LIVE 34 broadcasts independent news on Colony 34, all day, every day. Host Drew Shahan calmly describes the bombings that have taken place earlier. Government property has been destroyed, and there are reports of bodies found in the rubble. Charlotte Singh, on site, interviews Resident Doctor, the leader of the newly formed political party — the FDP. Although non-approved parties are not allowed on 34, Resident Doctor plans to force elections and remove premier Jaeger from office. Elections have been illegal for five years — all for safety reasons, of course, since resources are running out and the colony needs political stability. The Doctor refuses to claim responsibility for the bombings and points out that the dead bodies have not been independently confirmed. He just wishes that whoever was responsible would have waited just a while longer. He addresses Shahan directly and commends him on his independent journalism, adding that he knows Shahan wants to ask more probing questions about the current regime. In reaction to the bombing, Jaeger announces that people believed to have ties to La Résistance will be arrested and interrogated — simply for the protection of the people, of course. Still, Jaeger can't stop the elections, much as he'd like to avoid political instability in this time of need.
Some days later, LIVE 34 airs a special documentary. Investigative reporter Ryan Wareing meets with La Résistance, having gotten an invite from the Rebel Queen herself. After waiting for several hours, a glum young woman named Lula takes him to the outskirts of the colony, where rumours of monsters have been coming from lately. Wareing sees dead people on the streets, and is shocked by what the government apparently keeps hidden. He's led through the streets blindfolded and, after a journey that took hours, is seated with the infamous Rebel Queen. Ace isn't too impressed by the nickname, and wearily side-steps Wareing's questions about her origins and intentions. She's not here to talk about how she came to this colony, why an off-worlder would be interested in 34's politics, or if she has ties to the FDP and Resident Doctor. She claims that only the first bombing was done by her, and the later ones, that actually took lives, were set up by the government in order to frame her. All she wants is for Wareing to see the government files she's gotten her hands on. LIVE 34 airs heavily edited interviews with La Résistance: reports of soldiers in giant power suits, which may explain the monster rumours. Trucks carrying away the bodies of the dead in the slums. People who were tortured for months, simply for talking to people believed to have been part of the rebels. A woman who saw her own children shot in front of her by premier Jaeger.
Some days later, following the apparent suicide of Ryan Wareing, LIVE 34 retracts its statements and reports that the interviews are now considered anti-goverment propaganda fabrications. Charlotte Singh reports today's segment of "Live with..." and interviews a young EMT nurse named Hex. He's been busy lately, what with the increased paranoia and quite a number of accidents. As Charlotte interviews Hex about his origins, his odd thick accent and why he would come to 34 from off-world, Hex explains how he managed to get a job here — 34 is very open to off-world workers, even if it doesn't culturally accept them as anything but cheap labour. As Hex drives his ambulance to a random call, Charlotte briefly interrupts her interview when it's reported that the Rebel Queen has been captured. Hex tries his best not to react. He eventually reaches the house of the woman who called for an ambulance (who's happily been listening to LIVE 34 while waiting for him to arrive). Her story seems odd; a man was in her house who helped her, and there's something underneath the floor, and she's not quite sure what happened... Hex realises that the Doctor set the whole scenario up, because there's something in this house that LIVE 34 needs to know about. While Charlotte complains about his erratic behaviour, Hex investigates underneath the floor and finds a mass grave. The broadcast is almost immediately interrupted by soldiers —
LIVE 34 reports that Charlotte Singh has been fired. The channel is under new regime, now more tightly controlled by the government to prevent senseless fearmongering. Shahan apologises for any distress that may have been caused by the "Live with..." segment some days prior. he reports on the weather and the increased political tension, as well as reactions to the accidental death of Resident Doctor two days before. Premier Jaeger won the election by a landslide — over 80% — and as the polls are drawing to a close, the colony is celebrating. Jaeger addresses his loyal voters and reveals his gift to them: the Rebel Queen herself, led before the people. Ace has given her confession and claimed responsibility for the bombings, sounding utterly broken. The crowd, cheering for Jaeger, decide to execute her right then and there. Ace tries to speak, but is almost too ill to make a sound. The few words she does utter, though, are so damning — she's been drugged, Jaeger had her tortured — then Jaeger slaps her across the face.
The crowd doesn't take very well to that, and Jaeger tries to save the moment, but it's too late anyway: the Doctor quite suddenly arrives on the stage, accompanied by Hex, Charlotte and a very emaciated man in a wheelchair. It's the real Jaeger, who was disfigured by illness years before, and hired a body double for public appearances. The actor slowly but steadily took over, replaced his entire staff, and only kept the real Jaeger around for bio-scans. The fake Jaeger orders his soldiers to do something, but the men already have quite different orders from a much higher authority: the central colony union. While the Doctor frees Ace from her restraints and reassures her, he lets Hex do The Denouement. It turns out that the colony's willingness to accept cheap off-world labour wasn't just to help 34... the workers were being made into fuel. The xenophobic attitudes (and rumours of monsters) that were instilled by fake Jaeger's fearmongering were only meant to keep the off-world workers in the slums and out of the public eye. Ace helps Hex in explaining how La Résistance freed Hex and Charlotte after they were captured, but how she was captured and forced into a confession herself as a result. The Doctor survived an assassination attempt and used his brief moments off the political radar to contact the inter-colony police and set up Singh as an interim leader until the police could arrive on 34. Hex realises that Ace is rapidly getting weaker and that she needs to be brought to a medbay as soon as possible. The Doctor says goodbye to Drew Shahan (and scolds him for being too neutral in the end), and while they leave, Charlotte is left trying to control the very confused and very angry crowd.
Tropes
- Absolute Xenophobe: Colony 34 is very xenophobic, and team TARDIS faces quite a bit of discrimination and difficult questions for being off-worlders. Hex even moreso, because of his extremely thick Scouse accent (which the TARDIS' Translator Microbes translate into a colony 48 accent, not something you'd want to be associated with on 34). As it turns out, the xenophobia was instigated by the government, so that off-world workers wouldn't be welcome in the main city. If they lived on the outskirts, no one would notice they'd gone missing...
- Alien Sky: Colony 34 has at least two suns.
- Becoming the Mask: Jaeger's double.
- Binary Suns: Colony 34's solar system has two suns.
- Big "SHUT UP!": The Doctor has to pull this REPEATEDLY on the Evil Is Hammy premier Jaeger, who keeps trying to go on tyrades. Luckily Sylvester McCoy is a Large Ham himself.
- Board to Death
- Body Double: Jaeger has several. The "real" Jaeger is one.
- Body Horror
- Bolivian Army Ending: Invoked by Ace. Thankfully subverted.
- Break the Cutie: Ace gets broken in this episode, although she bounces back well, as always.
- Call-Back: Hex mentions having been raised by his grandmother. Thicker Than Water, which was released the same month, sheds light on as to why.
- The Chessmaster: Seven, as always.
- Continuity Nod: Ace mentions having met her brother.
- Dead Pan Snarker: Hex might be picking up a bit from Ace. Especially highlighted when the Doctor says:The Doctor: "Now, I don't like to make speeches..."Hex: "COUGH COUGH COUGH HACK"
- The Denouement: The Doctor lets Hex do it, just for fun.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Inside the radio's scrambling, a bit of the Sylvester McCoy era intro is heard.
- Earth That Was: Ryan Wareing tells Ace that Earth was abandoned centuries earlier.
- Faking the Dead: Seven.
- Genre Shift
- Human Resources
- Knight in Sour Armor: Charlotte Singh.
- Leave the Camera Running: Audio example, after each broadcast segment. One of those moments is an agonising beeping sounds that goes on for much too long.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The entire story is told on the LIVE 34 radio channel, and we never find out what the perspective of team TARDIS is beyond what they tell the journalists. Even the theme song is missing, although a few notes from it can be very briefly heard in the radio static.
- Mad Bomber: Ace begins bombing just slightly sooner than the Doctor had anticipated... and is immediately followed by a number of bombings that did take lives, and which she's accused of also having been responsible for. She knows she's being framed, but accepts responsibility for having paved the way for that with her initial attack.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: See also Body Double.
- Media Watchdog: Live 34 can't say anything on air, willy nilly because Big Brother Is Watching You.
- Mythology Gag: The Doctor mentions that it's not usually the monsters "hiding behind the sofas". A phrase very commonly tied in with Doctor Who is that kids would hide behind sofas because of scary monsters.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Ryan Wareing is pretty obviously Alan Whicker.
- Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: Certain names and information have been changed. To protect the innocent.
- People's Republic of Tyranny
- Shaming the Mob: Seven.
- Stuff Blowing Up
- Summon Bigger Fish: The Doctor makes good use of people thinking he's been assassinated. It gives him a chance to contact the interplanetary colony cops, arrange for new orders to be given to all of fake Jaeger's guards, and debrief Charlotte Singh and set her up as the interim leader. All long before The Denouement.
- Title Drop: Live 34 is the name of the Radio channel of the Space Station.
- Unaccustomed as I Am to Public Speaking...: The trope is name-checked by the Doctor, then subverted when he claims it's a good reason to let Hex do The Denouement.
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: Outside the "First city walls" things are a lot more Crapsack World than inside. Wonton murders in the street and such.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters
