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Recap / Big Finish Doctor Who STRS 1 E 1 The Toy

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In her bedroom on board the TARDIS, Nyssa dreams of her long lost home, and a Forbidden Archway that never really existed — or did it?

In the TARDIS corridors she finds a flight of steps, a door marked 'keep out', and beyond, a locked room full of secrets. In particular a casket containing a jewel seems to call to her. "Nyssa of Traken, do you want to be my friend?"

So begins a journey that takes Nyssa from snow capped mountains to vast cities, and introduces her to people she seems to know so well. What dangerous landscape has she wondered into — and can she ever escape to safety, and the comfort of her travelling companions?

The Toy contains examples of:

  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: What Nyssa and The Doctor have to do in order to break the jewel's hold over Nyssa.
  • Brain Uploading: The Master does not actually appear in the flesh in this story. Long ago, he had imprinted the jewel with his personality, which is what torments Nyssa here. He had done something similar (and relatively recently, from Nyssa's perspective) in "Smoke and Mirrors".
  • Call-Back: Nyssa is reluctant to talk about her bad dreams with Tegan, who has only recently suffered from terrible mental images herself.
  • Call-Forward: One of the versions of the Master Nyssa sees is of a strange snake.
  • Continuity Cavalcade: The dream world makes Nyssa look like Susan, hallucinate visions of every past Doctor and Master, as well as aspects of her own past from Traken.
  • Evil Former Friend: The red jewel was given to Susan by The Master as a gift, back on Gallifrey when he was considered to be a "friend of the family".
  • Joker Immunity: Though the last time they met The Master seemed to be fatal, The Doctor says he wouldn't be surprised if he was still alive. Naturally, he will eventually be proven right.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Nyssa's is explained; the TARDIS replicators continually spit out copies of her original outfit, though in inferior quality to what she is used to.
  • New Media Are Evil: Adric off-handedly mentions a computer program from the 21st century called "The Facebook", which was eventually banned for turning people into mindless zombies.
  • Schmuck Bait: Nyssa notes the giant "Keep Out" sign on the door with mild interest before barreling straight through it.
  • Team Mom: The plot kicks off when Nyssa decides she doesn't have the energy to play mediator and pep-talker for the rest of the TARDIS crew that day.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: Everything Nyssa goes through in the dream world physically affects her in reality. Tegan is hugely disturbed to see her friend lying unconscious while cuts spontaneously appear on her face and some of her hair falls out.

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