Doctor Who: New audio spin-off The Robots has begun
By James Aggas
The world of the classic Doctor Who story The Robots of Death is explored during a year in the life of one of the Doctor’s companions, in the brand new spin-off series The Robots!
Yesterday saw the release of the first volume of The Robots, a brand new Doctor Who spin-off series from Big Finish Productions. The new twelve-part series (spread across four volumes) takes place on the planet Kaldor, whose society we first got a glimpse of in the classic Fourth Doctor story The Robots of Death.
More than that, the series also follows a year in the life of companion Liv Chenka, when she took a gap year from travelling with her friends the Eighth Doctor and Helen Sinclair to focus on her relationship with her sister Tula.
We know the very start and end of that year from the Eighth Doctor box set Ravenous 2. But we don’t know much more than that. It’s hinted that a lot of things happened on Kaldor during the time Liv was living there. But what? This new box set – and indeed, the whole twelve-part series – promises that we’ll find out.
The first volume of The Robots has now been released.
(Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions)
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Technology and humanity
Nicola Walker, who plays Liv, gives us an idea of what kind of world The Robots will explore over the course of twelve episodes.
"We’re with Liv Chenka and her sister Tula on her home planet. Kaldor has seen a rise in the use of artificial intelligence, and Tula is at the forefront of that. So what happens when human relations and AI collide?What is interesting is that, in the past when we talked about AI in sci-fi, it was a long way away. Now when we’re talking about it in this imaginary world, it’s not so far away in the real world, and it’s not so incredible. So the future has got a whole lot closer."
What sounds particularly promising about this description is that it sounds like an interesting mix of science-fiction and human focused drama. Like some of the best stories in the genre, the series promises to focus on how humanity can be affected by technology – and vice versa. Claire Rushbrook, who plays Tula, makes this even clearer.
"I love it. It’s full of pace. I think it’s really exciting and it deals with a messy grey area with what people do when they’re grieving – how desperate it is, and what desperate measures people can go to. And I just like the dynamic between Tula and Liv again. There is a tenderness and an exploration of emotions that we haven’t heard in the more action-packed and scientific stories."
This sounds like a very exciting new series. Expect us to review the first three episodes of this brand new spin-off later this month.
The Robots: Volume One is available to order on CD or download now directly from Big Finish’s website.
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Are you a fan of The Robots of Death? Intrigued to listen to this new series that explores that world? Which worlds seen in Doctor Who do you think should be explored further? Let us know in the comments below.