The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)
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| The Gallifrey Chronicles | ||
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| Doctor: | Eighth Doctor | |
| Companion(s): | Fitz Kreiner Trix | |
| Main enemy: | The Vore | |
| Main setting: | Italy, 40 BC London, Manhattan and Guinea-Bissau, June 2005 The Vore moon, June 2005 Greyfrith, the 1980s | |
| Key crew | ||
| Publisher: | BBC Books | |
| Writer: | Lance Parkin | |
| Release details | ||
| Release number: | 73 | |
| Release date: | June 2005 | |
| Format: | Paperback Book, --- Pages | |
| ISBN 0-563-48624-4 | ||
| Navigation | ||
| ←Previous | Next→ | |
| BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures | ||
| To the Slaughter | ||
- For the history of Gallifrey by John Peel, see The Gallifrey Chronicles
The Gallifrey Chronicles was published in June 2005. It was the final novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures line of books, which had started in 1997. It was written by Lance Parkin. It featured the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Trix MacMillan.
Contents |
Publisher’s summary
The Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey has been destroyed. The Time Lords are dead, their TARDISes annihilated. The man responsible has been tracked down and lured to Earth in the year 2005, where there will be no escape. But Earth has other problems — a mysterious signal is being received, a second moon appears in the sky, and a primordial alien menace waits to be unleashed...
The stage is set for the ultimate confrontation — for justice to be done. The Doctor and his companions Fitz and Trix will meet their destiny. And this time, the Doctor isn’t going to be able to save everyone.
Characters
- The Eighth Doctor
- Fitz Kreiner
- Trix
- K9
- Marnal
- Rachel Rowley
- Miranda (flashback)
- Greg
- Jackie Winfield
- Ulysses
- Penelope Gate
- Saldaamir
References
- Faction Paradox and their attack on Gallifrey.
- The TARDIS materialises in a graveyard containing Samantha Lynn Jones’s gravestone in 2002.
- The Eye of Harmony opens briefly and a voice comes from it. The voice is implied to be the Master.
- Marnal was placed in the care of a Mrs. Gate in 1883 (the only Mrs. Gate mentioned previously is Penelope Gate).
- K9 is revealed to be the scratching thing behind the TARDIS walls.
- The Doctor sends K9 to the planet Espero.
- Gallifrey was said to be attacked by Omega, the Sontarans, Tannis, the Faction Paradox, Varnax, Catavolcus and the Timewyrm.
- The reference to the Timewyrm is significant as it was featured in the first original Doctor Who novel published under the Virgin New Adventures line, Timewyrm: Genesys.
- There is a flashback to Marnal's time on Gallifrey with Ulysses, Penelope Gate and Mr Saldaamir.
- The Klade, Centro, Tractites and the Ongoing are all races Marnal believes could have destroyed Gallifrey.
- The Doctor refers to the events of the novel The West End Horror by Nicholas Meyer, which describes an investigation by Sherlock Holmes and George Bernard Shaw. The Doctor claims to have also looked into the same events.
Notes
- The events of PROSE: The Ancestor Cell are re-interpreted, making more sense than that original book.
- Marnal lists the Eighth Doctor's companions as Lorenzo, Delilah, Frank, Claudia, Deborah, Jemima-Katy, Miranda, Nina, Anji, and Beatrice. Of the list only Miranda (Miranda Dawkins) and Anji Kapoor can be positively identified as having previously appeared. One could assume "Beatrice" to be a reference to Trix, especially considering it's a pseudonym that she herself uses later on in the book (Page 215), but even this is not entirely clear. Missing from this list are Grace Holloway (often identified as a companion of the Eighth Doctor) and Bernice Summerfield, who served as companion in PROSE: The Dying Days. As both only shared one known adventure with the Eighth Doctor, they may have been overlooked in deference to companions he travelled with for longer. The list also omits the companions he travelled with in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip (i.e. Izzy Sinclair and Destrii) and the Big Finish Productions audio productions, particularly Charley Pollard and Lucie Miller (although the latter wouldn't be introduced until nearly two years after this book was published). Jemima-Katy was the name of the applicant for the position of assistant to the Third Doctor when Jon Pertwee made a guest appearance on the BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Skivers.
- A reference to the Harry Potter novels is made, indicating that the Doctor possesses a set of eleven books. In the real world, this would appear to be an error as only seven were published. See the article on Harry Potter for a possible explanation.
- The book ends on a cliffhanger, leaving how the Doctor stops the Vore and returns Gallifrey open ended. However, Gallifrey and the Time Lords are restored in a vision of the Doctor's future in PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows.
Continuity
- The Doctor's battle with the Master in San Francisco in December 1999 is referenced. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The events of PROSE: The Ancestor Cell are revisited and analysed.
- The Klade first appeared in PROSE: Father Time (and were last mentioned in PROSE: Trading Futures).
- The grave of Samantha Lynn Jones seen here might contradict events in Interference - Book Two where it's implied that Sam Jones will lead a long life (beyond twenty-two). However Samantha Lynn Jones was Sam's original timeline (aka Dark Sam), seen last in PROSE: Unnatural History.
- At one point,[1] Marnal says of the Doctor, "As for his future — he has three ninth incarnations". Fans have widely interpreted this as a nod to Richard E. Grant's Ninth Doctor (WC: Scream of the Shalka), Rowan Atkinson's Ninth Doctor (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death) and Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor (TV: Rose). However, Marnal's statements end there, without giving even a vague physical description of the future Ninth Doctors. The statement is thus open to multiple interpretations.
- Gallifrey was attacked by Omega in TV: The Three Doctors and TV: Arc of Infinity, the Sontarans in TV: The Invasion of Time, Tannis in WC: Death Comes to Time, the Faction Paradox in PROSE: The Ancestor Cell, Catavolcus in COMIC: The Neutron Knights, the Timewyrm in PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation and Varnax in an unmade movie from the 1990s (detailed in REF: The Nth Doctor).
- During the events of The Ancestor Cell the Doctor compressed the entire Matrix into his mind, causing the amnesia he had since The Burning. This allows the Doctor to restore the Time Lords and Gallifrey to the universe, which is next seen in Shada.
- The four surviving Time Lords are shown: a man with a black beard and a rosette, the Master (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street), a young woman with blonde hair, Iris Wildthyme or Romana II (PROSE: Father Time, PROSE: Tomb of Valdemar), a tall man with a bent nose, holding a pair of dice, the Minister of Chance (WC: Death Comes to Time) and the Doctor with short hair, holding a baby girl in his arms (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors, PROSE: Father Time).
- The Time Lords were seen, restored and on Gallifrey in the Doctor's future. (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows)
Reprint
BBC Books has announced that a "print on demand" reprint edition of this novel will be made available as of 31st August 2011 as the imprint revisits adventures featuring the first eight Doctors.
This book is also available as an ebook from the Amazon Kindle store.
External links
- Detailed synopsis of The Gallifrey Chronicles at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Gallifrey Chronicles at The Whoniverse
Footnotes
- ↑ on page 62
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