This was the first release in the Destiny Of The Doctor arc, created in cooperation with AudioGo for the 50th anniversary.
Susan and the First Doctor have been living at Totter's Lane for four months, and Susan is still finding it hard to fit in. She's slowly becoming friends with a classmate, Cedric, but the two are being watched by a rather Obviously Evil gentleman going by the name of Rook. While Susan introduces Cedric to the music of Bob Dylan, the Doctor tries to get spare parts for his TARDIS at an electronics store and attracts quite a bit of unwanted attention. Also, Susan gets a message from a radio DJ that was allegedly sent by the Doctor, but One doesn't remember sending anything at all.
Susan's classmates start attacking her and Cedric for no reason in a fit of xenophobic rage, which turns out to be Mind Control via hypersonic waves. Rook turns out to be Cedric's uncle, and Cedric was only befriending Susan because of her being a very obvious alien. The word "alien", of course, turns out to refer to Cold War spies rather than outer space Time Lords, and the Doctor and Susan — realising what the radio message meant — save the day by blasting Bob Dylan at the enemy.
The Doctor has a feeling that more is going on...
Tropes
- Bait-and-Switch: For about half the story, Rook is made out to the audience to be an early incarnation of the Master, down to the sinister lurking, black clothing, trimmed goatee and even saying "oh, my dear Doctor, you have been naive". In the end, he's just a regular human school teacher, though his motives are still quite dangerous.
- Call-Back:
- The Doctor and Susan disguising themselves as IM Foreman and his granddaughter.
- Headmaster Rook finds Susan a mystery, of an "unearthly" nature.
- Call-Forward:
- Cedric says it's almost as if Susan can read minds.
- Magpie Electrical gets a reference.
- Susan gets cross when Cedric implies that she and the Doctor are on the run from someone.
- ET Gave Us Wifi: Colonel Rook hopes to achieve this through the Doctor and Susan.
- Finger Wag: The Doctor does it to Susan, when she asks why he doesn't buy priceless equipment.
- Fish out of Water: Susan has no idea what's going on in Earth politics and is thrilled by the opportunity to catch the tube for the first time.
- Friend in the Black Market: Bernie. Doubles as an Honest John's Dealership.
- Hammer and Sickle Removed for Your Protection and No Swastikas: A story about a World War II bomb in the Cold War somehow manages to avoid using the words "Nazi" "German", "Communist" or "Russian" at any point. Both groups are just "the Enemy".
- Hate Plague: One induced by Hypersonics that emphasizes a person's "tribal instincts" making him or her hate all foreigners.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Several of the bikers in an angry mob are described this way.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Headmaster Rook.
- Improvised Weapon: The mobs grab anything they can find, really.
- MacGyvering: The Doctor rigs up a device to interrupt the Mind Control in a basement of an electronics store.
- Mind Control
- The Mole: Cedric.
- Nose Tapping: Bernie does this when making deals with the Doctor.
- The Power of Rock: Undoes the Hypersonics in the end.
- Prequel: Takes place before the very first episode of Doctor Who, and features only the Doctor and Susan before they met Ian Chesterson and Barbera Wright.
- Properly Paranoid: The Doctor is paranoid that he's being followed. Turns out he's right.
- Psychic Powers: Susan's get her into trouble.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Rook, eventually.
- Sequel Hook: Who was the man on the radio? Was it the current Doctor? And Susan sees a glimpse of a horrible future destiny that the Doctor cannot escape.
- Stable Time Loop
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: A mysterious message from a DJ being all I'm Mr. [Future Pop Culture Reference] from a chap calling himself THE Doctor.
- The Unsmile: Headmaster Rook again.
