Gallifrey: Panacea

Panacea
Album cover
Big Finish Productions audio drama
Series Gallifrey
Release number 3.5
Writer Alan Barnes
Director Gary Russell
Producer Jason Haigh-Ellery
Gary Russell
Length 79 minutes

Gallifrey: Panacea is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The series is set on the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey.

Plot

After all the terrorism and war, Gallifrey is just a shadow of its former, grandiose self. The population has been decimated, the infrastructure toppled and the finances needed to restore order have dried up. Worst of all, the original Dogma Virus is spreading among the Time Lords, carried by swarms of breeding pig-rats. Newly elected President Matthias agrees to listen to a proposal by Mephistopheles Arkadian, dealer in information and arms, who President Romana had the displeasure of encountering during the events on Gryben and back in Earth's past. He is willing to give Gallifrey the money it needs and, in exchange, he wishes to get his hands on a vast stockpile of unique and powerful temporal weapons, amassed by the former Time Lord despot, Imperiatrix Pandora. Afraid the weapons could end up in the hands of the Free Time terrorists, the High Council refuse his offer. To make it more irresistible, he claims he has the long sought-after cure to the Dogma Virus.

The Time Lords agree to his proposal, but plan on booby-trapping the weapons in the hopes of destroying the Free Time organization. Former President Romana is placed in charge of the exchange, and takes the weapons in a TARDIS to the specified coordinates. Eventually, she finds herself in a decrepit art gallery, mostly devoid of its exhibits. It's the famous Braxiatel Collection, albeit hidden a step outside of real time. Braxiatel himself welcomes her. His next trick is to use an old Timescoop to collect Arkadian, Leela, K-9, Narvin and, perhaps most importantly, Gallifrey's biodata archive, containing the genetic sequences of every living Time Lord, in all of their incarnations. Arkadian, Braxiatel and even K-9 have been conspiring together to bring about these final events.

Braxiatel explains that a bigger threat will permanently destroy Gallifrey, and in its current weakened state, it could happen very soon. He made sure Matthias became President because he didn't want Romana to be at the centre of Gallifrey's inevitable collapse. Instead, Braxiatel hopes the biodata archive could be used as an ark, to resurrect the Time Lords at a future point. He also has the cure for the Dogma Virus, but it also comes with a price. The original virus latched on to the host's next regeneration, turning their following incarnation into a Free Time zombie. The only cure is a secondary virus that forever removes the Time Lords' ability to regenerate. As everyone is unsure what to do next, Arkadian seizes on the opportunity, steals the secondary virus and makes his escape in the TARDIS full of time weapons. Unfortunately for him, he's trapped with a zombie inside a volatile TARDIS, locked on course to return to Gallifrey. Romana, Leela, K-9, Narvin and Braxiatel are trapped in the museum, and the fall of the oldest civilization is imminent. Considering her to be one of the wisest leaders he knows, Brax asks Romana what they should do next.

Cast

External links

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