The Artist at the End of Time (audio story)

was the second story in the Once and Future audio series, produced by Big Finish Productions in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who.
It was written by James Goss and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Georgia Tennant as Jenny and Colin Baker as The Curator.
== Publisher's summary ==
Suffering the effects of degeneration, the Doctor heads towards the end of the universe in search of answers. Instead, he finds his daughter – Jenny – and an Artist whose works appear to mark the end of every world they touch.
The Doctor stabilises into his Fifth form to join forces with Jenny and the Curator to solve the mystery of the Final Gallery and the art it has collected.
== Plot ==
Continuing to suffer from degeneration, the Doctor travels forward in time to the end of the universe, where he stabilises into the Fifth Doctor. Arriving at the Final Gallery, the Doctor's search for Time Lord DNA is halted when he notices a familiar looking artwork of a giant diamond floating among the stars. Noticing that it and other artworks have the same signature, that of a Gallifreyan symbol, the Doctor seeks out other artworks, trying to figure out the identity of the artist, during which he crosses paths with his future daughter, Jenny.
After travelling to a few different planets, the two end up on the Eye of Orion. There, they find the artist, who turns out to be the Curator. He is there to paint an image of the Eye of Orion, knowing that the world is about to end. No one has visited the planet in billions of years, so the Curator is painting this portrait, as a way of saying goodbye. To the surprise of the Doctor and Jenny, moments after he finishes the portrait, the world begins ending. The duo escape back to the TARDIS and follow the Curator to another world, where he's building a snowman. The Curator explains that when the universe began ending, he set out to visit the lonely worlds, so that someone was there to say goodbye. He does this by creating artworks, to leave something behind. However, for reasons unknown to him, the moment he finishes the work, the world ends. As far as he's concerned, it's his curse. Maybe someone out there just hates his art.
The Doctor realises that it's the complete opposite, and convinces the Curator to come with him and Jenny back to the Final Gallery. The Curator quickly notices that the gallery is filled with his own art, including the snowman he just built. He then notices that all the artworks are being sold for money. Not happy about it, the Curator unplugs the snowman, allowing it to melt. The trio then travel to other worlds to perform some tests. They realise it's not the Curator causing the end of the worlds, it's someone else, and that they're specifically targeting the Curator's artworks, collecting them.
The trio return once more to the Final Gallery, where they confront the people there. The owners of the gallery have been taking the Curator's works from the worlds he made them on, and destroying the worlds so the works can't be duplicated or lose their value. The Curator has had enough and creates a new artwork right there, a drawing of the Final Gallery. This turns the harvesting technology against its owners, destroying the gallery while attempting to collect the drawing. The Doctor and Jenny get the people out before the destruction is complete, but there is nothing left of the gallery but rubble.
Noticing that the stability he gained from being around Jenny is wearing off, the Doctor decides it's time for him to leave. Saying goodbye to Jenny, who stays with the Curator, the Doctor departs, trying to concentrate on that first painting he saw of the diamond. However, degeneration occurs, and he begins shifting forms. As this happens, the TARDIS is suddenly hijacked by the Time Lords, who pull the TARDIS and the Doctor out of time and back into the Time War.
== Cast ==
* The Doctor - Peter Davison
* Jenny - Georgia Tennant
* The Curator / The Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
* Roboguide - Abi Harris
* The Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
* The First Doctor - Stephen Noonan
* Floom - John Telfer
* The Third Doctor - Tim Treloar
* The Second Doctor - Michael Troughton
=== Uncredited cast ===
* Thief / Stallholder - Abi Harris
* Guide / Robopolice / Roboguards - John Telfer
== Crew ==
* Associate Producer - Georgia Tennant
* Senior Producer - John Ainsworth
* Cover Art - Lee Johnson
* Director - Ken Bentley
* Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
* Music & Sound Design - Howard Carter
* Producer - David Richardson
* Script Editor - Matt Fitton
* Writer - James Goss
== Worldbuilding ==
* No one knew (or cared) who won the Rutan-Sontaran War.
* Jenny has just bounced off the Time War, although she has never been to Gallifrey.
* Jenny offers to travel with the Doctor, but he refuses.
== Notes ==
* The standard cover was replaced with a different cover on 31 May 2023 before the story was released.
* The story suggests that Gallifrey Falls No More was painted by the Curator.
* As the Doctor begins to degenerate again at the end of the story, sound effects are heard from the First Doctor's regeneration in TV: The Tenth Planet.
== Continuity ==
* The Braxiatel Collection has lasted to the end of the universe. (AUDIO: Escaping the Future)
* A Metabilis VII crystal, (TV: Planet of the Spiders) a Monoid (TV: The Ark) and a Sontaran flag from the last battle of the Rutan-Sontaran War (TV: The Time Warrior) are part of the collection in the final gallery.
* The Doctor and Jenny find the Curator in the Eye of Orion. (TV: The Five Doctors)
* The Fifth Doctor and Jenny had met before. (AUDIO: Relative Time)
* The Doctor carried a bag of liquice allsorts. (TV: The Sun Makers)
* The Doctor states that he is good at skimming stones. (TV: Legend of the Sea Devils)
* The Doctor takes the Curator to the Final Gallery to see his work on display. The Eleventh Doctor would do the same for Vincent van Gogh in TV: Vincent and the Doctor.
* The Curator carries an Ion bonder. (TV: The Keeper of Traken)
* The Third Doctor refers to the Cloister Bell. (TV: Logopolis, et al)
* The Curator resembles the Sixth Doctor. (AUDIO: Crossed Lines, The Keys of Baker Street)
== External links ==
Category:Once and Future audio stories
Category:2023 audio stories
Category:Fifth Doctor audio stories
Category:The Curator audio stories
Category:One part audio stories
Category:Multi-Doctor audio stories
Category:First Doctor audio stories
Category:Second Doctor audio stories
Category:Third doctor aud
Category:Seventh Doctor audio stories