The Scream Of The Shalka
The Doctor, now in his ninth generation, finds himself in 2003 England. The small town he has been sent to (by powers unknown) has been overcome by strange, ground-dwelling creatures known as the Shalka. The Shalka keep the townspeople under their thrall with the ever-present threat of destruction. The Doctor comes to realize that the Shalka use sound as their weapon and turns that weapon against them. What he doesn’t realize is that the plan is much bigger than simply taking over one small town in England. All over the world similar towns are being invaded, their populations being slowly, subtly altered. Once complete, these humans can be used as a conduit to bring about the destruction of the Earth by way of a scream that will alter the Earth’s atmosphere, making it habitable for the Shalka, but little else. While combating this latest threat to the Earth, the Doctor tries to deal with the demons of his past and find his way in the Universe.
written by Paul Cornell
directed by Wilson Milam
music by Russell StoneCast: Richard E. Grant (The Doctor), Sophie Okonedo (Alison), Craig Kelly (Joe), Andrew Dunn (Max), Anna Calder-Marshall (Matilda), Conor Moloney (Dawson / Greaves), Ben Morrison (McGrath), Derek Jacobi (The Master), Diana Quick (Prime), Jim Norton (Kennet)
LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Philip R. Frey
Young billionaire Bruce Wayne, traumatized by the murder of his parents, wanders the world attempting to find some purpose to his life. After being directed to the mountaintop retreat of Ra’s Al Ghul, Wayne seems to find some peace with his past. But Wayne is unable to join Ra’s Al Ghul in his quest to topple civilization and he, instead, tears down Al Ghul’s retreat and returns to his home in Gotham City to become its protector. He takes on the mantle of Batman and aligns himself with Jim Gordon, one of the few uncorrupted officers on the Gotham Police Force. But just as he begins to do some good, Ra’s Al Ghul comes back into his life, questioning whether he has chosen the right side for which to fight…
The Doctor finds himself unexpectedly saddled with a new companion, the aacerbic Lucie Miller, who’s not too happy to be with the Doctor, either. Unable to return her to her own time, the two mismatched companions find themselves on the planet Red Rocket Rising, where a natural catastrophe has pretty much destroyed the society. But hope seems to arrive in the form of friendly aliens called the Daleks, who ally themselves with Acting President Klint. The Doctor tries to stop the Daleks, but when they realize he is on Red Rocket Rising, they set a price for their cooperation: the Doctor.
The Daleks begin to show their true colors while the mad scientist Martez (in the body of his assistant Asha) has revealed his own version of the Daleks, built from salvaged technology. The Doctor realizes that it is these “new” Daleks that are the reason the “true” Daleks have come to Red Rocket Rising. As an all-out war breaks out between the two factions, the Doctor finds himself with little choice but to choose sides in the battle, in the hopes that the lesser of the two evils wins out in the end.
The Doctor and Lucie find themselves literally among the gods, as they land on a planet apparently ruled by Zeus, Hera and a host of other gods. But how did they get there? And given the fact that they clearly age, how do they maintain their immortality? When Zeus’ son Kalkin falls inlove with a young girl named Ararti, it sets in motion a chain of events that will alter the landscape forever.
On Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, tourists engage in a wide variety of extreme sports. Key to the thrillseekers is bungie-jumping into a wormhole found on the surface. But there’s a problem: tourists keep disappearing or winding up dead. Kai, who runs the place with his longtime girlfried Eris, says it’s all caused by monsters from the wormhole and tries to warn everyone away, to no avail. But tensions among the guests begin to run high and even Kai himself seems somehow tied in to the danger. When the Doctor and Lucie show up, things begin to come to a boil and it’s anyone’s guess who’ll come out alive.
The Doctor and Lucie are entangled with a rogue time traveller named Zimmerman who escapes, leaving them at the mercy of an group of angry aliens, bent on finding the cause of the time trouble, no matter the cost. But when the Doctor and Lucie finally catch up to Zimmerman, they find him happily married and enjoying a garden party that seems to go on forever. Only Zimmerman can end the time loop and thereby save the space/time continuum. But even though he has denounced his former life, he is disinclined to help, as ending the time loop would cause the death of his beloved wife, leading to a standstill between the Doctor, Zimmerman and the Tar-Modowk, who get ever closer.
With the Doctor and Lucie embroiled in a conflict with warmongers on one side and the inhuman Cybermen on the other, the Doctor isn’t sure who he should back. But even as he noodles his way through that question, many more are raised. Who is responsible for this war being fought? Why is it being run in such a peculiar fashion? And what was so important about Lucie that so many people were making so much fuss about her? The answers lead all the way back to the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey and, as usual, he’s not going to like them…
As the Clone Wars continue, the Republic faces difficulties due to the control the criminal Hutt clans exert over the Outer Rim trade routes. But the kidnapping of crime lord Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta opens the door for the Jedi and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to make a deal with the gangster. Despite the misgivings of Jedi Master Mace Windu, they agree that in return for Jabba’s help with the trade routes, the Jedi will send two of their best to rescue the young Huttlet. But the Jedi Knights best suited to the task, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, are bogged down on the planet of Christophsis, with their differing approaches in clear view. Obi-Wan, in particular, is eager for a new Padawan now that Anakin has been elevated to full Knight status. But it is the reluctant Anakin who finds himself with an apprentice in the form of young Jedi-in-training Ahsoka Tano, sent to him by Yoda. While General Skywalker and Ahsoka embark on a mission to sabotage the Separatist’s defenses, Obi-Wan confronts their leader, General Loathsom. Both gambits prove successful and the Republic regains control of the planet.
Jedi Master Plo Koon is tracking a mysterious Separatist warship through the Abregado system. He contacts Anakin Skywalker and his padawan, Ahsoka Tano, in hopes of acquiring backup. But Anakin has strict orders and cannot join him. When communications are cut off, Master Koon and his clone troops find themselves under attack by a massively powerful ion cannon that wipes out all power and destroys all three of Koon’s ships. Master Koon and his men flee in escape pods, but soon find themselves hunted down, as a droid task force cheerily steers its pod hunter from pod to pod, cracking them open and dumping the inhabitants into open space. Urged on by his padawan’s close relationship with Master Koon, Anakin decides to defy his orders and takes his ship, the Twilight, to Abregado in search of Master Koon. But time is running out both for the lost Jedi and his men and for Anakin, whose actions bring down the disapproval of both the Jedi Council and Chancellor Palpatine, all of whom want him to return. Anakin must weigh the importance of obedience to orders with obedience to his instincts.