Big Finish Doctor Who/Recap/133 City of Spires
The Doctor arrives in the highlands of Scotland, where his old companion Jamie McCrimmon, under the nom de guerre of Black Donald, is leading a band of rebel Highlanders against the Redcoats. But things aren't quite as the Doctor remembers them in this corner of history-- the English report to a mysterious "Overlord," anachronistic oil-extraction technology is everywhere, and mythological monsters are terrorizing the moors. To get to the bottom of the mystery, the Doctor and his old friend must venture into the Overlord's territory, the perilous City of Spires.
This audio play is the first of a three-part arc continuing with The Wreck of the Titan and concluding with Legend of the Cybermen.
City of Spires contains examples of:
- All Myths Are True: Part of what seems to be happening in the highlands, with Red Caps and other mythological creatures coming to life and Rob Roy showing up years after his death.
- Body Horror: The creation of the Red Caps, which involves clamping a red cap into a normal person's skull and injecting their brain with the "black water" until they are transformed into a barely intelligent but physically powerful slave of the Overlord.
- Also, the Overlord himself. Which turns out to be a colony of alien leeches who hollow out human bodies and take them as hosts.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: In addition to the Time Lord memory block preventing him from remembering his time traveling with the Doctor, Jamie has also forgotten ever meeting the Doctor at all.
- Older and Wiser: Jamie is 40 years older than he was during his last appearance in the franchise, and has spent the intervening time becoming a seasoned Highland warrior.
- Running Gag: People thinking the Doctor is French, which continues through the two subsequent plays in the arc as well.