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'Robophobia'

CD audio adventure released July 2011, 4 episodes

Written and Directed by: Nicholas Briggs

Roots: Alexander Pope's Essays on Man ("'Hope Springs Eternal', Captain!") Farel's late wife presumably takes her name from the Elysium Fields of Greek myth.

Dialogue Disasters: "I really must stop trying to explain things."

Double Entendres: "I'm sick of all these mysterious hints and clues!"

"Doctor, can you stop being mysterious for one minute and tell us what the hell is going on?!"

"Going down - gentlemen's Trousers..."

Continuity: The Lorelei is a cargo vessel carrying around 157,000 Robots and parts en route to Ventalis, a planet orbiting a single sun. The ship has only one life boat and carries ample fuel reserves - enough to allow the Doctor to assume that its detonation will blow up the entirety of Ventalis.

There is a Kaldor City Company, which has hushed up the [recent] storm miner incident.

The TARDIS is described here as "black" (definitely not blue)

The Doctor bears bruises from the 'robot's attack on him. There are countless neighbouring planets in this part of the galaxy which rely on the Robots, largely as servants for wealthy clients.

Links: The Robots of Death. The Doctor makes use of his respiratory bypass system.

Location: The star ship Lorelei. Nick Briggs mentions in the CD extras that although it's never stated explicitly, his suggestion is that Robophobia is set a couple of months after Robots of Death.

The Bottom Line: "Ah, that old chestnut."

Another love letter from the pen of Nick Briggs. Robophobia sounds fantasic, with sensitive design, a good cast and a gorgeous score. On the other hand, the Doctor's secrecy is a baffling addition, and it's difficult to see whether he is being deliberately obtuse to save those around him, or is actually endangering them by escalating suspicion and not just coming out with the facts. Perhaps in the fullness of time the motivations of the Seventh Doctor in his 'black TARDIS' phase will be explained; in the mean-time in the middle of a well-crafted audio is a character with an uncharacteristically shifty modus operandi.

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