PSAudios 3.1. A Baron for all Seasons

It is the future, and the Galaxy is at war. At the centre of the conflict, the ages-old war between Boralis and the ruthless Skraith is reaching its zenith.

On a space station in neutral space, the major political powers are attempting to stabilise a Galaxy in turmoil at the 103rd annual Galactic Economic Conference, hosted by the esteemed but monumentally dull Duke of Drakon. The Baron of Boralis is also attending the conference, and hopes the nations present can broker a peace.

But other powers are also present at the Conference. For behind the scenes, Tor Garane of the Galactic Bank plots to take advance of the financial instability and has plans to usurp the weaker planets. One such planet, is Earth...

And all the while in Deep Space, a Kilraxxian Battle Cruiser moves silently nearer...

Martin Penny had suggested that he write a short prequel to his 2009 story, “Blood Money”. The prequel was to take the form of a ten minute ‘minisode’, in the style of the previous Audio, “Consequences”, and would deal with the Baron’s choice to rent the planet Earth from Tor Garane - this would be a CD extra story. Penny completed the minisode, but Si Hunt suggested that he expand it into a full, twenty minute length episode. As recording for the story was to take place the very next day, Penny had to complete the extra scenes in one night.

The original episode ended with the Baron leaving Tor Garane’s office. Martin Penny added extra material involving the Killraxxians – who had been mentioned earlier in the story as a hostile race – attacking the space station. The story had lacked any action sequence up until this point, and it was felt that this would provide a more climactic ending to episode.

One scene from the script which was cut completely from the finished product involved Tor Garane watching video footage of The Doctor, which had been supplied to him by Kestero, the villain last seen in “Doctor Who and the Christmas Gnomes”. It was felt that this scene was mainly filler material, and would serve no purpose in the context of the rest of the story. Another line cut included a hint that Controller Leckard, last seen being dragged into the vacuum of space in “The Paradise Machine” was still alive.

The story introduces a sub plot about Tor Garane purchasing planets across the galaxy, he makes reference to a hidden agenda for these planets, and states that he still has “much to do”.

Si Hunt would later comment on the writing process: "The interesting thing is, not only did we have huge fun recording it, but I actually think the plotting is among our best - which is even more admirable when you consider it was a shorter work fleshed out (in the space of an evening). The beauty is that the story is much bigger than one episode; it feels more like a feature film (a little bit "Star Wars", a little bit "Daleks Masterplan") but with most of the action recalled or commented on, rather than seen. There's this whole world of political intrigue going on just outside the barriers of the story! And then you get a lovely action scene to round things off, and a great twist to boot."

During a visit to Si Hunt's house, friends P-Bal and Chester O'Neill were invited to record the parts of President of Earth and Duke Of Drakon (a role greatly expanded from the original CD extra version). The cast relished their roles, with O'Neill also playing the part of the unnamed sarky observer in the auditorium, and basing this performance on a friend of his. Meanwhile, P-Bal decided to turn the President character into a female, and to adopt a French accent.

In fact, this story became one of the smallest cast audios, with the cast talking "to themselves" on occasion - there is even one scene where P-Bal can be heard playing three distinct parts. The Kilraxxian voices were recorded later, with Martin Penny taking on the role of one of the Kilraxxians, as well as his customary part as Tor Garane. Pip Madeley remotely recorded the part of the Baron of Boralis, which he had played in "The Paradise Machine".

Si Hunt developed an unusual 'robotic' synthesied effect for the voices, not unlike the Gundan Robots in TV Doctor Who. He used a selection of TV music for the story, including the famous peice used in the closing minutes of the last ever Classic Series story "Survival" for the end of the story, where the Baron of Boralis' ship takes off. Hunt thought it would be a good gag to source the warning a dust cart gives when it reverses ("This vehicle is reversing!") as the ship backed up to leave, but regretfully could not find an appropriate sound sample.