Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Minuet in Hell by Gary Russell Doctor Who: Minuet in Hell by Gary Russell. THIS STORY TAKES. PLACE BETWEEN THE BIG. FINISH AUDIO DRAMAS. "THE STONES OF VENICE" AND "INVADERS FROM. PRODUCTION CODE. ALAN W. LEAR & GARY RUSSELL. DIRECTED BY. GARY RUSSELL. RECOMMENDED. BIG FINISH CD#19. (ISBN 1-903654-05-X) RELEASED IN APRIL. THE 21ST CENTURY HAS. BEGUN, AND MALEBOGIA. IS ENJOYING ITS STATUS. AS THE NEWEST STATE. AFTER HIS SUCCESSFUL. INVOLVEMENT WITH HIS. NATIVE SCOTLAND'S. DEVOLUTION, ALISTAIR. GORDON LETHBRIDGE- STEWART HAS BEEN. INVITED TO MALEBOGIA. TO OFFER SOME OF HIS. UNIQUE EXPERTISE. THERE HE ENCOUNTERS. THE CHARISMATIC MR. BRIGHAM ELISHA DASH- WOOD, AN EVANGELICAL. STATESMAN RUNNING. FOR GOVERNOR WHO. MAY NOT BE QUITE AS. WHOLESOME AS HE. MAKES OUT. ONE OF. DASHWOOD'S OTHER. ROLES IN SOCIETY IS. AS PATRON OF A NEW. MEDICAL INSTITUTE, CONCENTRATING ON. CURING THE ILLS OF. THE HUMAN MIND. ONE. OF THE PATIENTS THERE. INTERESTS LETHBRIDGE- STEWART- SOMEONE. WHO CLAIMS THAT. HE TRAVELS THROUGH. SPACE AND TIME IN. SOMETHING CALLED. CHARLEY, HOWEVER, HAS MORE THAN A FEW. PROBLEMS OF HER OWN. AMNESIAC, SHE WORKS. AS A HOSTESS AT THE. LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE. HELL FIRE CLUB, WHICH. IS POPULATED BY LOCAL. DIGNITARIES WHO HAVE. SUMMONED FORTH THE. DEMON MARCHOSIAS. AND THE LEADER OF THE. CLUB? NONE OTHER THAN. DASHWOOD, WHO SEEMS. DETERMINED TO ACHIEVE. CONGRESSIONAL POWER. BY THE MOST UTTERLY. MALEVOLENT MEANS AT. HIS DISPOSAL. Minuet in Hell sees Paul McGann�s first full season playing the Doctor draw to. an almighty close. With three eighth Doctor audio plays under their belt, Big Finish really pull out all the stops here to make this protracted four- parter something truly extraordinary. Like both The Mutant Phase and before it, Alan W Lear�s story is heavily based upon an old 1980s fan production. However, the Big Finish version shifts the action to the United States of the near future; specifically, to the fifty-first American state, Malebolgia, which has recently seceded from another state somewhere in the Bible Belt. This of course begs the question as to why any God- faring residents would christen their state with a name derived from Malebolge (the name that Dante gave to the Eighth Circle of Hell in his Inferno ), but as is the case with many, many elements in this story you simply have to indulge Lear�s dramatic license otherwise the whole thing falls apart. This might explain why fandom is so visibly divided as to the merits of this story � some are able to forgive what could be construed as substantial plot holes, whilst others don�t even want to. And in fairness, certain things here do require a greater suspension of disbelief than usual. Most evidently, half of the story dwells on whether it is the psychiatric inmate played by Paul McGann or the more lucid character played by that is the real Doctor, but. at no point does either one of them suggest checking each other for the tell-tale Gallifreyan double pulse! Personally, I can overlook such quibbles, perhaps because I find the whole �identity crisis� angle so provocative; after all, if Gideon Crane has the Doctor�s memories and his personality, then is he not the Doctor? Perhaps it � s the philosophy student in me, but I was really enthralled by this facet of the plot. What I really liked the most though was. the idea that the Doctor really could be just a delusional madman locked in up an asylum, dreaming of all his epic adventures. Arrant nonsense, of course, but thought-provoking all. Interestingly, I was astonished when McGann � s �Zebediah� character was ultimately revealed to be the Doctor. It is so obvious that he should turn out to be the Doctor, that I was somehow expecting him not to be. This may be down to Nicholas Briggs� persuasive performance as the ersatz Doctor - he �s evidently had lots of practice in the role through the Audio Visuals, and here this familiarity really shines through. His performance is careful and considered; completely and utterly convincing. However, it is inevitably Nicholas. Courtney who steals the show as Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart � diplomat! As much as I enjoyed. listening to Lethbridge-Stewart. play opposite Colin Baker�s sixth. Doctor in the recent Spectre of. Lanyon Moor , I have to say that. the retired soldier is used much. more effectively here. With the. Doctor out of the action for more. than half the play, not only does the erstwhile Brig have a major. role in terms of his investigations. and in driving the plot forward, but he also lends the story its heart. Like both Storm Warning and The Stones of Venice before it, Minuet in Hell is a little bit clich�d, though this time it is in more of a �comic book� way, and in this sense it resonates well with the TV Movie. None-theless, containing as it does a glut of horrendous and wholly unconvincing Yankee accents, Minuet in Hell needs Lethbridge-Stewart to bring a shred of realism to the proceedings as well as to give listeners an emotional anchor. Now some have criticised this play for portraying Lethbridge-Stewart as a wise old man rather than an impulsive old soldier, and more so for depicting him and the Doctor as �best friends� in the truest sense of the phrase. And whilst I agree that back in the day what made these two characters so compelling together was that they didn�t really get on but had this colossal respect for one another, that was then. People change as they get older, and none more so than the Doctor. For him hundreds of subjective years have passed since his exile days, and UNIT dating debacles notwithstanding, at least a couple of decades have passed for the Brig. As such, at the end of the final episode when the Doctor acknowledges � Alistair � as his being �best friend� (infuriating Charley), I very nearly had a solitary manly tear trickle down my cheek. Self- referent nonsense at its best. �We have no use for one who is already dead.� On a final note, the cliffhanger ending to the season has really whet my appetite for the next; the denizens of Hell have certainly raised some serious doubts as to whether or not Charley should even exist. With the web of time coming unravelled and a surfeit of historical (and, it seems, continuity ) errors following the Doctor and Charley about, surely something has got to give� And so for me, Minuet in Hell stands head and shoulders above its peers. Its dark, twisting narrative really appeals to my personal tastes, and I for one am not going to complain about Charley and her Vampire-Slaying friend being forced to don leather fetish gear and being put to work in a whorehouse! It�s just a shame that such scenes had to be reserved for the audio medium. In all seriousness though, save for a slightly prosaic villain in Mr Dashwood and some truly dreadful expository dialogue (�Here I am, eight foot of sweaty demon, pretty annoyed with you�), Minuet in Hell is doubtless the season�s high point. It sees McGann given the opportunity to do more than just run around grinning and saving the world and, even for the most pitiless of fans, it offers the chance to listen to the new Doctor sharing an adventure with his oldest, bestest friend. Copyright � E.G. Wolverson 2006. E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. At the time of its release, many took Gideon Crane�s reference to a companion by the name of �Sam� as. a reference to Samantha Jones, whom we posit is waiting for the Doctor at a Greenpeace rally somewhere whilst this adventure (and indeed all the eighth Doctor�s adventures with Charley) take place. However, the later audio drama revealed that prior to the events of Storm Warning , the Doctor spent some. time travelling with brother and sister team Samson and Gemma, suggesting that Crane might be referring. to Samson, not Samantha, and leaving it much more open as to when the eighth Doctor�s adventures with Charley might fall. However, we still believe that Crane�s remark is � as no doubt it was initially intended to. be � referring to Samantha (after all, when does anyone ever call Samson �Sam�?), whom the eighth Doctor tracks down some time after his travels with Charley end in The Girl Who Never Was. Furthermore, th e later audio drama would explicitly date this story to 2003 , placing it around six years after the events of the novel The Dying Days , which also saw the retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart encounter the eighth Doctor. As such, irrespective of where The Dying Days falls in the Doctor�s personal timeline, it looks like the recall-busting effects of Mawdryn Undead and No Future had far-reaching effects. on the old Brig�s memory� Thanks to Chris McKeon. Unless otherwise stated, all images on this site are copyrighted to the BBC and are used solely for promotional purposes. Audio Visuals. The Audio Visuals began with their pilot recording of The Space Wail in 1984. The following three seasons of stories were produced by Bill Baggs between 1985 and 1988. The fourth and final season was produced by Gary Russell from 1989 to 1991. There were plans for a fifth season which were later abandoned. Many of the people working on the Audio Visuals went on to produce more professional, licensed Doctor Who audio dramas for companies like BBV and BIG Finish. Gary Russell became the executive producer of , which he also wrote for along with numerous books. Nicholas Briggs is now executive producer of BIG Finish Productions, which he has also written, directed and acted for. He also worked for BBV. Both they (and others involved with Audio Visuals) went on to work for the BBC on the official Doctor Who franchise, with Briggs becoming the programme's designated and Cyberman voice artiste, as well as appearing on screen in the : Children of Earth miniseries. Russell became the script editor for the revived series in 2005. Some of the Audio Visuals' stories were later adapted for release by BIG Finish. These were, The Mutant Phase, Vilgreth (released as Last of the Titans), Minuet in Hell, Sword of Orion, and Cuddlesome. More Than a Messiah would later be adapted as a video production for BBV as part of the Stranger series, with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Sophie Aldred in major roles, but with all direct references to Doctor Who characters and concepts changed. Productions [ edit | edit source ] Season One No. Title Writer Episodes 01 The Space Wail (pilot) Gary Russell 2 episodes 02 The Time Ravagers Nicholas Briggs 2 episodes 03 Connection 13 Stuart Palmer 2 episodes 04 Conglomerate Nicholas Briggs 2 episodes 05 Cloud of Fear Alan Lear 2 episodes 06 Shadow World Richard & Deborah Marson 2 episodes. Season Two No. Title Writer Episodes 07 Maenad Gary Russell 2 episodes 08 The Mutant Phase Nicholas Briggs 3 episodes 09 The Destructor Contract Nicholas Briggs 2 episodes 09a Vilgreth Nicholas Briggs 1 episodes 10 The Trilexia Threat Nicholas Briggs & John Ainsworth 2 episodes 11 Minuet in Hell Alan W Lear 2 episodes 12 Blood Circuit Jim Mortimore 4 episodes. Season Three No. Title Writer Episodes 13 Second Solution Jim Mortimore 2 episodes 14 The Secret of Nematoda Nicholas Briggs 2 episodes 15 Enclave Irrelative Alan W Lear 2 episodes 16 More than a Messiah Nigel Fairs 3 episodes 17 Sword of Orion Nicholas Briggs 1 episodes 18 Carny Jim Mortimore 1 episodes 19 Planet of Lies Alan W Lear 1 episodes. Season Four No. Title Writer Episodes 20 Gary Russell 2 episodes 21 Requiem Andy Lane 2 episodes 22 Cuddlesome Nigel Fairs 2 episodes 23 Endurance Nicholas Briggs 4 episodes 24 Mythos Jim Mortimore 4 episodes 24a Truman's Excellent Adventure Gary Russell 1 episodes 25 Subterfuge Nicholas Briggs 4 episodes 26 Geopath Stephen Bowkett 2 episodes 27 Justyce Nicholas Briggs 2 episodes. The Lost Fifth Season [ edit | edit source ] Plans for the fifth season of Audio Visuals included: Spawn of the Beast - a Zygon story to be penned by Nicholas Briggs. - a story that later became the New Adventures novel of the same name; both penned by Gary Russell. Ice - a story by Colin Brake. An unnamed story where the Doctor returns to Truman to find he has become a terrorist and taken hostage a train line, the Doctor included. Truman was to die at the story's conclusion and the story was to be penned by Nigel Fairs, the actor who had played Truman for the past two seasons. And a new male/female companion who (after severe psychological trauma) had become an empty shell. It was the production team's intention that this new companion would try on new personas during each story and "grow" into a fully-rounded character for good or ill. There were also plans for Nicholas Briggs to step down as the Doctor and to have a new actor take his place, finally regenerating him. The fifth season was abandoned when the production team feared they could not keep up the quality of their adventures with the ever-increasing workload of everyday life. Audio Visuals' productions therefore stopped, the fifth season never made and the audio production group itself separating to participate in other Doctor Who related endeavours. Doctor Who: MINUET IN HELL - Big Finish 8th Doctor Audio CD #19. Paul McGann (The Doctor); India Fishe r (Charley Pollard); Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart); Robert Jezek (Brigham Elisha Dashwood III); Morgan Deare (Senator Waldo Pickering); Helen Goldwyn (Becky Lee Kowalczyck / Catatonic Woman); Maureen Oakeley (Dr. Dale Pargeter); Nicholas Briggs (Gideon Crane); Hylton Collins (Orderly); Barnaby Edwards (Scott / Catatonic Man); Alistair Lock (Guard); Jacqueline Rayner (Catatonic Woman); Nicholas Pegg (Catatonic Man) Doctor Who: Minuet in Hell by Gary Russell. Hooray! You've discovered a title that's missing from our library. Can you help donate a copy? If you own this book, you can mail it to our address below. You can also purchase this book from a vendor and ship it to our address: Better World Books Amazon More Bookshop.org. When you buy books using these links the Internet Archive may earn a small commission. Benefits of donating. When you donate a physical book to the Internet Archive, your book will enjoy: Beautiful high-fidelity digitization Long-term archival preservation Free controlled digital library access by the print-disabled and public † Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Minuet in Hell (audio story) This was the first audio story to feature the Brigadier opposite the Eighth Doctor. It was the second Big Finish audio story in which Nicholas Courtney had reprised his role as the Brigadier. The first was in 2000 opposite Colin Baker's in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor . Contents. Publisher's summary [ edit | edit source ] The twenty-first century has just begun, and Malebolgia is enjoying its status as the newest state in America. After his successful involvement with Scotland's devolution, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart has been invited over to Malebolgia to offer some of his experiences and expertise. There he encounters the charismatic Brigham Elisha Dashwood III, an evangelical statesman running for Governor who may not be quite as clean- cut and wholesome as he makes out. One of Dashwood's other roles in society is as patron of a new medical institute, concentrating on curing the ills of the human mind. One of the patients there interests the Brigadier — someone who claims he travels through space and time in something called a TARDIS. Charley, however, has more than a few problems of her own. Amnesiac, she is working as a hostess at the local chapter of the Hell Fire Club, populated by local dignitaries who have summoned forth the demon Marchosias. And the leader of the Club? None other than Dashwood, who seems determined to achieve congressional power by the most malevolent means at his disposal. Plot [ edit | edit source ] Part 1 [ edit | edit source ] It’s the very early twenty-first century, and the USA is about to admit its fifty-first state, Malebolgia. Two men are competing to become its first governor: former senator Waldo Pickering, and television evangelist Brigham Elisha Dashwood III. However, Dashwood is more than he seems: he is the head of the American branch of the infamous Hellfire Club, composed of the rich and powerful… all of whom are dedicated Satanists. Dashwood is also the founder of a psychiatric institution, the Dashwood Institute — and its newest inmate is the Doctor. If only he remembered who he was… and if only he didn’t believe he was in Hell… Elsewhere, Charley Pollard has also lost her memory, though bits of it begin to return. She is in a dormitory full of other girls around her age, including one Becky Lee Kowalczyck. They were brought here against their will, and are in the charge of Dashwood’s associate (and secret mistress), Dr. Dale Pargeter of the institute. They will serve as hostesses — with all that that may imply — at the Hellfire Club. The next day, a group of VIPs tour the Institute, including Senator Pickering, and one Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who is here to assist with Malebolgia’s statehood process (having successfully helped Scotland with a similar procedure). Dr. Pargeter shows them the PSI-859 psionic matrix facsimile regenerator, the technological marvel that she uses to cure her patients, which stores and transfers memories, allowing the then- empty brain to have surgery without risk of personality damage. On the way out, they encounter two patients who were brought in the night before. One, dubbed “John Doe”, declares himself to be Gideon Crane, a reporter from the London Torch ; his lucidity gets him freedom from the cell. The other, dubbed “Zebidiah Doe” for differentiation, is the Doctor; but he doesn’t remember himself, and the Brigadier has never seen the Eighth Doctor’s face. Both of them, however, seem to vaguely recognise the other. The Brigadier leaves before pursuing it further. As, elsewhere, the Hellfire Club prepares to literally summon up demons, “Zebidiah” is taken to the machine, where Crane is now assisting, and connects him up - but his mind overloads the machine and causes feedback to strike them both. Part 2 [ edit | edit source ] After the machine overloads, Zebidiah flees the facility and runs into the Brigadier in an alley. They are chased by quite literal demons, dispatched by Dashwood, who has come to distrust the Brigadier. Elsewhere, Becky Lee and Charley escape the club; Becky Lee makes a strange chant that disables a number of members. Becky says that she is a member of the Order of Saint Peter, which exists to fight supernatural evil; however, she is also the granddaughter of Senator Pickering. They go to him for help. Meanwhile, Pargeter confers with Dashwood, and tells him about Zebidiah, which leads him to make new plans for the escapee. He calls off the demons, which have just cornered the Brigadier and Zebidiah. However, not realising the connections, the Brigadier returns the weakened Zebidiah to the Institute. He then returns to his hotel and requests additional help from his superiors, who have secretly sent him to investigate Dashwood and the PSI-859 machine; but they are indifferent to the situation. Becky Lee shows Pickering a confiscated security tape from the club, which is quite incriminating. Pickering takes it to blackmail Dashwood, but Dashwood drugs him, and summons a demon named Marchosias to possess the senator, using the machine to extract Pickering’s mind first. He returns to Pickering’s home, where Charley’s memories have returned. In discussion, he tells them about Lethbridge-Stewart, who may connect Charley to the Doctor. Meanwhile, “Zebidiah” is back in his cell, as is Crane, and a few of his memories have returned. However, Crane believes that he is the Doctor… and he has more of the Doctor’s memories than Zebediah does. Part 3 [ edit | edit source ] Pickering smashes through Charley’s bedroom door and attacks her. Charley realises he is not actually Pickering anymore; and she smashes a window and flees. With no idea where to go, she returns to the Hellfire club for clues. Meanwhile, Becky finds the Brigadier and exchanges stories with him; he is intrigued by her story, and suggests that the Doctor may really be involved. The Doctor, however, is indisposed; Crane is telling him a very convincing tale, in which Zebidiah was too close to the TARDIS when it crash-landed, and absorbed some of the Doctor’s memories. Zebidiah doesn’t believe it, but he agrees to use the machine to re-establish his own memories. When Pargeter comes for him, he doesn’t realise that she and Dashwood intend to split his mental capacity among twelve other patients. Charley is captured by Pargeter and Marchosias. She is put back in with the other girls; but when Dashwood sees her, he separates her out to be a central figure in his rituals — the Queen of Hell, who will be possessed by a demon and married to Dashwood. Pargeter becomes jealous, and her jealousy is fed by Marchosias. Charley, however, is beginning to suspect that Marchosias is not what he seems. Becky Lee and the Brigadier return to the Institute. They are caught by Pargeter, and demand to see Zebidiah, but are denied. They see Pickering/Marchosias on television, withdrawing from the gubernatorial race. Becky Lee slips away and meets Crane, who still thinks he is the Doctor. They come up with an escape plan. Meanwhile, Pargeter uses the machine on Zebidiah. At the Club, Dashwood displays Charley, and uses a device called a trans-D, which sends her through a dimensional interface to "Hell". Part 4 [ edit | edit source ] In the Institute, each of the dozen new patients believe they are now the Doctor. Becky Lee sets off a fire alarm. Gideon escapes his cell and heads to the laboratory. Pargeter meets Marchosias, who tells her the alarm is false, and that Dashwood has abandoned her for Charley. Pargeter leaves as Becky Lee arrives, and realises that Pickering is not himself — just in time to be knocked out by Marchosias. At the club — or rather, in Hell — Charley is surrounded by demons; but they reject her, as they claim she is already dead. She awakens back in her body at the club. The Brigadier arrives to rescue her, and confronts Dashwood. Pargeter arrives as well, and the Brigadier and Charley escape as she occupies Dashwood, but he then expels her from the room. He prepares to make a public broadcast regarding securing the gubernatorial race. Crane finds Zebidiah, who claims to be an empty shell now. Crane genuinely wants to help Zebidiah re-establish his own memories, and hooks him back up to the machine; but the minds already connected are not strong enough to trigger the machine. Crane connects himself and Zebidiah forces him to stay connected. His memories of his life as the Doctor are stripped away, along with all the in the other patients, and returned to Zebidiah, their rightful owner. Gideon and the others are knocked out, but restored to themselves. Moments later, the Brigadier and Charley arrive, and have a reunion with the Doctor. Becky Lee wakes up, and finds that Marchosias has chained her up in the club’s torture room. She tries to turn his fears against him, as she did to the other clubgoers on the first note, but he has no fears to exploit. Pargeter bursts in, angry and full of fear; as Marchosias feeds on such emotions, he is enthralled, and pushes her to vent her rage on Becky Lee. Becky Lee is forced to turn Pargeter’s fears against her, and the woman’s heart gives out, and she dies. As Crane recovers, the Doctor rewires the PSI machine to return all its stored psyches to their proper owners, even over a distance of a few miles. Crane, with some residual memories from the Doctor, is able to operate the machine when signalled to do so. The others go to deal with Dashwood, and Crane sends Pickering’s mind back to his body. This expels Marchosias, just as he is about to attack Becky Lee with a chainsaw. Crane then sabotages the machine. The Doctor, the Brigadier, and Charley meet Dashwood at the broadcast studio, but the Brigadier collapses as they enter, apparently worn out. The stage manager, Scott, escorts him to the control room to cool off. The Doctor confronts Dashwood, who arrogantly brags about his plan; but unknown to him, the Brigadier has activated the equipment, and Dashwood’s “confession” went out live on national television. In a single moment, he has destroyed his own career. While he won’t be arrested, the investigation that will surely result will spell the end of both the club and the Institute. Outside, they meet Becky Lee and Pickering; and Becky has the trans-D device. Dashwood snatches it away and flees, threatening to send anyone to Hell if they interfere. Also, Charley realises that the displaced Marchosias has to have gone somewhere — and Crane is with the machine… They chase Dashwood back to the lab, and barely manage to save Crane from Marchosias, who takes form of his own. Dashwood intends to use the machine to place himself in Marchosias’s body and rule Hell. However, Marchosias is not a demon; he’s a Psionovore, a creature from a realm of cometary dust, which feeds on negative emotions. Drawn to Earth by the Hellfire Club, he appeared as a demon to deceive Dashwood, giving him the design of the machine in order to stir up more trouble and give the Psionovores a continual feast. He’s feeding now, and Crane admits that he set the machine to overload. The Doctor and his friends flee; Dashwood fires the trans-D at them, but its interaction with the adjacent PSI machine causes everything in the lab to be swept back through the dimensional gateway to the realm of the Psionovores. The others escape, but Marchosias and Dashwood are pulled in. The Doctor has a brief moment of reminiscing with the Brigadier, and then he and Charley leave so as to avoid any questioning. In the TARDIS, Charley asks what the Psionovores meant when they said she was dead, but he dismisses it as nonsense, and they are off again.