Doctor Who: Singularity

Big Finish: Monthly Range #76

by James Swallow, Peter Davison (Narrator)

Russia, the near future.

The Somnus Foundation knows the fate of mankind; they promise a tomorrow where humanity will evolve into a godlike form of infinite power. They will lead us there, to a destiny that spans the stars. This is how the future will unfold.

The Doctor knows the fate of mankind; the human race is destined to fight and struggle for their very existence, to survive disaster and war and carve an empire from an unforgiving universe. He has seen it with his own eyes. This is how the future will unfold.

Beneath the towering headquarters of the Somnus, in the streets of Moscow a dark power is building, and a conspiracy that stretches across eternity is nearing completion.

Time is fracturing and the Doctor and Turlough are at the heart of the chaos. History is about to change ­ and the galaxy will burn in its wake...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

James Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over sixty-five books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.

DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.

Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.

For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow

Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.

You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.

Reviews

[Polly Batchelor · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Time doesn't care about us. It doesn't care about the lives of the little people, big events all that history rolls down like an avalanche and we get crushed underneath. You push time. Time pushes back."

The Doctor and Turlough land in Russia, Moscow in the near future. While wondering around the city, they find a shift where they end up in somnus foundation. Turlough was very strong and one of his better performances- showing a conflict between his better and selfish nature. The final scene between the Doctor and Turlough is one of their best and felt so genuine.

[Scott Haworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a serious, mature, and emotionally effective audio drama, examining themes of death, loss, revenge and fate. Recommended.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pt1
ランダマイザーでモスクワに到着したターディス。渋るタウロを連れて早速探索に向かうドクター。クレムリンの後ろに見慣れぬ銀色の高層ビルが建っており、明らかにこの時代の地球の技術ではまだむりな建築物で、ドクターは早速ビルの中に入っていく。ビルの入り口で見張りをしていたタウロはビルの中から何やら揉めながら出てきた女性が助けを求める声をききドクターに声をかけ助けにいく。女性の名はレアナでファンデーションに洗脳されて連れて行かれた弟のアレクセイを連れ戻そうとしていたと説明。レオナが突然倒れた時鳥が襲ってきてドクターとタウロはレオナを庇いながら逃げる。レオナの友人のペブロにレオナを託し、再びビルの中へ見学者を装って侵入するドクターとタウロ。そこでセオと名を変えたアレクセイがあらわれ何も心配ないとつげる。

ドクターのことをずっと待ってた風のグレート・セオ。ドクターは覚えてないって言ってたけどどう関連がでてくるんだろう


Pt2
レオナとペブロと共にファンデーションの前身クリニックがモスクワにできた頃にターディスで戻るドクター。その日が偶然にもレオナの母親が事故で亡くなった日でレオナは母親を助けに走る。ドクターはタウロに止めにいかせてペブロと共にクリニックを調べにいく。クリニックはテレパスを鍛えて意識を一つにしようという実験を行っていた。

タウロがレオナの孤独に共感できるところが切なかった。タイムマシンで家族が救えるならタウロだってそうしたいよな。ドクターが割った窓から逃げる際に怪我したことでファンデーションがタイムロードが再びくるのを待っていたというところで続く

Pt3
元の時代に戻ってきたターディス。レオナは過去に行っても母親を救えなかったことやドクターとぺブロがクリニックで騒ぎを起こしたことなどに動揺してそもそものトラブルは全部ドクターとタウロのせいと言い出して外に飛び出していく。後を追うドクター。ぺブロはタウロに宇宙を旅するとはどんな気持ちかと夢みがちに語り出す。そこにファンデーションが襲撃してきてターディスとタウロをさらっていく。重傷を負ったペブロは命を落とす。
タウロの意識は金属ボディにうつされてしまう。タウロはアレクセイや他の被害者からなにが起こっているのか話をきくことができる。


Pt4
黒幕は最後の人類。絶滅を目前にタイムロードに見捨てられたと恨み、過去に戻って人類を意識の集合体として君臨させようという目的だったけれども、結局滅びる。

意識を身体から離して一つの巨大意識体にするというのがイマイチぴんとこなかったけれど、ラストのタウロとドクターのやりとりはしみじみ感あってすごくよかったなぁと。あとドクターが最後の人類を見送りにいくところもなんか心に残った。

タウロのことが大好きになった。

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong, gripping tale this one. One of those unusual ones where it feels like a long story, but in a good way - it allows the tension to build where necessary, and mysteries to remain unsolved as long as possible. Has some parallels to other stories, but doesn't lessen the impact for it, in my head canon I can imagine that they tie together. I enjoy listening to Turlough, while not my favourite companion he is up there, and different to most with his somewhat more cynical and self-preserving attitude which allows for different dynamics to the norm. The one off characters in this book are also good, with their own strengths and weaknesses well shown throughout.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique premise. It’s interesting how the Time Lords and The Doctor are blamed for stuff yet to happen.

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent premise. Should someone be punished for something that hasn't happened yet? Is fate predetermined? All in all a solid story.

[Michael Botterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting concept, well executed

[Nicholas Whyte]

Singularity brings Five and Turlough to near-future Moscow and an invasion from the far future via an entity called the Somnus Foundation (I wondered if this was a conscious echo of the Putin/Medvedev attitude to civil society). Good soundscapes and acting (with the dismal exception of Mark Bollinger as Pavel), and full marks to the actors who pronounce >@>;52 correctly as "KaraLYOV" rather than "KORolev". Mark Strickson gets some particularly good moments of character development for Turlough. But it went on rather a long time.

[Kelly McCubbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating idea, alien race (sorta) impersonates a pseudo-scientific organization to trap consciousnesses and begin to line the population of the planet up for a singularity event. Lots of clever angles to the whole thing, but it slips up badly in the last episode where The Doctor and Turlough defeat the bad guys by throwing a stick at them and arguing for a minute.

[Debra Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor and Turlough land in Moscow during a religious movement and the doctor realizes things aren't right. Can the doctor brings things back to normal before the timelines break.

[Charles Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the rare Turlough (Mark Strickson) stories. It's timey-wimey for beginners!

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh dear. The first half of this one is so... bland. But then the second half is amazing and so different to most Doctor Who stories. Overall, I liked this one but I do have some issues with pacing.

[Jami · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much melodrama.