Sleepers in the Dust

"How can bacteria be dead?"

Writer: Darren Jones
Format: Audio
Released: November 2012
Series: NSA 20

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

The TARDIS touches down on Nadurniss, a planet under quarantine. A joint Nadurini/human mission has recently landed on the planet to survey it for possible re-colonisation. Two millennia have passed since the Nadurni Empire fell at the end of the Prokarian War, and Nadurniss seems to be a lifeless, barren world – but a mysterious illness is infecting the Nadurni, and now the whole team is in danger. The nature of the infection becomes clear when the sickest Nadurni dies and an amorphous creature emerges from its dried-up body. A shambling mound of bacteria, acting as one being – a Prokarian – it has been on the planet all along, sleeping in the dust. As the Prokarians attack, Amy is infected. The Doctor can do nothing to help her – until he realises that the cure could lie in the past. He and Rory must travel back more than 2000 years to try and save her life...

Verdict

Sleepers in the Dust was an excellent original audio! I love the idea of continuity between the Eleventh Doctor Tales and getting some references to The Eye of the Jungle and revisiting the war between the Nadurni and the Prokarians was excellent! I liked how there was no messing around in getting things sorted as the Nadurni were reintroduced right from the start and they were armed. One swinging at Amy and that resulting in Rory running out only to be shot by what turned out to be a scanner was very humorous. I thought Arthur Darvill was sublime in the narrator role and that made for an enjoyable listen. Drisk was a good Nadurni character as a biogeologist and I liked the pre-titles cliffhanger being that the TARDIS had landed on Nadurniss and that the planet was under quarantine. All signs pointed towards the Nadurni having lost the war against the Prokarians and that meant Nadurni like Celeste were very cautious when it came to outsiders like our main trio. Drisk being infected and quickly dying provided quite the danger for the audio and I loved that we were involving the Federation and the Doctor namedropping Peladon as his credentials. It was intriguing for the disease that was initially only infecting Nadurni and I also loved the concept of the bacteria not existing outside of the host. Ghost bacteria! Really good stuff. Thrisk dying and sitting up after the effect was quite something, especially with there being something else within the body. Of course, that was a Prokarian and Amy was soon infected as it turned out humans were also susceptible to the disease. The Doctor working for the cure was good and the threat of Amy being lost quite quickly was very good. Rory's anger was fantastic and I liked how the Doctor had to once again defend the inability to change the past, but that led to him thinking that the cure may lay there which was very well done. The fact that it might take years to find and had to be done in stages was good and I loved that he didn't tell Rory this initially which was why he wanted to venture back by himself. It was also good to add in the danger of them possibly bringing the infection back from the future. Rory's reaction to seeing planetary destruction was excellent and the comment of the Prokarians coming home really caught my attention. The Plague of Mordax was also intriguing and I liked how he was the fool that had created them. Their use of a death cluster and the final assault to envelope the planet was very good. There was a lot of action incorporated into a great story which I very much enjoyed. The TARDIS arriving at the pinnacle of the Nadurni Empire was good and I liked the differences of the species with them showing no deformities. The return of the drones which Rory acknowledged as being familiar was nicely done as well. The introduction of Science Dictator Mordax was fantastic and I really loved his character. The experiments and incubator showed he was determined to his task and his revelation that the Doctor is the reason why his species won't be defeated was tremendous. He'd used a DNA extractor after scanning the Doctor on arrival and provided the Nadurni with cellular regeneration! The cryo-chamber threat was fantastic, as was the concept of the Nadurni evolving with each regeneration. The Doctor needing the extractor to save Amy was good, but Mordax wanted foreknowledge of what was to come of Nadurniss which was great. I thought it was a good development to have Mordax as patient zero was fantastic and the Doctor extracting the human part from Rory for use in Amy was nicely done as it would cancel out the regenerative qualities and stop infection. The return to where and when Amy was worked well and I liked the threat of the TARDIS being wrapped in matter. The moments where it seemed that Amy was still going to be lost was really good and the Doctor realising that the pathogen had to come from Rory so infected him with a new sample to get the cure was fantastic fun! The Doctor being silenced by the Prokarians and just about getting the dust message out was very good and that's where they had been all along! I liked that twist a lot, even if it is in the name of the story. The way the Doctor and Amy were both saved worked well and I also loved the mention of the blue box in Nadurniss stories and myths. The Doctor saving the final 8 Nadurni and giving them a second chance elsewhere was a really nice way to end things. Overall, a brilliant audio!

Rating: 9/10