The Sands of Life (audio story)

The Sands of Life was the second story in the second series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Mary Tamm as Romana I and John Leeson as K9 Mark II and introduced David Warner as Cuthbert and Toby Hadoke as Mr Dorrick.
This story was told across two separate releases, this and the following War Against the Laan.
== Publisher's summary ==
Sheridan Moorkurk has just been elected president of Earth... but the harsh realities of who really runs the planet are just beginning to dawn on her. And what's more, she's starting to hear voices.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana encounter a mass of aliens heading to Earth... Aliens who have already made the mistake of upsetting the infamous Cuthbert, all-powerful CEO of The Conglomerate, by destroying one of his space platforms.
Will the Doctor and Romana be able to avert inter-species war that will destroy all life on Earth?
== Plot ==
to be added
== Cast ==
* The Doctor - Tom Baker
* Romana I - Mary Tamm
* K9 Mark II - John Leeson
* President Moorkurk - Hayley Atwell
* Cuthbert - David Warner
* Mr Dorrick - Toby Hadoke
* The Laan - Jane Slavin
* General Vincent / Air Traffic Control - Duncan Wisbey
* Bob Caveer - Nicholas Briggs
* Soldier - Beth Chalmers
* Soldier - John Dorney
== Crew ==
* Cover Art - Alex Mallinson
* Writer, Director and Music - Nicholas Briggs
* Executive Producer - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
* Producer - David Richardson
* Script Editor - John Dorney
* Sound Design - Martin Montague
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Doctor tells Romana that having the TARDIS Instruction Manual quoted to him was bad for his concentration.
* The Laan can navigate through the Time Vortex.
* The Doctor mistakenly refers to Romana as Leela and K9 as Sarah.
* The office of President of Earth was established 75 years earlier.
* Silesia is a region on Earth.
* The Doctor has been to Algiers.
== Notes ==
* Unusually, this story is in three parts. Very few Big Finish stories are told across three parts. Uniquely, it was the first three of a five-part story, continuing in the two-parter War Against the Laan, itself a rarity for Big Finish and the only five-part Fourth Doctor story in performed Doctor Who to date.
* The story adapted the Conglomerate arc from the Audio Visuals fan audios, reintroducing the character of Cuthbert from those stories.
* This audio drama was recorded on 9 June 2011 at Audio Sorcery and the Moat Studios.
* Nicholas Briggs stated in a podcast that he originally wrote this story for Sarah Jane Smith, but adapted it to feature Romana instead following Elisabeth Sladen's death. (REF: The Big Finish Podcast)
== Continuity ==
* Leela is on Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
* The parrot would remain in the TARDIS until at least the Doctor's eighth incarnation. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)
* After being affected by time slippage caused by the passage of the Laan through the Time Vortex, K9 was not repaired for more than a month. (AUDIO: The Justice of Jalxar, Phantoms of the Deep)
* The Doctor's line "If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?" originates from TV: Genesis of the Daleks.
* The Doctor remembers himself saying the lines, "indomitable!" (TV: The Ark in Space) and "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!". (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)
== External links ==
Category:Series 2 (4DA) audio stories
Category:Audio stories set in Africa
Category:K9 audio stories
Category:Stories set in the Sahara Desert
Category:Two part audio stories
Category:Fourth Doctor audio stories
Category:2013 audio stories
Category:Romana I audio stories
cy:The Sands of Life (stori sain)
de:The Sands of Life
ru:Пески жизни