Big Finish’s Doctor Who: The Audio Novels range launches today with the release of Scourge of the Cybermen.
The Third Doctor story is narrated by Jon Culshaw, and is written by Simon Guerrier.
This eight-hour epic finds the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith on a futuristic alien sea base, as they face the Cybermen in a battle to save those in danger – and for their ultimate survival…
This enhanced audiobook also features specially composed music and sound effects, plus a guest appearance by Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Cybermen. Here’s the synopsis:
In the depths of the ocean on an alien world, there’s a city run entirely by scientists. The Doctor is only too eager to help them find new ways to counter pollution and produce entirely clean energy – research that he says will benefit the whole galaxy. But others have recognised the value of the sea base, and their interest is not so benign…
Left to her own devices, Sarah Jane Smith conducts her own investigation. The lights on the base keep flickering, which back home on Earth was the first sign that her bathroom was leaking. Out here in the depths of the alien sea, it’s the first indication of a looming disaster.
Patiently, implacably, the Cybermen are determined to conquer the base and its resources. That includes all the men, women and children who live there.
As the Doctor once again battles his old enemies, Sarah rallies the trapped and terrified people. Then, to her horror, she realises that the Cybermen have used cold logic to predict exactly what the humans will do in order to survive…
Writer Simon Guerrier said:
“My vague plan was to do something based on the atmospheric prologue to the Target novelisation, Doctor Who and the Cybermen by Gerry Davis, in which he describes the Cybermen as marauding Vikings, skulking in the darkness of space and only preying on the weak. I also absolutely love Terrance Dicks’s novelisation of Death to the Daleks, and wanted something of the same spooky, unsettling atmosphere and futuristic setting.
“And writing for the Cybermen was brilliant! I’ve written Daleks, Sontarans, Ogrons and even Vardans but was keen to do the Cybermen. I wanted to get the Third Doctor and Sarah right too – I know from previous things that I’ve written that it’s all too easy to make the Third Doctor imperious and overbearing, and it takes effort to convey the dynamism and charm Jon Pertwee brought to the character.”
Producer David Richardson added:
“Scourge of the Cybermen is a stunning launch for the Doctor Who – The Audio Novels range. I love Simon’s script which is dripping with atmosphere and menace. It gives us the Cybermen at their best – skulking in the dark shadows, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting. I think we’ve hit on something very special indeed with this range.”
The Audio Novels: Scourge of the Cybermen is now available as a digital download for just £17.99, exclusively from Big Finish. Or you can save even more money by pre-ordering all six titles in the Doctor Who: The Audio Novels range together as a bundle for £99.
