Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#197. The Entropy Plague ~ 10/10

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◆ An Introduction

After fourteen adventures with this TARDIS team, we find ourselves at the end of the road, and it seems only fitting that we should end the way we began – with a cracking Jonathan Morris script.

E-Space is crumbling around the Doctor and his friends, entropy is drawing ever closer and not everyone is going to get out alive. One thing is certain. This is going to be one Hell of a finale!

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◆ Publisher’s Summary

A Great Darkness is spreading over E-Space. Entropy increases. In search of a last exit to anywhere, the TARDIS arrives on the power-less planet of Apollyon, where the scientist Pallister guards the only way out – a mysterious portal. But the portal needs power to open, and the only power Pallister can draw on is the energy contained within the molecular bonds of all living tissue...

The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough soon learn that neither Pallister nor his ally, the space pirate Captain Branarack, will stop at murder to ensure their escape. But they're not the only menace on Apollyon. The Sandmen are coming – creatures that live on the life force; that live on death.

Death is the only way out into N-Space. Death, or sacrifice.

But whose death?

Whose sacrifice?

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◆ The Fifth Doctor

It feels like only yesterday that I was diving into my review of ‘Cobwebs’, full of excitement for all the wonderful adventures that this TARDIS team would have together. All good things must come to an end, and we’ve sadly reached that point now. Jonathan Morris has proven time and time again what a spectacular writer he is for BigFinish, and his characterisation in this adventure is absolutely on-point! ‘The Entropy Plague’ sees Peter Davison concluding this story arc with a magnificent performance.

The Doctor takes full responsibility, if anyone is to blame for what happened to Nyssa then it is him. He isn’t sure who to feel sorry for most – Tegan or her abductors! He tells Pallister that his speciality is practically everything, and is quick to “butter him up” by complimenting the inspired engineering used to create his steampunk robots.

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◆ Tegan Jovanka

‘The Entropy Plague’ sees Janet Fielding deliver one last terrific performance for this story arc.

Tegan has seen the effects of entropy before, saw what it did to the Monitor on Logopolis.

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◆ Vislor Turlough

‘The Entropy Plague’ features a brilliant performance from Mark Strickson.

Turlough thinks it would be better to sacrifice Captain Branarack or one of his crew because they’re murderers, as they’d be doing both universes a favour.

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◆ “Older” Nyssa

‘The Entropy Plague’ is the conclusion to the “Older Nyssa” story arc, so you would expect Sarah Sutton to deliver one of her best performances. I’m glad to say that you wont be disappointed as she does an exquisite job here.

Nyssa isn’t as young as she looks. She always puts other people first and herself last – it’s how she was brought up, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Nyssa believes that she can do more good by staying in E-Space, and sacrifices herself just to make sure her friends can get back home… even if it means she will never see Adric and Neeka again.

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◆ Story Recap

Tegan has been kidnapped from Isenfel by a band of space pirates, and the TARDIS is in hot pursuit, until both ships begin rapidly losing power and are forced to crash-land on the world of Apollyon. It is here where refugees from all across E-Space have arrived to escape the rapidly approaching death of their universe, because this just so happens to be the location of a CVE… but with all electricity being constantly drained, the refugees are having to get creative.

Wooden cranes and rail-tracks will be used to propel the spaceships through the gateway, leading to the vicinity of a red giant where they can refuel their solar cells and be on their way, but the gateway needs to be stabilised before anyone can pass through.

Science Tech Pallister and his army of steampunk clockwork robots have found a way, one that involves executing an innocent life and using their life-force to stabilise the gateway. The Doctor even suggests sacrificing himself to send everyone through the CVE, but we all knew how this was going to end… we all knew that the last daughter of Traken would never be returning home.

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◆ The Last Daughter of Traken

A mass exodus from E-Space, where the only way to get into our universe is by having someone sacrificed. Just like in the previous instalment of this arc, an arrival must be balanced by a departure… a life must be balanced by a death.

One of my biggest complaints when it comes to the Fifth Doctor’s televised tenure is that Nyssa got a really dreadful departure story, where the only memorable thing was the Garm (a creature that looked a bit like Winnie the Pooh, if he became addicted to several illicit substances).

This adventure sees her sacrificing herself to allow her companions to return to N-Space, along with several of the refugees who had come to Apollyon to escape entropy. It’s a really tragic conclusion to her storyline, but an incredibly fitting one. Nyssa lost her entire world to the ravages of entropy, and now she gets to stop the same force from taking her friends too.

Jonathan Morris decides to make you feel even more depressed by having this story framed as a series of flashbacks – with the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough recounting the events that led to their escape from E-Space… and explaining to Adric Traken why he will never see his mother again.

This script really is just one giant sledgehammer to your heart, and I would argue that it is the best companion departure story in all of canon (aside from maybes Jo Grant’s, which also has me in floods of tears).

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◆ Sound Design

Apollyon is a bustling world filled with revellers having one last knees-up as their universe goes down the toilet, and desperate souls carrying out sacrifices to escape the ever approaching claws of entropy. It is a world where electricity is sapped out of all technology, where steampunk and clockwork robots patrol on behalf of Science Tech Pallister. The sound design for this finale is absolutely perfect, easily some of Hardwick’s best work.

The TARDIS begins hurtling towards the surface of Apollyon, as all power is drained from the ship. Bustling crowds in the shanty town, with revellers of all different species celebrating the end of everything at the carnival of death. Ships begin dropping out of the sky, suffering similar power losses to the TARDIS, only landing safely by venting huge amounts of fuel. The steaming joints of Pallister’s clockwork robots (like something out of the BioShock games). Rumbling thunder as the CVE opens wider… and Tegan’s life energy is nearly drained from her. The voice of the Sandmen are husky and intimidating, and they are genuinely frightening as they erode the people of the shanty town. Pallister’s robots gun down the screaming refugees trying to break into the Citadel, trying to escape the grasp of the Sandmen.

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◆ Music

Andy Hardwick is also handling the score for ‘The Entropy Plague’, and he is keen to let you know that this will be a tragic finale. The violin is used to great effect throughout the score, reminding you of the desperate situation the people of Apollyon are facing, and how they will all succumb to entropy unless they escape their universe.

This is an action packed and tense score, but one which knows when to scale things back to a simple and sombre piano too. Utterly beautiful.

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◆ Conclusion

“I will regret this for as long as I live…”

The “Older Nyssa” story arc has always been one of my favourite things BigFinish have done with the Fifth Doctor, and we’ve gotten some amazing adventures out of it; the Mara attempting to create its empire centuries earlier than planned, exploring Turlough’s personal history with Deela, a Jules Verne style adventure through 1920s Calcutta, the machinations of Magnus Greel, and let’s not forget when Tegan got to pose as a Dark Ages princess! Alas, all great things must come to an end.

‘The Entropy Plague’ sees our travellers grounded on the world of Apollyon, where the population of E-Space have gathered for the death of their universe. Some are content to have one last knees-up, while others are trying to open the CVE wider and escape into our universe, but the only way to widen the gateway is with the death of a human life… and not all of the TARDIS team will get out alive.

Jonathan Morris has always known how to create some amazing scripts, but this might be the best he has ever written – and also the most tragic. A beautiful and melancholic send off for Nyssa, brought to life by a cast who are all delivering their a-game, and a composer who will have you in tears with his immaculate score. ‘The Entropy Plague’ is the best possible conclusion to this story arc.