octagon that he was found with in Hempstead, which was sent as a replacement when he was finally released from the lead-lined vault, and hears his people ask for him to return. Jenny gives Sarah her car as a replacement for the one she lost and leaves with Kal through the tunnel, which vanishes behind them. The Doctor invites Sarah to travel toFlorana, but she plans on going to write a piece on the protestors outside of RAF Weatherton. She feels that peace has become more important than ever.

Cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Doctor -Tim Treloar
• Sarah Jane Smith -Sadie Miller
• Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart -Jon Culshaw
• Harry Sullivan -Christopher Naylor
• Sergeant Major Roach /Air Commodore Hurley /Norwegian Radar Controller /Nanobots -Mark Elstob
• Kaleidoscope -Gerran Howell
• Jenny Nettles /Lieutenant Kuznetsova -Jasmin Hinds
• WRAF Controller -Imogen Church
• Daphne Green -Helen Goldwyn
• Solokov /Keeth Hazel /Fairford /Phantom Pilot /Nanobots -Stephen Noonan

Crew[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Cover Art -Sean Longmore
• Music, Script Editor & Director -Nicholas Briggs
• Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs andJason Haigh-Ellery
• Producer -Heather Challands
• Sound Design -Steve Foxon
• Written -Alan Barnes
• Senior Producer -David Richardson

Worldbuilding[[edit] |[edit source]]

Animals[[edit] |[edit source]]

• UNIT once mistook a flock ofCanadian geese for aspacecraft.
• The Doctor mentionsdolphins andcephalopods.
• Snails aregastropods.

Food and drink[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Sarah hassherbet lemons in herglove compartment.
• The Brigadier likes histea hot, dark and sweet.
• Sarah calls Kal a "wet alienlettuce".
• Sarah asks if Sokolov is going to servebeetroot borscht and pickledturnips.
• Gregor serveswine andwolf stroganoff.
• Daphne pours the Brigadier ascotch.
• The Brigadier asks Daphne to have a look fortonic orginger.

Individuals[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Sarah calls the Doctor "Brutus".
• The Doctor tells Kal thatEuclid, a friend of his, used to say "quod erat demonstrandum".
• Sarah mentionsUri Geller.
• Daphne was married toMajor Johnny Green. He ended up in Tactical after the Brigadier's promotion and supposedly died after being exposed to unsafe atomic tests.
• Flight Lieutenant Matterdale takes an escort and rendezvous at thehelipad with remote codes.
• The Brigadier mentions thePrime Minister.
• Francis works atAround and About.
• Edward Heath brought theUnited Kingdom into theEuropean Economic Community.
• Hurley says that not evenPapillon could escape fromFortress Island now.
• Keeth's new band is comprised ofNang onvolcanoes,Azulth onearthquakes andRask onstorms.
• Jenny says that evenJimi Hendrix would have had difficulty performing theguitar riff to banish Keeth's demons. The Brigadier does not know who Hendrix is.
• Tájna belonged to the Tunguska Committee did not age between the days ofLenin andNikita Khrushchev. His name meant "mystery" and officially he never existed. He supposedly died inOperation Underground, in an explosion in an atomic facility inTashkent sixteen years ago, but the Doctor wonders if he wasthe Master. The operation awoke dragon-people and was covered up. The Committee was disbanded afterwards.
• The Brigadier sendsCaptain Asquith to RAF Weatherton.
• The Doctor once made a friend ofAnton Chekhov.

Law and order[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Rather than get aD-notice for Jenny'sphotographs, the Brigadier ruins the film.
• According to the Doctor,speed limits apply only tocars,motorcycles,buses,coaches,minibuses andgoods vehicles.
• Thedeath penalty still applies in the UK forhigh treason.
• The Doctor mentionsthe Scrubs,Her Majesty's Prison Slade andStrangeways.

Locations[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Kal and Jenny met inHampstead Heath.
• The Doctor offers to take the Grid to theLightning Reefs ofGalaxy Six, which are entirely inhospitable for creatures of the flesh.
• A phrase from theThird Luminosity of theHydra Constellation roughly translates as "there's no point sealing the scrotnog imbrasia after the scrotnog's fled".
• Hurley's convoy take theDevesham bypass.
• The Doctor tells Hurley that he escaped theChâteau d'If, theDevil's Island and theTower of London, which he escaped from twice.
• The demons are extradimensional entities fromParallel Universe 667, which is "one nastier".
• Kal first apparated inLeningrad twenty years ago.

Media[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Jenny presentsAround and About in atelevision studio onSouth Bank.
• Jenny asks if the Doctor's car can fly likeChitty Chitty Bang Bang.
• Sarah works for theMetropolitan.
• Rio Bravo is a film starringJohn Wayne. The Brigadier describes it as "quite marvellous".
• Harry sarcastically asks ifthe TARDIS is humming the theme ofDixon of Dock Green.
• When Sarah asks if Sokolov is going to serve beetroot borscht and pickled turnips, he says that she has read too muchDostoevsky.
• The Brigadier mentionsClaude Rains, saying that he wasan invisible man.
• Kal did not know aboutmasers before readingThe New Scientist, amagazine for which the Doctor had a weekly subscription.
• Sarah says that Kal and Jenny were "going at it like teenagers in the back row of theRoxy".

Miscellaneous[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Doctor tries to fit in fifteen minutes ofVenusian yoga every morning. He does not have all the limbs required to do adownward kaklag.
• The protestors sing "Kumbaya".
• Kalmeditates.
• Keeth is amillionaire
• The Brigadier jokes that Kal "reversed the tonality of the music flow". Jenny does not get it.
• The Doctor can read theCyrillic alphabet.
• The Brigadier gives Daphnechrysanthemums.

Soviet Union[[edit] |[edit source]]

• TheTunguska Incident was a twelve-megaton aerial blast which flattened 80 million trees inSiberia in1908. Following the incident, theTunguska Society was set up to analyse and explore the causes of the event. It was never proven if extraterrestrials were involved. The Society's collection became the Tunguska Committee after theRussian Revolution.
• Tájna called Kaldalekaya i dalekaya veshch', meaning a "far and distant thing" inRussian.
• Daphne and Sokolov are setting up theSSRG, standing forOb"yedinennaya sovetskaya sotsialisticheskaya razvedyvatel'naya gruppa. This translates to "United Soviet Socialist Intelligence Taskforce" inEnglish.
• Sokolov has theTunguska Committee's Collection of Extraterrestrial Findings Security Service.

Species[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Doctor mentions theDaleks.
• The silver man looks, to the Brigadier, like a new kind ofCyberman.

Technology[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Jenny uses anautocue.
• The Brigadier is amazed by avideo recorder.
• The Doctor driveshis new car which has acommunication system inside.
• Sarah'scar, which she accepts is impractical, is a yellow2CV. She covers it to protect it from therain.
• The Doctor has an entire field laboratory, including anX-ray spectroscope, in his car's dashboard.
• Harry uses anelectroencephalograph to measure the electrical activity in Kal'sbrain.
• Sokolov uses astun gun made ofpalladium, ametal even rarer onEarth thanplatinum.
• Kal tries to get into the octagon usinglump hammers,angle grinders,tungsten carbide drills, gentle persuasion and amaser beam.
• Kal wears asafety visor.
• TheCIA in theUnited States of America have been trying to developremote viewing for years.
• Jenny gives Sarah her redMidget MG.

UNIT[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Brigadier says that his authority is invested by UNIT, theUnited Nations,Downing Street andHer Majesty The Queen.

Notes[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Kaleidoscope's premise was loosely based onSky, a 1975 science fantasy TV programme written byBob Baker andDave Martin. It featured a mysterious boy with strange powers. (BFX:Kaleidoscope)
• Chronologically this isHarry Sullivan's earliest appearance in a Big Finish audio, the character had appeared before in theBBC Past Doctor Adventures novelThe Face of the Enemy.
• Part 5 does not contain theopening theme, which is replaced by a theme for Kal, but does have the closing theme.
• Fitting its overall homage to spy fiction,Kaleidoscope features a number of homages to theJames Bond series. Notably, Sarah Jane's vehicle of choice, a yellow Citroën 2CV, resembles the same car used in 1981'sFor Your Eyes Only. The Doctor's escape on a snowmobile in Siberia also echoes a similar sequence from 1985'sA View to a Kill.
• This audio drama was recorded on9-12 May2022 atAudio Sorcery and remotely.
• The name for Kaleidoscope used by Sokolov is mispronounced - instead of "dalekaya" with an emphasis on "-aya" it should be "dalyokaya" with an emphasis on "-yo".

Continuity[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Jenny mentions Sarah's stories onscientists being taken to theMiddle Ages (TV:The Time Warrior) anddinosaurs inLondon. (TV:Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
• The Brigadier mentions theCybermen, whom he fought alongside theSecond Doctor. (TV:The Invasion)
• TheWhomobile cannot fly, but the Doctor is working on it. (TV:Planet of the Spiders)
• The Brigadier mentions that he has foughtYeti, (TV:The Web of Fear)Cybermen, (TV:The Invasion)Daleks, (TV:Day of the Daleks)Autons (TV:Spearhead from Space,Terror of the Autons) andAxons. (TV:The Claws of Axos)
• The Doctor is to be transported toFortress Island, wherethe Master was previously incarcerated. (TV:The Sea Devils)
• Hurley's convoy take theDevesham bypass. The Doctor would later visitDevesham and a replica onOseidon inhis fourth incarnation, accompanied by Sarah. (TV:The Android Invasion)
• The Doctor says that he has escaped from theTower of London. He did this in hisfirst incarnation (TV:The Sensorites) and in hissecond. (PROSE:The Roundheads)
• Sarah mentions the "Golden Age mob" and their fakespaceship. (TV:Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
• The Doctor calls Harry animbecile. TheFourth Doctor would later do the same. (TV:Revenge of the Cybermen)
• The Brigadier decides that there will beno more captains with collar-length haircuts. (TV:Terror of the Autons, etc.)
• Jenny mentionsgiant maggots inWales (TV:The Green Death) andDevil worship inSomerset. (TV:The Dæmons)
• Harry mentions that he was transferred fromPompey Barracks. (TV:The Ark in Space)
• The Doctor says that he is going to visitFlorana. He previously invited Sarah there. (TV:Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
• Jenny once claimed to have found theTitanic off the coast ofArgentina, thatStonehenge was a giantradio, that theBermuda Triangle was a square and that theMona Lisa was a fake. (TV:The Pandorica Opens,City of Death)

Cover gallery[[edit] |[edit source]]

• 

  Textless cover

• 

  Alternate cover

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

• OfficialKaleidoscope page atbigfinish.com