First Frontier
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace, Benny
Main enemy:	Tzun, the Master
Main setting:	Earth, USA, New Mexico, White Sands Proving Ground, Holloman Air Force Base, 1957
Key crew
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Writer:	David A. McIntee
Release details
Release number:	30
Release date:	September 1994
Format:	Paperback Book, 294 Pages
ISBN 0-426-20421-2
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First Frontier was the thirtieth New Adventures novel, It featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield. This novel also featured the first in-novel regeneration of a character from the TV series: the Master. It is one of three novels written by David A. McIntee that feature the Master, with Virgin Missing Adventures' The Dark Path following in 1997 and BBC Past Doctor Adventures' The Face of the Enemy being published in 1998.

Publisher's summary Edit

Ace raised her blaster. "You've already killed me once, girl," Kreer said. "Didn't you learn anything from that?"

When Bernice asks to see the dawn of the space age, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the United States of America in 1957 - and into the midst of distrust and paranoia. The Cold War is raging, bringing the world to the brink of atomic destruction.

But the threat facing America is far more deadly than Communist Russia. The militaristic Tzun Confederacy have made Earth their next target for conquest - and the aliens are already among us.

Two nuclear warheads have been stolen; there are traitors to the human species in the highest ranks of the army; and alien infiltrators have assumed human form. Only one person seems to know what’s going on: the army’s mysterious scientific advisor, the enigmatic Major Kreer.

Plot Edit

to be added

Characters Edit

• The Doctor
• Ace
• Bernice Summerfield
• The Master
• Shadow
• Joe Manco

References Edit

Biology Edit

• The Master and Ace can detect each other because they are both infected with the Cheetah Virus.
• The Master used Tzun genetic engineering to remove the Trakenite DNA from his body to restore him to a full Time Lord.

Cultural references from the real world Edit

• The Doctor makes a sly reference to Santa Mira, thus making the film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, something that actually happened in the DWU.

The Doctor Edit

• The Doctor has Majestic clearance with the US government.

Documents Edit

• The Master respects Bernice and has read her paper on Martian Feudalism.

Individuals Edit

• Ace will be twenty-seven in a few months.
• Bernice Summerfield thinks of the Doctor and Ace as her only family.
• Bernice imagines the Doctor marrying the TARDIS.
• Shadow is the name of a Kitling named by the Master. It took him from the Cheetah World to 1950's America.

The Master Edit

• The Master recovered enough from his fight with the Doctor on the Cheetah Planet to teleport back to Earth. However, the explosion of the planet transported him back thirty-two years.
• The Master regenerates after Ace shoots him in the back. He turns into someone a little bit taller than his previous body (which had been infected with the Cheetah Virus). The body has a high forehead, glossy moustache, neat beard, aristocratic nose and a lean face. He was intended to resemble the actor Basil Rathbone.

Planets Edit

• Bandraginus Five was a shipyard for the Vegans.
• Before being trapped on the Cheetah World the Master tried to start a war between Antari Two and Antari Three.
• The Cheetah World had an atmosphere rich in artron energy.

Psychology Edit

• Bernice is immune to the Master's hypnotism.

Species Edit

• The Nestene Consciousness controls a section of the Tau Quadrant.
• The Tzun are from the planet S'Arl.
• The Sidhe are mentioned.

Sports Edit

• It is best (supposedly) to have five arms and five legs when using Venusian aikido.

TARDIS Edit

• The Master constructs a Stattenheim remote control to retrieve his TARDIS.

Theories and concepts Edit

• There is some discussion of dimensional transcendence, which in turn leads to discussions of Gallifreyan warp matrix engineering and Block Transfer Computations.

Time Lords Edit

• The Master claims to be a Time Lord of the First Rank.

Vehicles Edit

• Ace can fly a Hercules military plane, thanks to what the Doctor refers to as the 'narrow minded military'; keeping things similar in all airborne craft.
• Ace also used to fly a spacehopper in the Spacefleet.

Weapons Edit

• The Master uses his Tissue Compression Eliminator once more.

Notes Edit

• The Master regenerates from the 'Anthony Ainley' body into a new body, which places Destiny of the Doctors some time before this novel.
• Sophie Aldred later posed for photographs wearing an outfit based upon the one worn by Ace on the cover of this novel, for her memoir, Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era.
• A prelude was published for this novel in DWM 216.

Continuity Edit

• The Master acquired the Trakenite DNA after stealing Tremas's body in TV: The Keeper of Traken.
• The Master last appeared in TV: Survival.
• The Sidhe (mentioned in this novel) appear in PROSE: Autumn Mist.
• The Tzun appear in PROSE: Mission: Impractical.
• A single Tzun appears in PROSE: Return of the Living Dad.
• Bandraginus Five was mined and squashed to a ball in TV: The Pirate Planet.
• The Master reappears to cause havoc for Benny in PROSE: Happy Endings.
• A Kitling last appeared in TV: Survival.
• The Seventh Doctor states that Dimensions in Time was a dream.

External links Edit

• Prelude to First Frontier as published in DWM #216
• Detailed synopsis of First Frontier at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: First Frontier at The Whoniverse