Big Finish Doctor Who/Recap/014 The Holy Terror

• Main
• Characters
• Recap
  • 001 The Sirens of Time
  • 002 Phantasmagoria
  • 003 Whispers of Terror
  • 004 The Land of the Dead
  • 005 The Fearmonger
  • 006 The Marian Conspiracy
  • 007 The Genocide Machine
  • 008 Red Dawn
  • 009 The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
  • 010 Winter for the Adept
  • 011 The Apocalypse Element
  • 012 The Fires of Vulcan
  • 014 The Holy Terror
  • 015 The Mutant Phase
  • 016 Storm Warning
  • 019 Minuet in Hell
  • 020 Loups Garoux
  • 021 Dust Breeding
  • 022 Bloodtide
  • 025 Colditz
  • 026 Primeval
  • 027 The One Doctor
  • 028 Invaders From Mars
  • 029 The Chimes of Midnight
  • 030 Seasons of Fear
  • 034 Spare Parts
  • 035 ...ish
  • 035 Ish
  • 038 The Church and the Crown
  • 039 Bang Bang a Boom
  • 040 Jubilee
  • 043 Doctor Who and the Pirates
  • 044 Creatures of Beauty
  • 046 Flip Flop
  • 048 Davros
  • 049 Master
  • 050 Zagreus
  • 054 The Natural History of Fear
  • 057 Arrangements for War
  • 071 The Council of Nicaea
  • 074 Night Thoughts
  • 085 Red
  • 086 The Reaping
  • 087 The Gathering
  • 091 Circular Time
  • 095 Exotron
  • 099 Son of the Dragon
  • 102 The Minds Eye
  • 104 The Bride of Peladon
  • 123 The Company of Friends
  • 133 City of Spires
  • 134 The Wreck of the Titan
  • 135 Legend of the Cybermen
  • 136 Cobwebs
  • 137 The Whispering Forest
  • 140 A Death in the Family
  • 142 The Demons of Red Lodge
  • 144 The Feast of Axos
  • 146 Heroes of Sontar
  • E04 He Jests at Scars
    • Unbound
  • S1
    • E01 Blood of the Daleks Part One
      • NEDA
    • E02 Blood of the Daleks Part Two
      • NEDA
    • E02 The Renaissance Man
      • FDA
    • E03 Horror of Glam Rock
      • NEDA
    • E04 Immortal Beloved
      • NEDA
    • E05 Phobos
      • NEDA
    • E06 No More Lies
      • NEDA
    • E07 Human Resources Part One
      • NEDA
    • E08 Human Resources Part Two
      • NEDA
  • S2
    • E01 Dead London
      • NEDA
    • E02 Max Warp
      • NEDA
  • S3
    • E07 The Eight Truths
      • NEDA
  • S4
    • E04 The Book of Kells
      • NEDA
    • E07 Relative Dimensions
      • NEDA
  • S5
    • E07 Peri and the Piscon Paradox
      • CC
    • E08 The Perpetual Bond
      • CC
    • E12 The Cold Equations
      • CC
  • S6
    • E05 The Crystal of Cantus
  • S7
    • E04 Summer of Love
  • S8
    • E01 The Tub Full of Cats
  • Short Trips Rise and Fall
  • Specials Cuddlesome
  • Specials the Ratings War
  • Unbound
    • E04 He Jests at Scars...
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Headscratchers
• Crowners
  • Awesome
  • Funny
  • Tear Jerker
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
  • S6 E5 The Crystal of Cantus
    • BS
      • Recap
• Create New

The Doctor and companion Frobisher travel to a mysterious castle on an unknown world, in an unknown time period. The castle is in uproar as the god-king has just died, and his son is set to take the throne. His deformed, evil bastard brother secretly plots to seize the throne for himself, plotting with the High Priest of their religion to do so. Nobody is actually surprised about any of it, this is how it happens every time...

Tropes used in The Holy Terror include:

• Bastard Bastard: Childeric.
• Corrupt Church: And how! The High Priesthood has a long history of betraying the true monarch to the evil brother going back to time immemorial.
• Crowning Moment of Funny: The first 100 minutes.
• Downer Ending: The last 20...
• Enfante Terrible / Reality Warper: Childeric is trying to groom one. It works... FAR too well.
• Generation Xerox: Invoked. Every generation has the abusive royal parents, a milquetoast heir, a Bastard Bastard who conspires with the High Priest to overthrow the heir, etc. It's the key to the truth about the place.
• A God Am I: Played with, Frobisher is worshiped as being some sort of an angelic being (All hail the big talking bird!). He is not comfortable with it at all. Also, the King is traditionally worshiped as a living God. This leads to problems, since each King invariably commits the ultimate blasphemy by dying.
• The Grotesque: Childeric, Pepin's evil brother who plots to overthrow him. Appears to be the villain of this story, but isn't.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Begins the moment The Doctor and Frobisher step out of the TARDIS.
• Mind Rape: What's actually going on. The entire castle serves as Eugene's punishment for the murder of his own infant child.
• Mood Whiplash: One of the most ridiculous examples. The serial switches from a hilarious parody of stereotypical Shakespearean tragedy and suddenly becomes a disturbing examination of destiny as the characters stare inevitable death in the face and a man's fractured mind is slowly torn apart before the Doctor and Frobisher's eyes.
• The Thermidor: God-King, bastard brother, corrupt High Priest. Lather, rinse, repeat.
• Wham! Line: Are you my father?
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Each God-King has to perform a miracle during their coronation. By the time the Doctor arrives, it's been pared down to a (rigged) card trick.

High Priest: Now, your Majesty. It it by any chance........ THE THREE OF CLUBS?!!

• Your Head Asplode: The Enfante Terrible's rampage during the climax, complete with incredibly disturbing tearing sound.

---

Back to Big Finish Doctor Who

Back to Big Finish Doctor Who/Recap